89. Calming Down BIG Emotions

If your child is consistently having meltdown behaviors that include an intense amount of emotion or appears to be unable to control their temper, it is not typical behavior but unfortunately, our autistic children often feel things more intensely and they are often unable to return to a place of calm as quickly as we would like. It is important for our children when they are exhibiting these meltdown behaviors that we do our best to try to find the cause or the triggers so that we can help them understand that emotion does not come on like a freight train. Emotion comes in waves and over time and we want to learn how to help them identify their emotion before it is at the explosive level. Emotions are part of life and learning to identify them is key. Much of the anger in our children stems from their inability to effectively communicate, maybe due to an expressive language deficit, and because they aren’t able to effectively communicate their frustration, they lash out with these behaviors. Their emotions are on overload and they are extremely dysregulated. Your emotions are also an integral part of this dynamic because you must be in control of your own emotions before you can expect them to control theirs. They are not doing this to you. This is happening to them. If you are working through some BIG emotions and challenging behaviors with your child just know that you are not alone. Additional Resources: Episode 38: Emotional Dysregulation and the Challenges that come with It. Episode 58. Tackling Challenging Behavior with Positive Interventions If you are feeling alone on your journey or maybe you are looking for other moms to connect with who understand your day-to-day challenges, be sure that you check out all of the benefits available to you in our PRIVATE SISTERHOOD. www.notyouraverageautismmom.com