- masking: the conscious or unconscious act of suppressing autistic traits and covering them with allistic behaviors. can lead to under/misdiagnosis, burnout, and meltdowns
- masking look like:
- pushing through exhaustion or overwhelm
- mimicking gestures
- forcing or faking eye contact during conversations
- suppressing or hiding stimming
- ignoring sensory discomfort or suppressing sensory responses not to bring attention to self
- autistic inertia:
- has similarities and overlaps with adhd
- difficult starting, stopping and changing tasks
- challenges transitioning between tasks and switching focus
- makes it hard to refocus on task if interrupted
- difficulty starting task but then will hyper-focus for long periods
- feeling unable to start next task, "stuck" on current task
- affected by difficulty planning or breaking down tasks
- nonverbal: an adjective describing an autistic who does not communicate verbally. they may communicate using aac devices, sign language, gestures and facial expressions, typing, echolalia, pointing to pictures, or looking.
- echolalia: repetition of sounds or words either vocally or inside the head in order to self comfort, communicate, process, improva language skills, and sometimes just because.
- special interest: something to whch an autistic has taken a strong liking to and may or may not spend a considerable amount of time researching it, talking abou it, and otherwise engaging with it.
- same food: a food or drink that an autistic eats religiously because it is familiar and comforting. same foods may change over time.
- sensory seeking/avoidant: an overall or temporary adjective to describe an autistic who is in need of sensory input or needs to get away from it.
- autistic shutdowns:
- may look like: extreme tiredness, not being able to move/speak
- may result in withdrawal, hiding, loss of energy, numbness
- quiet space, reduced sensory input, calm and understanding needed
- requires time and space to recover to avoid burnout
- an involuntary response to being overwhelmed
- more of an internal 'freeze' response than meltdowns
- brain/body shuts down from stress, overwhelm & exhaustion
- triggers: sensory overload, anxiety, masking, change, stress, demands
- autistic meltdowns:
- may present physically, emotionally, or verbally
- may result in crying, shouting, aggression, self-harm
- misophonia: an unusually strong reaction to certain sounds, such as chewing, smacking, breathing, and nose blowing. it can cause anger, irritation, panic, fear, and distress.
- stimming: any type of repetition using any of the 5 senses to help regulate and express emotions, communicate, understand, distract, or just for fun.
- stimming can be:
- tactile: rubbing textures, licking, kissing, chewing items, teeth grinding
- auditory: putting sound making objects to ears, repeating preferred sounds
- visual: looking at lights, closelly visually examining items
- combination of senses: hand flapping, finger posturing, verbal stims
- olfactory
- vestibular: jumping, rocking, spinning, pacing, head banging
- proprioceptive: seeking pressure, enjoying the feeling of weighted objects
jan 3 2025 ∞
jan 3 2025 +