The week before the Halloween mid-term break marks the very welcomed and much needed Halloween midterm break, but it also marks the start to the very busy period of work as school age children & teens start declining into burnout, especially those who are neurodiverse.

What does burnout look like? Complete and utter exhaustion with a huge dollop of emotional turmoil on top.

This overwhelming feeling that you cannot do anything that requires any amount of energy because you simply don’t have any more to give and just being awake is tiring enough. It’s the inability to engage in self-care skills, particularly hair washing and showering. It’s the withdrawal of communication and social interaction with friends in teens and young adults – through phones, gaming and in person because it simply takes up too much energy to talk or reply to a message. Younger children may refuse play dates, may experience periods of selective mutism, they may be unable to attend birthday parties and may be gravitating towards or shying away from their sensory supports.

Their young muscles may ache like they have a flu, their throats may be sore, their heads might be pounding, they might feel unable to eat. Burnout can present with physical symptoms like flu which can be hard for parents and caregivers to decipher whether the child or teen has caught a viral infection or is in burnout. When children and adults are in burnout, their immune system is more vulnerable and therefore the two can coincide together, unfortunately – but it can also just be the physical presentation of burnout.

During periods of burnout, children and teens may have a temporary regression is skills such as writing, drawing, reading and listening due to the brain prioritising what is spends its energy on. This temporary regression can cause huge feelings of frustration in children who do not understand why these tasks that they previously managed with ease are now intolerably stressful and difficult to do. They will need your support not only to manage this frustration but to also reduce the amount of tasks they have to do so that they can preserve their energy.

Meltdowns and anxiety are at an all-time high during burnout out as the body and brain are so overwhelmed and the window of tolerance for communication, sensory stimuli and tasks are at an all-time low. Their inner-self talk will be destructive and they may present to the outside world like they are depressed.

This is prime time for children and teens to experience days and weeks where they feel they cannot attend school because school demands getting dressed, communication, engagement, writing and social interaction which they simply do not have the energy to manage.

In teens and adults, self-harm and suicidal ideation may be present during burnout. Self-harm occurs in neurodiverse people when their bodies and brains are so overwhelmed that they need sharp sensory input very quickly to regulate their nervous systems. Finding sensory tools that support this need for sharp input is important for managing intrusive thoughts.

Burnout can feel like you are really stuck in the trenches, it can take weeks, months and sometimes years (for both adults and children) to recover from.

Be patient, it will pass, with time and lots and lots of rest and try not to push yourself to return to the world too quickly.

For support with burnout, reach out for neuro-affirming support from a specially trained neurodiverse practitioner, occupational therapist and ensure your GP is neuro-affirming to prevent any incorrect diagnoses such as depression/anxiety/borderline personality disorder.

You can listen to my Podcast with Ciara Watson on Neurodiverse Burnout here.