Children on the autism spectrum often keep crying as long as it seems to work for them. When it doesn't, they eventually quit. If they are upset about something, we want them to learn to handle their feelings in more powerful ways.
Teaching an autistic child specific calm-down techniques can help them to learn how to calm themselves down when they are feeling overwhelmed or stressed. Some common techniques include deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, and using a sensory toy.
Yelling at children with autism can cause depression and negatively impact the emotional wellbeing of the child.
Behaviors that are fairly common in children with autism, such as tantrums, hitting or injuring themselves or others, yelling, social withdrawal, and even extreme silliness, may stem from a problem with regulating emotions. And this difficulty may affect more than behavior.
Emotional development: autistic children and teenagers
For example, your autistic child might feel all negative or unpleasant emotions as anger. Or they might not recognise when they're excited. Or they might label all emotions that are hard to describe as 'being bored'.
Many, if not most, children who are diagnosed on the autism spectrum have difficulty regulating their emotions and maintaining a calm state. 1 They may also be coping with some of the limitations they feel but cannot verbalize or understand in other ways.
Every autistic person is different, but sensory differences, changes in routine, anxiety, and communication difficulties are common triggers.
This book describes a model of positive behavior supports for preventing and responding to the cycle of meltdown behavior for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The model includes six phases: Calm, Triggers, Agitation, Meltdowns, Re-Grouping, and Starting Over.
Here's the reality: every child will throw a tantrum at some point, whether they have an autism diagnosis or not. But for children with autism, tantrums can be more frequent, distressing, and difficult to quell. However, it is in no way impossible; you'll just need to be a little more patient.
A meltdown is a vulnerable time for an autistic person, particularly autistic children, so it's important that they feel safe and can trust whoever may be caring for them. Tantrums, however, occur when a child loses their temper or something is happening that doesn't go their way.
Autistic children and teenagers are sometimes oversensitive to things like noise, crowds or temperature. They try to avoid sensory experiences.
Many autistic people experience hypersensitivity to bright lights or certain light wavelengths (e.g., LED or fluorescent lights). Certain sounds, smells, textures and tastes can also be overwhelming. This can result in sensory avoidance – trying to get away from stimuli that most people can easily tune out.
High-functioning autism means that a person is able to read, write, speak, and handle daily tasks, such as eating and getting dressed independently. Despite having symptoms of autism, their behavior doesn't interfere too much with their work, school, or, relationships.
Every person with autism manages their sensory input in a different way and their emotional regulation skills can vary. It's difficult to make any blanket statements on the signs of dysregulation, but generally, any kind of change in behavior can indicate that a person is having a hard time managing their emotions.
Researchers have shown that as early as the first months of age babies who are later diagnosed with autism produce a different pattern of cry than those with other types of developmental disabilities and typically developing infants.
Make adaptations to the environment where possible, for example lower unnatural light if too harsh. Try noise-cancelling headphones to reduce sensory overload. Use sensory tools and stimming to reduce anxiety levels, if that works for you. Try relaxation methods such as meditation, mindfulness, yoga and exercise.
Don't say: “You'd never know by looking at her that she has autism! She looks so normal.” While the speaker might view this as a compliment, most parents of a child on the spectrum would not take it as such. Additionally, in the world of autism, the world “normal” is usually replaced with “typical” or “neuro-typical.”
Many have problems with the meaning and rhythm of words and sentences. They also may be unable to understand body language and the meanings of different vocal tones. Taken together, these difficulties affect the ability of children with ASD to interact with others, especially people their own age.