Hi all, not sure if posts like this are allowed here but: I’m a dad to a 7 year old on the “less severe” end of the spectrum (is that the right way to phrase it?) and while he generally lives a pretty normal life he’s recently started having trouble dealing with emotional changes. Things like:
- adjusting to changes in his schedule (like a school lesson has to be changed)
- having a disagreement with someone
- when he or a group he is part of loses at something (he takes board/card games too seriously and holds himself personally responsible for losing)
Things like this cause him to get immediately frustrated which quickly moving into anger and screaming and some cases violence. Obviously mum and I are trying to help him understand and manage these feelings but I’m worried the way we’re trying to help him with it isn’t the way he needs.
Does anyone here have any experience with similar situations or advice on helping him to manage these emotions? Thanks in advance.
I have a child clearly on the spectrum as well. One thing that is helping is to teach some sort of grounding technique like taking a big breath and releasing it a few times. It gives them something to focus on that they can control. Then after the initial overwhelm of emotions subsides they can decide how to deal with the situation (asking for help, communicating their frustration, etc) without exploding. As they get older we’ll probably work on specific phrases they can use to let others know, as politely as possible, that they need a minute to get their bearings.