need to help a co-worker

Post Reply New Topic

My relatively new co-worker falls asleep for brief periods of time throughout the work day, so some of us have encouraged him to get a check-up to figure out if he has an iron deficit, narcolepsy, or something else--we're all very certain that he's not "just tired." He's going to talk to his father about it (he's a young 20-something) and look into making an appointment; if he keeps dozing, we know that admin might see fit to fire him--and that would suck because he's a really nice guy, works hard, and is developing new skills all the time. Besides that, our students love him!

HOWEVER, he confided to some of us that he does have Asperger's and at least some of the time is closing his eyes to help clear his head and get a brief break from too much stimulation. We promised him that we'll try to help him find another way to do that. We have some ideas, but I'd really love to hear from someone who's actually lived with this kind of thing.

Have you been diagnosed with a sleep disorder and/or had to find another way to keep your eyes open when all you really wanted or needed to do was close them?

I have the problem of falling asleep when my brain gets overloaded. It is a part of the way my autism works inside chemically. My Autism therapist said the chemicals in my brain saturate the system and basically cause a short circuit. My brain sometimes just freezes and it is like the Microsoft blue screen of death. They thought I had narcolepsy or something like that but I was tested and it floored the neurology doc because he saw the brain go from being wide awake to just powering down then coming back on. He literally threw his hands in the air and said "I have never seen this before! Your brain is powering off and on but it is not any seizer event! I don't have a clue what is going on." Because he was only paid to see if I had that he did not care to do any further research.
It was not until 14 yrs later I found out I had autism and that is what was causing those events.

The only way I can not have those events is the same way as preventing any other autistic meltdown - by trying to catch it before it happens. Otherwise my brain has no other choice but to sleep. I can't control it. It is a part of my autism.

If i need to "close my eyes" like you described, i usually find a bathroom stall. This makes it a lot less obvious what i'm doing.

sometimes i have been asked why i disappear sometimes, and i flat-out stated i needed a recharge every now and then, and that i'm taking the equivalent of a smoke-break.
doing this, it has gotten accepted, especially since many co-workers do indeed smoke and take frequent breaks to do so.

What kind of job is this? My husband has an office job where he's able to browse the Internet. He plays this repetitive cooking clicking game that focuses his attention away from other things.

Is it possible to move your co-worker away from the things that are bothering him? To like a corner away from phones and people talking and moving around? Earphones and facing a wall can help.

Actually, we're all teaching preschoolers with autism and he's basically serving as a long-term sub because our classroom's enrollment has exceeded the usual ratio. In the recent past, he's worked as a short- and long-term sub with other special needs kids in the school, and though other people also noticed him with his eyes closed, no one wanted to say anything because his "resting sessions" didn't pose a significant problem and no one wants to see him fired.

At this point, he has spoken with his dad, who let him know that yes, he's doing that at home, too, and so we've worked out a possible solution: he takes a couple of short breaks during the day when he's most likely to fall asleep. Of course, this is all new and he's still trying to figure out exactly when he's asleep and when he's just resting/refreshing his mind. He'll be leaving before our summer session begins, so if we were to be callous about it, we'd say "whatever," but we want to help him get control of his situation so that he won't be at risk for a car accident, an injury, or losing a job in the future.

izzme: thanks for your input! I think a mini-retreat like that is equivalent to taking a smoke or bathroom break, and since he simply takes a short walk, it's probably helping him to rev up his energy a smidgen.

Aspie Turtle: I'm sorry that it took so long to figure out what was going on, but I'm glad you've been able to adapt to it. It sounds like the neurologist was at least kind to you, which I find to be a bit rare; sounds like you got lucky there!
I don't know if my co-worker is going to get any sort of medical exam, but I do believe that since he and his dad have talked about what's going on, they'll be more likely to seek out that sort of help if they need it. I think that our other teammates and I were able to convince him that if he has problems in the future, anyone (such as an employer) would be more patient if they know he's "working on it."

Thank you all so much. Have a great weekend!

he might be on medication that is causing it.
I occasionally space out, but not sleep.

Though for a while my previous medications caused me to be drowsy and constantly nodding in my classes.

My new medication doesn't have a drowsy side effect, though I'm no longer in class...
It does make it a tad harder to wake up in the morning.

If you guys really want to keep him around, then you need to talk to him about reporting his disability to HR or who ever, so it gets on his file.
This prevents him from being fired for things related to his disability.

There is a difference between closing one's eyes for a minute or so, and falling asleep. If he's just closing his eyes, and not actually falling asleep, administration should give him 6 months to acclimate.

Is the environment as calm as possible? Think about every sense, one by one.

(Normally I wouldn't suggest such drastic measures, but since it would actually help the children in your care, too, sounds like a good idea.)

I second the idea of having very short breaks before it gets bad.

Until he gets results from the doctor, I suggest someone wake him up when he falls asleep. You can do it gently or even discreetly, by being a little louder near him. Or moving something near him, etc. ...to save his pride a little.

Thanks, everyone, for your advice.

Since my co-worker is officially a substitute, he doesn't have the same job protections as a full-time employee. He won't be working with us this summer, so he'll have a chance to investigate his condition more. It's unlikely that anyone would try to keep him from finishing up the academic year with us because there are only three weeks left, and it's not easy to get subs for our class. Still, we've told him that if he wants to protect his chances of getting more work in the fall, he should talk to a doctor and take action to treat whatever this problem is.

We know that at least some of the time his eyes are closed, he's definitely asleep (we wake him up when we're sure that he's sleeping) because occasionally he has slumped over in his chair and then jerked awake. Other times we can't be sure, and we don't think he can, either. If it's medication that's causing at least some of his problems, he hasn't said so; I would hope that someone his age would know that drowsiness is a common side effect of many meds! He may very well be experiencing the same thing Aspie Turtle is, but I also know there may be more than one condition in effect here.

Regarding the environment: I completely understand what a difference that could make for any student--and adult--but there’s little more we can do to calm it down. A classroom of eight preschoolers, ASD or not, can be rough on anyone's senses no matter what! (Personally, I have strong feelings about the impact that work and study environments can have on people, especially when it comes to lighting, which could be easier to control if anyone cared. I hate the fact that our lights--all of which are fluorescent, of course--in our current classroom are controlled by only one switch. The classroom we were in three years ago had two light switches, so we could turn off all or half of them as we felt appropriate, but again, there’s nothing I can do about which room we're assigned to or how the room is wired.)

Unfortunately, my co-worker's a very quiet, shy guy, so we think that pestering him for more information and/or telling him too much might only increase his discomfort and lead him to freeze us out entirely. He has the information I gave him about a local sleep center. He likes to make decisions slowly, and I totally respect that, but my other teammates and I will continue to "feel things out" to decide what else we might say, and when, to encourage him to do something.