Chris1234..My ds is a NIGHTMARE every spring when we need an arsenal of meds to get him through allergy season. Zyrtec and Singulair are the worse offenders for him. Luckily, he only needs these meds for a few months.

MountainMom,

I heard someone else discussing this on the site earlier this year about using the "HALT" method to help potentially avoid or identify sources of meltdowns, since USUALLY meltdowns are not in proportion to what 'tragedy' (as Zen Scanner smartly put it) occurred.

Are they:

Hungry? Angry? Lonely? Tired?

You may not be able to instantly fix all of these issues, but often kids who melt down easily seem especially susceptible to low blood sugar/hunger. While out and about, it might be super helpful to keep a few packs of crackers, granola bars, etc around.

You are right, by the time someone gets to a "ten" they usually can't bring themselves down easily (since the rational part of the brain is being overun by more primitive centers). As a therapist, one trick I suggest that sometimes help some of my most 'intense' kids is to engage in a very cerebral task when they start to feel frustration getting upwards of a 4-5. One client keeps a Rubick's cube in his room, another does complex dot-to-dots (the tricky ones), even doing something mentally such as counting by 2's, 3's, or doing square roots can help quelch the adreneline/cortisol surge that occurs when we get riled up.

I've suggested this on here before, but another exercise you can do with your dd is to talk about how unpleasant emotions (anger, frustrations, sadness, embarassment, loneliness, jealousy...) store up in us like water in a cup. I'll start out with two cups. I explain that some people naturally have fuller cups to start with because they have acute sensitivites, are struggling with a life stressor such as parental divorce, etc. As the day progresses, I explain, our cups keep getting filled with little frustrations (teacher reprimanded us unfairly, someone runs into us on bus...). I'll keep pouring water into the cup until it overflows.

Then I talk with them about the importance of emptying the cup before it gets too full. We brainstorm what works for them (talking a frustration through, exercising, music) and what tends to fill up their cup.

The challenge is to start realizing when your cup is about half-full and try to empty some out THEN instead of waiting until it's nearly full

HTH!