Autistic burn-out is extreme long-term exhaustion and overwhelm triggered over time, where the stress of coping with life’s demands exceeds the autistic person’s ability to cope.
They may lose the ability to carry out everyday tasks, lose skills they usually have, and experience increased sensory difficulties.
Every day, we have to manage sensory discomfort, overwhelm, social challenges, executive dysfunction, exhaustion from masking, and the social confusion that comes with being autistic. It is no wonder we are often exhausted.
Recovering from autistic burn-out requires rest, reducing demands, taking time out, prioritising self-care, setting boundaries, and seeking adjustments.
It is important not only to offer us support, but also to advocate for us. Having an awareness of the stigma and discrimination that we face in society is the key to providing good support and managing burn-out.
Consider the following strategies to support your autistic learners:
- Learn about autistic masking and try to adapt the way you interact so that the autistic person does not have to suppress their autistic traits.
- It is helpful to make surroundings as autism-friendly as possible and ensure that the responsibility for this does not fall to the individual.
- Focus on the person’s strengths and qualities where they excel. Reassure them about how they are important to their life and the lives of others around them.
- It is important to try and understand an autistic person’s “triggers” to help them in removing themselves from stressful situations. Accept their experience and validate their feelings and needs.
By creating a supportive environment, you can help autistic learners to recognise and celebrate their strengths.
One way to adapt yourself to autistic-specific needs is to adjust to an autistic person’s preferred way of communication. This involves respecting their communication preferences, whether they feel more comfortable with verbal, written, or visual communication.
To help those experiencing symptoms of autistic burn-out, it is essential to offer genuine support. Advocating for and paving the way for autistic people to back themselves is important to ensure they receive the support they deserve to overcome burn-out.
The bucket analogy
It is useful to describe autistic burn-out by visualising an autistic child or young person each having a bucket slowly being filled up by various events, social and sensory experiences throughout the day. This bucket is already almost half-full in the morning due to their neurotype.
Too many activities, too much change, too much sensory stimuli, and too many demands will fill the bucket very quickly. When too many demands and events exceed the capacity of the bucket, it starts to overflow or leak out – this is when meltdowns or shutdowns may happen.
It is not the child or young person’s fault. It is because the stimuli from the environment and people around them have exceeded their capacity – the energy and overwhelm has nowhere else to go.
Supporting your autistic students to find ways to try and keep their levels below “overflow” is vital.
Tips for supporting autistic students in the classroom
Consider the following to support autistic students in the classroom who are experiencing burn-out:
- Be flexible throughout the school environment.
- Make the most of any sensory resources autistic students may benefit from.
- Greater differentiation within lessons may be needed to suit needs in the moment.
- Give time out to regulate – consider the space or environment that best meets their needs (for example: some may prefer a run around a field, others may prefer a quiet den or time in the library).
- Support with communication – if autistic students are feeling tired, anxious, depressed and in sensory overload, then their capacity to communicate will be impaired and they may need extra support such as visuals within lessons.
- Consider more time doing subjects they enjoy that support their personal interests if this can be accommodated.
Finally, discuss with autistic students what may help them for a particular lesson, rest of the day, week, or term – and remember what may work one day may not work the next.
For some students, this may be more difficult if they struggle with alexithymia – a neuropsychological phenomenon characterised by challenges in recognising, expressing, feeling, and describing one's emotions – and cannot identify how they or others are feeling. Some students may also have difficulty interpreting their interoception signals (internal bodily sensations) in which case further support may be needed in this area.
- Joe Fautley is an autistic and neurodivergent advocate who currently works full time at the National Children’s Bureau. Outside of his day job, Joe has more than 10 years of experience in SEND advocacy work including co-delivering training across England and presenting at conferences. Joe features an episode of the SENDcast Podcast, in which he talks openly about his personal experiences and provides advice for professionals. Visit https://thesendcast.com/autism-my-personal-experiences-and-advice-for-professionals. Read his previous articles for SecEd via www.sec-ed.co.uk/authors/joe-fautley
Further reading from SecEd
- Standing in the shoes of your autistic students: www.sec-ed.co.uk/content/best-practice/standing-in-the-shoes-of-your-autistic-students
- Autism: Understanding PDA: www.sec-ed.co.uk/content/best-practice/autism-understanding-pda
- Autism: 47 small ideas that make a big difference: www.sec-ed.co.uk/content/best-practice/autism-47-small-ideas-that-make-a-big-difference
- Autism and ADHD: Addressing three barriers to learning: www.sec-ed.co.uk/content/best-practice/autism-and-adhd-addressing-three-barriers-to-learning
- Neurodivergent students: 10 strategies for schools: https://www.sec-ed.co.uk/content/best-practice/neurodivergent-students-10-strategies-for-schools
- Teaching neurodiverse students (SecEd Podcast episode): www.sec-ed.co.uk/content/podcasts/the-seced-podcast-teaching-neurodiverse-students