I saw the following article on the subject of children having tantrums and how to stop them:
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/child-tantrum-tips_uk_6863cee8e4b0e78a6040631b
In essence:
Walker, a hypnotherapist at Walker’s Therapy, said when a child is having a meltdown, there’s no point trying to reason with them as it simply “won’t work”.
Instead, she asks a “tiny, non-threatening question”.
The question should have nothing to do with the tantrum. So, Walker gave an example of, “hey, I just noticed your shoes. Where did you get those from?” or “what is the animal on your T-shirt?
The therapist explained that “when a child’s stuck in the reptilian brain, the part that’s wired for survival, their thinking brain ... goes way offline”.
“But a simple surprising question can help switch the brain network from reactive to reflective, which is where you need it to be,” said Walker, who explained it “nudges the child back into the present moment”.
It is quite an interesting approach and I'm wondering if it would work with autistic children who go into meltdown since their mental influences tend to be simpler than adults. It appears a tantrum (which looks like a meltdown) should respond when a meltdown may not.
By using one of the childs special interests as the subject of the question I wonder if it may be able to defuse the situation.
Just curious if anyone with an autistic child has tried this technique.
