My six year old granddaughter has recently been tentatively diagnosed as Autistic, actually doing very well lately and would probably be classified as high functioning. But in the last week she has begun having meltdowns again, whining and crying inconsolably for hours. I know all kids have ups and downs, is this a normal "down" for an Austic? It was so nice when she seemed to be done with the meltdowns, and was actually potty trained except for accidents (woot didn't think that would ever happen). But here they are again and we still don't know what to do to help her "find her happy place".

Meltdown will get better as the child gets older and is more able to self regulate, and recognize what is going on in their own head. Even with medication and play therapy my son (ADHD/Asperger's) backslides. Everyone has a bad day, it just seems to be worse for kids with AS.

Meltdown will get better as the child gets older and is more able to self regulate, and recognize what is going on in their own head. Even with medication and play therapy my son (ADHD/Asperger's) backslides. Everyone has a bad day, it just seems to be worse for kids with AS.Thank you. It did seem like it was getting better, lots better, but this is the worst meltdown she's had in over a year. Crying and whining (mostly crying) on and off (mostly on) for 4 hours now. I can't remember the last time a meltdown lasted for that long.

And then her sister began singing along with her video - really loudly (ADD kids have trouble with self-regulating their volume eh) and their mommy lost it and screamed at her. So then they were both crying.

They are both calmer and quieter for now. Tomorrow is another day. At least that's what I've been telling myself all week, but each day has just gotten worse. A bad day is no walk in the park, but a bad week feels never-ending.

How old is your son?
How old when he was diagnosed?
What is play therapy?

edited for typo... because I really do know how to spell singing :o

Steven is 8, and he was dxed ADHD two years ago, and a year ago we added Asperger's. :p :rolleyes:

Play therapy is basically therapy for kids. Instead of talking though, it's acting things out with toys, and just getting them to play while the therapist is talking to them. They are so much more receptive that way.

Steven's been doing great there. His therapist has been helping him learn to be more flexible with things, "reading" emotions, holding a conversation. All the things he seems to have trouble with.

And if you want to compare meltdowns...2nd grade with Steven has been wonderful. No notes from school, he's been focusing more, his teacher has been raving about him, doing his homework right away, and then out of no where he gets a one day suspension for chocking a kid in his class. It always seems like two steps forward, one step back, but at least in the long run he's still going forward.

Thanks for the explanation. That sounds like basically what our therapist is doing but I never heard him call it "play therapy." Of course she likes him and he is still new enough that she doesn't usually show him the "dark side" of herself. So occasionally her sister or I will move something she is playing with and she'll hit out at us. But when the therapist does it she just acts like he's playing with her and she tries to play along.

Is Steven an only child? Nove'Mber seems to do most of her hitting with her big sister. She flailed out a couple of times last year in the Pre-K but her teacher just told her to go to her naughty spot and try to calm down. That teacher was the one who confirmed that Nove needed some special help and got an IEP in place for this year. We will always be grateful to that teacher.

No, I have a 3 year old boy, and 14 and 15 year old stepdaughters (only the 14 is living with us). All of the problems Steven's had this year happen during lunch, or recess when it's unstructured time, and most have had to do with something being out of place (there was one girl he got in a fight with because she was in the wrong place in line and he wanted her to go where she was supposed to).

It was funny when Steven first started therapy he would build a sand world (toys in a sand box). As time went on, the therapist would add things. You should have seen the looks she got! lol Classic "looks could kill" going on there.

In the book I was reading last week "George and Sam" the boys mother talks about how class is structured and there is very little of a social nature so her boys did pretty well during class. It was recess and lunch time when things go more social that the boys had a much harder time. The schools may have someone helping these kids during class so they can keep up most of the time, but they don't seem to understand that autists really need a helper for recess and lunch when they just don't understand the social things that are going on. She also said that her boys did pretty well in elementary school, but when they began going to middle school where there are more transitions between different classrooms and different teachers, and more socializing between the students as they're using their lockers... it gets more difficult for the autist child and she took her boys out of school at that age. So that was head's up for me that we'll need to watch for that in a few years and see how well Nove does.

Yeah, not looking forward to Junior High and High School so much. I'm hoping be then he will have a better grasp of things, and be better able to control himself.
*fingers crossed*

Lunacie, I was wondering how things are going over there. :)

Looked like things were getting better, but now they are worse again. The little one doesn't want to get up and go to school, and comes home from school all cranky. I asked her big sister to help her get her coat zipped up when they get off the bus - big sis has ADHD and isn't good at noticing things like little sis's coat is already zipped up. Little sis isn't good at explaining things (still not very verbal especially when tired and cranky) and she turned around and began beating on big sister.

I told little sis that she knows the rule about hitting (No Hitting) and that as a consequence she couldn't play on the computer after school. But her mom didn't want to listen to her whine for 6 hours because she couldn't play her game and she let her get on the computer anyway.

We have tried to get big sis to hit her back so she can see immediate consequences, but she's just not the kind who lashes out. Big sis can't seem to pick up her room or get her laundry started, and then tries to get by with wearing the same dirty clothes (including underwear) and goes out with no socks on, and then complains because the dirty underwear is making her itch.

Her mom has been loosing her twinkie over the state of big sis's room for the last few weeks, and finally decided to just let it go. She told big sis that if the room isn't cleaned up by Christmas she will take everything except the bed out of the room. Mom will keep the clean clothes in her room and give big sis something to wear everyday, and big sis gets no choice at all. Everything else will go into a box and go out in the shed. She can earn those things and her clothes back by taking care of her dirty laundry instead of leaving it in mom's bathroom, and not leaving dirty dishes in her room.

And we're not seeing the therapist tonight as he has another event to attend. I think I'm getting depressed, but thank you for asking. ;)

Wow. Makes my yesterday sound tame.

It's too bad mom cave about the computer, but I can totally understand. I hope the earning her things back works. I know we tried that with Steven and I found him in his room playing some made up game with his mattress. :rolleyes: Since he's gotten into video games it's been alot easier. Don't put your dirty clothes in the hamper? No video games. Keep acting up? No video games. I'd like to use something else, but right now that's his only collateral.

*hugs*
Hang in there. :)