Published on 12, July, 2020
My teenage daughter Abigail has Aspergers Syndrome. Up until a year or two ago she has always been a very calm and quiet girl but now she’s got very angry and she has meltdowns and outbursts frequently. She’s never liked school that much but always went but now she’s got to go back next week and she’s in a terrible mood. She’s cried and screamed and she hit the wall which hurt her hand but she won’t let me look at it. She’s also got a problem with herself. The other day she hit her face and made her nose bleed. When I asked her why she did that she said because she’s a monster. All this began last year after my husband passed away. I have a younger daughter who is seven and she is also quiet but never aggressive, she seemed to have coped with the loss of their father a lot better than Abigail has.
I also have Aspergers but have never been aggressive so I really don’t know what to do to help Abigail. I’m worried about her safety though as she’s started hurting herself and this morning she had a meltdown and threw the cutlery, a fork hit my hand and caused it to bleed. I’m worried in case she lashes out again more worse next time or if she hurts her sister.
Please help if you can.
Hello, I’m sorry to learn of the troubles you are currently experiencing with your daughter’s behaviour.
A recent bereavement and the current change to routines are obviously triggering for many autistic individuals.
I don’t know if you heard of Studio 3? They are a group that advocate a low arousal approach to managing behaviours of concern. In the following link you will find some free webinars about various aspects of this approach. https://www.studio3.org/free-webinars
You may also find practical help on the Facebook page of Autism Inclusive Meets, you can access it from their site here: https://autisticinclusivemeets.org/
I have no association with either group.
All the best, Graham.