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Could my daughter be suffering from PTSD?

NAS81458

My daughter was finally diagnosed with autism last month,

We still can't mention any school words, she doesn't like girls or women either this is because when she was 5 she started masking her behaviour, then completely broke down mentally, 

We all tried to get her back into school but the more we tried the more her mental health declined, 

There is no way she will ever go back into a school again or a small education setting, 

She does have a EHCP but because she is no on roll with a high school she keeps having autistic burnout and will not go anywhere and become low 

She is waiting for a camhs appointment too but has anyone else child going through this ? 

She has lots of sensory difficulties and struggles with people Pensive 

  • My reply is not evidence-based.
     School was intensely painful for me. I had no evaluation and no diagnosis. I received bullying and hid instances of sexual assault . I dropped out of school twice before age 18 and limped to graduation and then developed addictions and created a fantastic mess of my life for many years. 
    I am 48 and recently diagnosed with Autism and complex PTSD. My autism also has a subset of PDA. After all of this I grieved that the emphasis was put on education rather than wellness . I love to learn but through the layers of difficulty I was unable to retain or savour the information being pressed upon me . 
    I felt betrayed by the adults in my life who were dissapointed in me for not reaching academic standards when truly I was chronically suicidal and felt successful just staying alive despite not wanting to . 
    You are giving a beautiful gift to your child by learning about her now and facilitating her navigation to goals she chooses. 
    PDA in my autism severely complicated my ability to be taught and I am fully a self-guided learner and cannot yet thrive in any other learning style, although I try again and fail regularly . 
    Success for me looks different than it does for the average person .  After many years I’ve realized my success will be loving myself and being kind to others despite the many difficulties I navigate daily - and that’s enough for me. 

    Hopefully this has some help for you . 

  • NAS81458 said:
    We still can't mention any school words,

    PTSD is incredibly common in autistic people and I have yet to meet one who does not have it from childood experiences to some degree.

    https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/professional-practice/ptsd-autism

    Research indicates that autistic people may be more likely to experience traumatic life events...

    Our own research (Rumball et al. 2020) and Kerns et al. (2022) suggest a number of other events that autistic people found traumatic:

    ....

    - transitions and change (for example school transitions, routine changes with the seasons, unpredictability in day to day life)

    With our autistic traits of poor social understanding, often different speach patterns (monone voice etc), often different ways of walking (down to poor motor skills) and special interests we are natural targets for bullies. Not having many friends and fear of making social mistakes also means that we are typically poor at standing up for ourselves or over-react, ultimately leading to poor outcomes for us.

    I would suggest getting a therapist to help who is experienced with childhood trauma and autism who can help her. She may never be OK to go to school but processing the trauma while she is young is a good way for her to be prepared for future challenges in future.