neurodiversity – Active Play Therapies

Thoughts from a Therapist: Screening Screen Time

Originally posted on Sensory Integration Education on 30 July 2024.

In this month’s Thoughts from a Therapist blog, Anna Willis takes a look at the hot topic of screening screen time. Given the digital age we live in, finding a balance between screen time and other activities is important for everyone’s overall wellbeing. In her blog, Anna looks at the impact screen time can have on teenagers and young adults and the pros and cons this can bring.

As we’re focusing on teens and young adults this month, something that’s been on my mind has been the role of screen time and screening screen time. A key question that comes to mind for me is when does something become an addiction vs something that is regulating – and can it be both?

From a personal perspective, I find it all too easy to get sucked into my phone, scrolling through content that feeds my brain and lights up the little reward centre in my brain every time I find a nugget of joy! It can be a source of relaxation, play and distraction, but it can also become a habit that’s hard to break. I’ve started turning it off at night so I can’t check it first thing in the morning as I was finding that I was being sucked into work before I’ve even fully become conscious.

If, as an adult with an arguably fully developed frontal lobe, I struggle to manage my own screen time, it is surely an unrealistic ask to put the burden of regulating the amount of screen time on children? I’ve seen various parenting approaches, from restricting screen time with timers on devices, to more gentle parenting approaches where children are given free rein.

When we factor neurodiversity into the mix, this becomes even more complex. I’ve written before about the social benefits of the online gaming community. I’ve also seen some autistic advocates say that devices are crucial to a person’s ability to regulate, opening up a whole world of opportunity to them in the form of entertainment, relaxation, comfort, predictability, social opportunities and information gathering, and that by limiting access, we are denying people access to a key regulator.

Unfortunately, it’s not something I have an answer for – more just throwing it up as a topic for debate! I think screen time can become a distractor and limit real-world opportunities for interacting physically with environments and people, gaining regulating multisensory input and learning opportunities. The addictive properties of screens can be a hazard and screening screen time can put pressure on the parent-child relationship, which is particularly vulnerable during adolescence. However, preventing someone from accessing a regulating tool is not something that feels comfortable either and we all know how integral screens are to our work and personal lives today.

If anyone has the answer – please let me know!

Have a wonderful summer!

Anna

Thoughts From a Therapist is a regular series written by Advanced SI Practitioner Anna Willis about something that piqued her professional interest or inspired her in some way over the last month. Anna, an occupational therapist and owner of Active Play Therapies, has over ten years of experience working with children and adults with a range of learning disabilities and autism.

Thoughts from a Therapist: Know Better, Do Better

Originally published on Sensory Integration Education on 26 March 2024.

Hot on the heels of Neurodiversity Celebration Week, in this month’s Thoughts from a Therapist blog, Anna Willis takes a look at the challenges we can sometimes face keeping up with the language around neurodiversity. Given the pace it’s evolving at, it’s easy sometimes to make mistakes and that’s when we may need some understanding that we will make them but that it’s better to try than disengage. And when we know better, we can do better.

Writing with confidence about neurodiversity used to be something well within my comfort zone. However, being asked to tie in my Thoughts this month to neurodiversity has made me pause. Whilst I have good intentions and want to be a good ally to my neurodiverse friends, colleagues, clients and families, I’m very aware that at times I do get things wrong.

The language around neurodiversity has developed at such a pace. A few years ago, I would have been writing about “ASD” (autism spectrum disorder). Now I know that the term disorder is no longer helpful or wanted by a lot of autistic young people and adults. So I refer to autism (dropping the word “disorder”) and use identity-first language i.e., autistic person, rather than a person with autism as it’s not something separate to the person but an integral part of who they are and as this is what the majority of the autistic community prefer.

For World Book Day recently, I shared my book recommendation for a fabulous graphic novel that has the word “Asperger’s” in the title and, quite rightly, someone commented that this terminology is outdated, particularly given Hans Asperger’s deeply disturbing links to Nazi regimes. This reminded me of the phrase “Know Better, Do Better”.

” Having open, honest conversation and being able to share with someone when they’ve said something accidentally offensive, whilst acknowledging their good intentions, is so valuable.”

And this is what I strive for. I feel it’s important for us to try our best, with good intentions, knowing we may make mistakes. There’s so much more I can learn. Only this week I was reading about how diagnostics of autism and ADHD are framed in language of deficits (or one opinion I read on ADHD spoke of how our preconceptions about it are based on distress patterns) and how different it would be if we instead looked at the strengths that these give people such as monotropism ((hyperfocus on one subject or task) and holotropic sensory gating (the idea of having “wide open” sensory gates and subsequently taking in all sensory inputs).

On the same day, I read about a mum saying if she came across one more person talking about autism as a superpower, she would scream! And I also totally get that. Her point being that autism just *is*. The same as someone having black hair or blue eyes.

I guess my point with all of this is that the landscape is complex and nuanced currently. It’s evolving at a pace and that makes it easy to make mistakes. But when we know better, we can do better. We need some understanding that we will make mistakes but that it’s better to try than disengage. Having open, honest conversation and being able to share with someone when they’ve said something accidentally offensive, whilst acknowledging their good intentions is so valuable. I sometimes witness other medical and health professionals stamping all over the invisible eggshells I’m trying hard to avoid and it can be difficult to raise – but that’s part of being an ally.

Sharing the mental load of educating, reframing and helping everyone move forward to a more neuroaffirmative world.

Thanks

Anna