Noun: "(psychology) an autistic response to stress or sensory overload, in which the individual freezes up and becomes silent, motionless, and unresponsive"edit
2016, Olga Bogdashina, Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome: Different Sensory Experiences - Different Perceptual Worlds, page 103:
Shutdown may feel different to different people, but is extremely unpleasant (Blackburn 1997).
2018, Laura James, Odd Girl Out: My Extraordinary Autistic Life, unnumbered page:
I retreated into myself and allowed myself to be swallowed into a typically autistic shutdown.
2019, Bill Nason, The Autism Discussion Page on Stress, Anxiety, Shutdowns and Meltdowns: Proactive Strategies for Minimizing Sensory, Social and Emotional Overload, page 11:
We learn what taxes their [autistics'] processing, drains their mental reserve and renders them vulnerable to burnout, shutdown and meltdowns.
2020, Siena Castellon, The Spectrum Girl's Survival Guide: How to Grow Up Awesome and Autistic, page 34:
I may even reach the point where I have an autistic shutdown, which means I'll be unable to communicate, interact or socialize.
Either way, it is clear that the individual will be damaged by every exposure to a situation that causes such heightened anxiety that the only course of reaction is meltdown or shutdown.
2021, Joanna Grace, The Subtle Spectrum: An Honest Account of Autistic Discovery, Relationships and Identity, unnumbered page:
Although they do shutdown in response to trauma as neurotypical brains do, in the main, autistic shutdowns do not appear connected to particular distress or upset.
2021, Pia Hämäläinen, Autism in Code: Extrapolating from Theory and Experience, page 20:
They may also contribute to autistic shutdown and meltdown. For the autistic person who is living at the edge of chaos, assimilation and accommodation may seem to work in similar ways: it is all about constantly reinventing the wheel in both cases.