The bark can be worse than the bite for some children. Inna Ska/Shutterstock
Many aspects of the world can be overwhelming for autistic children, so it is unsurprising that dealing with the challenging impact of anxiety has become a daily struggle for many autistic children and their families. In fact, autistic children are twice as likely to develop anxiety than non-autistic children. Not only this, but around 40% are diagnosed with at least one anxiety disorder, with the most common being specific phobia, which is an extreme fear of a particular place, object, animal, person or situation.
Many autistic people carry this disabling anxiety into adulthood, which can negatively affect their future prospects and quality of life. Because of this, autism researchers have made it a priority to understand why autistic children are much more at risk of developing anxiety and what can be done to prevent it.
Sensory hyper-reactivity, such as being over-responsive to loud noises, bright lights and clothing fabrics, has been suggested as a reason autistic children develop anxiety. It is commonly experienced by autistic children and has recently become one of the criteria for an autism diagnosis.
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autism, anxiety, phobias, ASD,
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