Your Advice Requested: How to Explain Levels of Pain to a Person with Autism?
Your Advice Requested: How to Explain Levels of Pain to a Person with Autism? Monday September 4, 2006#spacer{clear:left}#abc #sidebar{margin-top:1.5em}zSB(3,3)People on the autism spectrum often have unusual reactions some pain. Some experience constant pain, as a result of extreme sensitivity to light, sound and smell. Others have a lowered reaction to pain. Still others experience pain at the same level, no matter what the injury. These differences can be dangerous (as when a person has been injured but doesn’t realize it) or overwhelming (as when a person cannot take part in typical activities because of sensory overload). But they can also cause confusion. Why is a loved one so upset about a burned hand? Why are they NOT upset about a stubbed toe? One reader is trying to explain her increasing levels of back pain to her adult son with Asperger Syndrome, and requests some advice from the community: My son seems to feel all pain at the same level. It seems like the way he hears, he
