Sensory or Behavioral Meltdown?

There has to be two forms of an autistic meltdown. Sensory meltdown and behavioral meltdown. I'm not positive of this. This is just my concerns from what I witness with my son.

A sensory meltdown occurs when the nervous system goes into a sensory over-load. This involves the sense of touch, smell, taste, sound and vision. When an over stimulating environment causes the mind to scramble and not process the information fast enough.

A behavioral meltdown happens when the autistic child doesn't get to do something and can't get a hold of themselves till they get it done with. No matter how small the situation.

Tonight my dad was on the phone and he hung it up without my son saying hello and goodbye to who was on the other end. This upset him to a point of a tantrum that wouldn't end. It is one of his routines to say "hello and goodbye" to the other person on the phone. Thus, the behavioral meltdown in my view.

I put it off and tried to let him cry himself out and calm down without my help. I thought it would only last a few minutes but it lasted a long time. Usually I try to rub his back or give him a tight hug for sensory stimulation but tonight he wouldn't let me near him. Maybe being tired and a nap cut short triggered this?

Going on to 40 minutes he wasn't getting any better emotionally. I had to do something about this. He was making himself sick he was crying so much. All because he didn't say "hello" on the phone.

It came to the point where I called my parents home phone from my cell phone. The phone rang and he finally got to say hello and goodbye to me on the other line. Now the tears turned into sniffles and sighs of relief. All it took was for me to call and have him answer.

It makes me sick thinking that it will be like this until he has more therapy. He needs to understand that some things he cannot do. He needs to not get so upset over the smallest things. I know I could have prevented the prolonged tantrum by calling earlier. I should have. I wanted to see if he could end it on his own but it wasn't happening. How do I redirect his attention to not focus on the phone? Nothing was changing his mind.

Sometimes a parent feels lost what way they can do or should have done earlier to prevent a situation like this.  The best way to handle a meltdown, is to prevent it from happening.  You just don't know what will trigger it off. 

"SENSORY STIMULATION"

Sensory stimulation is a vital role of sending information to the brain of the autistic child to help settle their nervous system. It is important to have sensory breaks to help the child be alert and focus on learning.

Sensory issues can involve how the child sees, hears, smells and how their bodies react to their environment. This can result in the child's mind as conflict, bringing overwhelming sensory information the brain cannot process. The child could appear fearful or clumsy. The textures of what they touch may irritate their skin and make them feel uncomfortable.

Spinning on a sit and spin, jumping on a trampoline, brushing the arms, deep pressure massage, being pressed between bean bag chairs, swaddling, squeezing stress balls and being covered with a weighted blanket are some examples used for a sensory break. Sensory techniques like these help increase alertness.

My son has to start his school day in his classroom and slowly be emerged in the lunchroom where all the other children start their mornings. Eating breakfast. To start him off in the cafe with all the loud children and smell of food sets off sensory over-load. To walk him into it helps his brain prepare for whats coming.

Our sons teachers send him off on sensory breaks about every two hours. Taking this time off from the classroom to help settle his nervous system. Sensory integration helps him come back and focus on learning with the other children.

With my son, when he goes into sensory over-load it's like he is full of energy. His body gets jittery. He clenches his fists. He makes moaning noises and bangs his head on me. He can't sit still. How can he sit and focus at school if he would act like that? He wouldn't be able to if he wasn't getting the sensory breaks.

I think the most effective sensory stimulation involves the playground. This is where they can run, jump, swing, slide and just be a child at play. It will also give you the chance to sit back and watch your special child enjoy being young and stimulate his/her brain to all the sensory needs that need to be filled.

"OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY"

An Occupational Therapist is someone who promotes health by enabling people with disabilities to perform meaningful occupations with daily purpose.  Occupation not only means "work related."  This is the active process of taking care of ourselves and others, doing every day routines, and being socially and economically productive throughout our lives.

With Occupational Therapy, the therapist helps the disabled person learn how to do things to enhance their skills to get involved with their surroundings.  This is the use of physical, environmental, psychosocial, mental, spiritual, political and cultural factors to identify things that disrupt their abilities.

While in therapy, the therapist will observe how well the child performs tasks and how they act when participating in age-appropriate activities or situations.  Within their observations, the therapist will know what aspects of the disability to work on with the child.

My son right now has seen 2 of these occupational therapists dealing with his autism.  I think there will be more to come.  One of these therapists work with him at school. He is doing well learning new abilities to be accepted in a social environment.  It is very important that he learns how to deal with life situations and be able to act responsibly for his actions.

The main goal of Occupational Therapy is to increase the individuals function and independence of life.  We are very lucky to have people trained in these areas to help parents learn more what we can do to overcome stressful situations.  They will teach you how to handle sensory meltdowns and give you advice on other topics troubling you.  All you have to do is ask.

"EMOTIONS"

I try my best to keep my son with ASD happy.  Some times it is virtually impossible.  The slightest thing sets him off.  Tonight it was a straw to drink his milk.

It all started when his sister was drinking her milk.  Naturally, he woke up from his nap and wanted milk also.  I get him a glass of milk.  That's not good enough. He wants a straw to drink with.  I try and explain that we are out of straws.  This started off his temper.  Now, to regain control over the situation.

He's sitting in my leather rocker recliner and starts rocking hard.  Then, he goes and tips over his toys.  He grabs other objects and gets ready to throw.  He stomps his feet around the house.  What do I do?  Is this part of his autism or behavior?

I try and pick him up to give him a hug to settle him down.  I tell him it's alright that we will have to get more straws.  He's still really upset.

This goes on for a while.  It seems like it will never end.  When you least expect it, it's over.  He's done with his tantrum.  Wiping away tears from his eyes and taking deep breaths. 

Parenting an autistic child you have to call the signs of a meltdown.  One like this will strike out of no where.  Remain calm. You have to try and control your temper as well.  The child will feed off that emotion and things will get worse.  Bite your lip and take a deep breath. We will get through another day.  One day at a time.  You have to have bad days to appreciate the good ones.

"INTENSIVE THERAPY"

Today was to be the first of many intensive 3 hour treatments for my sons autism.  We are expected to go 2 days a week.  We were advised to get around 40 hours in home treatment for intensive therapy.  That would complicate things further we thought.  Not to mention they canceled his 1st appointment today.  That was disappointing because I could have went with to meet the doctors and what they will do.  The other times, I will be at work and miss out.

My wife and I work opposite shifts.  We are practically 2 single parents raising our 2 children.  We want to get top of the line specialists who know how to treat this.  During these sessions he will see 4 different doctors who will work with different types of his social disorders.

We want to eliminate his sensory meltdowns.  We want to break his routines without him getting so upset.  He is very heartbroken over almost everything.  The phone rings.  I start talking.  He will stand there and cry until he says hello on the phone.  No matter who is on the other line.  After he says hello, bingo, all better.

When I do laundry, he will be upstairs playing.  As soon as I push the dryer button to start he runs downstairs and throws a fit.  "Push start!  Let me do it!"  He tantrums just over the push of a button.  This goes for starting the microwave and making toast.  It's alright if he is there and I will let him do it.  I should not have to go out of my way to get him just to push the button to advert a tantrum.

People look at him and see nothing wrong.  He is a beautiful, sweet boy.  They just don't see what it is like all day dealing with keeping him happy.  He is very smart and he likes to sing along to music.  He likes Lady Gaga and Justin Beiber.

Autism is known as the silent disease.  On the outside, the person looks normal.  On the inside, however, their brain is wired completely different.  They see the world in a whole different way.  This is why as parents we need to spread Autism Awareness.  1 in 100 children are diagnosed every day.  It may affect you or someone you know.

Next Stop, MELTDOWN!

Dane cupping his ears

Parenting a child on the autism spectrum you have to spot the signs and know your child.  My son at an early age would scream every time the toilet flushed.  He would also cup his palms over his ears when certain noises hit him.  To me these noises are not loud, but to him it hurts.  Still to this day he is paranoid to flush and prepares to plug his ears.  After the flush in a public bathroom, he gets terrified or he will say, "Not too bad." if the flush is like a normal household toilet.

When we go to Wal-Mart, the florescent lights bother his vision.  We haven't done this yet but I guess wearing lightly tinted sun glasses would help him focus better.  It has to be hard for the little guy with all the loud noise from people shopping, the smell, the lights for sure and to get what we need and get out.  To a point things will seem okay, but after a while he gets these little tremors.  He will also bang his head on me meaning he is going into over-load.

To be prepared and prevent meltdown it has helped with us to give him deep pressure massages.  Also, give him a firm hug to send signals to his brain to settle his senses.  When I am at home watching TV or reading a book, he comes to me and bangs his head on me as mentioned before.  This is usually when I put him on my lap and push down on his joints to settle him down.  I gently squeeze his ankles, bend his legs and push in on his knees.  I will also put pressure on his shoulders by pushing down and then squeeze.  Not a tight squeeze, just a tight hug and that usually helps.

These are just a couple techniques that have help with us.  No parent wants a full blown meltdown, especially in public.