Autism and Processing Grief: Feelings Change

All people experience grief. People with autism and people with learning disabilties are people first, and grief happens. The way they process their feelings and express them may need support and understanding in a way that is personal to them. My friend S, who has Down’s Syndrome, lost her mum a couple of years ago. She talks about her mum and I need her to know that feeling sad about losing her mum is still ok. I love this blog from Leah Kelly that explains how she is helping her autistic son cope with the intensity of emotions that come with grief. We can all learn from this.

Thirty Days of Autism

This post is a follow-up to http://30daysofautism.wordpress.com/2011/12/29/ladybugs-autism-empathy-and-processing-grief/  and also a very late response to a comment left there. It was started long ago… but due to some things we are dealing with as a family now… it has become relevant to post…

I know now that H feels things more deeply and intensely than many people seem to do – so I have sometimes wondered if he needs to almost shut down or close off the feelings when they become too much.

I have observed that his feelings can be as strong as, and almost seem like an extension of, his heightened sensory system. When he listens to music – he can hear all the sounds at the same time. When he gets a new Lego set – he opens all of the little bags with the sorted pieces – and spreads all of them on the table. I’ve…

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