All of us can feel anxious at one time or another, however, neurodivergent people are more likely to experience anxiety. This is not because their neurotype (for example, Autism, ADHD, etc) causes anxiety. Instead, Neurodivergent people experience greater challenges in communicating with neurotypicals, and predicting and understanding a neurotypical world that may not be well adapted to their needs. This mismatch is what can lead neurodivergent people to experience more anxiety than neurotypical people.
The exact causes of anxiety for neurodivergent people are as unique as the person themselves. However, some common causes of anxiety are:
The University of Newcastle Neurodisability research group has produced a helpful leaflet of simple strategies to try when feeling anxious. You can access it for free here - ‘Tips for Managing Anxiety’
The Cerebra Network have also produced a number of parent guides, including one on anxiety in children with an Intellectual disability or communication difficulties.
The National Autism Implementation Team (NAIT) have produced an excellent guide for professionals on anxiety related school absence. Similarly, Enquire have produced a guide for parents and carers. Lastly the Autism Toolbox has great resources for teachers of autistic students experiencing anxiety.
There are also lots of resources that may be helpful for any young person experiencing anxiety, including neurodivergent people. NHS Fife’s MoodCafe has easy to read information on anxiety as well as links to relaxation exercises for children. At Access Therapies Fife you can access courses with strategies to help you or your child manage anxiety, as well as a range of other courses and resources designed to support mental wellbeing. Your child can also access Fife’s groups for children experiencing anxiety; GLOW and SHINE.
NHS Lothian’s CAMHS has produced a helpful leaflet giving ideas on how to Help Children with their worries. It includes some good methods of how to discuss worries with children, and what to say.
Young Minds can help recognise signs of anxiety that may be present and can offer advice about ways to help including different services that are available. They have a useful video showing how anxiety can build over a day as well as others from young people who are living with anxiety.
If you child has a diagnosis of a specific neurodevelopmental condition, it may be helpful to access one of our groups on specific neurodevelopmental conditions. While the scope of the groups is much broader than anxiety, they include information on how and why some things often cause children with that neurodevelopmental condition anxiety, and the strategies that are most likely to be helpful.
Challenging behaviour refers to the set of behaviours people may display when they feel their needs are not being met. This behaviour may include hurting others, self-injurious behaviour or destructive behaviour to name just a few, and can lead to people being excluded or unable to participate in things they enjoy for their own or others’ safety.
The term “Challenging Behaviour” is most often used to describe this behaviour, and so we use this term on the website as this is what people will recognise and look for. However, it is important to know that this term is misleading, as it can imply the problem is the behaviour and so puts the emphasis on the person doing the behaviour being challenging and needing to change. In fact, these behaviours occur when:
And
As such, a person whose behaviour is challenging to others is often highly distressed, and may feel powerless, ignored, threatened or overwhelmed. Therefore, people displaying challenging behaviour are in need of help to understand and meet their needs, rather than being blamed for behaviour.
Anyone can display challenging behaviour. However, some neurodivergent people are more likely to experience the barriers that can lead to challenging behaviour (such as barriers to communication, mismatch in expectations or environment, etc), meaning some neurodivergent people may be more likely to display challenging behaviour as a result.
Supporting a person displaying challenging behaviours requires everyone to consider what the person is trying to communicate with their behaviour, and find ways of anticipating and meeting the person’s needs. As such, most supports are based on the environment (and the people in it) changing, rather than trying to change the person.
The Challenging Behaviour Foundation has lots of helpful resources for parents and professionals including videos and quick help guides. They can offer help for families of children and young people with severe learning disabilities whose behaviour may challenge through practical information, support, workshops and advocacy.
Parent- Containment and Managing Challenging Behaviour created by Fife CAMHS is an online workshop providing advice on positive relationships, containment methods for emotions and helpful strategies for managing behaviour.
The Cerebra Network has a range of helpful resources and guides for parents and professionals, including one on Challenging behaviour.
It is important to consider that Challenging Behaviour can sometimes be in response to pain, especially when a person struggles to communicate when or where they are in pain. Not all challenging behaviour is a reaction to pain, but pain should always be considered as a possible cause, especially when a behaviour is new, previously associated with pain, or occurs without any clear triggers. It may be helpful to ask your GP to see your family member to check for signs of tenderness or ill-health (such as digestive issues, ear infections, etc) and for your family member to have regular dental check-ups to identify and prevent dental pain. The Cerebra Centre also have a guide for parents how pain can affect children and their behaviour, and information on the FLACC pain scale which can help identify and measure pain in children who struggle to communicate.
If your family member’s behaviour is starting to put themselves or other people at risk of harm, please contact the Fife Social Work Contact Centre on 03451 551503. Fife Social Work are there to help families experiencing difficulties (often through no fault of their own) by identifying council or 3rd sector sources of support funding.
If your child’s behaviour is putting themselves or others at risk of serious harm right now, contact the emergency services.
Managing and understanding emotions can be challenging for anyone. For neurodivergent people, this can be even more challenging because:
Resources for children and young people
Young children are usually dependent on people round them to support their regulation throughout the day, through providing daily and social routines, adapting the physical environment, actions people take or words they use and providing predictable and desirable moments in the day. It can take some time for anyone to develop self-regulation strategies. This can take longer for neurodivergent people.
While there are lots of resources to support children and young people with understanding and managing emotions, it is important to also look at what is causing these emotions. Other topics on this website (such as communication, school issues, sensory differences, trauma and neurodevelopmentally appropriate expectations [link]) all discuss potential causes of distress and how to reduce this. By understanding and tackling the causes of distress, the supports discussed below are more likely to be effective for the young person, and the emphasis is that everyone needs to work on this difficulty, not just the young person.
Emotion Regulation is an online workshop created by NHS Fife CAMHS to assist in learning how to respond rather than react to emotions, and to help manage emotions effectively.
Autism Help has a great article discussing how to teach children with autism about emotions. It focuses on helping them understand both their own and other people’s emotions. Another article discusses Basic Emotions and How to Explain Them. This suggests different teaching tools that can be used to help understand and identify basic emotions.
Behaviour Matters offers some excellent insight into self-regulation of emotions through why it is important and what strategies can be used to help assist children including games to get them involved in learning and developing skills. Along similar lines is the website Sensory Surroundings which includes a helpful video entitled 5 Incredibly Fun Games to Teach Self-Regulation.
The Autism Toolbox provides guidance for school staff about emotional regulation and anxiety.
There are a number of short videos and suggestions on how to ‘Help your child cope with their feelings’ on the CBeebies website. Ideal for younger children, these suggestions can help your child cope when they’re feeling angry, anxious or simply over excited by getting creative, making noise or even using mindfulness as a useful tool.
Everyone experiences periods when they feel low, often in relation to things that are happening in their lives. This is understandable and natural and does not necessarily lead to depression. Often, the passing of time, changes in circumstance, doing things you enjoy, and being around people who will help and offer support can help to improve mood levels.
Neurodivergent people can be more prone to experience low mood, or depression. As with anxiety [link], this is not a side effect of being neurodivergent, but due to the challenges that can come with being neurodivergent in a neurotypical world. For example, feeling different to everyone else; struggling with classwork because you can’t read, write or focus; getting into trouble without realising or meaning to; struggling to make or keep friendships; or not understanding people can all lead a person to feel upset and alone.
It can therefore be helpful to browse our content or attend one of our groups to understand you/your child’s neurodivergence, and identify what may be causing you/them difficulty. In particular, it is important to remember neurodivergent people may not find some things enjoyable that many other people find enjoyable. For example, an autistic child may find attending a birthday party stressful and upsetting, or a child with ADHD may find being read to frustrating. Similarly, a neurodivergent person may take great pleasure in things you don’t, for example, being really active, lining things up, climbing, watching something over and over, sensory play, doing research on a favoured topic, or being held tightly. Understanding the way you/your child experiences the world may help you to identify what brings them joy and what brings them sadness, so you can help build more enjoyable activities into their day. Ambitious about Autism have an excellent video entitled Know your normal which looks at reducing the stigma around mental health and helping young people with autism work out what their ‘normal’ is as everyone is different.
Often, neurodivergent people find it easier to communicate with and understand other neurodivergent people. For neurodivergent people who enjoy spending time with others and are feeling isolated, exploring clubs designed to cater for the needs of neurodivergent people, such as Hyperclub, Autism Rocks, Disability Sport Fife , or the One Stop Shop’s Autistic Adult’s Peer Support Network could offer opportunities for connection with like-minded peers. Similarly, many people get enjoyment from feeling like you are good at something, and from physical activity which releases natural endorphins. Taking part in clubs with a shared interest (such as Lego, video or tabletop games, TV programmes, etc) or sport can be a great way for individuals to do what they enjoy. Many schools run lunchtime or after school sports or interest clubs which your child may be able to access, and which have staff that know your child and understand their needs.
Two of the best ways to improve your mood and lower stress are physical exercise and getting out into nature. Some neurodivergent people are very active and sporty and thrive off any opportunity to take part in sport, run about, punch a punching bag, or bounce on a trampoline. However, even for neurodivergent people less inclined to be outdoors or energetic, going for a regular walk can help to boost mood. For some older children, giving them responsibility (such as walking the dog, or going to the shops to get something) helps give the activity purpose, rather than walking for the sake of walking. NHS Fife’s Moodcafe has lots more information on low mood, and resources for adults, children and young people experiencing low mood or depression. In particular R u sad? is an excellent leaflet and guide to what to do if you or someone you know is feeling sad.
Created by NHS Fife’s CAMHS Things To Try contains useful, easy to understand information aimed at parents about low mood and depression in children and what to think about in relation to responding to it and what can be done to help as next steps. They also offer guidance of where to go if parents feel they need extra support and have a handy workshop that can be undertaken. It may also be helpful to explore the other groups and resources offered by NHS Fife. Anxiety and low mood often go together, so groups aimed to help with anxiety can sometimes also help with low mood too. Equally, groups for parents aimed at helping you understand your child’s particular neurodevelopmental condition may also be helpful in identifying what could be behind your child’s low mood, and what might help.
Young Minds offers great advice and further resources for when a child may be feeling low or struggling with depression. With helpful guidance on what to look out for, what help can be offered and when professional help may be needed, there is something for everyone. They even have a helpful video that discusses depression and advice from both parents and young people who have been through periods of low mood.
Raising Children - an Australian based parenting website has some great information on low mood and depression in teenagers with autism and provides some insight into how this may present and different strategies that can be put into place to help.
Trauma refers to the way that some distressing events are so extreme or intense that they overwhelm a person’s ability to cope, resulting in lasting negative impact (UK Trauma Council) and latent vulnerability to later mental health difficulties.
More than 1 in 3 children will be exposed to a potentially traumatic event, and that includes neurodivergent children. Further, because neurodivergent children think and process the world differently, there are things they may find traumatic that neurotypical people might not. For example, due to sensory sensitivities, an event you might find challenging could be completely overwhelming to someone with a particular sensory profile.
The UK Trauma Council has lots of excellent resources for parents, carers and professionals. In particular, they have resources (and a video) explaining how Trauma such as abuse and neglect can impact a child’s development, and what parents, carers and professionals can do to support that child to overcome their difficulties. Childhood experiences of abuse and neglect, sometimes called ‘toxic stress’, do not determine a child’s future. There are windows of opportunity to help children move onto a resilient path.
NHS Fife recognises that all children and young people have a right to be protected and that all adults have a responsibility to protect them from harm. If you see something, are told something or something doesn’t feel right, you need to report it to your local social work department on 03451 551 503 or Police on 101. If someone is in immediate danger call 999.