Teach Secondary Issue 14.8

where necessary. Consider keeping ‘jargon alarm’ bells or traffic light cards in the classroom, so that children and young people can use them to indicate when they don’t understand something. Autistic burnout Autistic burnout is a form of extreme, long-term exhaustion and overwhelm triggered over time, whereby the stress of coping with life’s demands exceeds the autistic person’s ability to cope. They may lose the ability to carry out everyday tasks, lose skills they usually have and experience multiple sensory difficulties. Every day, we have to manage the sensory discomfort, overwhelm, social challenges, executive dysfunction, exhaustion frommasking and social confusion that comes with being autistic. It’s no wonder we’re so often exhausted. Our energy is precious, and can be depleted fast. Recovering from autistic burnout requires rest, reduced demands and taking time out, so that we can prioritise self-care, set boundaries and seek adjustments. It’s important to not only offer us support, but to also advocate for us. Having an awareness of the stigma and discrimination we face in society is key to providing good support and managing burnout – so consider taking the following steps. First, learn about autistic masking, and try to adapt your interactions so that the autistic person doesn’t have to suppress their autistic traits. It’s also helpful to make your classroom– and school – surroundings as autism-friendly as possible, thus ensuring that responsibility for this doesn’t fall solely on individuals with autism alone. Focus on the autistic student’s strengths and qualities where they excel. Reassure them about how important these are, both to themselves and the lives of others around them. It’s also important to try and understand an autistic person’s triggers, to help them remove themselves from stressful situations. Finally, accept their experiences and validate their feelings and needs. One way get a better grasp of autistic-specific needs is to adjust to an autistic person’s preferred way of communication. This could involve respecting their communication preferences, be they verbal, written or visual, because it’s through creating a supportive environment that you can help autistic learners fully recognise their strengths. The bucket analogy To better understand autistic burnout, imagine an autistic child or young person holding a bucket that gets slowly filled up with various events, and social and sensory experiences throughout the day. Too many activities, too much change, too much sensory stimuli and too many demands will fill the bucket very quickly. When those demands and events exceed the capacity of the bucket, it will start to overflow – which is whenmeltdowns or shutdowns may happen. These aren’t the child or young person’s fault; they’re caused by stimuli in the child’s surrounding environment, or interactions with people around them exceeding that child’s capacity, leaving their energy and overwhelmwith nowhere else to go. As a result, supporting your autistic pupils by finding ways of keeping their levels below capacity and manageable is extremely important. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Joe Fautley is an autistic and neurodivergent advocate, currently working full time at the National Children’s Bureau (ncb.org.uk ), and has over 10 years of experience in SEND advocacy work, including co-delivering training across England and presenting at conferences. You can hear more about Joe’s personal experiences and key advice for professionals in an episode of the SENDcast podcast, available via tinyurl.com/ts148-SC1 HOWTO SUPPORT AUTISTIC PUPILS INTHE CLASSROOM Maintain a flexible school environment Make the most of any sensory resources that autistic pupils may benefit from Greater differentiation within lessons may be needed to suit students’ needs in the moment Allow time for regulation and consider which spaces may be most suitable for this – some may need to run outside, others may prefer a quiet den or time in the library Autistic pupils who are feeling tired, anxious, depressed and in sensory overload may need extra support, such as visuals, within lessons Discuss with autistic pupils what may help them for particular lessons, for the rest of that day, that week or throughout the term – and note that what may work one day may not work the next Some pupils may find it difficult to request appropriate support if they struggle with alexithymia, and can’t identify how they or others are feeling Some pupils may also have difficulty interpreting their interoception (internal bodily) signals and require further support in this area If it can be accommodated, consider allocating more time to topics that engage these students’ personal interests 73 teachwire.net/secondary S E N D