BLACKSBURG, Va., April 13 -- Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University issued the following news release:
Emotional overload is common, but for autistic individuals, it can happen more often and with greater intensity. It happens when the demands of a situation exceed a person's ability to cope.
Angela Scarpa, director of Virginia Tech's Autism Clinic & Center for Autism Research, explains why overload happens, how it presents across different ages, and strategies to recognize and manage it.
In children, whether autistic or not, emotional overload may appear as freezing, crying, hiding, or tantrums.
"It is not about behavior being bad," Scarpa said. "It is about being overwhelmed and not knowing how to cope with intense feelin...