Student Support
Student Support:
Adelle Sushames is a clinical psychologist who is the name and face behind ‘Neurodivergent Ally’, which can be found online and on social media pages. Her work consists mainly of ASD and ADHD assessments alongside therapeutic support to her clients.
Her latest blog talks about anxieties and fears, bringing a new perspective to how our children view themselves, their world and many events around them.
Some common fears and anxieties I have seen in many autistic children I have worked with in my private practice include:
- Separation anxiety that persists well beyond the toddler years, and which can interfere with school and even impact home life (some children cannot go to another part of the house on their own, or cannot tolerate a parent leaving the room to go to the toilet).
- Fear of a parent dying or not coming back. This can also impact things like feeling regulated at school, or being able to stay for the day or overnight with a grandparent or school friend.
- Health-related fears such as choking or vomiting. This can be sporadic, such as when eating particular foods, or in response to someone else in the home vomiting, or hearing about a stomach bug that is doing the rounds at school. It can be a serious concern as it can impact ability to eat, which, if you are already dealing with sensory issues around food, can be really frightening for parents.
- Common phobias (dogs, bees, or other insects), but with a twist. Usually phobias develop in response to a negative experience, or from witnessing others acting fearfully or having a negative experience (arachnophobia is a classic example of this). However, many autistic children develop phobias without having had a negative experience or seeing others behaving in a fearful manner.
- More unusual phobias can also develop. Some examples I’ve seen include flies, bees, or other insects, particular toys or other household items, and even being fearful of a category of people (such as fearing police or other emergency personnel).
- Fears associated with sensory overwhelm, such as balloons, swimming pools, hand dryers, vacuum cleaners, and windy weather.
- Fears of things that are unlikely to occur, or cannot occur in your geographical region, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, or cyclones.
- Things they’ve seen or heard about on the news, particularly break-ins, assaults, and events related to terrorism or war.
- Things that are fictional/don’t exist, or are unlikely to exist (zombies, cannibals, aliens, “Slenderman”, sharks in swimming pools). I think contributing to this is the fact that there are many non-existent or improbable things that look incredibly real on YouTube, and it’s so easy for our children to be exposed to these types of images without warning when they engage with these platforms.
Why are autistic children more likely to experience these fears or anxieties?
In addition to the reasons included above, many autistic people tend to think in absolutes. Something is either safe or it isn’t. An outcome may be good, or it may be very, very bad. We tend to see the details and to imagine how terrible an outcome may be for us, and not have the bigger picture awareness that statistically, the thing we fear is unlikely to occur, or if it does, that we will be able to cope. We tend to experience emotions, including fear, very intensely, and can struggle to self-regulate or be co-regulated. And with our capacity to hyperfocus (our ADHD neurokin also excel here), it can be very difficult, if not impossible, to focus on anything else.
Often, children who experience these fears are diagnosed with anxiety and referred to a psychologist for Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. However, in my experience, these fears are rarely eased by reason or fact-checking. Many will resolve overtime, while some may persist into adulthood.
I think it’s important to raise awareness that these types of fears can be suggestive of an autistic (or ADHD) brain style, so that parents (and therapists) can see the problem in full context, and so that the child can be given information that is helpful to them, rather than maintaining a narrow focus on just “fixing the anxiety.”
Mrs Brooke Lardner
Student Support Coordinator