DS5 has a long way to go with self regulations, so I also would be happy to see any tips here. We did just make a decision to pull out of an extracurricular that was getting stressful since school also seems to be a source of stress right now, and I felt like he needed to be relaxed and having positive experiences during his home time. One thing that did work for us was making a deal with him and his OT that if he felt overwhelmed he would use his words and ask for a break (instead of other meltdown behavior), and the OT would honor it without argument. I thought he might abuse that power, but he very rarely used it, and I think just feeling empowered triggered a major turn-around. The other thing that seems to help is keeping his cup full with praise for positive things, although this is remarkably difficult to do when he's in a downward spiral.
ETA: Per the original theme of this post, pulling back on scheduled extracurricular a was also a move to decrease parental stress/exhaustion 😉
Last edited by Ocelot; 10/05/16 04:53 PM.
