My son is 18 older and very strong when having a meltdown/aggression attack....he will snap without notice and lunge and bite and pinch anyone in his way....he has autism, nonverbal...etc....just wondering if there is anyone out there that has experience this and what they do....ours is severe and we have even had to had the police officers out to hold him down....he is on several medications....help!!!!
My daughter has aggresive meltdowns too although hers are often taken out on her own body. We have had a great deal of luck with giving her tons of sensory input. For example, she bites her wrists. Her aide began a very rigorous schedule of oral input. She brushes her teeth with a battery powered toothbrush every 30 mins. (which we have been able to cut back to every hour), she gave her a small bite of food of each of the 4 tastes (salty, sweet, sour and hot) 15 mins after tooth brushing, every 30 mins as well( this has been almost completely weaned out). She was biting 40 times a day prior to starting this and is now down to 3-5 bites a day. We also use a weighted blanket, a hot tub and deep pressure massage. It can be frustrating while you are trying to find what works for your child but worth all the effort in the end.
I worked in a special needs program for kids with neurological disorders with violent outbursts. I have to agree with Nekeal about stimulation and deep muscle pressure (and I'd add in continuity in daily routine and in rewards/punishments...whatever behavior mod system you use), but even so, frustration can set off an outburst, I know. The most important thing to keep in mind is that you don't want your child hurting himself, you, or anyone else. Sounds obvious, I'm sure. I was lucky enough to be as large as or larger than the students I had to stop (which meant one of our worst offenders would try to push me as she did her mother, and I didn't move with her push), but I've seen one of the other teachers have to guide and block a student twice his size and manage it easily. I'm not a fan of restraints (and definitely not of straps and other physical restraint items), but a good class in classroom restraint might help. They can teach you the most effective ways to apply minimal pressure with only your own body at the right angle to avoid being hit/pinched/scratched or to lessen the force your son can put behind it, when to let go and let the child/adult in your case have space, and what sorts of self-comforting environments might help him calm down without adding possible weapons to the mix. It's not easy to control an outburst without anyone being harmed, but it's possible. So, I'd take Nekeal's idea of lessening them and couple it with...educate yourself on how to handle them when they do occur. I don't know about your area, but in our area, the schools put parents in touch with the same training folks that do the teachers' programs.
We have the weighted blanket and the hot tub....what would be deep pressure massage?? Sensory plays such a huge part but most therapists aren't sure on what to do for them. Thanks for the ideas....please share more and will do the same for u! thansk!
Glad my ideas were helpful. For Michael93, I agree, it is so very hard to find therapists who are knowledgable in sensory integration. We live in a rural area and so that just adds to the lack of services. We have had to do a great deal of research online and in books and came up with some of our own ideas. As for the deep pressure massage, we massage our daughter using quite a bit of pressure we start with her back and move to her extremities. We use this to prevent meltdowns. At first she was on a daily schedule of twice a day but we have now weaned her to as needed.
Try and figure out what is triggering the meltdown. I was told to keep a journal of every time my son had a meltdown and to write down what he was doing, what other people were doing, the lights, noises, etc...pretty much everything so I could get an idea of what was setting him off. I found that stuff that I didn't really notice at the time was repeatedly being written down and it helped me figure out some of the causes so now I know to avoid some things. If it's a book, game, etc...my advice is to take it away and suffer through the meltdowns for a few days when he discovers whatever it is is gone. And this might hurt YOUR ears but I have encouraged/taught my son to scream when he gets frustrated or angry....to sit down, cover his ears, and scream as loud as he can. Most of the time, he screams, I come running and try and fix whatever the problem is, and he usually settles down. He has learned to give a short scream when he starts to get frustrated or angry thus bypassing a meltdown. Might not be the best solution but it keeps him from hurting himself or anyone else or breaking something.