Calming Strategies

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Hi,
I work with students with Asperger's and I was wondering what are some of the most helpful calming strategies that you have heard of or used when going through a "meltdown" or having lots of anxiety. Thanks,
Nikki

If you try to make my kids talk, it makes them worse. They need to be brought to a safe place and allowed to let it ride out. Interfering with the meltdown seems to make it worse.

The most helpful thing is to understand what sets them up for a meltdown to begin with, and avoiding it all together.

I am a public speaker with Asperger's syndrome and the question I get asked more than anything else is how to end a meltdown. I don't have an answer. I go through them and I don't know how to cut them off. All I can do in the middle of one is chose to walk away and be alone rather than emote in front of others. And getting there took maturity and lots of past mistakes. I firmly believe that the best remedy is to be self aware and live a calmer life. I made a chart for myself, I call it the Stress Chart. It helps me to be mindful about my daily experiences and how they effect me. If you want to see this let me know.

Another thing people talk about is having an emergency sensory kit. This might include a bag with a music device and head phones, some aroma therapy, something that is texturally pleasing. I wear a perfume that relaxes me and wear my winter hat with ear covers, usually while I have flip flops on my feet. My feet need to breath and my ears need to be protected but hey, it helps.

A kid in meltdown mode? Definitely some time in solitude w/ no one asking them anything - because chances are their perception of what you say will be twisted and negative and cause them to just escalate.

Its much better to do things to prevent getting that frustrated in the first place. I find music helps a lot to be less anxious. And doing guided meditations on a regular basis is great to keep a clearer head. Many of the yoga ones don't contain any sort of religious references and are focused on talking about the mind/body and releasing stress and negativity, and contain a lot of very vivid descriptions of serene nature scenes - very calming when you have your eyes closed visualizing them and doing breathing exercises as instructed. Just 5-10mins a day has a lasting calming effect. If you're able to incorporate something like this into your work, I thinlk it would be highly beneficial. http://www.freemeditation.com is a great place to start - but these ones do get metaphysical with chakra systems and such. Not a bad thing, just may have to get approval from parents etc. Well in any case I suppose you should do that, but if they're all about trying it there are ones out there designed for kids.

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