Virtual Autism Is Not A Thing
Apparently some clinicians think this is an okay term to casually throw around
The Kids Are Not Alright
(Yes, yes, I know).
CityTV in Vancouver recently did a news story on the social and emotional difficulties faced by our younger students who have spent their formative years growing up in the midst of a global pandemic.
Many of these children have spent more of their lives in some form of lock down, social distancing, or covid precautions than not.
The article describes interviews with grade 1 and 2 teachers:
“…Students are far behind peers in previous years when it comes to social and emotional skills, things like problem-solving, and negotiating conflict. There are also higher levels of anxiety and disruptive behaviour in the classrooms… Others [sic] teachers describe a rise in the number of students in the earliest grades who have more difficulties focusing, maintaining attention, and following instructions.”
No kidding.
A teacher, who didn’t want to be identified (imagine that, a teacher can’t even express concern about their students without fearing repercussions) said,
“With the addition of COVID impacting a lot of their early years, you are definitely seeing more behaviour, more anxiety, more time having to be spent on stuff related to self-regulation.”
Uh-huh.
Dr. Shimi Kang, a psychiatrist in Vancouver, was quoted as saying,
“We need to bring in more social-emotional learning, teaching kids coping skills, gratitude, breathing practices, how to regulate their stress. This is manifesting not just in anxiety but perfectionism, irritability, kids who are really distracted and not engaging.”
Yep.
They talk as though these are new concerns and these are new skills that children need to learn.
They’re not. These are things that should have been integrated into our schools, and everywhere children interact and learn, decades ago.
Virtual fucking Autism?
The rest of the above quote from Dr. Kang goes like this,
“…Technology is a key part here, with kids on their devices way too much and we know there are links to anxiety, stress, and sleep deprivation.”
I’m reading along, shaking my head at the fact that we’re still pretending these are new issues, when suddenly I come across this doozy of a statement:
“Kang calls it ‘virtual autism’, a recent term describing young kids, generally under the age of six or eight, who have symptoms similar to neurodivergent children.”
(At least they said neurodivergent and not neurodiverse?)
“Things like poor eye contact and difficulties with early socialization… an absolute, perfect storm” of the pandemic, poor socialization, and extreme screen time leading to a mental health crisis, particularly for young people.”
So now we’re back to this old bullshit about screen time causing Autism? Autism is a neurotype. When you’re born Autistic, you’re Autistic for your entire life. It’s not a temporary developmental setback.
Lack of socialization is not Autism, that’s a social issue. Most children who lag behind at this stage of development (as a result of isolation) will catch up with their peers once they have the opportunities to learn and develop the skills needed.
We can’t reverse or “cure” Autism through socialization (nor should we, nor would we ever want to). Autism isn’t a social disorder, it’s a neurotype, and it’s a hell of a lot more complex than not enough time spent with peers and too much time at home on screens.
When you’re born Autistic, you’re Autistic for your entire life. It’s not a temporary developmental setback.
The ironing is delicious
I find it interesting (and not in a good way) that when it’s a few kids in a class who struggle with unmet needs and lagging skills, we decide “they’re behaving inappropriately, we need to teach them this isn’t acceptable” — which, of course, means behaviourism.
We set up a system of rewards and consequences to manipulate and shape the students’ behaviour, rather than looking for the underlying stressors.
When it’s entire classes of students and there’s a particular cause we can point to, suddenly we can see “these children need additional support”. We are able to show empathy, compassion, and understanding because we know it’s not their fault.
Guess what: it has never been their fault. They’re children. They have brains that are not yet fully developed. Some are disabled, neurodivergent, traumatized, and hungry. All are scared, sad, anxious, etc. at some point or another.
Happy, well-adjusted, well-supported children do not have meltdowns in school. They do not throw chairs or punches. They do not cuss out their teachers or start fights with their peers.
I’m not in any way trying to place the blame on teachers — many are doing the absolute best they can in a terribly broken system. What I am saying is that stress, unmet needs, and lagging skills have always been there and have always been the cause of children’s concerning behaviours.
The only difference is here it’s right in our faces, so we can’t not see the cause.
We need to do this for all kids, not just when it’s entire generations of kids affected.
© Jillian Enright, Neurodiversity MB
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