Understanding what works: Meltdowns

“Behind every young child who believes in himself is a parent who believed first”. - Mathew Jacobson

In my previous blog, I have shared information regarding meltdowns and tantrums. To effectively deal with meltdowns you must be proactive and not reactive. Understand rather ignoring and misunderstood his emotions, cry, and behavior pattern

Now, before I jump into some strategies, I have a word of warning. Please don’t do all of these immediately when your child starts a meltdown. You need to know what works for your child, what exactly your child wants and what their sensory preferences are. Be cautious about the alarming signs your child gives during meltdowns.

Not every strategy will work for every child, so test them out one at a time to see what works best for your child. I am sure by testing and observing you will definitely understand the preferences

• Use Visual Schedules.

Provide your child with a written schedule of what they will be doing during the day is a great strategy to help reduce meltdowns. Many autistic children struggle with transitions, but, by using a visual schedule, your child can see what is coming up next in their day. It seems difficult but once u made every day its seems easy for your kid to understand a day planner. Like we need newspapers to know what is happening across the world similarly child who is dealing with meltdown need more structured routine.

Sensory ActivitiesThroughout The Day, Especially Heavy Work.

Remember that meltdowns are a response to being overwhelmed by sensory input. By providing your child with lots of sensory activities throughout the day, you can help them regulate their bodies. Like

• take a bubble wrap sheet and use different non-harmful watercolors to stick into his finger tell him to squeeze the bubble sheet by placing it on the table.

• Make a sensory bottle and keep it in a bedroom.

How to make a sensory bottle at home :

The bottle is like your lens. The shape and clarity are important as well as the size and sturdiness. Through time I’ve learned that smaller bottles are best for heavy sensory bottles.It can be tailored to your child’s interests to make it more appealing. For instance, if your child loves the ocean, you can use blue food coloring, blue glitter, and confetti shaped like fish.

Let’s make a themed glittery sensory bottle

First, squeeze corn syrup into an empty water bottle. Use enough to fill one-third of the bottle with the syrup. (Instead of corn syrup, you can use oil,.) Add warm water until it’s about three-quarters full. Next, add a few drops of food coloring and sprinkle in some glitter. Put the lid on the water bottle and shake to mix the ingredients. Once you’re satisfied with how it looks, fill the bottle to the top with water. Put the lid back on and secure it with superglue or hot glue.

Peekaboo” Sensory Bottle With Sand

A “peekaboo” sensory bottle can provide visual and tactile input. It may also help your child stay focused better. You can make this bottle with rice that has been dyed with food coloring or with colored play sand. Put a funnel in the mouth of an empty water bottle and fill it about halfway with sand or rice. Add small toys, like alphabet beads, or mini-erasers.

Then, fill the rest of the bottle with sand or rice, leaving about an inch of room at the top. This gives the contents room to move around and get mixed up. Shake the bottle and then secure the lid with super glue.

If your child is a sensory seeker, she may benefit from heavy work activity using the bottle. The weight of it can soothe her as she turns it around searching for specific letters or objects. You can even make a list of the toys in the bottle. Your child can use it to see if she can find all the items.

Wave Sensory Bottle

Fill an empty water bottle about one-third full of water. Add a few drops of food coloring. Once the food coloring has spread throughout the water, fill the rest of the bottle with baby oil or cooking oil. Secure the lid with super glue. Your child can put the bottle on its side to see the waves or shake it to see the oil and water separate.

These are some very exciting sensory bottles you can make at your home

Calm Down Corners

Calm down corners can be a great calming strategy for autism meltdowns. The basic premise is to have a safe space where your child can calm down that they feel comfortable in. observe any corner of the house with least distractions and that area contains your child most preferred toys, belonging it could be planted empty room depending upon your child need

LED LIGHTS

Use a color-changing LED light or candle and practice taking breaths in and out as the color changes. It’s a great activity for promoting mindfulness and calming techniques. Depending on your child’s interests, Amazon offers an array of color-changing lamps,I am attaching the link below :

https://amzn.to/2gKbjeG

Fidget toys

Hand fidgets toys like fidget spinners, putty, or this unique textured circle fidget set.

Chair push-ups – Get your child to hold on to either side of their chair and push with their arms to lift their bottoms off the seat. This provides proprioceptive input through heavy work

Snake Slither

Lay on your tummy and wiggle along the floor like a slithering snake. It requires a lot of energy and strength to slither across the floor.

Bear Walk

Another classic animal walk. Simply walk on all fours like a bear, keeping your arms and legs fairly straight.

Crab Walk

The crab walk is another childhood classic that involves leaning backward on all fours and then walking around backward

NOISE-CANCELING HEADPHONES

Often times, noises can become too much. Having a good pair of over the ear noise-canceling headphones to block out auditory stimuli or distraction can really help with very soft music depending upon your child like or dislike

CHEWY, CRUNCHY SNACK

While snacks are always good to have on hand, crunchy ones can help because oral proprioceptive input is calming and hungry kids are crankier

Jumping

Try to make a child jump on the trampoline if a trampoline is not available to take two full-size mattresses to make him jump with ball catch and throw activity

Tug of war

Take 3 cotton dupattas and tie them together. Now make a knot of all three dupattas and tie it on one end of the window. Along with your kid stretch the dupatta towards your side.

Don’t wait for the meltdown to happen, follow all the tips activities every day so that child can regulate if a meltdown occurs you and the child is able to manage with the activities.

Use Clear and Simple Messages

For kids with special needs, this may require more than just telling them. You may need to use pictures, role-playing, or gestures to be sure your child knows what he or she is working toward.do not complicate with your needs suppose you want a phone from ur child to tell them clearly e.g please bob bring mine from bed.specify everything.

Keep verbal and visual language simple, clear, and consistent. Explain as simply as possible what behaviors you want to see. Consistency is key, so make sure that grandparents, babysitters, siblings, and teachers are all on board with your messages.

Offer Praise

Encourage accomplishment by reminding your child about what he or she can earn for meeting the goals you've set, whether it's getting stickers, screen time, or listening to a favorite song. And be sure to praise and reward your child for effort as well as success. So a child who refuses to poop in the toilet may be rewarded for using a potty near the toilet.

Another strategy: practice "time-in" — when you catch your child doing something right, praise him or her for it. In certain cases, time-in can be more effective than punishment, because kids naturally want to please their parents. By getting credit for doing something right, they'll likely want to do it again.dont think your child doesn’t understand praise , they are brilliant enough to judge the emotion even if they are not reacting.

Make immediate environment modifications

Take your child out of the current environment and go somewhere for a break or take a “time-in” A change of scenery can help when calming a child. sometimes changing the air is a solution

Give Your Child Reasonable Options/Choices

When a child is frustrated, they often feel like they have lost control of a situation. Offering choices or options can help them feel as though they’ve regained a bit of control.

Teach emotion recognition

Use different emotions with visual tell your child about every emotion and try to make his label what he feels after a day passes.

• Believe in your child

When you believe your child can do something, you empower him or her to reach that goal. The same is true for meltdowns. For example, if your child is too aggressive when playing with other kids, don't stop the play altogether. Instead, work with your child to limit the physicality of the play. You may want to plan for non-physical activities during play dates, like arts and crafts projects. Use discipline where necessary in the form of time-outs, enforced turn-taking, and rules like "no touching" — and provide rewards when your wishes are met.

if you set an expectation in line with your child's abilities, and you believe he or she can accomplish it, odds are it will happen failures are pillars of success. If your efforts don't result in changes, talk to your child’s doctor, therapist, or behavior specialist to help reach your goals.

All one thing in mind!

“ never lose hope Strom make people stronger and never last forever”.

Similarly, meltdowns are storms that make you stronger day by day you just need to be more courageous by giving all possible help you can do. Do not expect what activities you are following will show miracle in a day but practicing all the plans, the improvement, and goals are started achieving.

All the best!

Keep one thing in mind!

“ never loose hope Strom make people stronger and never last forever”.

Similarly, meltdowns are storms that makes you stronger day by day you just need to be more courageous by giving all possible help you can do. Do not expect what activities you are following will show miracle in a day but practicing all the plans, the improvement, and goals are started achieving.