By Travis Thompson, Ph.D.; 284 pages. Subtitle: Dr. Thompson's Solutions for Children With Autism.
Stopping your child from having a meltdown may seem about as likely as stopping a volcano from erupting, but Dr. Thompson, author of Dr. Thompson's Straight Talk on Autism, argues that it's possible if you figure out what triggers the tantrum and remove that from your child's environment and experience. That may involve anything from a change in routine to a change in decor, but if it decreases the flow of molten lava through your family life, it's certainly worth the trouble.
- Gives a detailed explanation of behavior analysis and management
- Includes forms for doing your own analysis
- Considers health factors that may trigger meltdowns
- Respects the fact that for children who can't communicate, tantrums can be the only option
- Text is respectful of parents as well
- This information is useful for more than just children with autism, so the subtitle is misleading
- Last few chapters are more for professionals than parents
- Chapters could be shorter and still get the job done
- Part I: Meltdowns: Primary Contributing Factors
Chapter 1: Wednesday's Child: Meltdowns and Tantrums - Chapter 2: Health Conditions Contributing to Meltdowns
Chapter 3: Trigger Events - Chapter 4: What Do They Get Out of It
- Part II: Developing an Action Plan
- Chapter 5: Overcoming Behavioral Tsunamis: Functional Behavioral Assessment
- Chapter 6: Public Meltdowns and Self-Injury
- Chapter 7: Problem Solving: Communication and Social Skills
- Chapter 8: Managing Feelings and Mental Health Problems
- Part III: Situational, Family, and Cultural Considerations
Chapter 9: Physical Setting Features - Chapter 10: Kin and Customs
Chapter 11: Meltdowns in School: Prevention and Intervention
Chapter 12: Family Support
Once a meltdown starts, there's very little a parent can do to make it stop. Most of the time, it has to run its emotionally wrenching, potentially dangerous, definitely embarrassing course. Before the meltdown begins, though? There are lots of things that parents can do to change the course of the behavior and avoid the big blow-up. Dr. Thompson runs through a lot of possibilities in Freedom From Meltdowns. The key issue is that children with special needs -- the book specifically tags autism, but the rule is true for many neurological and developmental issues -- may have no way to communicate their physical or emotional distress. They may be nonverbal, or lack the vocabulary needed to express feelings that nobody else seems to recognize or understand. Like infants, they are reduced to screaming to get the attention of adults and release from distress. And like the parents of screaming babies, parents of tantruming youngsters are charged with figuring out what the problem is.
One way to do that is behavior analysis, and the book goes into some detail on how to do that. When you've figured out what your child is trying to bring about or get out of with the out-of-control behavior, it's easier to change the environment and stop the tantrums from occuring. At the same time, strengthening communication and social skills can help your child find more effective ways of handling those difficult situations.
Though mostly parent-friendly, the book does lapse off into professional considerations in the final third, and parents can be pretty well released from reading that section. When your child's next tantrum is one frustration away, you probably don't want to spend your time reading anything that doesn't apply directly.
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