Is it distraction or sensory overload?
When someone repeatedly leaves a room or panics, don't assume defiance or pressure. ADHD distraction is curiosity-driven movement between things; autistic sensory overload is a physical assault — sound piercing the ears, a smell triggering a gag, closeness feeling scratchy. Ask why, look for sensory triggers, and accommodate the input.
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A child bolting from a classroom, or an adult abruptly needing to leave, is easy to misread as naughtiness, defiance or simply ‘pressure’. But there are two distinct things underneath. ADHD distraction is curiosity: attention moves from one fascinating thing to another. Autistic sensory overload is physical — noise that feels like something piercing the ears, a smell strong enough to cause gagging, proximity that produces a strange scratchy feeling. It is an assault on the body, not a behaviour problem, and it is categorically different from being pulled around by curiosity. The first move is to ask the person why rather than assuming a motive, and to look for sensory triggers (noise, smell, proximity). The accommodations are concrete: filtered earphones to cut sound, seating at a chosen distance from others — front or back, wherever they feel confident — and a quieter or busier spot as needed. Crucially, ask what would actually help instead of deciding for them; with children especially, the reflex is to assume, when the better move is to have a proper conversation and give them agency over the fix.
