Meltdown – it’s been a while

I like to be honest with my AU families and I love sharing how much Tyler has progressed with the use of Young Living products – but I also want to share that even with all the progress the “meltdowns” from autism/spd overload still happen now and then. For this story it has been a LONG LONG LONG time since he’s gone into severe meltdown mode – the meltdowns that take us both down to the floor (it’s safer that way) but it did happen on Sunday. (thank goodness it was not a “helldown”).

I have noticed that since Hurricane Harvey last year Tyler gets really outta sorts during Thunderstorms or bad rains. (We were not harmed in Harvey or displaced but there was so much media coverage and I know he could sense the anxiety that happens during these storms) When we are a home he is surrounded by all his “comforting” things including his diffuser, his weighted blanket and his electronics and Thomas things but we were actually over at a friend’s house.

After a meltdown like this, I like to recoop and look at everything that led up to it – he was wanting to swim, he gets in the pool, rain is fine for swim but once the lighting started he needed to get out (that was rushed) then he was playing under the covered patio with his headphones on while the rain was beating down on the metal roof (very loud) then encouraged to come inside he was being resistant (had my phone which I didn’t want getting wet with the blowing rain) – get him to the door, he wouldn’t come inside and wouldn’t close the door (looking back at this point there was a lot of “rushed” things that didn’t allow for processing) finally he gets inside and is stimming with repetitive words and getting louder and louder and because I wasn’t participating in it and it was aggravating him and I am sitting down on the floor (in ignore mode – sometimes that works best) then he’s set off by me not standing and engaging – he’s trying to pull me up – constantly verbal stimming – he’s so big that now he can literally drag me and was, but not to a point of not being safe or getting hurt. He goes to walk away to the door again and J puts him in a bear hug to slow him down, Tyler turns from that and comes down to the floor where I am and begins to bear hug and wants to roll around – he begins to break down and cry – wanting pressure, squeezes – until I can get him to calm enough to do breathing and neck rolling. Then after that I ask if he wants oils, his answer is yes. I apply to his writs, elbows, back of neck and bottom of feet – then I give him about 30 minutes to himself to decompress, let the oils work and give him a time to watch on the clock for us to leave. I TRY not to leave immediately after a meltdown (depending on where we are at) because I know that the “inside” of him is still a ticking clock ready to go off even though he looks calm on the outside and it can take a couple of hours if not longer for a complete relief but normally if I can wait 30-40 minutes, that is satisfactory to at least function safely to leave. At the designated time, he was calmer and ready to go, kindly said good-bye to everyone and then on the way home he mentioned his room, his latern and his heavy blanket.

It’s been a while since this has happened, but I think his anxiety level related to the rain is a little much and I need to make sure oils are applied before hand if we are going to be out in the weather. Next, he handled all the “rushing” decisions and sometimes you have to do that due to circumstances, but it obviously was overwhelming for him.

Going with the flow of the meltdown, staying on the floor, ignoring the stims, getting to a point of breathing, then oil application and a window of time to initially decompress worked us through this meltdown. Looking back and knowing to make a different plan (really oil application before we leave in weather is going to be the first plan).

My heart and prayers go out to those families are affected by any natural disaster be it a massive affect (displaced from homes, loss of property or life) or those that were affected in not so massive ways but still made some sort of an impact on a young person’s mind.

#yleo #puritymatters #meltdown #calmingblend #breathing #headrolls #autismdifferentnotless #sensoryprogressingdisorder #progressnotperfection #autismreality