Thread by @AuDHD_SLT

TW: autism & suicide

Since seeing Gem (Neurodivergent_researcher on FB & IG) post this earlier my busy brain has consistently bought me back round to reflecting on the role Speech & Language Therapy has in building protective factors for ND people.

1/14

I can’t speak to the experiences of people who have suicidal ideation, because it hasn’t been my lived experience. I can however, empathise & understand how ND trauma, flying under the radar for most of your life & neurotypical expectations contribute to anxiety, depression..2/14

& feeling less than your peers, friends, partners, colleagues etc.

To my mind, Speech & Language Therapy has a large role to play in building protective factors, I’ll name a few (feel free to comment & add more):-

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♾️ We have a voice to advocate for Neurodiversity Affirming practice. By changing the way we assess & provide therapeutic input to ND people, we can help break down the stigma & negative narratives that still exist. For example, functioning labels, person first language 4/14

& using behavioural approaches that want to lessen someone’s autistic identity.

We can & should move away from social skills training that used poorly, intend on reducing ND communication preferences, replacing them with neurotypical communication. 5/14

For example, forcing eye contact despite it feeling utterly uncomfortable or painful to many folks & teaching conversation starters as if they’re superior to infodumping, Gestalt’s/scripts, pebbling. 6/14

Instead, we should be promoting self advocacy skills, perspective taking, understanding what being ND means to the person, masking, stimming, communication & sensory preferences. 7/14

If we can support people to understand their neurodivergence, giving them the language to process their experiences & to self-advocate perhaps we’ll build their protective factors! 8/14

In fact, I know we will, I’m seeing it for myself in myself (thanks to a fantastic clinical supervisor) & in the work I’m doing with autistic 16-25’s. 9/14

♾️ Interoception awareness work should be a standard component of our work. How can we explore emotional language without the body signal piece? How can we help teach self-regulation or advise others on how best to co-regulate if we ignore interoceptive awareness? 10/14

My opinion, we can’t. How do we explore alexithymia if we don’t also strive to understand interoception? We should also be working with our Occupational Therapy & Psychology colleagues where able. 11/14

♾️ Teaching/training others. A huge part of our roles is the upskilling/training of others. This may be parent carers, colleagues or other professionals. We can teach people about all of the above but we should absolutely be teaching about the Double Empathy Problem… 12/14

& helping these folks to understand their role in ND peoples lives.

♾️ Education, Health & Care Plans & the annual review process allow us to challenge & dismantle the ableism that has contributed to people’s poor mental health, like NT based goals! 13/14

I’m sure there is much more we can be doing. I may add to the thread, you’re welcome too also 🙏🏼🫶🏼 end/

@autisticrealms @AlexT_SLT @JillBrennanSLT @JoPavlopoulou @jobrackley @mayy_slt @CommonSenseSLT @SueReviews @_inthespincycle @DrChrisMooreEP @neuroteachers @ReachoutASC @DivergentSLT @Claire_R123 @Louisebrown007 @WalkerSensei @AU_Scot @sig_autism @RCSLT @hattalksuk @sltmarjon

#autism #actuallyautstic #adhd #neurodivergent