Anxiety in Autism: What the Brain, Body, and Behavior May Be Communicating

Anxiety is one of the most common co-occurring concerns in autistic individuals, yet it is often overlooked during functional assessment because it does not always appear as fear or verbal worry. Instead, anxiety may show up as escape, repetitive questioning, rigidity, aggression, self-injury, refusal, shutdown, withdrawal, or increased repetitive behavior.

This research-based webinar examines anxiety in autism through the combined perspectives of behavior analysis, neuropsychology, and contemporary neuroscience. Participants will explore how autonomic nervous system activation, interoception, intolerance of uncertainty, executive-function load, emotional awareness, sensory context, and physiological arousal can influence behavior and learning.

The webinar emphasizes that anxiety does not replace functional analysis, but it can broaden the context in which behavior makes sense. Anxiety may alter motivating operations, increase the value of escape or reassurance, reduce behavioral flexibility, and limit access to skills that were previously acquired under calmer conditions.

Participants will learn how to recognize behavioral indicators of anxiety, distinguish skill deficits from performance deficits, identify precursors to escalation, and expand functional behavior assessment to include uncertainty, sensory load, physiological arousal, recovery time, and re-entry into meaningful participation.

Practical applications include teaching functional communication related to anxiety, increasing predictability without fostering rigidity, supporting body-signal discrimination, reinforcing adaptive coping responses, reducing reassurance cycles, using graded tolerance with safety and assent, and designing anxiety-informed behavior support plans that promote communication, flexibility, recovery, and long-term independence.

Format: On-demand webinar
Length: 35 minutes
CEUs: 0.5 BACB CEU
Presenter: Dr. Vanetta LaRosa (instructor)
Audience: BCBAs, BCBA-Ds, BCaBAs, behavior analysts, clinical supervisors, school-based behavior consultants, educators, psychologists, interdisciplinary team members, and professionals supporting autistic learners with anxiety, avoidance, rigidity, repetitive questioning, sensory distress, refusal, aggression, self-injury, or emotional escalation

Learning Objectives

• Describe current research on anxiety and autism, including the roles of interoception, autonomic arousal, alexithymia, intolerance of uncertainty, sensory context, and executive-function demands.
• Explain how anxiety may influence motivating operations, increase the value of escape or reassurance, reduce behavioral flexibility, and affect performance during functional assessment.
• Identify behavioral indicators and precursors of anxiety, including repetitive questioning, scanning, pacing, delayed responding, shutdown, withdrawal, refusal, altered breathing, muscle tension, or increased repetitive behavior.
• Differentiate anxiety-related performance deficits from skill acquisition deficits using behavioral, neuropsychological, and nervous-system-informed concepts.
• Expand functional behavior assessment to account for uncertainty, sensory load, physiological arousal, setting events, recovery variables, re-entry needs, and environmental predictors of distress.
• Design anxiety-informed ABA supports that include antecedent clarity, visual supports, functional communication, coping responses, graded tolerance, recovery planning, and reinforcement of meaningful participation.
• Apply ethical, person-centered strategies that avoid punishing anxiety signals, preserve dignity and assent, and support collaboration when medical, psychiatric, sensory, communication, or trauma-related concerns are present.

Disclaimer

This training is for professional education only. Assessment instruments are discussed only at the level of general clinical purpose and treatment-planning implications. No proprietary test items, scoring forms, protocols, stimulus materials, rating-scale items, or administration procedures are reproduced. Participants should consult official publishers, manuals, and professional standards for authorized test administration, scoring, and interpretation.