Tag: Mental health
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Spoon Theory and Autism: Energy, Burnout and Monotropism
What spoon theory means for Autistic people: how everyday tasks use up limited energy, why spoons run out faster, and how monotropism and burnout fit in.
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Autistic Burnout vs Depression: How to Tell the Difference
Autistic burnout and depression can look the same from the outside but need different support. The differences, where they overlap, and what helps each.
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The Neurodivergent Community Standing in Solidarity Against Racism and Ableism
Solidarity Against Racism & Ableism in the Autistic & Neurodivergent Community
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Autistic Mental Health Conference 2026: Ecosystemic Causes of Mental Health Issues
Autistic Mental Health Conference 2026: Ecosystemic Causes of Mental Health Issues
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No Space Is Neutral: Safe Spaces, Imagined Neutrality, and the Work of Belonging
: No space is neutral. Exploring minority stress, the Double Empathy Problem, and what it really takes to build safer, neuroqueer spaces together.
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The Neuronormative Paradigm: Naming The Systems That Harm
The Neuronormative Paradigm, conceptualised by Nick Walker, names the systems that define and enforce what society considers normal. This exploration piece contrasts the neuronormative paradigm with the neurodiversity paradigm, which recognises all ways of being as vital to human diversity.
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Reflections on the Autistic Mental Health Conference 2025
Reflections On The Autistic Mental Health Conference. An Interview between David Gray-Hammond & Helen Edgar
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Autistic Mental Health: Beyond the Pathology Paradigm
Autistic mental health is often framed through a narrow, deficit-based lens — one that focuses on pathology, risk, and what’s “wrong.” But this view leaves out the richness of autistic lives, the diversity of our needs, and the resilience in our communities. Moving beyond the pathology paradigm means centring lived experience, recognising the systemic barriers…
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Toileting: A Neuroaffirming Approach to Support your Autistic Child
Toileting is not a race. For many Autistic children, the journey may look different. Respecting a child’s pace, sensory needs, and body signals can make all the difference.
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Neurodiversity Affirming Reading Recommendations
Looking for neurodiversity-affirming reads? I’ve have a growing collection of books listed by autistic authors, advocates, and researchers. Perfect for parents, professionals, and curious minds alike. Explore stories that affirm, not fix. Neurodivergent voices centred. From education to identity, burnout to belonging.
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Monotropic Time
Each person’s experience of time is likely to be influenced by culture, age, disability and neurodivergence. For Autistic/ADHD/AuDHD people, time is anything but linear or neutral and is not a universally accepted given.
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Neuro-Affirming Research in Practice: Supporting Autistic Students, Embracing Monotropism In The Classroom And Beyond
Written by Tanya Adkin and Helen Edgar, based on the presentation we delivered to the National Autistic Society Professionals’ Conference in March, 2025. Shared with permission from NAS. We will explore the importance of the theory of monotropism and the significance of flow states and suggest some practical strategies educators can implement to create more…
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Challenges for Autistic & Neurodivergent Families Navigating the SEND System: We Need to Understand the Double Empathy Problem & Embrace Monotropism
(Blog based on a presentation I delivered to London Met University 14th March 2025, updated April 24th 2025 following the research published by…. Introduction The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) system is designed to support children with additional needs, yet for many neurodivergent families, it presents more barriers than solutions. Families navigating this system…
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Neuronormative Domination, Monotropism & The Map of Monotropic Experiences
The Map of Monotropic Experiences now has a home of its own. Read more about neuronormative domination, the water the whole map sits in, at monotropicmap.org, and explore each of the twenty areas of the map there too. In collaboration with Stimpunks, I created a Map of Monotropic Experiences. This is a revised edition of…
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Autistic Burnout – Supporting Young People At Home & School
Autistic burnout in young people is real—and recovery starts with understanding. This post offers neuroaffirming ways to spot the signs, reduce demands, and truly support. 💛 #AutisticBurnout #Neuroaffirming #Monotropism #AutisticSupport
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Monotropic Interests and Looping Thoughts
The theory of monotropism was developed by Murray, Lawson and Lesser in their article, Attention, monotropism and the diagnostic criteria for autism (2005). Monotropism is increasingly considered to be the underlying principle behind autism and is becoming more widely recognised, especially within autistic and neurodivergent communities. Fergus Murray, in their article Me and Monotropism:…
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Map of Monotropic Experiences
The Map of Monotropic Experiences now has a home of its own. Visit monotropicmap.org to explore each of the twenty areas, mark your own map and find the free training. You can also find the free training and downloads further down this page. Monotropism seeks to explain Autism in terms of attention distribution and interests. …
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The Autistic Dream Realms Project
Autistic Dream Realms The Autistic Dream Realms Project, created with Katie from Autistic and Living the Dream is a project in which we share information about being Autistic and OCD, as people with lived experience of both, as an individual (Katie) and a parent (Helen) to help demystify Autism and OCD. General content warnings: mental health,…
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An Autistic Experience of Social Media
I am writing this one month into my journey of setting up Autistic Realms; I aim to support and develop understanding and awareness about neurodivergence, education and mental health. As a late-identified autistic person and also a parent and teacher, I have always found real-life communication and interaction quite ‘difficult’ and complex to navigate. I…
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Celebrations: Neurodivergent-friendly ideas to help make celebrations a success for the whole family
(A guest blog, originally written forand published by ThePDASpace, May 2023) Family life can be busy and chaotic, and you may feel like you are constantly juggling to try and keep some balance to get through the day and avoid a crisis. Changes to everyday routines, such as celebration days and events, can be difficult…
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Neurodiversity Affirming Glossary of Key Words – for families and professionals
For the words of theory and philosophy that More Realms is written in, from neuroqueer and rhizome to Ma, monotropic time and bodymind, see the companion glossary Key Words: A Glossary of Neuroqueer Theory and Philosophy, and the Stimpunks glossary I helped to build. (Glossary written & and originally published for THE PDA SPACE…
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Monotropism and The Monotropism Questionnaire
This article was originally written for and published by Neurodiverse Connection (Aug 2023) What is monotropism? The theory of monotropism was developed by Murray, Lawson and Lesser (2005) in their article, Attention, monotropism and the diagnostic criteria for autism. Monotropic people focus more attention and energy resources on a more limited number of channels of interest…
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Embracing Autistic Children’s Monotropic Flow States
Article originally written and published for Neurodiverse Connection (Sept 2023) Autistic and ADHD people are more likely to be monotropic than the rest of the population (Garau, V. et al., June 2023). This means they focus more energy and resources on fewer interests/tasks/ sensory input at any one time compared to non-autistic polytropic people. Developing a…
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Autistic Burnout: Social Media Project November 2023
Autistic burnout is a term often used within the autistic community to describe an intense exhaustion that many autistic people experience where input and demands from life exceed the capacity a person has to manage. As part of my ongoing work within the neurodivergent community, I hope to help develop a deeper understanding and awareness…
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Monotropism, Autism & OCD
Exploring similarities and differences between Autistic and OCD monotropic flow states. Can attention tunnels freeze, and thoughts get stuck?
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Monotropism Questionnaire: Take It and Understand Your Results
Post first published 28th July 2023 Over the past few weeks, there has been a sudden surge of interest in the Monotropism Questionnaire (MQ), pre-print released in June 2023 in the research paper ‘Development and Validation of a Novel Self-Report Measure of Monotropism in Autistic and Non-Autistic People: The Monotropism Questionnaire.‘ by Garau, V., Murray,…
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Transitions – Supporting young people throughout the day
Updated October 2026. Transitions are one of the biggest hidden demands in a young person’s day, and understanding why they cost so much comes back to monotropism: every switch pulls attention out of a tunnel and costs energy. The ideas below still hold. For the theory in plain language see the monotropism guide; for the…
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Monotropism and Experiences of being Monotropic
The theory of Monotropism was developed by Dr Dinah Murray, Wenn Lawson and Mike Lesser (2005) in their article, Attention, monotropism and the diagnostic criteria for autism. Monotropism is increasingly considered to be the underlying principle behind autism and is becoming more widely recognised, especially within autistic and neurodivergent communities. Fergus Murray,(2018), describes montropism as:…
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Book review – Autistic Burnout, Children /Young People in Education by Viv Dawes
I am excited to announce that Viv Dawes (autistic advocate, writer, and trainer, www.autisticadvocate.co.uk) has just published her new book, Autistic Burnout, Children /Young People in Education, a book aimed at parents of autistic (or other neurodivergent) children. I have revised my preface here as a short review so everyone gets a chance to find…
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Low Demand Parenting (for the whole family)
There are a growing number of courses and books discussing the benefits of low-demand parenting strategies. This approach has been adopted by many professionals, such as Dr. Naomi Fisher, who support families. It is becoming increasingly popular amongst parents, especially in neurodivergent communities or in communities where children are struggling with mental health. Many of the low-demand…
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Autism & OCD – What Could Help
Updated October 2026. Autism and OCD overlap in ways that are easy to mistake for one another, and getting that wrong leads to the wrong support. This post sets out the differences and what could help; for the attention side of the story, Monotropism, autism and OCD explains why thoughts can loop, and the monotropism…
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Monotropism = Happy Flow State
Updated October 2026. This was my first attempt to explain monotropic flow to parents, and I still believe its central point: deep interests are not a problem to be managed but the place where Autistic, ADHD and PDA young people regulate and recover. I have written a fuller plain-language monotropism guide since, and glimmers and…
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Autism is fluid
Updated October 2026. “Being Autistic” is one of the searches that brings most people here, so a word on where this post sits now. It is a short statement of the neurodiversity paradigm: autism is a way of being, not a disorder to fix, and Autistic needs are fluid. If you want the vocabulary behind…
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Neurodivergent Friendly Classrooms
Updated October 2026. I wrote this for Twinkl in 2023, and the attendance crisis it describes has only deepened. The classroom ideas still apply. Since then I have written about why behaviour-based approaches such as PBS do harm, and about the monotropism that underlies so much of what teachers see; both are worth reading alongside…
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Supporting neurodivergent students who are struggling to attend school
Updated October 2026. School attendance remains the question I am asked about most by families and schools, and the reasons have not changed: unmet needs, sensory overload, masking and burnout. This post sets out what schools can do. For the burnout side read the Autistic burnout hub and the teacher guide; for parents, Parent ideas…
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Supporting pupils through Autistic Burnout (Neuro-Affirming Teacher Guide)
Supporting pupils through Autistic Burnout (Neuro-Affirming Teacher Guide)
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Supporting autistic students experiencing OCD in a school setting
Updated October 2026. More pupils are living with OCD alongside being Autistic than most schools realise, and the support that works is rarely the standard behaviour plan. This guide is still my starting point for teachers; read it with Autism and OCD: what could help and, where burnout is part of the picture, the Autistic…
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Autism, OCD, Alexithymia & Interoception
Updated October 2026. Alexithymia and interoception are two of the least understood pieces of the autism and OCD picture, and I still get messages about this post every week. Since writing it I have explored the same territory through monotropism, which helps explain why anxious thoughts loop, and gathered the support side in Autism and…
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Education Crisis – Neurodiversity Affirming Teacher Training Needed
Language Identity First Language: In line with preferences from the Autistic community I will be using Identity First Language (ie. Autistic person, NOT person with Autism) Neurodiversity – This relates to the biological fact that human brains and minds differ from each other. Neurodiversity aligns with the idea that all children are unique and…
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Supporting Children through Autistic Burnout (Parent/Carer Guide)
Updated October 2026. This guide was one of the first things I wrote for Autistic Realms, and it is still the page most parents arrive at. Since then I have gathered everything on burnout into one place, the Autistic burnout hub, and written about how burnout differs from depression and about spoon theory and energy.…
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Parent ideas for autistic children struggling with school attendance
Updated October 2026. If your child cannot face school, there is always a reason, and the ideas here are about finding it rather than forcing attendance. Since I wrote this I have added a parent guide to Autistic burnout, which is behind a great deal of school distress, and a short explainer on spoon theory…
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Ideas for Autistic Children who are Struggling at School
Updated October 2026. This was among the first posts on Autistic Realms and it is still the one I send to parents who sense something is wrong before anyone else does. The signs below hold. For what to do next, Parent ideas for Autistic children struggling with school attendance follows on, and the Autistic burnout…
