Low Arousal and Autism (part four)

A 'Low Arousal' approach to Autism? What does it mean? An article in four parts.

In this final part, we will explore activity....and coping dust!

A low arousal approach to activity means that the load or demand that is placed on a person in terms of the requirement to do something e.g. learn, socialise, play, complete, wait, start, stop, organise etc. is monitored and managed.

All of these things have the capacity to raise the arousal level in a person with autism. Especially if they are from someone else's ‘important’ list! Low arousal in terms of activity means a structured, balanced programme that keeps the person on an even keel. Now a few words about… coping dust.

It’s a bit like magic dust and a person with autism has a little bag of it. Bit by bit though that bag of dust gets used up. In really stressful times and places - it might be a new activity, or a place/event where something went really badly wrong last time, or it might be to do with a particular person or the sheer number of people - that dust gets used up quick!

What does the dust do? Well the person with autism can sprinkle a bit on themselves and low and behold they look just like a person without autism. This could take lots of forms:-

• Cool and calm
• Funny and sociable
• Attentive and learning
• Connected and communicating

(There’s an important note here - having autism does NOT mean you can’t do the above, it just means you might have to work a whole lot harder to achieve and maintain them).

The dust does a great job of helping the person with autism look like the folks without autism that have them outnumbered.

What happens when the dust is gone? Well the person will need to get some more and the only way that they can do that is by recuperating someplace. It might be that they do something quite, (what some people call) ’autistic”. Something with special relevance to them. It might be time spent alone, somewhere free from the social demands of the Big World people. It might be an activity that requires so much focus people seem to disappear; like magic (for a bit).

People like you and me (if we don’t have autism) have a whole sack full of coping dust. It helps us self-regulate, be self-aware, self-advocate and hang onto our resilience. We don’t particularly need to do anything special to top up the sack. That’s another way we are different. People with autism need an active method of filling up with that magic coping dust. Our dust gets replenished without anything conscious or purposeful needing to take place.

For someone on the spectrum charging the bank of coping dust might be a very individual thing:-

 ? Flapping, twirling, jumping...

 ? Seeking out a ‘sensory special activity or space’

 ? Acting something out

 ? A favourite game, activity, joke, story... or special interest

Whatever ‘behaviour’ does the trick it needs to be respected and timetabled into a balanced, structured programme that supports and protects the person.

Hmm… a balanced, structured programme - a tool might help here… well we’ve got one! Take a look at this video and learn all about Positive Programme Planning and low arousal approaches to activity.