Support for Trauma & PTSD

A common misconception about trauma is that it can be removed from a child or young person’s life after treatment or support. While trauma can be healed, it cannot always be cured and a child or young person may require ongoing or intermittent support throughout various stages of their life.

It is important for anyone living with or supporting an autistic child or young person to recognise that everyday stressful life events can be experienced as a trauma or traumatic over time. If an autistic child or young person is experiencing persistent stress or showing signs of trauma the following may help:

• Recognise and validate the child or young person’s experience, even if the event or experience may not seem significant to the supporting adult.
• Focus on relational safety, with at least one familiar safe person in the child or young person’s life. Expand this beyond the home into educational settings and community settings where the child or young person feels accepted for who they are and with people the can trust.
• Education about trauma, where appropriate, may help the child or young person to understand their inner experience and make sense of why certain situations are difficult for them. This may help to remove self-shaming and blaming of the child or young person’s difficulties.
• Supporting adults should monitor and observe the child or young person’s behaviour and seek professional support if necessary, possibly in a psychological or therapeutic capacity, with a neuroaffirmative professional.
• Support engagement in creative and play activities that the child or young person enjoys and seeks safety in. Autistic play may present differently, therefore, recognising and allowing space for this is important. Other creative activities such as music, art and dance are recognised mediums for processing trauma without the need to use language.
• Engaging in animal assisted therapies can be helpful for a child or young person whereby people do not cue feelings of safety.
• Yoga and other forms of physical exercise adapted to suit the child or young person’s needs may also help to release trauma stored at a somatic level.

Whilst trauma can occur to anyone at any time, it is recognised that autistic children and young people are more likely to experience trauma than non-autistic peers.  According to Dan Siegel (2021), integration is at the core of a child or young person’s wellbeing. Therefore, it is essential autistic children and young people are being supported to communicate their experiences in a way that makes sense for them. Furthermore, it is important to raise awareness about the often-traumatic impact of sensory integration differences, to ensure autistic children and young people’s needs are being provided for in educational, community and vocational settings.  

Support & Information:

Dr Carly Jones MBE Middletown Podcast ‘Safeguarding Children’

Free Trauma Educators Toolkit

National Autistic Society Advice and Guidance