Every family with a child on the spectrum has an ongoing battle with meltdowns. What exactly is a meltdown? Well it isn’t a tantrum that’s for sure! A meltdown occurs in a child with autism at varying intervals. Sensory issues play the biggest key in causing them. For instance, when out shopping in a centre a child on the spectrum may have a meltdown because he/she is unable to process the many sensory images that are being fed to their brains at the rate in which they’re being taken in. A meltdown can occur when a child is being taken into a new place and the anxiety and stress levels go through the roof. Some children can become aggressive during these times; others may scream and throw themselves onto the ground. Every child who has a meltdown has one for their own ‘reasons’, their own severity and in their own way. Society has its own ideas on how these should be handled by the parents, the most common is that the parents aren’t strict enough and the child needs more discipline. We’ve all heard the phrase “didn’t hurt me do me any harm, I grew up all right”. Well, yes, you MAY have grown up all right but that doesn’t mean that you have the right to offer advice to a parent without knowing the whole story behind their child’s behaviour. A child on the spectrum has trouble communicating. A meltdown happens because the senses are overloaded and the child is unable to communicate with the world and in simple terms… make it stop.
 
There’s no way to completely stop meltdowns happening. Unfortunately, as part of the spectrum a child will grow into an adult on the spectrum and will still have problems with sensory issues although hopefully they will have learnt to manage them by then.

However!
 
A suggested way of making life easier for your child is the “Keep them at bay” method. This is as simple as, depending on the child, creating a list of activities that can be done throughout the day to keep the plateau at a lower level. Meltdowns occur in screeching peaks. The higher and the more often they are, the more severe they can potentially become (not true in all cases), so by keeping those peaks away as much as possible by using the child’s sensory input then the meltdowns can (hopefully) occur less frequently.
 
Activities can include such things as play-doh, a makeshift obstacle course, squidgy stuff with the consistency of gel washes or similar, slopping around in mud, spinning (yes, a child can spin to your advantage!). You can create a whole list of sensory activities for a child and if done on a regular basis, between 1 and 2 hours and as a timed activity (5 minutes is a good goal), then the meltdown plateau stays lower for longer. Timing between the activities you need to do depends greatly on the child’s own receptiveness and the best judge of when it’s needed is by the parents themselves.

I asked my trusted autie family support group parents and here is what some families have been doing:
  
Family 1
 
I don't have any tried or true methods yet as we are still only fairly new to this, however I have worked out a few of his triggers and I have learnt that if I take him away from the situation and talk to him and distract before we get to a full on meltdown then we can usually avoid it. Of course there are times when even this isn't enough.
 
Family 2
 
Every situation is different and with our son the thing we used last time will not work for the next. Taking him out of the situation that has caused it. Seeing the signs and not letting it get that far. Walking away if he is in a safe place, so I don't get hurt. I know this is extreme but forcing him to do what it is he does not want to like a both because he loves it when he is in it. Make it into a game with his toys in his bath.
 
Family 3
 
Depends where I am, if we are shopping I will normally stop and take her somewhere quiet normally the parents room...on public transport I will hold her and 'jiggle' her like a newborn lol (takes around 10 mins to settle her) and at home I remove all toys and just let her go, if its nice outside I take her out to the grass and she runs and screams lol.
 
Family 4
 
Since I have a better understanding of SPD and I've been meeting that input for him, I've pretty much been doing what is in the information above, timing regular activities… and in doing this have seen a big improvement in our meltdown quantity!
 
Family 5
 
I try to avoid certain situations for my girls, but I have found social stories explaining what goes on very helpful.
 
Family 6
 
Depending on where we are I use different methods. If we are at home then we let him have a few minutes to himself then we will go and give him a big cuddle, it could be cuddling him for an hour depending on how big the melt is and he seems to like a rather firm cuddle with a meltdown ( I think the pressure helps him).....If we are at the shops we try to get him to a place where staring eyes cant distract him and talk to him. e.g. If he wants something that isn’t at the shop or it is too expensive then he will melt and there is no reasoning with him while we are in the location of what he wants so going away and talking to him explaining that its 'too much money' or 'they don’t have any, we will come back later'. If there are too many people around or if someone is staring at him he will not calm or pay attention, if someone walks past or doesn’t pay attention to him he will listen to us.





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