Guide your child to a safe place, if possible.When a meltdown happens, these steps can help: Stay calm yourself and offer to do a breathing exercise with your child.Give your child space and don’t touch them.Instead use pictures or written words to guide your child to a safe, quiet place and suggest calming strategies. You could use visual cues like pictures of headphones or a quiet place.

Remind your child to use their relaxation techniques, sensory aids or other options.

You could tell your child the choices or use pictures. At school, your child could go on an errand for the teacher or have a drink break. For example, your child could choose a different activity, go for a walk, choose a toy from their sensory box, or suck on a piece of ice. Give your child 2-3 structured choices to redirect them towards something positive.For example, you might be able to close a door, turn down lighting or music, or move to a quieter space. Check whether there’s anything you can change in the environment to help your child feel more comfortable.For example, your child might screech, run away, put their hands over their ears, squeeze into a tight space, rub things, rock, pace, withdraw or hurt themselves. Recognise signs that your child is getting frustrated, angry or anxious.Here are some ideas and strategies that might help your child manage their emotions and calm down: Sometimes you might know that your child is in a difficult situation or that they’re getting agitated or overwhelmed. You can adapt these steps for younger autistic children and some older autistic children too. There are 5 key steps to calming down for children – notice the emotion, name the emotion, pause, support your child, and address the issue that sparked the emotion. Or you and your child could talk to their teachers about your child regularly leaving class 5 minutes early. This will make it easier for your child to remember and use the strategies when they’re feel stressed or overwhelmed.įor example, you could make daily breathing exercises part of your child’s routine, or your child could practise using headphones when it gets noisy at home.

sensory aids like headphones to deal with triggering noises or favourite fragrances to deal with triggering smells.Įncourage your child to practise their coping strategies when they’re feeling calm.

practical actions like leaving classes a few minutes early to avoid noisy, crowded corridors.

breathing exercises, muscle relaxation techniques or simple things like taking a break and listening to music.

Options for coping in difficult situations might include: This is about your child knowing what helps them feel comfortable and calm in difficult situations. Or you could help your child describe how their body feels before a meltdown – for example, racing heartbeat, churning stomach or difficulty breathing. For example, you and your child could practise recognising emotions like anxiety. This is about helping your child to recognise signs that they’re feeling uncomfortable or that a meltdown might be coming. You could keep a diary to record what happens before meltdowns and look for patterns. Meltdowns can also be triggered by a build-up of many small but distressing events. These might be things like a different route to school, sudden loud noises like announcements on the train, or noise and jostling in changing rooms. You and your child could make or draw a list of difficult situations. This is about your child knowing what situations lead to them feeling overwhelmed and moving into meltdown. The ideas below might help your autistic child avoid meltdowns. To avoid meltdowns, autistic children and teenagers need support to learn: Avoiding meltdowns: autistic children and teenagers Meltdowns can make it hard for autistic children and teenagers to take part in everyday activities. Meltdowns might include behaviour like rocking, crying, hitting or withdrawing. Meltdowns happen when autistic children and teenagers feel completely overwhelmed, lose control of their behaviour, and find it very hard to calm themselves. About meltdowns: autistic children and teenagers

Kreed autism meltdown