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Why Anger Shows Up in Autistic Teens (And What It May Be Telling You)
Some of the biggest arguments my son and I had during his teen years happened in the car. It was usually just the two of us, driving somewhere — school, the store, an appointment. Something about sitting side by side made it easier for conversations to start. And somehow those conversations often turned into the…
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When Starting Is the Hardest Part: Understanding Work Avoidance at Home
He can talk about movies endlessly. Actors. Directors. Plot twists. Sequels. Reboots. It’s not just interest — it’s immersion. And when it’s time to start a simple assignment, the movie monologue doesn’t just appear. It perseverates. It loops. You redirect. It circles back. You point to question one. He’s back to casting choices. I’ll admit,…
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When It’s More Than Burnout: Recognizing Depression in Autistic Teens
There was a period during the teen years when his exhaustion felt heavier. Not just tired. He would come home, sleep for hours, wake up flat. Quiet. Distant. And then he started saying things that made my stomach drop. “What’s the point of all this?” “What am I doing here?” “I don’t want to be…
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When Friendship Looks Different for Autistic Teens
When he was little, I could arrange his friendships. I planned play dates. I texted parents. I suggested activities I knew might work. If things felt awkward, I could hover just enough to smooth it out. Sometimes it went well. Sometimes it didn’t. But I could do something. There was comfort in that. Then he…
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When Autistic Teens Burn Out (And Why It’s Not Just Tiredness)
He used to come home from school and disappear. Not dramatically. Not slamming doors. Just… gone. He’d sleep for hours. Then he’d shuffle to the dinner table, answer questions with one word, and retreat again. Later, long after we assumed he was asleep, we’d hear the quiet hum of video games drifting down the hallway.…
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Supporting Independence in Autistic Teens (Without Pushing Too Hard)
We went to the bank so he could open his own account. He was getting ready to leave on his senior trip to Disney — traveling without us for the first time — and he needed a debit card. Not mine. Not attached to my account. His. We sat in those stiff chairs across from…
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The Cost of Performing: Understanding Anxiety in Autistic Teens
He slept.Every afternoon after school, he slept.Not the quick kind of nap teenagers take when they’ve stayed up too late. This was something heavier. He would come home, drop his backpack, disappear into his room, and sleep for hours. And when he woke up, he didn’t look rested. He looked flat. Drained. Like he had…
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Why Autistic Teens Hold It Together at School But Fall Apart at Home (And What It Really Means)
My son has always taken very long showers. In middle school and high school, I used to knock on the bathroom door and ask if he was almost done. I worried about the hot water running out. I worried about the humidity. I worried about mold. Years later, he told me that sometimes he would…
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Why Consequences Don’t Work the Same Way for Autistic Teens (and What Helps Instead)
When my son was a teenager, he started locking his bedroom door. On the surface, it felt normal. Teenagers want privacy. I understood that. I was also parenting alone at the time. Every decision felt heavier because there wasn’t another adult to check my instincts against. What worried me wasn’t the lock itself. It was…
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Autistic Teen Meltdowns: What Actually Helps in the Moment
Understanding Why Meltdowns Happen (and How to Respond Without Escalating) My son loved to build Legos, well into his teens. For this, he had incredible patience, could go page by page following the directions to build the most intricate, complex structures. But I swear, the Lego Company had it out for me. Inevitably, in each…
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