Meltdowns are rough and can happen anywhere at anytime. They are exhausting for the Caregiver and the person having the meltdown. Here are some tips on how to survive meltdowns from the Caregiver perspective.
- Do not take it personally. Meltdowns are communication. Even if the person is mad at what you told them, took away from them, or triggered by something in their environment, it is the only way their brain can communicate under stress. Many times through behavior training and working on a communication system, meltdowns can subside or at least be seen coming.
- TRY not to react emotionally. This is important. STAY CALM. Attempt to redirect the behavior to a more appropriate way of communicating. If that doesn’t work or the melt down escalates quickly, you will need to think clearly to keep everyone safe. People who have meltdowns are not in the frame of mind to rationally respond to your requests. You will have to do what is needed to keep communication brief, direct, and take steps to keep everyone safe.
- Debrief/Time out for you/Regroup afterward. THIS IS AN IMPORTANT STEP. Once the meltdown is over, take a break. Every party involved needs to go to a safe place to decompress. Meltdowns take a lot of energy for the person melting and the Caregiver. Use whatever techniques you use for self-care at this time. After each meltdown, including the trigger and response, there needs to be a picking apart of what happened and questions answered. What happened? What did the person want or expect? What could their behavior have been saying? What can you teach the person to do or say next time to honor their request more appropriately? Steps can be taken at that point to teach the new skills, change the response of the caregivers or change the environment if needed.
Meltdowns are rough on all partied involved. But there is hope and they can be lessened. If you need help working through meltdowns, you might need the help of a professional. Contact an ABA or other behavior therapists or we can help at PickUpthePiecesTN@gmail.com.
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