Dealing with poor frustration tolerance

nomadica

Lately, my 4 yo DS with ASD has really been struggling with low frustration tolerance. If he's building something or making something with Play-Doh and it isn't coming out right, he gets so upset, and yells and screams. I try to stay calm and remind him to ask me for help when he needs it, but this isn't working well. Any ideas for effective strategies for this? Any social stories that are good? TIA!

hopecounts

DD struggles with this as well.

What we and the ABA team are doing that seems to be working is just repetition of prompting her to ask for help everytime it happens and pairing it with learning to do a calm down count if she is too upset to ask.

Basically they have her give and count out 10 high fives or give her 10 arm squeezes (both things she likes as is counting so you have to figure out what might work with your LOs) to help her regain her composure then rejoin the activity with a say 'help please' prompt. 

We are now at the point that we are fading out the prompts and she seems to get it. Next step is to continue working on the calm down count with fading the high 5s/squeezes and going to just counting so she can do it herself as the opportunity arises.

bumpuser511563

I have nothing.

Though when DS was going through frustration with not getting his toys the way he wants them. I would tell him to "Try Again" and he would whine but I had other things to take care of so he had to try again.

If I had time, I would offer to help if he asked or I would show him how to do it. This was rarely.

awinky82

Just a suggestion, because I happen to be reading this myself.  But you might try out the techniques in 'The Explosive Child'  I feel like it's written for parents who need techniques for children with various dx, but that are all chronically inflexible, irritable, angry, or have outbursts.  While I don't feel like my child fits well into any of these categories and your might not either, so far its been a good read and given me new perpective on meltdown situations.  I know it addresses frustration, and how to address the problem before the meltdown.