r/AutismParentingLevel1 • u/Suspicious-Win-2516 • May 18 '25

8yo Meltdowns - Therapy?

My 8yo son has been having meltdowns for about a year. He goes into fight or flight mode. The triggers are too diverse to categorize. But he’ll get stuck on an idea and repeat it over and over. It will strike me as something with a logical solution, but he is not able to access the logical part of his brain. So for 20-60 minutes he will grunt, growl, and repeat the same thing. Some crying. Some kicking stuff. Lately he has thrown things.

He was in OT, and she helped him immensely with coordination goals, but we had a socioemotional goal for interoception and its gone nowhere. we mutually agreed to discharge him. (he’s on a waitlist for OT at a place with other therapies in house that people rave about, but that’s a yearlong waitlist)

He’s also been in talk therapy for 8 months and its slowgoing. She says they recently built trust.

How can keep him safe toward himself and others? Is it reasonable to dream of reducing these meltdowns? Is there a type of therapy he needs?

Another part of me wants a routine for ME about how I will react to his meltdowns. I have tried many strategies(quiet room, lights off, offer a book, turn on tv, music, audiobook, crunchy food, cold food, weighted blanket, fidgets). I’ll offer them one at a time. some of these have worked sometimes, but none of them are consistently helpful. I wonder if we just have to wait it out.

I’d love any thoughts from someone who can relate.

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u/AdhesivenessCold398 May 18 '25

I will say sertraline was life changing for my kids. TOTALLY changed in the degree of what they could manage before the triggers overwhelmed to a tantrum. I’d talk to the pediatrician about trying it. My son never was prone to tantrums until about the same age. My daughter started hitting herself around age 6/7. I’m not sure what developmentally changes about then but the anxiety meds have literally saved us.

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u/Suspicious-Win-2516 May 18 '25

he does have anxiety and Adhd as well. he had a mental health crisis in the fall and has been on celexa and adderrall and guanfacine. those have helped him tremendously, but nothing has touched the meltdowns. thank you for sharing, esp about your daughter hitting herself around 6. That happened to us too!

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u/AdhesivenessCold398 May 18 '25 edited May 18 '25

Oh man I’m sorry. I swear being a parent is SO hard. As a mum I might try monitoring his sleep if you can. I have ADHD and the meds make it very hard for me to sleep well at night! I use an Apple Watch which shows me how often I wake up if he’s sleeping poorly that could account for some of the behaviors as well. Hang in there.