Autism and interest depletion - leveraging routines, calendars and checklists

As #2 enters late High School his interests have narrowed considerably. This means he has fewer options if he bores of the interests he does have, and increasing amounts of his time are spent in passive and compulsive screen activities that seem to produce dysphoria and ennui rather than satisfaction or happiness. It’s a common trend that seems unlikely to lead to a satisfying or independent life.Fortunately, he’s aware of this and, when he’s not working through what I think of as an “autistic-arrest” (sudden deterioration in perception of self and context, often associated with anguish and psychic distress), he’s interested in working on it. He’s had some success, including introducing new activities like mountain biking, weekly five mile walks and routine calendar review. We’ve created an inventory of his interests categorized by:Enjoys with cravings -- time limited by parents/external actorsEnjoys with cravings -- no time limited (bouncing on exercise ball in in this group)Enjoys but no compulsions — tend to get displaced by craving activities, but if initiated they are enjoyable for himSometimes enjoys, feels good after doing. All exercise except bouncing falls into this category.Things to try — items we (he, us) have selected to try to broaden his interests and provide him with more options.As per the book excerpt on calendaring, we’re working with him to create recurrent schedules for his Category 3-5 items, staring with book reading. He’s receiv...
Source: Be the Best You can Be - Category: Disability Tags: adolescence Asperger ' autism brain and mind cognition computer smartphone support Source Type: blogs