Rising Anxiety?

[cyberseraphim]

I think this probably another 'How long is a piece of string' questions but has anyone else noticed that anxiety levels rise in an autistic child as their receptive/expressive language improves? I am finding this. Ds1 now understands concepts like going to the dentist in advance and is highly anxious whereas when he did not understand, he was quite passive.

ps The 'rising anxiety' is probably me as well as I get worried when I see DS1 getting worried which does not help!

I wonder if it's to do with engaging with the world more? I mean, the more language he understands and uses, the more he is engaging with the confusing, unpredictable social world out there, no wonder he gets more anxious.

It's so hard not to get worried when we see them becoming anxious, or (in my case) to worry that something will make him anxious. I wish sometimes I were a cowishly calm person who never worried about anything...

I have 2 dd's on the spectrum, dd1 has Aspergers, great language and very good understanding, dd2 has ASD and very poor language and understanding. Dd1 is much harder work at the moment as she suffers from anxiety, she gets anxious about anything (gp visits, change in routine etc..), its deffently getting worse as she gets older.

There is a fair bit of child development theory which says that children's understanding of the world is built around their language skills. They literally use inner language to organise their thinking. With that in mind it would make sense that a child understanding more language could be more aware and therefore more anxious.

Yes - I think that all makes sense. It is a kind of clutching at straws analysis and always trying to see something positive about changes ( he was the most un anxious child in the past). But yes overall he has much more understanding of what is happening to him so that must be a good thing.

I have one son (high functioning Autism).

He's 9 and right now, his anxiety levels are sky high.

It's about .... body image/going out of the house/school/other kids and how they look at him/his ears/his feet/is legs..........everything! And, there's no avenue to turn to..... just lots of leafelets and people shaking their heads and looking at me with a "we're not sure what to do" attitude.

Help!!

I'm going to have one very distressed and unhappy teenager in a few years if this isn't sorted out.

Yes, I see the same. DS blisfully unaware in his own mute world is displaying much more negative behaviours as his self-awareness is growing and his understanding of language/expectations and the increasing knowledge that he is always 'getting it wrong'!