Elliott’s been on this nightmare kick for over a week now. Every night he’s having nightmares. This has gotten to the point that he doesn’t want to go to sleep.
He doesn’t remember what the nightmares are about, either that or he simply doesn’t want to talk about it.
Tuesdays appointment with Dr. Pattie was focused solely on him.
I was wondering if any of your kids on the Autism Spectrum have nightmares and if so, are they able to tell you about it?
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I still have nightmares as an adult.
I presume the trick to dealing with them is the way my parents did, and I always have. Don’t make too big a deal, but be sympathetic.
Many people with autism are known to get especially vivid dreams. This goes for good and bad, as the good dreams are a lot better, and bad dreams a lot worse.
You may want to look into if his medications are causing them to be worse. However, be sure to note that if you change the medicines, it may get worse before it gets better. Withdrawal can often be as bad as the side effects.
All four of my girls have had nightmares. Three of them are on spectrum. My nine year old and sixteen year oldd seem to have then the worst. We do alot of dream analysis around here as my bunch are super talkative. Once we got em verbal they rarely are quiet. The hardest one to deal with at times is Danielle who is nine. Her lines between reality and fantasy can be pretty tentative at times. So we try and pick part her dream and either talk about why the things she expeeienced in it were impossible or how we could change her dreamto make it funny. When that doesnt work..we try some redirection in the form of story creation. She has a huge imagination so i curl up with her under a comfy blanket and we create a goofy story together. Recently weve used her as the heroiine and a pet moose :). Our moose has alot of the same challnges as Danielle, soooo we create silly scenarios that engage her mind and take it off the nightmares..and if she gets scared..i try and remind her to think about moose insteqd of whatever keeps plahimg in her head and making her anxious. Its taken awhile and consistancy but it works…most of the time. 🙂
I’m not completely certain as to whether or not my son has nightmares, but I highly suspect he does. He’s still young and he’s also non-verbal, so it isn’t like I can ask him about it and expect to get an answer. But there have been times when I’ve seen him tossing and turning while he sleeps and also crying and whimpering when he sleeps, and that makes me think he’s dreaming about something that is upsetting to him.