Sometimes I feel like I live in a perpetual meltdown. By the time I recover from one, I’m knee deep in another one. It’s exhausting to say the very least.
Gavin had a very violent meltdown this morning. He was trying to play Lizze and I off each other and I caught him.
The very simple act of accountability is what sets him off. It doesn’t matter what the consequences are, he was caught and doesn’t like it. The meltdown is his way of expressing that dislike. It’s not sensory related at all. He’s fine until he learns there is a consequence for his actions.
Personally, I’m growing tired of living in Meltdown Central, it’s the smallest/loudest city in the world.
Thank God we see Dr. Pattie in about 8 hours. I’m literally counting down the minutes. My hope is that we can at least get some direction to go in with Gavin’s behaviors.
**Thanks for reading**
-Lost and Tired
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Posted from WordPress for Android so please forgive any typos as auto correct and I don’t get along very well sometimes.
In a weird way, maybe it's good that he hates getting caught so much. Because once he learns that you WILL catch him and impose consequences, he'll avoid the problem by choosing more appropriate behaviours. It takes longer with most kids on the spectrum; it seems like they have to test EVERY permutation and combination. Like "It's not okay to do this right NOW, (On a Tuesday morning, when the sun is shining and my mom has a headache), but can I get away with it on a Wednesday afternoon when it's cloudy and we're all in the yard?" But once he gets enough experience to generalize that he's not getting away with it, period, he may turn that persistence into persistent GOOD behaviour to avoid the negative consequence. I know it's brutally tough to deal with right now, but every time he melts down, you can think, "Okay, that's ONE more opportunity to reinforce that he's not getting away with this out of the way." Stay strong!
That was very well put and extremely insightful. You're absolutely right about testing the limits and the infinite combinations.
Thank you 🙂