Stress-Management for Children with High-Functioning Autism
"I need some stress management techniques to use on my very anxious daughter with autism (high functioning). Thanks in advance." Children with High-Functioning Autism (HFA) are prone to greater stress in their daily lives than their “typical” peers. Social interaction – especially with more than one peer in which the HFA child has to identify, translate, and respond to social and emotional cues and cope with unexpected noise levels – inevitably increases stress to a point where his or her coping mechanisms may collapse. A “stress assessment” (based on the knowledge of HFA) will help parents and teachers determine what are the natural and distinctive stressors for the child. Subsequently, an effective stress-management program can be designed. When there are concerns about an HFA youngster’s stress level, a stress assessment can be conducted in order to better understand why the stress is occurring and to determine the most effective interventions to address it.