Ep. 108 Why Trauma-Informed Therapy is a Non-Negotiable for Autistic Kids
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What hidden forms of trauma can occur in traditional autism therapy?
Hello, hello, NeuroFirm Nation. How are we
doing? I'm so excited to be here with you today. Today we are talking about a topic that we have been wanting to talk about on the show for a long time. I think we have, but it's just been quite some time, which is why it is a non-negotiable for autistic children to have trauma-informed care. We are talking about What are some of the hidden causes of trauma that we might see? The hidden ways that kids might be ge getting traumatized. daily from therapy, which oftentimes, of course, is unintentional. But what is the hidden trauma that we might find behind traditional approaches? We're talking about what it means to follow a trauma-informed approach, and we're talking about why all this matters. Because if you're a therapist and you're in this space, you've heard this before.
It's not the first time you've heard that we should be trauma informed, but you might be wondering what exactly does that mean? Okay. But first I wanna briefly touch on what hidden trauma can be found in traditional approaches. And again, these are not really things that we think are done intentionally. Like a lot of us think, okay, well, a child's not being intentionally traumatized when they're going into their therapy. But things that a therapist can be doing can be causing trauma unintentionally. Trauma does not always look like abuse. It can be subtle.
How does trauma affect a child’s nervous system and behavior?
It can be something that's ongoing. It could be systemic. So here are just some examples of what might create trauma in therapy. Things like forcing a child to make eye contact even when they're distressed, if they're not being allowed to stim, if they're having to suppress their sensory needs, if they are having their communication dismissed as being invalid, like if they're using an AAC but they're being forced to use spoken language. Anytime that we are Encouraging kids to mask their true authentic traits, that is creating trauma for that child. And oftentimes we are focusing on these behaviors without really addressing the root causes. And that's something that gets really tricky with our compliance-based approaches.
And we want to really try to move past that. So if we're trying to move back back past some of these compliance-based approaches that do unintentionally cause trauma, what can we do instead? Which is following a trauma-informed approach. So, what is a trauma-informed approach? It really just means that we are recognizing that either past trauma or ongoing trauma might be affecting this person, might be affecting the way that they think, the way they feel, the way that they regulate, the way that they're behaving. We want to take into consideration That what is going on in their life circumstances, current and past, is affecting how this person is. So this really means that we are trying to shape our therapy in ways that are not going to re-traumatize.
We are trying. to promote safety, we are trying to promote trust, and we are trying to promote healing. And that are those are goals of taking a trauma-informed approach. So
Why are compliance‑based approaches potentially retraumatizing for autistic kids?
I forget. I feel like I read a book. It was, it was when it first came out called What Happened to You, I think by Oprah and Dr. Perry. And I think that they may have talked about something similar to this in that book. But the the first thing that we want to ask when it comes to our kids is not what's wrong with this child. We want to ask, what has the child experienced? How has that shaped their nervous system and behavior? Like what has happened in this child's life that has caused them to show up today that the way that they are showing up? And a lot of these quote behaviors that we see from our kids are just protective. They are their body, their brain, their nervous system's way of protecting that child because of the way that they have experienced the world in the past.
Okay. So We really want to think about what Does trauma do to the brain and what does it do to the nervous system? Like I mentioned, it shifts the brain into protection mode. We talk a lot here about survival states and trauma, whether it is a single event that's really overwhelming or whether that is chronic stress teaches the brain.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What hidden forms of trauma can occur in traditional autism therapy?
0:07–1:33
2
How does trauma affect a child’s nervous system and behavior?
1:33–3:25
3
Why are compliance‑based approaches potentially retraumatizing for autistic kids?
3:25–4:45
4
What does a trauma‑informed approach look like in practice?
4:45–6:31
5
How does trauma change sensory processing and safety perception?
6:31–8:46
6
In what ways does trauma impact relationships and co‑regulation?
8:46–10:42
7
Why are autistic children at higher risk for trauma and what are common sources?
10:42–12:35
8
How can therapists create safety and move children toward regulation?
12:35–14:14
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from The NeuroAffirm Podcast
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Ep. 121 The Biggest Sensory Mistakes SLPs Make
Ep. 120 Why Anxiety is So Common in Autism (And What Actually Helps)