Autistic Behaviors may not be a tornado ...but to those who endure them,it may seem like one.....when a meltdown is coming, the theory is to watch for "triggers" ; try to eliminate those triggers; hence avoiding or at least decreasing the severity of a "tornado"
A great majority of the entries in the blog have been about the good things, the happy things, the accomplishments and progress- this is about one of the ugly facets of autism.....
There are a great many opinions on meltdowns among the community that lives,works and teaches autistic individuals. I truly believe there is not one opinion that reigns supreme and again , for me,It is a very personal decision now the individuals parents and caregivers choose to confront meltdowns. Meltdowns are just one type of behavior that is talked about within autism...you can have very menial behaviors that many of us tolerate and do nothing about because they are not "the battle" ..they are more personality traits of the individual.Meltdowns on the other hand can be self -injurious, very physical and dangerous in many instances. My belief and description is a trigger occurs(something like the auto ingintor on a BBQ) which sets off a chain of events leading to the person literally LOOSING IT! This meltdown IS impossible to stop once it is in motion.IMHO(In My Humble Opinion) I believe it sends a signal to the brain, some kind of switch it flipped and their brain "goes sideways". If you are old enough to remember when the TV went off at night and there was "ant races" or "fuzz" crawling all over the screen .........to me that is exactly what happens. Once that starts you just have to wait it out....these individuals DO NOT have the ability to shut it off. They DO NOT have the ability to reason. TheyDO NOT care if their behavior is inappropriate or even violent.The only thing they know is something occurred that they did not want or like and instead of using what all of us use like our voices they use their bodies !
They can and will kick,scream,grab, punch,yell,cuss,throw themselves on the ground,lashout at others and even animals.They DO NOT care where they are at, they DO NOT care where they are at,they DO NOT CARE who the people are! At the point on "impact" or the tornado the only choice is to make sure the individual is a safe as possible, protect yourself and RIDE IT OUT!!! Talking, screaming, hitting, restraining, REASONING ......NONE WORK OR ARE EFFECTIVE!
This is their disability, this is their "cancer", this is their "diabetes", etc! John Q. Public does not understand this, muchless have the patience to tolerate it...hundreds of times I have read over and over about parents who have dealt with meltdowns in restaurants or grocery stores or anywhere on public.....the funny thing is not the meltdown being the worst part of the incident. But the people who witness it and the things they say or DONT SAY!!!"oh he just needs a spanking" "He needs to be put in timeout""apparently his parents don't know how to discipline him"" oh if he was my child that would never happen"
OK they are entitled to their remarks and opinions....walk a mile in my moccassins then
tell me the same thing???Even worse is you get the person who thinks they have the situation summed up and they want to come to your rescue and intervene . Dont get me
wrong I have been thankful a few times when some one helped by being supportive and asking if there was something they could do..it's the ones who want to "take down " your child without knowing or understanding this is not a "typical" temper tantrum of a young child or a young adult.
NOW, within the community itself there are many opinions as well,how to deal with these"tornados". There is a faction of parents and caregivers that believe these kids still have the ability to learn between right and wrong and even tho they have autism they can be TAUGHT to CONTORL these actions....with one Caviot ...those that are very high functioning Aspergers ...I COMPLETELY DISAGREE. Many argue that with intensive instruction they can learn (not disputing they can learn,only disputing this is their brain pattern which I believe is ingrained ) The autism support groups online discuss this quite often. And many insist that they can adapt.To go even further some of the parents have called the police on their children, had them arrested, had them committed, had them on probation simply because they need to learn "consequences" "
I realize that being violent is unacceptable, that our society has judgement and big reactions to people who are violent .....These individuals are NOT THAT....they are lashing out because their brain went sideways and there is NO OFF BUTTON...so you can arrest them, committ them, counsel them, put them thru probation ..their brains will still be the same! I do not understand how these people think these actions help. It is not for me to judge only to voice my opinion. I do want to make it clear that these kids,individuals, children, young adults,whatever category you want to indentify them by,can hurt someone or themselves. They flail and scream, kick, sometimes bite, hit their heads or slap their own heads, charge at someone or something like a wall, will elope or run, sometimes even towards a dangerous situation. I could go on but I think I have painted a big enough picture. People have no tolerance and certainly no understanding even people who live with it often times don't tolerate it...my explanation is that we as TYPICAL people also have a brain pattern that tell us this behavior is wrong. It is NOT something you do and especially out in public OR TOWARDS THOSE WHO LOVE YOU AND TAKE CARE OF YOU. Our kids DONT GET THAT when their brain goes haywire, they do NOT have that component, they are not social creatures and have no regard to social correctness.
I GUESS TO SUM IT UP , these behaviors are like tornados perhaps even worse...you have very little warning, you never know which direction it's heading,when it makes landfall there's no avoiding it if you are in It's path and all you can do is ride it out till it passes.
