Autism meltdowns

SantoriniSteph

These Autism meltdowns are so draining.  DS will be 3 years old in a month, and he is non-verbal.  He screams for hours, and he will sometimes pull us to what he wants, and lately he wants to go for a drive.  I'm not sure where he wants to go, but he pulls us to the garage door all the time.  Once he did this at 11:30PM and then screamed until 3AM while pulling on my hands to get me to the door.  He is the strongest toddler I know.  The past two weeks have been pretty bad, he is getting over a cough so I'm hoping this will go away when the cough does.  I can dream, right?  We try to redirect, give him things that soothe him, and explain as calmly as possible that we are staying home.  His meltdowns average an hour or two.

DH and I were planning on starting to TTC in January, but when he gets like this it is hard to imagine having a second one.  And then of course the fear of having another one with Autism.  Any tips?  How do you handle a meltdown?  What do you try?

JuneBug86

The biggest thing that has helped my son's meltdowns is teaching him sign language. He is about the same age as your son, and also non verbal. Start with one sign at a time and go from there. The lack of communication is so frustrating and once you overcome that, it gets so much easier. Just google signs and learn the ones you think he would be asking for the most. 

We started with "milk". Everytime I would give him his sippy cup I would do the sign over and over, and after a few times I would help him do it with his hands, then after a day I would get him to repeat the sign to me before I'd give it to him. He caught on VERY quickly. Now I just show him a sign once and he does it. He now knows over 100 signs and even makes small sentences. We have very few meltdowns now due to lack of communication.  

LALASEPT05

I really feel for you and for your son. Have you talked with his therapists about it? I know that for us the biggest issue around the meltdowns was communication. DS felt like he couldn't communicate his wishes and desires to us and so bed time was just a nightmare every night. Getting him in the tub, out of the tub, in the diaper, in the pajamas, in his room...everything was a battle/ wrestling match. In the past few months his communication and speech has come such a long way that it is so much easier now and the tantruming has reduced dramatically. You DS really wants to express something to you and I think working to figure out exactly what that is would help. Maybe talk with his therapists or try to introduce picture cards for him have some form of communication? I wish the best for you and your family.

SantoriniSteph

Thanks for the replies.  We have tried sign language and PECs for a year now.  He just never took to them.  He is having trouble accepting no.  He pulls us to something when he wants it, but sometimes the answer is no, like a car ride in the middle of the night.  Some days aren't so bad.  He has a meltdown daily, but the last couple of weeks have been really hard.

We had a breakthrough a month ago when he said his first and only sentence.  He has started to say a word every now and then, but not many.  He is so smart, he always uses the word correctly.  I just don't know why he doesn't use words more often.  It would make life a little easier.