Date: 25/10/2021
The ability to request a calm break or calming activities is dependent upon the child or young person having the interoceptive awareness to recognise when they are feeling anxious.
Many autistic children and young people, however, do register the signals from their body to notice they are becoming anxious. Some may register the signals, but not link them to the emotion of anxiety. They will therefore not know that they need to respond to these feelings by asking for help, such as a change to the task/environment or access to a quiet space.
These body maps provide a clear visual template to show what anxiety can feel like. The template with labels will give examples of the different indicators of stress, and then the child or young person can use the blank template to identify what anxiety feels like for them. This will help them to focus on signals from within their bodies, and link them to emotions.
The templates could be used for other emotions too, such as happy, excited or tired.
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