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How can I support a young Autistic adult when she is perseverating about historic events?

NAS74978

Hi, 

I would very much appreciate some advice about how I can best support a young Autistic adult that I am working with.

As a pupil in school, her teachers did not understand Autism, which resulted in staff taking a disciplinary approach, rather than a supportive one. 

(When will people learn??) 

This has resulted in the young adult feeling maligned and misunderstood. 

My concern is that repeatedly returning to and remembering the experiences, the experiences are almost relived, along the distress involved.

Is it better for the young adult to keep talking through her upset until it dissipates? Or, should part of my practice be about helping her 

to draw a line under the experience and move forward, if so, how can I best support her to do this? 

Any thoughts, experience or advice would be very helpful. 

  • in reply to Peter

    Hi Peter, 

    Thank  you for your reply. You are right, the young adult I am working with does have a strong sense of both fairness and justice. Your reply has given me much to think about, including how to enlist acknowledgement from the school, to help right the wrongs and losses that have come about, as a consequence. 

    Thanks again. 

  • in reply to Martin

    Thank you Martin,  your reply makes sense and is very helpful. I will follow this up with my mentee. 

  • the notion of 'drawing a line' as a mental exercise is likely to be totally ineffective. In all probability she has a strong sense of fairness and won't be able to let it go with out taking some sort of action. Wrongs need to be righted etc. Think restorative justice. Is there any way you could get the teacher to apologise to her? If not the teacher then the school? What did she lose as a consequence of her teachers actions? What could be done to reverse that?

    It can go to extremes and arguably sometimes extreme action is necessary. For example I read a study on abuse victims who later got cosmetic surgery. Many of them related their desire to get surgery with a desire to look younger and recover time that was stolen from them 'by the universe' as it were.

  • Most autistic people like information - the more the better. I supect that your colleague/mentee is returning to past events because she does not understand them. If you can deconstruct them for her, giving her some insight as to why the teachers behaved in the way they did towards her, and that it was not her conscious fault, it may help to resolve matters.