Meltdowns

Have you ever seen a meltdown that just seems to go on and on and on?  The ones that can take up loads of your time and energy?

Well, any parent or carer or guardian will tell you it’s a real part of autism and can come on “out of the blue,” as far as you are concerned.  You can’t always tell when one is about to occur, but there ARE things you can do to help them not to happen and it’s a good idea to look at these.  The very first thing you need to consider is safety — of them, yourself and any other animals or humans in the vicinity.

Now obviously making sure your child  has all their basic physical needs met is a natural thing for a parent, carer or guardian to do.  But it’s not the only thing you can do, there are other things as well.  I know that if my physical needs aren’t met, I can’t concentrate on my writing.  And with someone on the spectrum the feelings are greatly intensified.  Have you heard the term, Hangry?  It means the child is so hungry they turn angry.

Eliminating physical needs as I say is part of a way of preventing a meltdown but it isn’t the complete picture.  They can have a meltdown over anything - even something as simple as something not working or responding the way they either want or expect.  To you, this may seem a little excessive, but they don’t.  

So, now that they have had their needs met and they are still having a meltdown, you need to have ways of helping them out of it and return to normality.  I know I have talked about sensory issues quite a number of times, but if they do have some favourite sensory things at the time, they are excellent to use.

Let me give you an example here.  Because one of Johnathan’s sensory needs is touch, I will often give him a really big and expansive cuddle.  Sometimes I find this doesn’t work, but other times it does.  But you know your child, and what will work with them.  

So the important things to remember in a message are being calm, making sure every one in the house is safe.  You are not alone, there are many others around the world who have been through it and you can get through it and help your child when they come out the other side.