Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Meltdown

Max is an actor he is not having a meltdown but displaying what a meltdown might look like.

People with Autism have different kinds of meltdowns for different reasons. Sensory problems are a common reason for a meltdown, it is important to watch closely for problems with the child's skin and avoid using products that aggravate the child. Sleep is also very important as well, sound and light sensitive children may need a sensory safe place, cardboard boxes, egg cartons, and teddy bears may be helpful also putting mattresses over windows may make children more comfortable.

There are other reasons and contributing factors. How the people around them feel is very important. The sensory experiences of Autistic people may very they often rely on you verify their experience, when you notice an Autistic person suffering remain calm and respond by removing them from the situation as quickly, get them to a sensory safe place as quickly as possible and save any questions for later if the reaction seems sever.

Roy Q. Sanders, M.D. said, "Teaching empathy to someone with autism/Asperger’s is almost like teaching a pig to sing – it is a waste of time and annoys the pig" Not only is this statement false and ignorant but also it is hate speech. Mary Tormey, real Autism expert says "Teaching empathy to someone with autism/Asperger’s is almost like teaching a pig to walk - they already know how to walk all you have to do is provide supports and encouragement when necessary also of course, stay off their backs!"

Autistic people rely heavily on empathy to understand their surrounding happy people make them happy and sad people make them sad and if they are someone else is having a bad day they might just scream their heads off. Perhaps Max's parents should have left him with a happy friendly person instead of taking him into a scary hospital with a lot of mixed emotions. Also when a caregiver must take an Autistic person into a hard situation, they should ask them to be strong. Mutual comforting helps promote trust and prevent breakdowns for both parties.
People generally get a feeling of connectedness, satisfaction, and comfort when sharing in intensely emotional situations, but people with Autism face extra challenges, and become overwhelmed easily. They care how people feel and want to understand why people feel that way and how they can help. Autistic people crave real communication and get sick of scripts, they want to tell you everything they know. Autistic people value relationships more than “neurotypical" people because the people they really get to know are special and forgiving. Autistic relationships have the added reward of a new perspective. “Neurotypical" people easily learn rules that prevent or delay real honest communication, rules seem illogical and confusing to Autistic people. Many of the rules you can pick up from “neurotypicals" and TV are just mean and wrong. They bully outsiders and often won't stand up to friends. They habitually take sides seeing one side as all right will the other side is all wrong. Most never entirely grow out of this pattern and waste a bunch of time on non-productive criticism. Both political parties tend to spend more time with name calling than actually addressing issues. I am glad my parents gave me the opportunity to learn social skills by playing Bridge at rest homes with people who were at least mature. “Neurotypical" people are focused on and require confirmation, they have emotional attachments to ideas and don't handle being wrong very well. They cater to each other at the expense of growth.
When I was young I would set my palms on the table, other children were confused and even disgusted. It looked wrong they would twist and turn my arm, but at some point they just had to except that it never looked quite right. Every aspect of my personality has been twisted turned and finally excepted. When people hurt, they want to be distracted from that. No one instantly knows just the thing to say it takes time to get to know the right thing for the hurt individual. Please, thank you, and sorry are important words, because they show care and respect. I am late in learning the importance of small talk, small talk is how we learn what people are interested in and how we know what to say and what not to say later on.

Written by Mary Tormey
Please compare this to the original blog and tell me what you think.
http://blog.autismspeaks.org/tag/meltdown/

1 comment:

  1. That original blog was a load of crap - excuse my language. Below is the comment I left on the page:

    "Sorry, but as a parent of a child on the spectrum, I think this doctor is an idiot. Has he ever spoken to a person with autism about these issues, read their blogs, anything? He's looking at the OUTSIDE reaction and making suppositions without digging deeper.

    Until these "professionals" stop thinking of autistic people as "less than" because they don't display their emotions in a Neurotypical way, I'll take everything they say with a grain of salt.

    Oh, and using Star Trek and Vulcans as an analogy? Yeah, about that.

    Vulcans have emotions - VERY STRONG emotions. They are VERY sensitive. And they come off so cool because TO PROTECT THEIR SANITY, they must build walls around these strong emotions. They say what they mean, and mean what they say, unlike the other aliens around them who use words to disguise what they mean/say when it's convenient. Sound familiar?

    Anyone with an ounce of empathy - speaking to the NON-AUTISTIC doctor here - would get this. "

    I know it's an old thread, but geeze, that's ridiculous.

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