Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi, I have a 14 year old son with ASD and since before Christmas his anxiety levels have been really high, but this week things have got a lot worse...he can’t go in any lessons at school and his whole personality has changed.
The one thing that scares me is his eyes, at times they shake from side to side though anxiety I think but he is snapping and just really isn’t his happy smiling self.
would anyone have any advice for me to help him?
I'd go along with what the others have said. I just wanted to add that I work at a day centre for highly-autistic adults. Since the end of the Christmas break, we've had far more challenging behaviour incidents than usual. It's fairly routine there at this time of year, it seems. Several reasons for it. Obviously, the huge build-up to Christmas, and the associated anxiety and excitement. Then, afterwards, the 'coming down'. Another factor is that now the schools are back, the journeys are longer for those who are driven in - and the traffic hold-ups are worse. All of these things take a lot of adjusting to for our service users. Routines get thrown out of whack, etc.
None of this probably applies to your son, but there may be a seasonal affect associated with his anxieties. As a kid, I used to sometimes get almost physically sick with anxiety at the return to school after the Christmas holidays.