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Is there a term for this meltdown trigger and can it be avoided?

6 replies

IDoNotLIKEFun · 19/02/2012 22:35

DS is autistic, aged 4.5. He's generally high-functioning but oh, when things are "wrong" it really upsets him.

For example, last night he screamed for hours simply because in his Elmer book there was a dressed-up tortoise on the last page which did not appear earlier in the book when all the other animals were deciding to dress up. He kept demanding that DH and I find the undecorated tortoise and wound himself up no end. We ended up drawing one and sticking one in Hmm

Similarly there was a slight misprint or oversight in a Gruffalo activity book which meant that something couldn't be matched exactly because it was facing the wrong way. Thank Christ DH, DD and I can draw Grin

It isn't just these things. Today as we waked in from the town centre into the mall a pigeon was wandering around. He cried and cried. I'm sure it was because it messed with his idea of what is right.

He also can NOT, ever, stop something until he has seen it through till the bitter end. If he is re-telling a story or singing a song, for example. There is no distraction that works in any way. If a double-decker bus was hurtling towards him he would not interrupt whatever he was doing.

I know it's to do with restricted thinking and I feel very sad that DS' world can be so easily turned upside down by such little things. Is it that he is feeling a loss of control because his previous reliable perceptions have been shattered? I wish I knew more about it, and how to help him Sad

OP posts:
EllenJaneisnotmyname · 20/02/2012 19:20

I never really had this perfectionist thing with my DS, but I'm sure others have. Bumping for you.

oodlesofdoodles · 20/02/2012 19:34

The book Send in the Idiots talks about the need for 'local coherence'. It's written by a very articulate man with autism.

LeninGrad · 20/02/2012 19:37

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

IDoNotLIKEFun · 20/02/2012 20:38

Very helpful, I will look into those. Thanks for the bump and reassurance too Smile

OP posts:
marvinthemartian · 20/02/2012 20:55

you could try working on 'odd one out' puzzles, or 'what's wrong' type scenes, to get him used to things being not as expected.

the Dr Seuss book Wacky Wednesday is quite good. and lots of talking about it all - ultimately (imo) your ds would be best served by getting used to things sometimes being 'wrong' (and believe me, I now how hard it is when 'wrong' results in the mother of all meltdowns)

likewise with the interrupting - we used to have this a lot, and have literally built up from an interruption of half a beat (if singing), or an interjected phrase ('umm, what's next?') if reading/reciting - built up from 1 second to a point where an interruption can happen if necessary (whether in recitations, songs, conversations, etc)

mariamagdalena · 20/02/2012 23:09

He's working out what the rules are, and trying to extrapolate and make predictions. And the world falls apart if they're wrong.

Hopefully his binary logic (situation is good/bad) will soon develop into analogue (better/worse) and later into an understanding of probabilities, mixtures and uncertainties.

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