Oh, back to school. Back to school.

This is the time of year for transitions. Going back to school. School sports incorporate into a school schedule. College students flood Walmart and impact timing of grocery shopping. High school or college graduates in the workforce instead of the safety and consistency of school. There’s increased stress during transitions and at 3 AM, my brain felt the unwavering urge to synthesize what I’ve learned about the brain and what I’ve learned about Caden, as he’s transitioning to middle school, playing sports, and transitioning between my house and my parents’ while I’m away with Gunner for his hospital admissions for treatment.

So much of my conceptual understanding of brain science is applied through personal experience and my degree in Cadenology. This degree is one of those that can only be validated through continuous education because his brain evolves as he gets older and experiences more life. While most of what I write is unique to my life, my kids and my circumstances, there’s a lot that can be derived from the overall concept and applied to a reader’s own set of unique circumstances. If you read my blog about Mom Brain Explained, you can tell that I really like learning more and understanding how the brain is affected by stress. Well, transitions are stressful and that’s at any age and applies to both neurotypical and neurodivergent.

I recently got an email from Caden’s case manager at the middle school, and she asked for me to come and meet with the teacher team to discuss some areas they’ve already seen as sticking points for Caden, and they want to work together to develop a system that sets him up for success. My first instinct was:

Four days into the school year and I’m already being called in for a meeting.

Cue my own stress response and that’s 100% why my brain started analyzing the situation to produce the following at 3 AM. Thinking more about it, I realized it’s a great opportunity and pretty cool that his teachers -- the whole 6th grade team of teachers, the principal, the counselor and the social worker -- all want to get educated on Cadenology so they can better engage and help him succeed with this big transition to middle school. The meeting was AWESOME! None of what they have seen thus far surprised me and as we all agreed, nothing is completely out of the norm for most 6th graders. However, Caden having an IEP and having some more unusual life circumstances, we all want to be proactive to get a system in place instead of waiting until it crosses the threshold to being a problem. How cool is that proactive mentality?! Don’t just react, but consider meeting where he’s at to get him where he needs to be. So cool for a parent to know that’s the type of team responsible for my kid’s education.

Ready. Set. Here’s the 3 AM thought process.

Think about a drag car race. There’s a tower of lights that signal the start. A driver will watch the tower of yellow lights that light up one at a time descending the tower until the last light, the green light, is illuminated. At that point, the driver hits the gas and travels as fast as possible to the finish line and then a parachute is deployed to slow it down before it crashes or runs out of track. That’s essentially how a brain works. A signal to respond and then a mechanism to return to a place of rest.

Yellow light = stimulus + adrenaline

Green light = stimulus threshold + kick of cortisol

Gas = impulsive action

Parachute = serotonin + dopamine

Throughout a day, we don’t know how many of the proceeding lights are leading up to that green one being illuminated and signaling him to hit the gas and have an impulsive response. My working hypothesis has gone through iterations since he was two years old and it’s making more sense based on both biochemical and empirical data that explain the cognitive load and burden of transitions. Again, this is essentially the same principle for neurotypical brains. Caden’s brain is just more sensitive to it.

Even though autism is a spectrum, and subsequent behaviors manifest in different ways, there are still trends of a neurological basis — sensory sensitivity and impulse control. Caden’s amygdala and hypothalamus are in a constant state hyperarousal from being neurologically predisposed to a sensitivity to stimuli and the processing of them. I had an organic matter analysis done for Caden at the time of his autism diagnosis to better understand the physiology both his brain and body. On a biochemical level, two of Caden’s neurotransmitters are reportedly running at a slower rate. Therefore, his amygdala is triggered, his hypothalamus responds, and his hippocampus and prefrontal cortex are hijacked before it has time to develop conscious thought and calm down the emotional response or inhibit the impulsivity. Going back to the analogy, once his green light is on, his parachute is slow to deploy and slow him down before he crashes (meltdown) or runs off the track (disrupted thought process).

Pop quiz: Knowing Caden's metaphorical parachute doesn't deploy in time to stop an impulsive response, can you guess which neurotransmitters are shown to be functioning at a slower rate?

Answer: Serotonin and Dopamine -- they tell adrenaline and cortisol to calm down and quit being dramatic.

During a transition to a new routine or environment, his amygdala is in that hyperarousal as it’s trying to navigate a new environment or routine to process what’s a threat, what should be committed to memory, and what’s safe — imagine all the “new” happening in middle school alone much less the added layers of life. Each stimulus is being processed and is a yellow light getting closer to the green. There is unavoidable unpredictability at home right now so there’s no downtime to rest and turn off those yellow lights. He’s always at a starting line for a race.

Not only does the prefrontal cortex incorporate rational thought, it’s also responsible for executive functioning – for this case, that means fine motor skills and organization. With that hypothalamus not being throttled and neurotransmitters slow to alert the PFC, patterns are not recognized, organizational thought processes are stifled or even halted, and fine motor skills are inhibited. What does this look like? He doesn’t understand his schedule, the sequential order of classroom numbers is not recognized, he struggles to determine what supplies need to go to what class, and his fingers struggle to work the locker combination. Sound familiar? Probably! It’s not unique, but his susceptibility to it is and his ability to learn and respond is slower. Not impossible – but slower.

Here’s the best part — knowing this means an informed plan of intervention and his teachers are rockstars. Recommended intervention is new overall but requires a Caden twist based on my understanding of Cadenology. Explicit routines communicated clearly. Point out any of his rest periods so he can mentally prepare for when he’ll get to decompress and calm down the hyperarousal. Be transparent about what he needs to remember as a priority (locker combo, homework, subject content) and reiterate it literally. Don’t assume he can determine what’s important to focus on until he proves mastery of that skill. This means prioritizing goals and scaffolding those skills to eventually meet them as expected. Discovery is a natural process in learning a new environment or routine, but to do it efficiently, he’ll need very clear, concise, and consistent reinforcement to aid his brain in that process to promote the message neurologically flowing effectively.

The need for intervention will wane as his schemas are established, but there’s definitely need for intentional intervention to make sure it happens within a practical timeline. Then, there needs to be consistent language to communicate between home and school to ensure any messages between are interpreted as a cross-reference and not isolated, because that just takes too long and risks missing something or misinterpretation. Whatever language, expectations, rules, or systems are in place at school need to be reinforced and implemented at home to minimize that risk.

All of this is to say that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and the time it takes to get there is less as he gets older and more mature. It just takes time and intentionality, because we’re also dealing with a lot of lifestyle stimuli that isn’t conducive to the process. He is processing a new environment, a new set of stimuli, a new routine, new people, new rules, new expectations, and he’s doing that along with bouncing between my house and my parents’. While that is a familiar place with familiar people, it takes time for his brain to switch over to that. It’s a safe place, but again, it takes a little more time for his brain to be able to recognize that and respond accordingly. Both the frequency and magnitude of transitions just takes a toll. It’s a lot of work, but worth it because it always pays off. He learns his new environment and how to function within it. It becomes familiar and his amygdala isn’t so easily triggered, because it recognizes what’s safe and the hippocampus can do its job of keeping the green light off.

For anyone else going through a transition:

Establish routines. Transparent expectations. Consistency in all things. Repetition. Simplify the process and language. Prioritize goals.

And give grace to you or the one you’re supporting.