Does a dx bring out greater reactions/stims/meltdowns?

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Recently my daughter has been diagnosed, the question is are we more acutely aware of the stims and meltdowns or because she has a name for it - a reason why it happens, become more relaxed and thus feel freely able to have meltdowns and stims more often?

How old is you daughter?

For a young child- less than teenage I would think, I would have to say that putting a label on what's going on won't change their behavior. It's probably that you're more aware of it now.

But for adults and older children, I would say that's a possibility. I know that I felt more comfortable just being who I am and therefore less likely to stifle my stims and other "odd" behavior because I am comfortable with my diagnosis now and know there's a reason why I am who I am. Only in private though, not in public. I was more aware of my stims at first, but now I don't notice them as much and they don't bother me as much.

If she's more relaxed, its probably just that you are more aware, in particular if shes young.


I was re-diagnosed with epilepsy at 14 year old (I had it when I was under 6 but no one ever told me). When they found out about what too look for alot of teachers expressed concern to my sister about how they felt bad for criticising me when I wasn't paying attention/was daydreaming etc. Interestingly I never had any recollection of any of those teachers chastising me for such things. But since I loved to daydream I took full advantage of this. I was also ordered by the doctor to not engage in physical activity for 2 weeks but he didn't write the two weeks down on my slip for the gym teacher because there was only about 2 weeks of school left that year. I hated gym - largely because of the gym teachers use of physical activity to punish anyone who couldn't already do whatever activity she was introducing that day. So for the next 4 years, I used that one slip of paper is an excuse to get out of running and alot of the other things she'd do as punishments. I had that gym teacher for 11 out of 12 years of school. I liked gym for 1 out of 12 years of school. (I had been waiting to get into 7th grade because then we wouldn't have her and what do you know she became the high school gym teacher the year I started 7th grade)

Hmmm! thanks - beginning to think it may be a combination of both!

The explanation behind the actions opens up the door for better understanding of the child. Depending on the age of the person diagnosed, it gives validation to the way they perceive and interact with the world around them.

I agree - if she's young, it's likely your perception of her. When my son was diagnosed, he suddenly looked 1000 times more autistic to me than the day before. Once I settled into the idea, I realized it was just me.

What we discovered was that allowing certain stims and physical movements that we had once tried to teach our son to control reduced meltdowns. I tend to think of the two as having an inverse relationship. Stims will increase with stress because they are a self-calming mechanism, but this should also help head off the next meltdown.