Aspergers: Anxiety interventions?

[perla75]

Hello,

I work with students with autism & related disorders & I have a student who displays anxiety in school when speaking to his peers, answering questions in class, and when he does not do perfect or able to complete his work on time (he is very competitive with himself in this way). His anxiety is NOT in the form of disruptive or oppositional behavior-he just gets nervous, upset, shaken up, he might cry, etc...

I wondered what kinds of resources you parents and other professionals might use to teach self coping & de-escalation skills. This particular child is in the 4th grade, at academic grade level with almost every classroom curriculum area. He is verbal & can read.

I was thinking about teaching him meditation & breathing techniques, as I know this is a powerful intervention for generalized anxiety & panic disorders.

Any thoughts, suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[buzz for boys]

my ds is 7 and has this exact problem in school ( im sorry im from the uk and dont understand the grade system so ive told u his age instead) His school give him smaller targets than the rest of his class so they are easier to achieve. eg when asked to write an account of what he did at the weekend he will panic at the task ahead and if he could remeber exactly what we did and then panic when he starts to run out of time. So his teacher asks him to write what he did sat morning first and then starts a timer when the timer goes off he is then given his next bit like sat afternoon then sun morning etc. This seems to work for him and its only slight changes in the routine that seem to upset him now!!
The perfection thing is handled by the teacher telling him that everyone makes mistakes and mistakes are good *** thats how u learn - she also made some real silly mistakes thru out the day that all the kids in the class picked up and of course my son was so impressed that even the teacher made mistakes !!
Every child is different so i hope that this helps ur little man as much as it has mine the anxiety levels in my son has dropped dramatically.

 

[kaffinito]

The meditation techniques might help a bit with your student. I would suggest putting a spin on the techniques and introduce a rhythmic drumming sound into the meditation routine. Something along the lines of Native American drumming might be helpful. That way the child can "hear" the drumming in his/her head and recapture the feeling of being relaxed to the sound.

Or you could try a touch association. If the child gets nervous they could rub two fingers together - like thumb and forefinger, or rub the hem or seam of their jeans, shirt etc. Something not too noticeable. I working on this with my youngest right now, and it's always good to have some sort of a sound/sensation focus for reinforcement.

Good luck!

 

[Forevryoung]

Or you could try a touch association. If the child gets nervous they could rub two fingers together - like thumb and forefinger, or rub the hem or seam of their jeans, shirt etc. Something not too noticeable. I working on this with my youngest right now, and it's always good to have some sort of a sound/sensation focus for reinforcement.

Good luck!

Be careful if you are going to do this- I had the same anxiety all through middle and high school. I would rub my hands (thumbs) together to calm myself down. Over time it grew into compulsively rubbing my hands together- it was a really hard issue to break and I was a senior in high school at the time.

 

[Starr W.]

My Aspie does breathing, but he picked up on self-coaching doing a group session over the summer. It seems to work for him, we've had only about 2 anxiety moments at school this year(it's his first yr of Jr High).

 

[KirstenB]

How about a fidget toy, like a stress ball?

 

[Luv Bunnies]

My 13 year old son w/Asperger's also has anxiety. His is triggered mostly by loud noises and dealing with new or stressful situations. Before teaching meditation or any other techniques, I would first talk to the boy's parents. They may have already tried various things that may or may not have worked. I think it would be good to discuss what's going on at school and see if the parents have any ideas or things that work for them at home. We took my son to a psychologist for a few years and always tried to share what we learned and what was working with his teacher. That way he could incorporate the same methods and things would be consistent at school and home.

 

[bookwormde]

Deep breathing is one of the best ways to begin to brake the anxiety cycle. Depending on age and interest meditation and eastern philosophy and techniques can be very helpful. An understanding of the yin-yang balance of things often helps and generally can be grasped at some level by very young Aspies. The core basis for this for perfectionists is to let them know that without mistakes there is no opportunity to learn the most challenging things and that in these challenging areas are where our special abilities really flower..

In many cases the societal stature of Aspies is self-viewed by their intellectual standing alone so any “mistake” puts them in “danger”.

I know that this is not something that you can “comfortably” do without the parents permission but educating people (children) about what it is to be on the spectrum and for them to understand the basis for the challenges and gifts that goes along with it is one of the greatest anxiety relievers and very often prevents potential damage to self esteem.

As has been said some type of “stim” which now and in the future that is reasonable socially acceptable is also very helpful.

bookwormde