MELTDOWNS
find it helpful to put strategies in place to min-
imize the stress and anxiety of daily life that
may contribute to a meltdown. Visual sched-
ules, social stories, check-off lists, and activity
or task schedules will be helpful in communi-
cating to your child what is planned, and what
the expectations will be. If you’re planning an
outing to the mall or grocery store, an online
search can turn up actual photos (and in some
cases video tours) of the store. Social stories
that walk a child through the plan, from be-
ginning to end, will offer predictability and a
sense of control that may reduce anxiety. Over
time, building in a “surprise” or “question mark”
to visual schedules will help to shape behav-
ioral responses to unexpected changes in rou-
tines or outings that are often stressful.
2.
Routine sensory diet activities
Routine sensory diet activities are important
to support regulation throughout the day.
Some parents find it helpful to schedule “quiet
time” for their children, in order to allow for the
downtime proactively before the activity of
the day gets to be too much. This is an import-
ant consideration when a trip to a busy, loud
shopping mall is in your child’s future! Because
sensory meltdowns are the result of events, ac-
tivities, or sensory stimuli finally culminating
in overstimulation, allowing quiet time prior
to the community outing may improve your
child’s tolerance, or threshold, when it’s time
to go shopping.
3.
Know your child’s signs of distress
Another key strategy is to get to know your
child’s signs of distress. Does the child put
his/her hands over his/her ears? Bolt from the
room? Say, “Go now!” or “Leave!” Or do you no-
tice an increase in self-stimulatory behaviors
(rocking, humming, hand flapping, self-injuri-
ous behavior)? These signs of distress can be
indicators that your child is quickly becoming
overstimulated and needs your help regulat-
ing before reaching the point of meltdown.
Depending on the verbal skills of your child
and how he/she accesses those language skills
during a meltdown, a low-tech communica-
tion board can help the child tell you the ba-
sics of his/her needs that may help you leave a
12 | Autism Parenting Magazine | Issue 68
situation or put a strategy in place before the
overstimulation reaches a critical level. For oth-
er children, a predetermined, mutually under-
stood signal (hand gesture, signal word) will be
enough to communicate sensory overload.
4.
Seek out a quiet, safe space
In those meltdown moments, seek out a qui-
et, safe space. This may mean leaving the place
that is causing the overstimulation (mall, gro-
cery store, etc). Allowing your child the safe
space to calm down will also mean changing
the amount of exposed sensory input. Keep
yourself calm, limit the verbal language you
use, and offer deep touch pressure input to
help your child calm down. In the event that
your child tends to bolt (run away) or is unsafe
to himself/herself or others, you may need to
restrain the child for safety. In a public setting,
bystanders may not understand your situa-
tion and may not react helpfully to your child’s
meltdown. “Meltdown cards” were created by