Shutdowns and Meltdowns! For the next week or so we will be discussing the turbulent world of meltdowns. We will look at the different aspects of these emotional moments and ways to support the child. There are many aspects of autism that make the world chaotic and scary; however, emotions are probably one of the scariest. Children on the spectrum feel emotions very intensively, but often do not feel like they have any control over them. They have difficulty identifying the emotions, connecting them to external events, and often become over whelmed by them. These emotions come on like a tidal wave with little warning, leaving the child feeling helpless and vulnerable. Consequently, they frequently panic at the first signs of strong emotion. Hence, the beginning of a meltdown! This panic reaction is natural when you feel helpless in dealing with emotions. Losing emotional control is very scary, so any sign of anxiety may set off a fear reaction. Making matter worse, these children often have a hard time rebounding after the episode is over. This leaves them vulnerable for the emotion charge to explode again. They often need an extended time to fully recover after intense emotion. We typically think that once the child calms down that he is fine. However, the emotion is lingering for some time following the event. Following a meltdown, try to minimize demands and overload for a couple of hours if possible. As we have mentioned in past presentations the nervous system for many on the spectrum is very fragile and vulnerable to continuous buildup of stress chemicals. Their systems are often anxious and on high alert. Just regulating the normal daily demands (sensory, social, cognitive, etc.) causes extensive accumulation of stress chemicals in the nervous system. Just like all of us, as the stress chemicals accumulate our coping skills begin to break down. Unfortunately, for many children their body awareness is not good enough to sense the buildup of stress. They do not feel themselves getting stressed until they reach boiling point. Then, unfortunately, panic sets in and what little coping skills they have fall apart. This lack of feeling the buildup is why they appear to go from 0-100. Once at boiling point, the least little snag can set them into a frenzy. As we all know the meltdowns can be frightening and unpredictable both for them and for us. They are like a volcano exploding, releasing all the built up stress chemicals. Once the stress chemicals hit boiling point the fight or flight reaction sets in, and the immediate release of these chemicals is paramount. For some children if the buildup is gradual the brain will begin to shut out stimulation to avoid overload. The child will begin to shut down, limiting the amount of stimulation that the brain is experiencing in order to avoid being overwhelmed. These children will often appear very calm, but in a daze; unresponsive or “out of it.” This will often happen in school as the stress chemicals begin to increase. They will start to zone out, sometimes engage in calming self stimulation or may even lie their heads down and go to sleep. This is a sign that they are overwhelmed. Unfortunately we think that they need further prompting, so we increase our directing without being aware that we need to back off and give them time to rebound.
Posted on: Fri, 01 Nov 2013 10:02:54 +0000
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