Finding Your Own Way To Grieve: Supporting Those On The Spectrum In Grief and Loss

Explore the impact of grief and loss on individuals with ASD and their families. Topics covered include ways those on the spectrum may experience and express grief, and how to support them with practical and creative strategies. The issue of recognizing complicated or traumatic grief in this population will be addressed, as well as how to help families identify the need for additional supports. Finding Your Own Way To Grieve: Supporting Those On The Spectrum In Grief and Loss

Description:

This workshop will focus on helping families and professionals learn ways to help those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) manage grief and loss. Topics covered will include typical progression of grief and bereavement and ways those on the spectrum may experience and express grief differently from the neurotypical population. Participants will learn ways to support those on the spectrum with practical and creative strategies. The issue of recognizing complicated or traumatic grief in this population will be addressed, as well as how to help families identify the need for additional supports. Workshop activities will include experiential and group exercises. Professionals in all fields will learn to recognize symptoms of grief and bereavement, assist those with ASD and their families in managing grief, implement strategies to assist in communication, integration of the loss, and ways to help the person manage and express grief in healthy ways. This workshop is appropriate for family members, educators, counselors, therapists, clinicians, behavior analysts, medical professionals and more. The session is appropriate for continuing education units due to the nature of the content of the session and the expertise of the presenter.

I. Overview and Introduction 10 min

II. What is grief and bereavement? 20 minutes

The opening section of the workshop will include an examination of the process of normal grief and bereavement, as well as developmentally typical responses to grief based on age groupings. Also discussed will be the myriad ways grief impacts the grieving person (physically, mentally, emotionally, cognitively, spiritually).

III. How does grief impact those on the spectrum? 30 minutes

It is important to understand that a child or teenager on the autism spectrum will experience typical reactions to death and grief based on his or her developmental stage and/or age. In addition, they will experience feelings, sensory events, thought processes, cognitive and or emotional features that are highly individual.

Societal views and treatment of death, grief and bereavement will be discussed and how these impact families and children with ASD. Specifically we will cover ways that grief is talked about in western society in particular and how this impacts those on the spectrum.

Experiential exercise: 20-25 minutes

Asking Questions

(Questions and exercise previously published in Karla Helbert’s book Finding Your Own Way to Grieve: A Creative Activity Workbook for Kids and Teens on the Autism Spectrum)

Participants will be asked to think about death, dying, grief and loss, and to ask and answer provided questions and/or think of unique questions they may have independently. They will then share their questions/answers in dyads, or groups of three. The dyads (or groups) will be asked to reflect on their experiences independently and together. The dyads (or groups) will discuss with all workshop participants the quality and outcome of their experiences. This exercise is meant to demonstrate ways to help those on the spectrum  express questions or concerns they may have about death, dying, grief and loss, as well as to desensitize participants to discussion of death, dying and grief, while serving as an illustration of the ways that our society is uncomfortable about discussion of these topics generally.

(Break 10-15 minutes)

IV. Creative ways to help those on the spectrum  express and manage grief 40-45 minutes

This section of the workshop will be devoted to discussion of creative ways of expressing and managing grief in its various aspects. The chaotic nature of grief, and how this can drastically impact the life of a person with ASD, will be discussed as well as ways families and professionals can help manage the chaos including maintaining schedules, diet, sleep, and stress management strategies.

A focus on communicating about ways the person’s life has changed, and strategies to help increase feelings of security will be paramount as we will examine ways to increase effective communication, helping those on the spectrum to better recognize their own symptoms of grief, and how to better convey their needs to those who can help (parents, teachers, friends, counselors, clergy, etc.).

Experiential exercise: 20-25 minutes

Color Your Heart (exercise previously published in Karla Helbert’s book Finding Your Own Way to Grieve: A Creative Activity Workbook for Kids and Teens on the Autism Spectrum)

Participants will be asked to identify various feeling states they may be experiencing and then, provided with crayons or other coloring medium, to assign feelings to their colors of choice. They will then fill in a graphic representation of a heart shape with a design of their choice which will reflect the amount/intensity of the various feelings they have chosen to be represented in their drawings.

Following a discussion of the activity, the workshop will examine ways that other cultures celebrate and remember those who have died and how to help those on the spectrum find inspiration from these other cultures as they express their grief and remember those they love.

In this section of the workshop following the experiential exercise, we will also explore ways to maintain continuing bonds (and what that means) with loved ones who have died, and reasons why this is important. Included in this exploration will be aspects of ritual in grief, both formalized (such as in established family traditions and funeral practices) and personal rituals, and ways to encourage the creation and use of these to help maintain feelings of security and connectedness.  Examples of rituals and how to create them will be shared.

IV. Identifying traumatic or complicated grief and how to determine whether professional help may be needed. 30-45 minutes

This section of the workshop will focus on identifying whether a child, teen or adult with ASD is experiencing or has experienced traumatic or complicated grief, and how to identify traumatic or complicated grief. Ways to identify whether professional help may be needed, and how to find an appropriate professional to assist with the person’s needs will also be discussed. A checklist will be provided to help professionals and families determine need and tools will be shared to assist in finding appropriate professional help.

In addition, a brief summary of the proposed changes to the grief and bereavement sections of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders -V(DSM-V) and how this applies to the population of those with ASD will be reviewed.

Total workshop time: 3.5 hours