i love autistic age regressors (and being one too)
• i love how echolalia turns into play (quoting shows, copying tones, animal noises, favorite words)🎧
• i love how stimming and regression blend together like for me oral stimming with a paci🍼
• i love how routines & sameness can become part of regression
• i love how sameness doesn’t feel boring it feels safe in age re🧸
• i love how we build very specific little setups exactly how we need them & that’s what lets us relax
• i love how regression can make the world feel more predictable when everything else feels too loud or confusing!!!🫠
• i love how special interests come into regression with us
• i love how we can play by lining things up, sorting, stacking, repeating & that is real play!
• i love how parallel play feels natural for us just existing near someone safely without pressure :) age re really allows for this even in online spaces🫂
• i love how our “little selves” aren’t always fully different from our big selves but i also love when they are
• i love how we can be extremely sensitive to many things and how regression can soften that intensity (sometimes at least… lol)
• i love how certain textures can instantly calm us
• i love how safe foods can become grounding rituals
• i love how our bodies show our feelings more
• i love how some of us need more support when regressed and some don’t & neither is “better” (this goes for not regressed too)🩷
• i love how regression can be the only time we feel fully unmasked 🎭
• and that it exists as a space where we don’t have to perform
• i love how trust means everything (who we regress around, who sees us like that)💖
• i love being an autistic age regressor!
• i love that even when i get overwhelmed i have a space in myself that at times feels gentler even with big upset feelings
• i love the autism spectrum and community♾️
• i love that i have seen so many of us in age re spaces
• i love us even though sometimes it’s the hardest thing to deal with!❤️🩹
April is Autism Acceptance Month and I just want to take a moment to talk about autistic age regression in a way that’s rooted in love. It’s not the same for everyone because autism is a spectrum and so is how we experience regression but that’s exactly the point! There’s no one “right” way to be autistic or to need comfort. I see you & I love you. 🥰 I know autism & regression aren’t always the easiest things to deal with but we’re still here, doing our best which is what matters. It’s okay to struggle!! We’ve got this even on the days it doesn’t feel like it. 🌈♾️