• Replies 7 replies
  • Subscribers 11 subscribers
  • Views 2341 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Related
Hints and tips
  • To quote someone's message, first select/highlight the relevant text, and then use the Quote button that appears
  • To "mention" someone, type @ followed by the start of the forum name, and choose from the list; that person will get a notification of being mentioned

Can anyone explain why I’m the opposite?

NAS83935

I’ve recently seen so many posts/articles online about girls with autism behaving really well at school and then having meltdowns at home as a result of being exhausted from masking all day. I was the opposite and I just don’t know why. I was awful at school - like excluded/suspended multiple times from year 8 onwards. But at home I was literally an angel child, so much so that my parents never believed the school when they would report what happened each day. 

Can anyone offer any explanation as to why this may be?

Parents

  • The articles online are usually citing this as an explanation for why girls tend to be overlooked and diagnosed later than boys. It certainly doesn't always happen like that. It may have been that school was so overwhelming for you that you were constantly triggered. 

    If you were having meltdowns at school but not at home that might have been better for you in the longer term. Letting out the emotions when they happen is preferable to bottling up and suppressing them to explode later. Masking isn't good for us and can lead to burnout.

    I would suggest watching the Kieran Rose video that was posted on here recently. That may help you to gain more insight into masking at school and why such behaviours develop. https://community.autism.org.uk/f/adults-on-the-autistic-spectrum/29442/masking-and-burnout-video

Reply

  • The articles online are usually citing this as an explanation for why girls tend to be overlooked and diagnosed later than boys. It certainly doesn't always happen like that. It may have been that school was so overwhelming for you that you were constantly triggered. 

    If you were having meltdowns at school but not at home that might have been better for you in the longer term. Letting out the emotions when they happen is preferable to bottling up and suppressing them to explode later. Masking isn't good for us and can lead to burnout.

    I would suggest watching the Kieran Rose video that was posted on here recently. That may help you to gain more insight into masking at school and why such behaviours develop. https://community.autism.org.uk/f/adults-on-the-autistic-spectrum/29442/masking-and-burnout-video

Children
No Data