Episode #59: MP - Perception Chaos

 Episode #59: MP - Perception Chaos

Synergy Autism Podcast · Episode #59: MP - Perception Chaos

Hello Synergy Autism Podcast Listeners. My name is Barb Avila and this is one of my mini-podcasts for you for 2021. 

Today, I want to share a bit about what I have learned happens for many autistic individuals and some ideas for alleviating it. This is the experience of what I am calling "perception - chaos." 

You've heard me share and discuss that autistic people often feel flooded and are riding high or are hyper-vigilant much of the time. This is along those lines. Imagine for a moment (or if you are autistic, this may describe your experience) that you are sitting in a crowded room with little to no ability to distinguish between or prioritize sensations coming from both outside and inside your body. You are experiencing a rumbling stomach perhaps while someone is talking next to you. Your emotions are all over the place from sad to hopeful to nervous or anxious. The lights above you are buzzing and the sunlight is coming through the window at an angle that makes light bounce off the blinds. The mosquito bite on your arm and all of the birthdays and musical notes are dancing in your head. Hm.... this is again what I call "perception chaos." All of your perceptions - your senses - are alert, active yet with little to no filter. It seems you can either:

• Attempt to attend to everything and make it through a given day or time period masking your chaotic experience
• Shut everything and everyone out - losing yourself into a quieter more manageable situation like your home environment much of the time.
• Hyper-focus on one thing so strongly that you shut everything else out to simply survive or you have learned this is the only way to take action.
• Get angry and lash out when people talk or move you because you are simply trying to keep homeostasis.

I have found 3 things that really help when someone is experiencing this perceptual chaos:

1. Allow their attention to shift to you before talking - helping them organize the chaos versus simply adding to it. This is what I call C2U or Curiosity to you. By sitting or standing close and allowing them to notice your presence, shift their attention, and realize you wish to say something, may be harder than you think. Give them time to process and make that shift.
2. Organize the environment. Clutter just adds to that chaos. Partner with the person to determine a visually organized system that works for them. DO NOT assume your way of organizing will work for them. However, if you are unsure or are supporting someone who may struggle with communication, please consider looking into some Structured TEACCH organizational tips like having labels or numbers on drawers or folders to help someone organize their space or tasks. including daily living tasks.
3. Have a visual conversation with them. You do not have to know what the person needs to start, in fact if you really think about it, that would be a lecture not a conversation. Remember a conversation is 2 way. When you start, set your sights on using a notebook or computer to collect the person's thoughts that might be adding to their perceptual chaos which they may be struggling to understand or convey.

I was recently contacted by a longtime fabulous client family to step in with an argument they were having. Their young adult was demanding to take a friend's entire family including their extended family to Disneyland and have his parents pay for the whole trip. The more they tried to explain the expense, the more upset and demanding he became. His demands were escalating and they were concerned they were headed for a weekend of aggressive and destructive behaviors. 

I agreed to meet with the young man online. I simply shared my screen and wrote "You want to take your friends to Disneyland." then I wrote something like "Disneyland is your favorite place in the whole world." - He had wanted to show these people how much he cares about them by sharing what he loves the most in the world. I should add that these friends had lost a family member recently and were grieving.

Without negating his plan, I took us on the shared screen adventures of the internet. We went to the Disneyland website while keeping a tally of the costs of tickets, hotel rooms, and airfare. I just helped him organize his awesome caring desire to take all these people he was worried bout to his favorite place. With a smile on his face, he said "and that doesn't even include food." He made his own calm and collected realization that it was much too much money to be able to give as a gift. 

But we did not stop there. Had we stopped, he would have been left with the unresolved emotions of wanting to do something for them.... adding frustration to the perceptual chaos or at least not alleviating it. So we ventured into using my sun diagram for offering and exploring cost saving ideas for letting friends know you care and how good it would feel for him to be one to purchase the Disney DVD out of his own money to give to the family with a note from hi m personally.

Simply by validating, exploring, and helping organize his awesome intentions - he could move from chaos to clarity. He could act on his kind heart with confidence and personal agency.

So next time someone you know is either shutting down or creating chaos as if to become one with it... 

• Slow down
• Allow attention to shift
• Organize the environment
• Visually converse via a notebook to guide organizing thoughts, emotions and experiences.

You might be pleasantly surprised by the results - the person may just show you their caring heart that just needs support to calm the chaos.

Thank you for listening. Till next time.