Managing Anxiety in Autistic Children: Insights for Parents and Caregivers

Hope all the lovely parents of autistic kids in India are going strong. More power and patience to you all on this journey.

Here we continue our endeavors to empower you with all the practical knowledge on autism that parents with autistic kids in India should know This article will focus on the anxiety issues in autistic children and the proven ways of managing them effectively.

As someone parenting a child with autism, the last thing you would like to additionally experience is to see your child unnecessarily fear, worry, or feel uneasy due to their anxiety issues. It’s particularly hard on your part when you see your child unnecessarily nervous, aggressive, or desperately trying to avoid sounds or sights which are otherwise common occurrences.

We all should understand that autistic children don’t act in such a manner out of normal. When such occurrences appear to be occurring on a regular basis over a period of time, these expressions and patterns may represent anxiousness or anxiety. Parents with autistic children should recognize these signs early as this require timely action which can help reduce anxiety. The absence of timely action may intensify such issues further, which can cause problems and adversely affect the child’s development.

<span style="color: rgb(14, 16, 26);">Anxiety is nothing new in human life. It is also a common part of a child’s development process, but kids with ASD (autism spectrum disorder) are sometimes seen to experience this more often when compared to normal children.

Anxiety in Autistic Children

Anxiety in autistic children is found to affect around 40% of autistic people (Source: van Steensel et al., 2011) and is more commonly seen in kids and young people (CYP) with autistic disorder (Source: White et al., 2009).

Any form of worry, fear, uneasiness, or nervousness that happens to be occurring repeatedly can point toward anxiety. It can be mild to extreme in the way your child copes with it. A child with autism may experience anxiety in different situations such as thinking about leaving parents for school or when a stranger visits home etc. While occasional fear is ok and normal, when you are not able to control these symptoms in the child over a prolonged basis, it starts to affect their daily life which can lead to other comorbid conditions such as OCD (Obsessive compulsion disorder), ADHD (Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and depression. Hence, understanding its huge impact on the development of children with Autism, identifying anxiety symptoms, and handling it properly is very important.

According to some experts, autism and anxiety might not be two separate conditions as they sometimes overlap with each other. In fact, autistic kids may experience anxiety more than normal children. But with co-existing features, it gets difficult to recognize anxiety out of these two conditions at times. Hence, identifying anxiety issues in children with ASD can’t be done in the same way as that of adults.

Children who are least expressive won’t be able to describe their internal conditions (e.g. fear/worry) and in its place show anxiety through upsetting behaviors (physical or emotional). Others may just speak out but with extreme difficulty as they are unable to understand their own feelings and present them correctly.

Anxiety in autistic kids may show up differently at different situations or times such as:

General anxiety about the surrounding or situation
Social anxiety about gatherings and interactions
Phobias and fears about something not harmful like alarms, vacuum cleaners, toilet flush, etc.
Obsessions and the consequent compulsive/repetitive behaviors
Separation anxiety while going away from parents, such as while going to school etc
Extreme agony or tantrums on change in surrounding or routine.

What elements can trigger anxiety in autistic kids?

Some experts believe that kids with ASD have problems guessing upcoming events, worsening their sense of insecurity. While a constant fear of strangers is seen to be a core feature of autism in children. Other factors involved are sensory sensitivities (hypersensitivity to the crowd, noise, food, and light), poor verbal ability, and medical conditions (gastrointestinal problems, OCD, etc) which might trigger anxiety in kids with autism anytime.

What bad effect can have anxiety on ASD children?

Anxiety, if not attended to over a period of time, affects the overall development of autistic children. These effects can be different from child to child depending on various factors. For example, some children may

Show symptoms of social withdrawal and extreme uneasiness
Rigidly follow a fixed routine and thought process
Show symptoms of uneasiness during sleep or have difficulty sleeping
Experience frequent meltdowns or temper rise
Start hurting themselves like banging their head etc

What parents can do to manage anxiety in autistic kids

As someone parenting an autistic child, you can do various things, both proactive and reactive, which can help relieve your child's fears and worries, thus supporting them to handle their anxiety issues.

Some use full tips to consider

Know your child and understand what disturbs and causes fear in them. Try and minimize or eliminate these occurrences as much as possible.
If your child seems to be over-sensitive toward loud noise, it can be addressed by using ear muffs.
The use of weights and compression is believed to be highly effective for calming autistic children and better absorbing their surroundings.
Use calm inputs/ sensory toolkit /sensory integration activities to let the child relax. You can check our latest range of sensory integration tools for Autistic children, by clicking here.
Ensure your child is getting a disturb-free sleep. Weighted blankets are seen to be highly effective in reducing anxiety while sleeping.
Use of visual schedules (pictures to alert and prepare the child for a smooth transition). Check our specially made visual schedulers for Autistic children by clicking here.
Teach the child breathing and muscle relaxation exercises
Help the child learn to express and regulate emotions. Emotion or expression cards are seen to be useful for this. Click here to check our range of emotion cards for autistic children.
Rehearse the child going into situations that are distressing for him slowly, while always being beside them. This should be done gradually while giving time for the child to realize the harmlessness of the same.

Therapeutic interventions for managing Anxiety

There are different proven treatments and interventions for autistic children to help them better cope with anxiety. Some of them worth mentioning are cognitive-behavioral therapy, exposure therapy, psychotherapy, pharmacotherapy, educational therapy, physical therapy, etc. The latest study shows encouraging benefits through social integration therapy, play therapy, and dance therapy which are now increasingly being used by many professional therapists.

However, we must understand that special kids need a personalized assessment and multi-approach intervention plan under the supervision of a qualified therapist only.

If you can identify symptoms of anxiety early, then helping your child better manage such conditions will never be a problem. Hence the most important part is spending as much time as possible with your autistic child – your mere presence is a powerful enough therapy to help them calm down. Stay positive, others have gone through the same issues and strategies are always there to control them.

If you at any time feel your strategies are not working or can see prolonged signs of anxiety, do seek professional help immediately. You may also check our directory of autism therapy centers to find a professional near you.

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