ASd and meltdowns??

[staryeyed]

I hope no one minds me asking this but at what age did your dcs with ASD start having meltdowns. I wasn't sure until recently what the difference was between tantrums and melt downs is, but from what I read my son 2.2 (ASD) has not had a meltdown only a tantrum. Im wandering if I should be expecting them to start or whether he may not have them?

Ds (age 8, AS) had never even had a tantrum till he was 6, then the meltdowns started coming thick and fast all of a sudden. And to think we thought we'd got away with the Terrible Twos...

What I would describe as a meltdown is very like a toddler tantrum except you don't extpect to see it in a 6.5 year old. Its shouting screaming and hitting out, or just sitting on the floor in a rage.
We had one of these tonight because he inadvertantly sat down started eating and realised it was a pink plate he was weating from. The others weren't even at the table. Before I could even begin to diffuse it he had erupted and so had all the food on his plate.

We had very few tantrums at 2. They started later

Our very passive 4.5 yr old has just entered the terrible two phase..
One of the reasons he wasn't given an asd dx was because he is so passive... all change recently I've had to physically restrain him.

Ds started his around 4. He was also passive and still is to an extent. He only hits me.
I'm just grateful that his are still low key-ish. Feet stamping, raised voice(not shouting)and pointing.

Generally, a tantrum is manipulative - "I want my own way and will scream till I get it" - and is associated with very young children testing out the boundaries of what is and isn't acceptable behaviour. On the other hand, a meltdown is a complete loss of self-control and the child often has no recollection of it afterwards. They become like wild animals, full of fear and aggression, and aren't clear about what they're doing. There's a very significant difference between the two. You can't reason with a meltdown because the understanding is lost, but you can with a tantrum because usually they know what they're doing and why.