Autistic children are not inherently violent and are unlikely to harm others if given the space they need. Since your child's flight-or-flight instinct has been triggered, they may instinctively fight back and possibly cause themselves or you serious injury. Do not attempt to restrain your child.Stimming helps your child cope with painful sensory stimuli and control his/her emotions. Do not attempt to stop your child from stimming.Psychologists are apt to mislabel autistic people's adaptive behavior as purely emotional, because autism is associated with lower IQ as a so-called "developmental disability." According to psychologists, people with Asperger syndrome can display the same symptoms. These three stages also exist in adults, but the "rumbling" and "rage" are often more internalized. This corresponds to the exhaustion phase of the general adaptation syndrome, in which the child can no longer sustain resistance to the perceived threat. After a meltdown, many autistic people feel shame and guilt for making a scene. They may seek alone time, fall asleep, try to pretend that nothing happened, or apologize. Recovery: After the explosion, the autistic person retreats.This corresponds to the resistance phase of the general adaptation syndrome, in which the child takes action to combat the threat posed by the antecedent (such as the parent's aberrant behavior). They may start screaming, crying, flailing, or hitting themselves. Rage: The autistic person loses control.This corresponds to the alarm phase of the general adaptation syndrome, where the child consciously or sub-consciously recognizes a threat, but does not yet fight or flee. The child shows a build up of emotions with words (screaming, nonsense noises), stereotypical behavior (fidgeting, rocking), and movement (pacing, walking in circles). Rumbling: Nearby people can tell that something is wrong, and is about to blow.Myles and Southwick break down the "rage cycle" into three steps, which correspond (though they don't say so) to the three stages of the general adaptation syndrome "Rage cycle" is somewhat of a misnomer, because meltdowns can occur due to frustration, stress, overload, or anxiety. The autistic person does not enjoy melting down, and hates making a scene so treating it with contempt will only make it worse.Īuthors Brenda Smith Myles and Jack Southwick, who wrote Asperger Syndrome and Difficult Moments: Practical Solutions for Tantrums, Rage and Meltdownsuse the phrase "rage cycle" to describe what happens when an autistic person becomes angry. Meltdowns are driven by psychological pain. The autistic person feels like they can no longer control anything, and may burst into tears, scream, or self-harm. Meltdowns can be triggered by anxiety, anger, frustration, overload, stress, or fear. People on the Spectrum often struggle with places such as airports, grocery stores, cafeterias, crowded areas like railway stations, busy kitchens, school assemblies, and so on.Īutistic writer Cynthia Kim describes meltdowns in detail in her article " Anatomy of a Meltdown." Parents may benefit from reading this article. Occupational therapy can help increase tolerance of strong sensory input. If your or your child's meltdowns are often brought on in areas with lots of movement, sound, light, smell or touch, then it could be brought on by sensory overload. 5 Dealing with Meltdowns (for autistic people). Those feelings can build until they cause an outburst. According to psychologists, autistic people can also have trouble recognizing their own feelings, and they may not realize that a strong emotion like anger is building up inside of them. Some autistic people report that they feel things too much, but they have trouble expressing those emotions in a way that others can understand. If these emotions are ignored, then they will build until they prompt the person experiencing them to fight or flee the threat. Those emotions, in turn, spur people to take action intended to face the threat. Their brains and bodies secrete combinations of chemicals that people typically recognize as emotions. When people recognize something as harmful, they become alarmed. Neurotypical and autistic people have the same fundamental response to stressors. The meltdown is one way autistic people experience the general adaptation syndrome, which is the human body's normal way of resisting harmful or apparently harmful stressors in its environment. Autistic artist Miss Luna Rose illustrates the onset of a meltdown.
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