Autistic Spectrum Disorder

ASD / AUTISM / Autistic Spectrum Condition / Asperger’s Syndrome

Defined by having difficulties with:
  • Understanding others
  • Social Relationships and Interaction
  • A restricted pattern of daily activities and interests
  • Sensory Processing
Here is more information from the NHS website:
 
  • Being autistic does not mean you have an illness or disease. It means your brain works in a different way from other people.
  • It's something you're born with or first appears when you're very young.
  • If you're autistic, you're autistic your whole life.
  • Autism is not a medical condition with treatments or a "cure". But some people need support to help them with certain things.
Autistic people may:
 
  • find it hard to communicate and interact with other people
  • find it hard to understand how other people think or feel
  • find things like bright lights, loud noises, textures overwhelming, stressful or uncomfortable
  • get anxious or upset about unfamiliar situations and social events
  • take longer to understand information
  • do or think the same things over and over
Autism is a spectrum. This means everybody with autism is different.

A mum's story

When I think of autism, I think of a paint shop offering a range of many colours from lights to darks. For me, each colour represents a behaviour or characteristic of autism and the tone of the colour is how deep the behaviour is felt.

So blue may represent social interaction, green understanding social rules, red the sensory environment, orange for inflexibility/rigidity.
For my 11-year-old son, who was diagnosed with ASD three years ago, his spectrum is light blue, because he has many friends and interacts well with family and can hold a conversation with a stranger.

His green spectrum runs a grassy green: he encounters some difficulty with social understanding, doesn’t always get it right, but experience and age is helping.

Sam shows deep dark red for sensory as he has difficulty with many textures: labels in clothes, tight jeans are a no-no, he is terrified of hand-dryers too. Certain foods can also be problematic – like yoghurt with bits of fruit in them.

Over the years, I’ve noticed that, although the shades may change for him, the colours are constant.

At Conatus, we offer two services to our families:

Diagnostic assessments and Therapeutic support.

Some parents have already decided before meeting with us that an assessment for ASD for their child is what they want to explore; other parents feel a “label” may inhibit and have indirect consequences on the child’s future. Our Clinicians will be more than happy to discuss your family’s needs at the first appointment.

Therapeutic support

An understanding of the unique and individual challenges associated with a diagnosis of an autism spectrum condition is crucial when looking to support young people with this diagnosis. Conatus psychological interventions begin with an assessment of the presented problem within the broader context of the diagnosis.

We aim to understand the factors that have brought the problem into being and what might be keeping it going, before looking to introduce strategies for change.
Young people on the autism spectrum often struggle with a range of issues associated with social communication, social interaction and flexibility, such as:
 
  • Making and keeping friends
  • Understanding social rules
  • Managing the sensory environment
In addition, individuals with social and communication conditions are vulnerable to developing ways of responding to stress and confusion which cause considerable concern, as follows:
 
  • Temper difficulties/"meltdowns"
  • Anxiety and low mood
  • Problems with self-regulation and self-care
Children with autism can find it very hard to communicate their experience of the world, and their coping behaviours can cause considerable frustration and upset for parents.

We can help to facilitate communication between parents and children that promotes support and positive relationships.
 
For further information and a friendly chat with our staff team please call 01926 678085
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