Published on 12, July, 2020
One thing I've never been able to understand or help my daughter with is the aftermath of a meltdown. Yes, she has meltdowns and struggles on a weekly basis and I can help her with that but it's the bigger ones I can't.
The ones she has in school I'm talking about. She is still shaken up from Wednesday's meltdown at school. She hasn't been settled at all and is on edge and is constantly pacing and crying. The school never told me that she had a meltdown and was restrained and held for ages, and she came home battered and bruised. I only found out because my daughter told me otherwise Id have no clue. The hardest part is the recovery and aftermath of the meltdown for her.
I want to help her more and understand so if anyone is able to tell me what helps them after to decompress and relax, that will be amazing. Thanks x
As someone who works in a school, if they had to restrain her to the point that she was bruised, then they should absolutely be giving you an account of that. Any time restraint is used, the circumstances should be recorded by staff. Restraint should only be used as a last resort, and only then with the minimal force required to keep everyone safe.
There is a training program used widely in schools called Team Teach, which helps staff to learn how to de-escalate situations and use force safely.
They did use Team Teach but now use RiiSE techniques but in the past I would've had emails and calls about her behaviour constantly but recently they haven't said anything about the incident. She hasn't been held since before the summer holidays so something must of really triggered her to respond in such a way. The problem with her behaviour is that when she does have SIB, she won't stop until she's exhausted so can last minutes to hours and if anyone tries to stop her it becomes worse and if you block her from hurting herself she will find a way to do it. It's very tricky but I only have her accounts of Wednesday not school so i don't have a clear picture unfortunately