Autism-Articles

For children with autism, getting a hair cut can be a difficult experience. For their parents the experience is often painful and full of stress, tears and frustration. When my son was first diagnosed with autism my wife and I struggled taking him to get hair cuts. We would often wait weeks past the time when his hair would look ragged and long, just to avoid the barber. After learning some small tips and developing a plan, we now are able to get his hair cut without issue. This process takes time and patience, but is worth the effort. As a father of a child with autism I have been there and understand how difficult it can be to take a child to get their hair cut. I have been slapped, scratched and my son has had a number of meltdowns that have left me on the verge of tears. I recall specifically one time when I walked into a Circus Cuts and was relieved to not have any people there. As the hair cut progressed my son melted down and after thrashing, scratching and...

When parenting a young child with autism one of the scariest places you can be is in Public! Anywhere which has plenty of people, activity in addition to noises might boost the probability of an Autistic meltdown transpiring. For those who are bringing up a child a child with autism spectrum disorder I'm confident you could relate with the event associated with going through an autistic meltdown, and recognize how these differ from a tantrum. An event connected with an autistic meltdown may be unsuspecting and tend to be certainly not timed well at all, simply because they often arise in a position or place where there are plenty of individuals to observe the event. Just like, a causal visit to the video shop one particular Saturday afternoon left one mum absolutely unraveled. This particular mum had taken her child to the movie shop to pick out a DVD for that night. This specific circumstance had not been unique for the child, but the shop was really busy ...

Having an autistic child can be quite challenging sometimes. My child will sometimes have what we call "nuclear" meltdowns. Sometimes when he does this, he can scream non stop for hours at a time and it's so hard to figure out if he's screaming because he is in pain or he's just not happy. I have done a few things that seems to calm him when this happens, so it might help some of you. 1. The first thing I do when he's having a screaming fit is I will give him some pain reliever like Motrin to see if it's a pain thing, or him being frustrated. If he calms down after 20 or so minutes, I know he must be hurting, like an ear infection. 2. If he continues to scream, I get a blow dryer and put it on the cool setting and blow it on his back. For some reason, this calms him. 3. If you have them, blow bubbles 4. Give them a newspaper or magazine to shread 5. Give the child a warm bath.(this method usually doesn't work on my son when he is sc...

The word meltdown has been used numerous times and has expressed different meanings relating to children with autism. What is meant by a meltdown and what causes the more common attributes of meltdowns? The most common cause of a meltdown is an emotional response to stress or over stimulation. Most autistic children have a challenging time to understand where their stress level is and how to handle it, in addition, to over stimulation. Some children will express their relief by throwing things, running away from a situation, such as out the door, in an area that is not safe, such as a street, with cars coming and the child is not aware of the danger. Meltdowns are reactions to severe stress, when a child with autism, is not taught or is unable to redirect his or her stress in a positive way by understanding that the situation can be changed and managed. Every individual is different in their own unique way. Many children come from families that react differently ...

Perhaps one of the most important kinds of treatment for kids diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, a form of high functioning autism, is sensory integration therapy. What is sensory integration therapy? Well, kids with autism have a lot of sensory processing issues. This means that every kind of stimuli seems too extreme for them. While most people have some kind of filtering system, kids and adults with Asperger's syndrome have a very hard time filtering out extraneous sensory information. What does a sensory overload look like? Your child may not want to put on the clothes you laid out for him because they are too scratchy or there's a tag in the back. He may refuse to go into many public places because they are too noisy, or the lights are too bright. He may suddenly have a tantrum because the smell of someone's perfume is overwhelming him. A Child Who Is Under-Sensitivity To His Surroundings May Also Have Problems Conversely, there are also kids...

The renowned autism expert Tony Atwood is fond of putting it this way: "Autism is anxiety looking for a target." Autism and anxiety go hand-in-hand. Autism affects a person's ability to communicate with others or to understand the world around him, and that's bound to cause anxiety and panic sometimes. Anxiety becomes even worse when there is a change in the autistic child's routine. Even positive and "fun" changes, like a school field trip or a visit to the zoo, can increase anxiety and aggressive behaviors. For parents, the best course of action is to anticipate upcoming changes and help your child prepare for them. Many parents find it helpful to use stories and pictures to prepare children for impending disruptions. If it's a field trip to the zoo, for example, use pictures to show your child what he'll see at the zoo, what the zoo will be like, and what sort of things to expect. Do this each day for three or four days p...

You are in the grocery store making a purchase and suddenly your child who has autism, displays the loudest tantrum you ever heard. There you stand in shock and with embarrassment from this outburst. Your child needs a meltdown. But how? Has this ever happened to you? You know you must deal with this tantrum and give your child a meltdown. Having a child who has the disorder of autism is extremely challenging, when an outburst of a tantrum occurs. If you have other children or are aware of other children, who are not autistic, a high percentage of those children who are under five years of age, usually have tantrums and outbursts. But, these tantrums usually can be stopped or corrected. When a child with the disorder of autism, displays tantrums, you want to calm him or her down with a meltdown. It can be difficult and challenging to calm your autistic child down and control his or her behavior. Before you decide to take your child out in public places, prepare yoursel...

Does a person with autism know, that is understand what is going on during a meltdown? Note: This scenario is very close to my heart so to personalize the experience "G" represents a person with Autism. When G is upset she goes into her own little world, (a corner so to speak). She is so overstimulated or angry or mad that she is unable to feel anything at this point. She feels no pain (this is when G can pull out her toe nails and not even be aware of it). This is why aggressiveness happens, she has to get feeling back, The accepted terminology to "slap out of it", by doing self-injurious things, (slapping own face, beating head, pulling out toenails, punching self). At this same time if another person gets in G's face she may slap, push, or punch that person not even being aware that she is doing this. My experience is that she does know she is out of control and is unable to regain a grasp on reality, without intervention. During the meltdown ...