Manage a child's meltdown stage by stage

Specific strategies for managing a meltdown or tantrum. Barbara Lester, Licensed Clinical Social Worker, talks about strategies for managing the stages of a meltdown, including avoiding triggers, trying to intervene during the build up, maintaining safety during the blow up, and getting back to regular routines during the recovery period. Useful for parents of children who are prone to major meltdowns or tantrums, including children on the autism spectrum.

One of the keys to managing a meltdown is trying to stay calm yourself, and demonstrate that you can keep things safe even if the child cannot. As a parent of a child prone to meltdowns, you can do what you can to make changes so that meltdowns don't get triggered, and you can also try during the build up phase to encourage the child to use their calming skills. This is best accomplished by giving them calm simple instructions of what you want them TO DO instead of what you want them NOT TO DO. This is not a good time for a lecture or to negotiate about what triggered the meltdown. However, there comes a certain point of no return, when the "neurological storm" of the meltdown, as one writer put it, occurs and your role is to try to keep the child and others safe. During the recovery period, it is generally best to get back to the normal routines of the day and wait until everyone is completely deescalated before debriefing the situation. At the time of debriefing it can help to identify one thing the child did well and one thing they could do better next time.

Видео Manage a child's meltdown stage by stage канала Barbara Lester, LCSW