Autism and Covid | Imamother

Log in / Sign Up

List of Forums + New Post Recipe Box Usergroups Following My Posts Bookmarks

Private Messages Advanced Search Rules New User Guide FAQ Advertise Contact Us

Forum -> Coronavirus Health Questions

Autism and Covid

View latest: 24h 48h 72h

How are you/your child with autism living differently during Covid?

Child doesn't go to recreational group activities since Covid started

[ 0 ]

Child initially didn't go to recreational group activities but now does

[ 0 ]

Child doesn't go to school/day hab/work sites

[ 0 ]

Child initially didn't go to school/day hab/work sites but now does

16%

[ 1 ]

Child's daily life outside the home has not been impacted by Covid

50%

[ 3 ]

Child's daily life has been impacted both inside and outside the home since Covid

33%

[ 2 ]

Other (please share details if you are comfortable doing so)

[ 0 ]

Total Votes : 6

amother

Mon, May 02 2022, 2:49 am

(Yes, I'm the same mom with the epilepsy and Covid question, but I figured I'd see what others are doing re the autism piece).

Short version - as we are still ongoing with Covid (unless a miracle happens before all of you wake up to read this), I'd like to find out what other families of kids/adults with autism have been doing.

Are you more cautious/as cautious as those who don't have household members with autism?

Were you more cautious before, but are more chilled now?

Has your child (or you, if you have autism) been taking part in normal group activities, or have you cut back in those areas?

Finally, because I SERIOUSLY feel like the only one in this boat most days (other than one other mom I know in the same boat), if you are not doing "normal" pre-Covid routines, what would convince you that it's safe to go back to the pre-pandemic "normal"?

amother

Hunter

Mon, May 02 2022, 4:27 am

We were less cautious with my son with autism. His school was only closed for a month (April 2020, and it would have been closed half that time for Passover, anyway). He's mostly been learning regularly.

He's perfectly healthy BH. So I felt like for him going without therapies was a lot riskier than exposure to covid.

As a family we were all pretty cautious because dh works in a hospital. So for example grandparents couldn't visit because of the high risk dh would bring covid home (which did eventually happen). So autistic ds was affected by that of course.

After we all had covid we were able to socialize a bit more freely. After vaccines were available we pretty much dropped all precautions.

Dd who is also on the spectrum learns in a mainstream school so she was impacted by school closures. But same general idea for her, therapies and socialization are things I'd risk covid for. For any kid but especially for her.

amother

Hunter

Mon, May 02 2022, 4:36 am

As far as I know there's no proven link between autism and worse covid outcomes, if that's part of the issue. There's correlation because autistic adults are more likely to have other health conditions. But if your kid is a kid, living at home, and doesn't have conditions that put him at risk, then his level of risk should be the same as any other kid.

Honestly though there's always a risk. Two of my kids do still seem to have some lingering effects from covid. But OTOH avoiding all socializing for two years would have done tremendous damage. It's less that there's one point where you can say, OK, now it's 100% safe, and more a question of finding a balance between the damage of restrictions and the potential damage of covid.

amother

Orange

Mon, May 02 2022, 7:03 am

My kids with ASD are not little.

Even though each is very different, I think they all found shutdown a relief from the stress of socializing at first, and then a habit that we're still working on breaking for some.

I had no concerns about vaccination, though haven't boosted the teen, and am not jumping for any of us to get #4. It's far more an issue to get them out of the house and interacting with others than worrying that they might bring home something that would probably translate to the equivalent of a cold.

cuties' mom

Mon, May 02 2022, 7:21 am

The shutdown was a nightmare for my autistic kid. His school was closed March 2020 through August, and even after they opened in September 2020, they were constantly closing for covid. Ds had covid twice. In December 2020, he caught it from his older brother. While my neurotypical son was sick in bed for 3 weeks, coughing, short of breath, sleeping round the clock, etc, my autistic son didn't have many symptoms. He coughed, slept through the night, and was more violent, but his symptoms lasted less than a week. In December 2021, he tested positive for covid but had no symptoms. Autism doesn't make covid worse, and for my kid, being locked down is much worse than covid.

amother

Sage

Mon, May 02 2022, 9:24 am

My kid with HFA has been going to school since September 2020. I got covid 2x, if he got it I didn't know about it. The most he showed were mild cold symptoms so he never actually tested positive.

amother

Emerald

Mon, May 02 2022, 12:45 pm

School and therapy closures were a nightmare for my autistic son. Far more detrimental than Covid.

Unlike Down Syndrome, which typically includes heart issues, children/teens/adults with autism are no different than the general population. Unless autism comes as a symptom with a chromosomal defect, that is, but that's rare.

As soon as we were able, we put my son in whatever group/therapy/school activities we could. We even flew to Florida so that he could go to Disney to do SOMETHING. He never got Covid, and we vaccinated him and gave him the booster.

Page 1 of 1