PDD-NOS: Fear, Anxiety, and Perseveration

Anna perseverates on her fear of the vacuum cleaner. Cathy comes twice a month to clean our house. In this clip, Anna sees Cathy arrive and unload her supplies which includes her vacuum cleaner. Cathy takes about 10 minutes to actually come in the house and during this time I attempt to play with Anna, but she is obsessing about being scared of the vacuum. I edited the footage to focus on this particular anxiety.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• autism
• pdd
• pdd-nos
• autistic
• fear
• anxiety
• perseveration
• perseverate

[vicswiifey]

does she hug you when she is scared or always bites and hits you =) just asking dont mean to affend if i do

[holly0817]

@vicswiifey She is 10 years old now and will only hit and bite if she is truly terrified. We can usually prevent that level of fear if we are vigilant. She usually says, "I'm scared" and we talk about the situation to help her feel safe.

[MaryCappello]

When my nephew Casey has situations like this (fear of coffee grinder, for instance) my sister videotapes the offending machine and gives him the video. He watches it several times until he gains some control over his fear of it. It has helped in several situations. Something about the video helps to distance the frightening phenomenon, and puts it in his control (he can "play" it whenever he wants, or turn it off--and it's framed by the TV).

[holly0817]

Great idea! Thanks so much for sharing!!!

[christschool]

I don't think that is a perserveration but a fear because of the noise. Perserverations are almost always obsessive interests in subjects or objects. In other words, when your really interested in a particular subject (something you might like). She is telling you she has a sensory issue with the noise, quite common in autistic people with acute hearing. Sensory issues are not perserverations.

[holly0817]

Anna's verbal perseverations tend to be on things that scare her because they preoccupy her primary thought processes and interfere with her ability to focus on other thoughts even when presented with multiple opportunities to redirect focus. The vacuum cleaner was just one example to which I thought other parents could relate. Not all things that scare her make noise. For example, the heating pad (scary to her) is another common topic of repetitive conversations but is not a sensory issue.

[tolsen01]

I think first of all your daughter is beautiful. I think you did an excellent job with her. Im a special education asst teacher, and the kids in my room have pdd. congrats to you as a parent for working her through her anxiety.. i wish more parents had the patience and understanding...i love it.. it makes my job worth it all...(:

[kinkymonkey77]

my daughter has pdd-nos and for the first 3 years of her at school she couldn't have lunch in the cafeteria with her classmates, because of the noise.

[annmariemama]

Anna reminds me so much of our daughter Maddie. She turned 4 yesterday and we are in the process of getting a diagnosis for her, but we are sure she is on the Autism spectrum somewhere near Aspergers or PDD-NOS. The repetitive speech where she sings Cathy's name over and over, my daughter does that a LOT. She does the same thing with covering her ears if we go into a public restroom even if there is no noise, because a toilet might flush and she is terrified. Thank you for posting these.

[halfhalva]

I realize that she is just a little girl, but maybe she wants to know how its made-perhaps speaking about the "intake, belt, chord, and changing the bag" can help. Also, maybe if she is engaged in some part of the vacuuming task it may help. "What the vacuum cleaner mean"?

[motleyminded85]

I'm just like her. ^__^

[misspinkpunkykat]

She means the NOISE is hurting her. So in a way you are lying to her when you say it can't hurt her.

[EgyptAhlyy256]

Hello there! Have you considered anxiety zero technique (Go to anxiety0.info)? Ive heard some awesome things about it and my mate pretty much cured panick attacks with it.

[EgyptAhlyy256]

hey hey! Have you thought about anxiety zero technique (I think its at anxiety0.info)? Ive heard some amazing things about it and my friend pretty much cured panick attacks with it.

[palpa257164]

Oh hey! Have you thought about anxiety zero technique (I think its at anxiety0.info)? Ive heard some great things about it and my cousin pretty much cured anxiety with it.

[FordKeller]

This made me sad. Please don't video your daughter like this anymore. Be her mom. Leave the therapy to the therapists.

[jlcapaz]

sorry, it was emotional for me and reminded me of my youth (and even now with noise). Thank you for your insights and openess.

[jlcapaz]

She wasn't just repeating herself she was singing, and then she was contemplating what Miss Cathy coming over was going to mean to her. Also, the NOISE IS HURTING HER in the vaccuum cleaner scenario, so its useless to insist that it can't hurt her, or that mommy will make it all go away. Did you try earmuffs? I guess its a moot point now.