ASD: Presentations in the therapy room and the adaptations practitioners can make Eirian Teague

bEFORE WE START, AN INVITE TO reflect on your personal understanding of asd

Presentation aims To explore what is Autism Spectrum Disorder and recent developments related to the condition To discuss some of the common SIGNS of ASD To examine potential adaptations in practice that may be relevant to autistic young people or adults

What is ASD? Autism Spectrum Disorder (or Autism or ASD) is a relatively new medical diagnosis (only discovered in the 1940’s) It is a lifelong condition (but we did not always understand it to be so) It is a condition charecterised by the ‘dyad of impairments’ (DSM-5)

Common signs of asd (ASDINFOWALES) Social Interaction and verbal communication impaired Imagination, ideas and creativity are reduced Gestures and non verbal communication are limited Narrow range of interests, routines and repetitive behaviours Sensory responses are unusual

Potential adaptations for practice A caveat: not all adaptations may be relevant for all people with asd

Challenges in identifying emotions: alexithymia ‘. . . Is a psychological construct to describe people who experience difficulty in identifying and describing their emotional states . . . ‘(Attwood & Garnett, 2016) Activities to support the identification and connection of behavior to emotion may be beneficial

Sensory profiling Activities to support to identification of alerting or calming activities (Inc. resource) Can support the implementation of coping strategies within therapy (Moat, 2013)

Use of direct language Language is often debated within ASD support groups (for example: whether you have autism or are autistic) Direct language is always preferred as it allows for less processing demand (Arciuli & Brock, 2014) Direct language also removes the need for interpreting non-verbal communication (Paxton & Estay, 2007)

Mindfulness: adapted use of visualization

Where to go if you identify the traits?

18 and over The Integrated Autism Service (A national joint NHS and social services initiative to provide diagnosis and support for autistic adults and their families)

Under 18 Subject to local referral processes (please check the information of your local neurodevelopmental service).