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I picked this up at a well being workshop. I have heard Belinda Heaven talk twice. She tackles the subject with good humour.

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General overview and links to support page

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General overview and links to support page

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https://padlet.com/brmulhern/ttz2quna1qb7

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Autism spectrum condition (ASC)The severity of Autism spectrum condition (ASC) symptoms varies greatly, but all people with autism have some core symptoms in the areas of:

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Autism spectrum condition (ASC)The severity of Autism spectrum condition (ASC) symptoms varies greatly, but all people with autism have some core symptoms in the areas of:

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communication

thinking and Imagination

social interaction

sensory sensitivities

(autism Initiatives website)

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Do not assume they have understood just because they appear to - they may have spent years covering up their lack of understanding - just like a deaf person does not
realise they have misheard; an autistic person may not know they have not understood.
Autistic people take longer to understand what is being said to them - Give them thinking time.
They get confused when lots of information is given to them all at once. - break information into small chunks. Get them to explain what you have told them in their own words if necessary.
They may take things literally. -
avoid using idioms or metaphors.
They may also find it difficult to say what they want or explain what they mean.  - give them time and explain back to them in different words what they have said when clarity is needed
Some learn to use pictures, photos or signs to help them to let people know what they want to say. - visual diaries - flowcharts or symbols may help

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·         People with autism may find it difficult to work out what other people are thinking or feeling. - Help them by identifying and explaining feelings

·         It may be difficult for them to learn the ‘social rules’ about what to do with other people.  - Role play to help them practise scenarios.

·         They may feel anxious or fearful in unfamiliar places or with unfamiliar people because they find it difficult to make sense of what they see and hear. - Take them on dry runs to new places or show them photos of new people or places beforehand

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People with autism may think in a rigid way.  This means that they may find it difficult to consider alternatives or to accept when things are not as they expected.  - Tell them alternative plans

·         It can be difficult for them to think ahead and to guess what is going to happen next, which means that they may become scared or confused in some situations. - Use a diary or visual timetable

·         The patterns of thinking mean that people with autism often like routine and are good at setting up and following routines.

·         They may have fixed interests and be adept at focusing on detail.

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·         People with autism may experience some form of sensory sensitivity.

·         This can occur in one or more of the senses and can mean that a person may be extremely sensitive to certain sensory information (hypersensitive) or may appear not to notice some sensory stimuli (hyposensitive).

·         Common examples of things that can cause sensory difficulties are reflective surfaces, loud noises, fluorescent lighting and long sleeves. - In some cases you may have to avoid wearing highly patterned clothes or wearing perfume when working with autistic clients. Some autistic people have problems with strong flavours or textures of food, they may be OCD about having even numbers of meat balls etc . They may not be able to tolerate certain smells or even some clothes on their skin.

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Attachment problems vary in severity. Here are some common symptoms of attachment issues in adults.

Symptoms of adult attachment problems:

Difficulty handling conflict with other adults

Denies responsibility for wrong-doing

Controls others through manipulative or overtly hostile ways

Trouble showing empathy, remorse, trust or compassion with others

Lack of the ability to give or receive genuine affection or love. Relates sexual behavior to feelings of acceptance or closeness

Resistant to efforts on behalf of others to nurture or guide them

Lacks cause and effect thinking, especially when around normal thinking

Acts out negatively and provokes anger in others

Lies, steals, cheats and/or manipulates

Destructive, cruel, argumentative and/or hostile

Lacks self-control. Impulsive.

Superficially charming and engaging

Behaves in anger to protect feelings of sadness or fear

Feels isolated and depressed

Feels frustrated and stressed

Addictive behavior i.e. substance abuse, sex addiction, work addiction, gambling addiction, etc.

Behaves hyper-vigilantly and agitated and has trouble concentrating

Confused, puzzled and obsessed with finding answers

Feels blamed by family, friends, and professionals

Feels helpless, hopeless, and angry

Feels that helping professionals minimize his or her family problems

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"We know how it feels when no one understands you. We felt hopeless, sad, mad, scared, worried, and angry too. When you come to the Institute, everyone gets it. And then it's a feeling of hope."

- Dyan, IACD Treatment Parent

Most people don't know anything about attachment disorder. Few have heard of the term. Here are common questions people ask us. Please learn more from our resource library and reach us for further information about your own situation.

What is reactive attachment disorder?
What causes reactive attachment disorder?
Why do people with reactive attachment disorder seem to reject love?
Do I have reactive attachment disorder?
I've sought traditional therapy in the past. It didn't work for me. Why?
Does my child have reactive attachment disorder?
What's wrong with me, the parent?
I believe my child has reactive attachment disorder. We've gone to therapy in the past but it didn't work. Why?

What is reactive attachment disorder?

Attachment disorder is the inability to form loving and lasting relationships, to give or receive love or affection, form a conscience, or trust others. Attachment difficulties are on a continuum of disturbance that range from attachment issues all the way to reactive attachment disorder.
Reactive a ttachment disorder falls under many names and categories.
In children, these names include:

Reactive attachment disorder or RAD

Attachment disorder

Oppositional defiant disorder

Post-traumatic stress disorder

Childhood trauma

PDD

Pervasive development delay

In adults, these names include:

Borderline personality

Histrionic personality

Antisocial personality

Narcissistic personality

Dependent personality

Obsessive-compulsive disorder

What causes reactive attachment disorder?

The attachments we form as humans early on critically impact our entire lives. If we form healthy and consistent bonds early on, healthy attachments most often continue. When a child misses that window of opportunity, reactive attachment disorder is a likely result.

We are not typically born with reactive attachment disorder. Reactive attachment disorder occurs when a child misses the chance to bond with an adult. Sometimes, that happens before birth due to maternal drug or alcohol use. Other times, babies miss the chance to bond with their mothers due to illness on behalf of mother or baby. More often, reactive attachment disorder begins after birth and within the first three years of life.
Here are some situations that break a person's ability to attach:

Abuse

Neglect

Abandonment

Multiple changes in caregivers

Foster care

Adoption

Painful illness

Exposure to alcohol/drugs in utero

Maternal depression

Inconsistent daycare

Loss of a parent due to death or divorce

Emotionally distant parents

Why do people with reactive attachment disorder seem to reject love?

People with attachment issues desire love and acceptance. They just don't have the cognitive tools to reach that attachment with others. Here at IACD, we've learned that past experiences actually change our brain patterns. Simply put, their brains sabotage the very thing people with attachment issues want and need the most-love and acceptance.
How do people with attachment issues reorganize their brain patterns?
As children, we react to our environment-whether safe and secure or scary and sad. We store all those feelings, positive or negative, in the limbic system- or midbrain.

A person who spends the first few years of his or her life in a maladaptive (physically or emotionally painful) environment organizes his/her brain in a maladaptive style of survival behavior. One of the most common maladaptive behaviors is to avoid pain through survival skills.

Our right frontal lobe performs abstract reasoning. To avoid pain, a person with attachment issues reasons with denial rather than normal cause and effect thought. When their limbic systems trigger emotions of fear or sadness, the frontal lobe defends or denies those feelings as a form of protection. Their brain defenses protect them from painful feelings.
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Do I have reactive attachment disorder?

Attachment problems vary in severity. Here are some common symptoms of attachment issues in adults.
Symptoms of adult attachment problems:

Difficulty handling conflict with other adults

Denies responsibility for wrong-doing

Controls others through manipulative or overtly hostile ways

Trouble showing empathy, remorse, trust or compassion with others

Lack of the ability to give or receive genuine affection or love. Relates sexual behavior to feelings of acceptance or closeness

Resistant to efforts on behalf of others to nurture or guide them

Lacks cause and effect thinking, especially when around normal thinking

Acts out negatively and provokes anger in others

Lies, steals, cheats and/or manipulates

Destructive, cruel, argumentative and/or hostile

Lacks self-control. Impulsive.

Superficially charming and engaging

Behaves in anger to protect feelings of sadness or fear

Feels isolated and depressed

Feels frustrated and stressed

Addictive behavior i.e. substance abuse, sex addiction, work addiction, gambling addiction, etc.

Behaves hyper-vigilantly and agitated and has trouble concentrating

Confused, puzzled and obsessed with finding answers

Feels blamed by family, friends, and professionals

Feels helpless, hopeless, and angry

Feels that helping professionals minimize his or her family problems

I've sought traditional therapy in the past. It didn't work for me. Why?

Traditional therapy usually does not work for people with attachment issues due to their unique brain patterns. In traditional therapy, the adult client with a maladaptive upbringing usually functions more from his frontal lobe-the part of the brain that performs abstract reasoning. For them, traditional talk therapy tends to be more of a cognitive process. Basically, they never access and deal with their limbic-stored emotions. The more intelligent the client, the better they are at defending their stored up feelings of inadequacy. As a result, they tend to get frustrated by traditional therapy.
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Does my child have reactive attachment disorder?

As a parent of a child with reactive attachment disorder, you've probably known for a long time that your child's behavior is abnormal. Below are some warning signs.
Symptoms of attachment disorder in a child:

Does not trust adults in authority

Extreme need for control

Manipulative and hostile

No empathy, remorse, conscience, or compassion for others

No ability to receive or give genuine affection or love

Resists guidance and nurturing

Lacks cause and effect thinking

Provokes anger in others

Lies, steals, and cheats

Destructive and cruel

Argues excessively

Impulsive

Superficially charming

What's wrong with me, the parent?

If your child has attachment disorder, you probably feel frazzled, lonely, misunderstood, confused, guilty, angry, and scared. You are not alone. As a parent of a child with attachment disorder, you endure extreme stress on a regular basis. Your feelings are completely normal.
If you have a child with attachment disorder, you may feel:

Isolated

Depressed

Frustrated

Stressed

Hyper vigilant

Agitated

Frazzled

Foggy

Confused

Obsessed with finding answers

Blamed and misunderstood by everyone-therapists, social workers, friends, family

I believe my child has reactive attachment disorder. We've gone to therapy in the past but it didn't work. Why?

Most people don't understand attachment disorder, including traditional therapists. Kids with attachment disorder are very good at manipulating all the adults in their lives. In a traditional therapy session, the therapist tries to gain the child's trust. The child leads the therapist to believe he or she feels safe and that the parents, rather than the child, need the most help.

Read articles and studies about reactive attachment disorder
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"We know how it feels when no one understands you. We felt hopeless, sad, mad, scared, worried, and angry too. When you come to the Institute, everyone gets it. And then it's a feeling of hope." - Dyan, IACD Treatment Parent Most people don't know anything about attachment disorder.

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So you thought this was just relevant in kids...

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A Brief Overview of Adult Attachment Theory and Research | R. Chris Fraley

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Research on adult attachment is guided by the assumption that the same motivational system that gives rise to the close emotional bond between parents and their children is responsible for the bond that develops between adults in emotionally intimate relationships.

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Lots of books and training courses on attachment related neuroscience and practical help for teens and younger.

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Dr Margot Sunderland an author of over twenty books in the field of child mental health. Main titles are as follows:

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A good start to get up to speed with attachment issues

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Attachment - theory and critique - slater

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Watch this You tube vid and read the comments people have left.

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#AUTISM AND COMMUNICATION - #Aspergers And Communication | The Aspie World

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Autism and communication impacts people with Aspergers and ASD. This video goes over some details on the issues of communications with people with Autism. Hey guys thank you for watching my video *more stuff below, :)*.