Hannah's meltdowns are not as common as they were but they still occur and leave John and I pulling our hair out or worse yelling at each other. Not a good place to be.
I decided to investigate further and see what I could find that would make sense to me and give me a way to hopefully help my child.
Common causes of meltdowns
1. Sensory Overload: Too much and too intense, setting off fight or flight, panic reaction.
2. Information Overload: Too much information coming in too fast. Many children have delayed informational processing. Having to process multiple information simultaneously can overwhelm them. We need to slow it down, break it down, keep it simpler.
3. Emotional overload: Sudden, intense, and mixed emotions that come on suddenly and set off panic reaction. Many children become overwhelmed and panic to strong emotions; both their own and others.
4. Task performance demands: Too many demands, or too hard of demands, pushing the child out of their comfort zones, and not allowing children to pace themselves.
5. Sudden changes or shifts in expectations! Once the child has an expectation set, sudden snags or changes can set off immediate fright! Sense of safety and security is dependent on predictability of what they expect. When snags occur, there world falls apart.
6. Intense frustration: Rigid need to have what they want (actually perceived by them to NEED), when they want it. If the expected outcome does not occur, they become overwhelmed with emotion. May start out as a tantrum, but become flooded with emotion and panic sets in.
7. Lack of communication skills: For non-verbal children, or limited verbal skills, the immediate frustration of not being able to communicate what they want, or need, can set off intense rage.
8. Unable to "control" everything around them. The fear of uncertainty, and need for predictability creates a rigid need to control everything they do and what occurs around them. When forced to follow the lead of someone else, they panic setting of the fight or flight response.
Minimizing Sensory Overload In Kids With Special Needs
Kids with sensory sensitivities often have trouble enjoying everyday activities like play dates and school functions. Extreme sensitivity to noise, crowds, touch, textures, bright lights, bothersome clothing, and new experiences are often so overwhelming for kids with sensory problems that it can run their lives and the lives of their parents. read more
My stay at home adventures mom talks about her own experiences here:
http://www.mystayathomeadventures.com/autism-meltdown-vs-tantrum/
Autistic meltdown or Temper tantrum
by Judy Endow
Most young children have tantrums. Typically as they master new skills and become more savvy with expanded communication abilities the tantrums dwindle away. Autistic children have meltdowns and these meltdowns can happen across the life span. For some autistics they never totally disappear. To the casual onlooker an autistic meltdown and a temper tantrum may appear to be the same behavior. It is not. Here are some things to consider when trying to sort out whether the behavior is a temper tantrum or an autistic meltdown. The strategies helpful for tantrums versus meltdowns are different so it becomes important to understand what you are dealing with to effectively impact the situation. read more
About Judy Endow
Judy Endow, MSW is an author, artist, and international speaker on a variety of autism-related topics. The award winning Paper Words, Discovering and Living with My Autism , Learning the Hidden Curriculum: The Odyssey of One Autistic Adult, Paper Words, and many other wonderful books can be found on her website JudyEndow.com.