I was scrolling through my Facebook updates and there was an article from one of the many autism groups I belong to about how to handle meltdowns. For those of you lucky to never have experienced one of these- I must first tell you, it is UNLIKE anything your neurotypical child can dish out. And there is a simple reason for that. Take notes, kiddos, cause here's where the learning begins...
We are all born with primitive reflexes that are the basic necessities of survival. With proper development, these reflexes disappear by age one. In children such as mine, the right brain delay has caused him to retain a few of these. The one I'm talking about now is the Moro reflex. It is also commonly known as 'fight or flight'. So, when my son HAD (and I will emphasize HAD) a meltdown, it was VERY hard to control. He thought he was fighting for his life. That's right, to him it was a matter of life or death. I was taught (at Brain Balance, of course) to look at his eyes during these bouts. If his pupils were extremely dilated, no amount of 'its okay, honey, please calm down' was going to work. He was either out the door, or trying to attack anyone and everyone in sight. I had to learn restraint techniques. Do you know what it is like to have to put your son in what looks like a wrestling hold to protect him from himself? And you can imagine the looks bystanders give you...
But, here comes the good part, instead of focusing ONLY on how to handle them when they happen, we need to shift the focus to eliminating them from happening at all. Spencer has managed to lose a number of the primitive reflexes that he has held on to. While Spencer does still meltdown, the severity and frequency have lessened. In fact, I can't remember the last full blown meltdown. Lately, they are more of the neurotypical child variety. And I can handle those!
I am SO happy we took the chance on Brain Balance. It has truly changed Spencer's life. And for that I will always be grateful.
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