Someone asked, "How do you know so much about autism?" Besides being a parent of a child with autism, I also happen to be a school psychologist. Recently, another parent wanted to know how to handle her child's anger outbursts. I have posted an article on controlling temper tantrums (anger outbursts). You can read it at
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5700064/autism_controlling_anger_outbursts.html?cat=25
It gives tips and suggestions to parents (like myself) who have children on the spectrum. Read it and tell me what you think.
Tasha,
ReplyDelete(I’m not your “mom” but don’t know how to change that on Google—sorry. :o( )
How wonderful that you are taking the time to blog and be so helpful to others. Can't retrace how I got to your blog this morning (I think you had commented in a related chat room), but anyway, thank you. I wrote down several great suggestions. My precious 4-year-old grandson has 2 wonderful parents (my daughter & SIL) who are doing a great job with him.
Could I ask you if you've had experience with one particular behavior we desperately want to help him with? When a baby (especially his baby sister) cries, he immediately melts into tears, repeating "Why is Sissy crying?" uncontrollably. He's not angry (he's never had a tantrum and is very obedient), but can't control his reaction.
They've tried discussing with him that Sissy is okay, rewards for not crying, teaching him a coping "song,", etc.
Would love any thoughts you might have. Thank you! --Donna
Donna,
ReplyDeleteI wish I had your email address. I am hoping you will read this.
First, your grandson sounds adorable. I'm assuming he is the one who has autism. For many autistic individuals who are on the spectrum, they have what is referred to as sensory overload or over-stimulation. My son also suffers from over-stimulation. This is when a child receives too much stimulation from his environment. In your grandson's case, the noise from his baby sister's crying can be overwhelming. When a child feels overstimulated, this can lead to a "meltdown".
When my son was in school, he had a difficult time adjusting to the bells. He would "freak out" when he heard the school bell. Needless to say, this was throughout the day.
You can provide your grandson with earmuffs (headphones) to soften the sound. Continue providing him with coping strategies for dealing with the crying. You can give him a quiet place in the house to calm himself down when his sister cries. I have to say though, it sounds also like your grandson is learning empathy (a great quality to have). He feels his sister's pain and wants to help her.
I wrote an article about overstimulation. You can read it at
http://autistic-child-parenting.suite101.com/article.cfm/autism--when-a-child-feels-over-stimulated
I hope this helps.
Hello, your link is not working. I have a 8 year old grandson who is just now going through a very hard time expressing his feelings. When he hears a child cry, or when he sees something sad happen to someone(in the movie frozen, one sister accidentally freezes her sister) he gets very upset and emotional and cries and ends up screaming and getting angry...we are at a loss on how to deal with this...could you possibly help us? thank you, Laurie kyangelmom@aol.com
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