Hope, Awareness & ASD

Merriam-Webster defines awareness as “knowledge and understanding that something is happening or exists.” Self-awareness is defined as “awareness of one’s own personality or individuality.” When it comes to self-awareness, we are developing the knowledge about ourselves in relation to others, the environment around us and in comparison to our own preferences and performance. In ASD, why does the emergence of self-awareness during intervention feel like regression?

In child development, self-awareness does not appear until closer to two years old. Before that time, we see ourselves as one with our parent since perspective taking is just emerging. We do not yet realize how others see us or that they might have different opinions and points of view. As young children begin to learn how to put themselves “in other people’s shoes”, they will explore their parents perspective through pretend play and quite literally, put their tiny feet in their parents shoes!

For a short period of time, there is a lag in awareness and coping skill. They start to realized they are a separate person from their parent, start to explore and try new things on their own, but do not yet have the skills to emotionally regulate independently when there is a problem to solve. This brief gap can lead to frustration as we see in the infamous “terrible twos and threes”.

Due to the impact of ASD on neurodevelopment, specifically in the prefrontal cortex, prerequisite developmental skills like co-regulation, joint attention, social cognition and flexible thinking are not being mastered adequately. These skills, among others, are necessary for the development of early self-awareness, self-regulation and later executive functioning skills.

With ABA therapy goals targeted for mastery in the above skills, an individual’s awareness will increase naturally following this same developmental path, regardless of whether they are beginning therapy at 4 or 14 years old. As the individual starts to make gains in their ability to engage

with others and their environments, feelings of incompetence will increase as they realize that they cannot do or understand something.

“I can see that her face changed expression, but I don’t know what it means.”

“My friend just walked away from me when I was talking to him, but I don’t know why he left.”

“I cannot keep up with what the teacher is saying, but I don’t know what to do about it.”

This incongruence in awareness emergence and coping skill development can cause the same “terrible two”- like, fight or flight responses of aggression, anxiety or shutdown. While it feels like regression to toddlerhood, it is significant, genuine progress in developmental milestones. Nevertheless, this period can be incredibly stressful and even frightening for the individual.

In addition, these individuals will begin to notice how they are different from others who might be ahead of them in development. Depressive symptoms can occur during this time and questions of “why do I think/act/behave differently?” may be asked. If they do not have the attuned communication skills yet, it might be something they are feeling but cannot express verbally.

There is hope. A qualified clinician can guide and encourage the individual with ASD and their caregivers through this very sensitive and critical time in therapy. The clinician must be competent in child development, supportive of mental health and understand that maladaptive, fight or flight behavior is simply communication of an individual’s struggle in a dynamic world without the dynamic skills to successfully navigate it.

Julie Gordon has been in the field of ASD for 19 years. She is the owner of The Hope Source and founder of Dynamic Minds Academy.