Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi all,
my daughter is currently on the last part of her ASD diagnosis...
But her anxiety is taking over her life, I am hoping someone might be able to point me in the right direction for help.
most recently she was so worried about going to school her whole body came out in a rash and she was scratching at her skin like mad, I took her to the drs who said this was caused from her anxiety, but given her age there is nothing they can do to help, but if I do find something she would be more than happy to help me.
She pulls her hair out on a regular basis, more so when shes worried about something
She hardly sleeps, and I have to stay with her until she falls asleep (this can be up to 3 hours!) and then I have to sleep with her, she is worried someone will come into her room at night, we have tried everything possible to help this and reassure her but nothing seems to work.
She has got fantastic at support at school with incredible teachers.
Its always a struggle to get her into school, and sometimes I physically cannot get her in.
Her teacher has to meet her at the classroom door otherwise she will not go in.
she doesn't go out at school, she is worried about the weather. her teachers do encourage her to go out but she normally will sit in, in the office on her own!
She has lego therapy at school once a week, which does help.
She was having ELSA, but because she wasn't talking, they wasn't wiling to continue.
Can anyone please help me with anything that could help? could play therapy help?
Thanks for reading
Have you tried deciphering for her? Like if she thinks there is or worried about someone wanting to attack her or come into the room, maybe you could check for news updates about burglars? That’s what I used to go through when I was younger and still do. Then, perhaps you could try to make her room safer, burglary free. Just a suggestion. In the terms of weather maybe there could be a hurricane or a storm elsewhere. There are some movies that could help maybe. Obviously child friendly ones. Like, Annie. Or something that she could relate to. It’s not just about girls being in control and manipulating. If you’re saying that everything would be negative about girls with autism, then your 3 hours of no sleep would end up being 5 hours instead. Some kids both girls and boys with autism like being on their own like if they decide not to play outside it doesn’t mean they don’t want to socialise. It took me a few years to figure that out about myself. I never knew I had autism until I was 32 years old. While growing up, I was told that all the time. And if she thinks she is a dolphin or a whale just search on the news that they’re ok. There are moments when she will feel her worse but it always is when they are kids. I don’t mean it in a bad way. Just that we cannot keep saying that they are behaving negatively all the time then they will use that as an example growing up. Some boys with autism can also be controlling and manipulating too but if she’s going to grow up in a world where we tell them they are everything that’s negative then she will keep that in mind that she’s not a good person or something else like being “too over sensitive”. If she has adhd, she could something else that helps her from that like if Lego works, then she’d probably want to play with Lego everyday or if she like browsing through books like Matilda for example. I think that’s all.
Sorry if it’s not the best suggestions/opinions.
Maria