Counting Down

One strategy that really helps us to avoid meltdowns in out autistic son is to count him down in minutes.

For example, if he is playing on a game and I were to just come along and say "get off that game now", he would probably go crazy.

But if I were to say "Right, you are coming off that game in 15 minutes", we would be fine. I would then need to remind him every five minutes to accustom his mind to the idea that he is coming off the game. Therefore I will say "10 minutes", then "5 minutes left", before switching the game off. By this time, he is absolutely calm and stops the game, no problem.

I have told his brother and sister to do the same when they are dealing with him, to avoid fights and tantrums. Yesterday, my son was playing on his big brother's iPad, when his big brother came along and snatched it off him. He went bonkers. I then told my older son to give him the iPad back, but to say "I want it back in 5 minutes", counting down every minute. When he did that, the process went a lot smoother and my older son got his iPad back without a fight.

In February, we are going to CAHMS, the children and adolescent mental health services. We are hoping that they will be able to give us more strategies like this that will make family life smoother and less stressful.