In contrast, some high-functioning autistic people almost resemble “neurotypical” individuals. Imagine living your whole life believing you are different, when an early diagnosis could have reassured you: “you’re autistic and your symptoms are normal.”. Wearing a mask is a new life skill that will help keep your child and others safe and healthy. "With our kids with autism, one of the things that we do a lot in therapy is we use social stories as a way to teach them. Masking or camouflaging is an artificially "performed" social behaviour. At other times, autistic people may not realise they are masking. Explaining to children why they need to wear a mask can be a difficult task, but experts say parents and caregivers of special needs children face additional challenges. Masking comes at a huge price. For many of them, masking is experienced as an obligation, rather than a choice. An academically and mainstream published Author, Kieran is an International Public Speaker, whose essays at www.theautisticadvocate.com have been read by over a million people. For example, in a study last year, researchers looked at 114 boys and 114 girls with autism. The book was released long before her autism diagnosis. Many simply get better at hiding it! They often practice in front of a mirror. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. If, for example, someone has intense autism traits but tends not to show it in her behavior, the disparity means she is masking. As the coke can example suggests, there is a price to be paid for masking, whether at the time or much later. We hope you enjoyed this article. Typical girls and boys play differently. Masking in Autism: Social Camouflaging | Autism Expert Advices They do not fit in anywhere — at work, with friends, even in their family. The coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak is keeping parents and kids home — and away from others — to help stop the spread of the virus. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. I would often walk around with my head in a book and I would read at least one book a day. Whatever arguments there may be for consenting adults – children should not be required to wear masks to prevent the spread of Covid-19. We are in uncharted territory and especially so with the possible implications for our children. BUY NOW Autistic Masking: The Basics and Beyond – £15 Autistic children may have multiple symptoms that impact their daily life. Because ASD is a spectrum, every individual with autism differs from another. Holmbeck, G. N., Jandasek, B., Sparks, C., Zukerman, J., & Zurenda, L. (2008). It is being so tired you can’t move, you can’t think, so tired you can sleep for days, so tired there is nothing left. I hope that, through reading this piece, parents of children with autism will learn more about masking, and will also be given hope to keep pushing for a diagnosis for their children who could possibly be on the spectrum. Some feel relationships they develop while masking is false because they are based on deception, and others “feel that by hiding their autism characteristics, they are betraying the community of autism as a whole.” Some of them even fear greater public awareness of masking because it may out them. Home » Autism Health and Medical Info » Blending Into the Crowd: What is Autism Masking? A person who is low functioning tends to have severe communication delays and behavioral challenges. He/she might rehearse their responses or rehearse questions to ask to form a conversation. The character behind The Mask is a man who is constantly ridiculed in his everyday life. They analyzed the children’s scores on the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) and on parent reports of autism traits and daily living skills, such as getting dressed. From a very early age I was ‘different’ to other children. Cost. Can you understand how hard masking is to maintain? And yet these motions which can include flapping hands, spinning, scratching and head-banging can also readily ‘out’ these people as having autism. Your Hosts. Masking for children with autism Ellen Lengyell, autism spectrum disorder consultant with McMaster Children’s Hospital at the Ron Joyce Children’s Health Centre We are all living with a new reality due to COVID-19, with lots of changes to our daily lives and routines. It is often motivated by a sense of alienation and threat and frequently represents an attempt to avoid ostracism and attacks. Masking is when we mimic habits, body language, and language of non-autistic people in order to fit in. Other findings indicate camouflaging or masking may lead to stress, exhaustion, identity confusion, and a high risk of suicidality. To hide the full extent of her anxiety when she is “shaking inside” because, say, an event is not starting on time. Masking is a phenomenon where adults on the autistic spectrum practice and perform certain behaviors in order to appear normal. But the cost benefit analysis is entirely different for adults and children – particularly younger children. Many of them try to confine their stimming to times when they are alone or in a safe place, such as with family. A Look at Biomedical Treatment for Autism, Autism and Eating Disorders: What to look out for, Everything You Need to Know About Gender and Autism, Autism and Sanfilippo Syndrome: a Heart-Wrenching Journey to Diagnosis, OCD and Autism: Unpicking Children’s Behavior in a Dual Diagnosis, Navigating the World of Medication with ASD. First, the incident. The researchers confirmed that, at least among women with high intelligence quotients (IQ), masking is common. Social camouflaging in autism: Is it time to lose the mask? This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. Kids with special needs, such as autism, can experience sensory issues that make it more difficult for them to tolerate a mask. & Mandy, W. (2020). This person is autistic card. Of course, these two descriptions are very generic, and many people will have a mix of ASD traits. Masking of autistic characteristics leads to negative outcomes, such as exhaustion, lack of support, and feeling like your true self is being hidden. Whatever arguments there may be for consenting adults – children should not be required to wear masks to prevent the spread of Covid-19. I don’t chew my clothes or … They need to teach children and adults that different is OK, different can be good, different is nothing to be afraid or ashamed of. In many cases of the autism spectrum, that mask is a neurotypical (“normal”) one. Though mask-wearing is a recommendation, and in many areas a requirement, to slow the spread of COVID-19, it’s important to recognize the specific needs and challenges of members of the autism community who may be impacted by significant sensory sensitivities. This phenomenon has come to be called ‘social camouflaging’, also referred to as ‘masking’, ‘compensation’ and ‘pretending to be normal’ (Hull et al., 2017; Lai et al., 2017; Livingston, Colvert, et al., 2019). However, it seems masking has a more internalizing effect among girls; with many stating their experience of masking has been emotionally taxing and that they feel they embody a persona outside of themselves. The definition is necessarily broad, allowing for any effort to mask an autism feature, from suppressing repetitive behaviors known as stimming or talk about obsessive interests to pretending to follow a conversation or imitating neurotypical behavior. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40489-020-00197-9, Mandy, W. (2019). Such findings offer a vivid reminder of the daily challenges people on the autism spectrum face: they show us the pervasive difficulties of being autistic in a world that is shaped by the non-autistic majority. When children with autism rely on chewies and other oral sensory aides, wearing a mask will prohibit them from accessing this self-soothing strategy. People with autism do it consciously as well as subconsciously. Boys with autism tend to obsess about things such as taxis, maps or U.S. presidents, but girls on the spectrum are often drawn to animals, dolls or celebrities — interests that closely resemble those of their typical peers and so fly under the radar. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 49(6), 2389–2402. Unfortunately, despite evidence of autistic traits from personal accounts and research studies, quite often, girls receive misdiagnosis of mental health problems such as personality disorders or eating disorders rather than autism. __CONFIG_colors_palette__{"active_palette":0,"config":{"colors":{"3e1f8":{"name":"Main Accent","parent":-1}},"gradients":[]},"palettes":[{"name":"Default Palette","value":{"colors":{"3e1f8":{"val":"var(--tcb-skin-color-0)"}},"gradients":[]},"original":{"colors":{"3e1f8":{"val":"rgb(19, 114, 211)","hsl":{"h":210,"s":0.83,"l":0.45}}},"gradients":[]}}]}__CONFIG_colors_palette__, __CONFIG_colors_palette__{"active_palette":0,"config":{"colors":{"f3080":{"name":"Main Accent","parent":-1},"f2bba":{"name":"Main Light 10","parent":"f3080"},"trewq":{"name":"Main Light 30","parent":"f3080"},"poiuy":{"name":"Main Light 80","parent":"f3080"},"f83d7":{"name":"Main Light 80","parent":"f3080"},"frty6":{"name":"Main Light 45","parent":"f3080"},"flktr":{"name":"Main Light 80","parent":"f3080"}},"gradients":[]},"palettes":[{"name":"Default","value":{"colors":{"f3080":{"val":"rgb(23, 23, 22)","hsl":{"h":60,"s":0.02,"l":0.09}},"f2bba":{"val":"rgba(23, 23, 22, 0.5)","hsl_parent_dependency":{"h":60,"s":0.02,"l":0.09,"a":0.5}},"trewq":{"val":"rgba(23, 23, 22, 0.7)","hsl_parent_dependency":{"h":60,"s":0.02,"l":0.09,"a":0.7}},"poiuy":{"val":"rgba(23, 23, 22, 0.35)","hsl_parent_dependency":{"h":60,"s":0.02,"l":0.09,"a":0.35}},"f83d7":{"val":"rgba(23, 23, 22, 0.4)","hsl_parent_dependency":{"h":60,"s":0.02,"l":0.09,"a":0.4}},"frty6":{"val":"rgba(23, 23, 22, 0.2)","hsl_parent_dependency":{"h":60,"s":0.02,"l":0.09,"a":0.2}},"flktr":{"val":"rgba(23, 23, 22, 0.8)","hsl_parent_dependency":{"h":60,"s":0.02,"l":0.09,"a":0.8}}},"gradients":[]},"original":{"colors":{"f3080":{"val":"rgb(23, 23, 22)","hsl":{"h":60,"s":0.02,"l":0.09}},"f2bba":{"val":"rgba(23, 23, 22, 0.5)","hsl_parent_dependency":{"h":60,"s":0.02,"l":0.09,"a":0.5}},"trewq":{"val":"rgba(23, 23, 22, 0.7)","hsl_parent_dependency":{"h":60,"s":0.02,"l":0.09,"a":0.7}},"poiuy":{"val":"rgba(23, 23, 22, 0.35)","hsl_parent_dependency":{"h":60,"s":0.02,"l":0.09,"a":0.35}},"f83d7":{"val":"rgba(23, 23, 22, 0.4)","hsl_parent_dependency":{"h":60,"s":0.02,"l":0.09,"a":0.4}},"frty6":{"val":"rgba(23, 23, 22, 0.2)","hsl_parent_dependency":{"h":60,"s":0.02,"l":0.09,"a":0.2}},"flktr":{"val":"rgba(23, 23, 22, 0.8)","hsl_parent_dependency":{"h":60,"s":0.02,"l":0.09,"a":0.8}}},"gradients":[]}}]}__CONFIG_colors_palette__. 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