Reply to ASD, ADHD and “Ragestorms”

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think one part of this, probably not the whole part but one part, is low blood sugar from the hunger. Lots of people get angry when their blood sugar drops, it sounds like that may be a trigger.[/quote]

Second this. However, strongly disagree with the PP who said eliminate processed foods and sugar.  When you're dealing with low-blood-sugar-induced meltdowns, ANY calories are good calories. (Note I am not talking about low blood sugar due to diabetes or other medical conditions!)  I keep fun-sized snickers and reeses cups everywhere to hand over when I see these coming.  (For us, it's important not to *ask* if they want it - just hand it over, unwrapped even, to make the eating of it as quick and painless as possible.)  It is even better, however, if you can stave them off at the pass, but I understand firsthand how hard it is to get a kid like this to eat regularly.  We dealt with a drop off the growth chart and worked with a nutritionist to bring him back up - and she was the one who encouraged me not to be afraid of sugar.  She also pointed us to liquid options - homemade yogurt smoothies, chocolate milk with added protein, meal replacement shakes (Boost Plus and Bolthouse Farms are popular here).

Look for other triggers as well - some that we see a lot are too-quick transitions, being asked to stop in the middle of something, any type of disappointment (friend cancelled, game lost, bad grade, etc.).  You can't always avoid them, but you can soften them if you see them coming.  I find it helpful to think of their ability to handle things as like a cumulative balloon of stress/resilience - things build up over the course of a day (and other things can relieve some tension), but sometimes even something seemingly small can stretch you past the breaking point.  And once they pass that point, they really do lose most of their control - their brains are in fight or flight mode, unable to reason .  Sometimes they may not actually remember!  We try really hard not to blame or punish for these moments.  And as you begin to learn their stressors and how to reduce them, the frequency will drop off.[/quote]

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