Does autistic burnout look like this?

[Ficklebricks]

DD13 is struggling, but she has a lot of medical issues so I'm not sure if it's autistic burnout or something else.

She has huge mood swings, cries a lot, struggles with the demands of school although she does well academically. She goes almost non verbal some days. By that I mean she can answer questions and speak but she finds it difficult, so she chooses to speak less. She is extremely exhausted all the time and has constant nausea .

Is long term nausea part of burnout?

Also the bit that confuses me is that she has good times too. She can be miserable for 3 days then suddenly have a great day where she's back to her old self, really bubbly and happy. Overall I would say she has more bad days than good.

Does burnout have these ups and downs or is it more of a constant down?

Burnout can lead to nausea. People can have better days and worse days.

What support is DD receiving?

When talking to professionals it can’t help to frame things as can’t rather than choosing not to. Some professionals latch on to the wording and believe DC is making an active choice.

This was published today (I think) by a group of professionals and has a page on burnout and how it may present- it sums up my experience with my son last year so well and also our experience in the months since then.

https://barrierstoeducation.co.uk/what-is-burnout/

Thanks for the replies. She doesn't get much support unfortunately. The GP tried to refer to CAMHS for her anxiety and they rejected the referral with no reason given. They gave us a leaflet on a local charity instead. The charity won't accept a self referral until we have been seen by the school mental health team. However the school isnt engaging with us, the SENco just ignores emails and she is impossible to pin down.

I sent her diagnosis report along with a list of requested adjustments and they have been ignored.

At the end of summer term before her diagnosis we pinned them down and managed to get her access to the sensory room when she needs it. However she becomes non verbal and can't communicate enough to ask to go so it's not been very useful so far.

Someone pointed me to the IASS service and I'm waiting on a caseworker to call me back.

I have booked her in for counseling but it costs a fortune paying private and I'm angry because none us should have to do that! If we broke our leg would we expect to pay for the cast?!

Why oh why won't CAMHs see kids who need them. (I'm sure we are all in the same shitty boat here!)

If the SENCO is ignoring you, go higher.

Request an EHCNA yourself. On their website, IPSEA has a model letter you can use.

Copy in the headteacher to the senco emails to see if that gets a response. Do an EHCP referral yourself (your local council website should gave a link under their send section). Burnout for my daughter was withdrawal, mood swings with meltdowns, not being able to go to school and an inability to concentrate, a loss of some functional skills. If your emails still go ignored follow the school's complaint policy. You just have to keep making a noise unfortunately. Good luck.

I've just sent this to the head of provision at my sons school. Really useful to explain to the mainstream staff as we have this with some yr11 kids.