Communication: Preventing Meltdowns

Before we learned to communicate with each other meltdowns were an almost daily occurance. Our boys could not tell us what was bothering them. They just didn't know HOW. They only knew that throwing, hitting, kicking, - anything was doing something different, and I believe doing those things made them feel, if not better exactly, then at least like they were doing something. At times it almost felt like we were living in two separate worlds, side by side, but never touching.

We needed a way to bridge the gap between us. This came to us through much hard work and perserverance, but most importantly through lots of help. We never walked this path alone. Anyone who taught or cared for our children needed to be on the same page with their care or else ground would be lost. The single most important thing that we did was get them into the special needs program. There they were taught by teachers who had the experience and knowledge to teach the boys and us how to communicate with each other. We would never have been able to do this on our own.

Meltdowns will still occur, but once the children are able to communicate what the problem is, the meltdowns are much less frequent. We learned many other tools to help soothe and calm our boys, but I believe the communication was the most important part. Stay tuned for more details...