When episodes like this happen to Abbie, how long do you think it takes for her to recover and feel settled down?
Honestly?
She probably never actually feels recovered and settled, not at home.
She's either being overstimulated to provide vlog content or she's ignored. Any time an extra person is in the house (teacher, therapist, the occasional guest) Asa's loudly inserting himself in the situation. She has no way to escape being overwhelmed and no place to escape to, and without a comfortable sensory space she's left to rock incessantly on the couch or to walk around screaming.
I'm not autistic. I don't know how it feels. I can observe my kids, though, and try to empathize with how
they might feel in Abbie's situation. I can consider my own anxiety disorder and imagine how I feel internally when just my anxiety overwhelms me.
At this point, Abbie almost certainly never truly feels settled. She's in a constant state of stress and discomfort. She's
never given the time or the space or the tools to feel settled.
Just as a thought exercise: have you - the general
you, anyone reading - ever been completely taken over with anxiety? Faced an overwhelming situation with a million moving parts that left you paralyzed as to what to do next (i.e. sudden death or serious illness of a loved one, a major disaster at work, been the victim of a crime)? Just think of how you felt in that situation. Think about the things you had to do in the wake of it, the often complicated decisions that you had to make afterwards, the crushing feeling of helplessness that ebbs and flows.
Now imagine Asa, or someone like him, in your face barking commands and moving you around and then, inexplicably, completely ignoring you when you ask for help. Imagine intermittent loud noise that you can't predict or control - maybe it's Priscilla WEEWWW HEWWWing. Imagine the people around you demanding you participate in a party while you're trying to figure out how to get to the hospital where your sick loved one is.
What would you need to feel recovered and settled in a situation like that?
What if you literally were never able to do those things, or get the help to do those things, to help you feel better?
That, I imagine, is what it's like for someone like Abbie.
