Dr. Jakir Hossain Laskar, PhD
Managing ADHD and Autism Outbursts: How to Cope with Them
The inability to express emotions adequately, or being overwhelmed by them, can sometimes lead to outbursts; this is commonly associated with people suffering from either ADHD or autism. This can be challenging for both the person and those around them. Learning about the reasons and applying appropriate techniques can help in coping with these outbursts in an effective manner.
The First Step, Understanding Outbursts
The Following Can Be Factors:
Sensory Overload: Painful exposure to light, shrilling sounds, and excessively cramped areas can become unmanageable.
Communication Deficiency: Being unable to state what they require, which in turn leads to aggravation.
Being Impulsive: The inability to contemplate any potential fallout usually leads people suffering from ADHD to act on their emotions.
Unwillingness To Shift Focus: People suffering from autism have difficulty dealing with change, this could result to them having an outburst.
Difficulty In Modulating Emotion: The inability to effectively let go or forget emotions fosters an explosion of emotion.
Back to the topic on How to Manage, Control, and Respond to Outbursts
- Breathe In, Chill Out
The first thing to remember, focus on the tone of the environment.
Here’s What You Should Do Next:
Use kind words that soothe, assure and calm on what seems to have become too tense.
Refrain From Yelling To Show Frustration, It Only Messes Things Up: shouting increases the intensity of the outburst.
Why This Is Important: When they see you remaining relaxed in stressful situations, they tend to follow suit.
- Find The Source of The Problem
Once the issue has been identified, it can be avoided in the future.
Here Is What You Should Be Monitoring:
Sensitivity to noise, exhaustion, hunger, being overstimulated etc.
Being disappointed, confused, or not perceived the way one feels it to be.
Why It Helps: Knowing triggers gives you a heads up which lets you prevent or lessen them as much as possible.
3. Protect A Space For Regulation Provide a space for them to de-escalate.
What to Include: Soft pillows, a weighted blanket, earmuffs Soft pillows, weighted pillows, or fiddle toys.
Why It Helps: A quiet room that has less input reduces excess stimulation and self-irritation.
4. Implement Images A picture is worth a thousand words and become handy when there’s an outburst.
What to Do: Give the child pictures of emotions and what could settle them down (“Lets have a deep breath”, “Lets have some water”). Provide a visual board that depicts what will happen next.
Why It Helps: Cuts down the chances of getting lost and gives a better understanding.
5. Acknowledge Their Emotions Help them comprehend there is an underpinning empathic sentiment.
What to Say: “I see you’re upset. Let’s try and solve this together.” “Anger and sadness are normal and everyone feels them. I will assist you with that.”
Why It Helps: Being understood helps support and validate their feelings that are of importance.
6. Teach and Demonstrate Self Help Strategies Teach a child appropriate ways of expressing their feelings.
Techniques to Try: Breathe in for 4 seconds, Pause for 4, Then breathe out for 4. Or if that doesn’t help try a grounding strategy like the five four three two ones method.
Movement Breaks: Encourage students to jump, run around, or stretch such that their accumulated energy would be spent.
How It Helps: Regular drills of these exercises reduce the chances of such behavior during outbursts.
- Define Some Clear Limits
Security is provided by uniformity.
What to Do:
Define clear cut standards for behavior that goes for instance: ‘We talk with soft voices’ or ‘no physical assaults.’
Use soft but firm reminders during outbursts.
Why It Helps: These limits make them know what is expected of them and therefore reduces the chances of anxiety.
- Provide Options
Provide them a sense of control.
What to Say:
“Do you want to sit here or you want to remove to your calm space?”
“Do you want to put on your headphones or have a break first?”
Why It Helps: Providing options enables shifting of focus and counters feelings of powerlessness.
- Respond To Physical Requirements
Simple things can influence the states of emotions and response control.
Look for:
Feeding: Thirst or Hunger: give a snack or drink.
Pain: Tell them to take a nap. Or just relax.
Temperature: If their sensitivity to touch is high, use special clothes and adjust the settings if needed.
Why It Helps: heightening needs to a certain level can make the situation worse but nurturing these can elude things from arousing further.
- Contemplate And Develop Together
One seeks to promote comprehension through the use of the post-explosion phase.
What to Discuss:
Once they are stable and composed, discuss what had happened.
Collaborate to devise strategies for future constraint of feelings or incidents.
Why It Helps: Looking outside for reflection enhances self-regulation and social cognition.
Prevention Strategies
Structured Routine: Predictability decreases anxiety and emotional outbursts and aggressive behavior.
Visual Timers: Helps kids and adults in the classroom cope with change and alert them of an impending one.
Sensory Tools: Provide fidget toys, chew toys, or weighted blankets or vests to help modulate sensory overload.
Positive Reinforcement: Reward attempts to apply self control or expressing feelings appropriately.
Social Stories: They help children understand what to do when they face threatening situations.
When Determining When to Seek Professional Help
When disorder has the characteristic episodes which are normal but such outbursts are a frequent occurrence or are of great intensity then such episodes may need assisted living.
Consider Consulting:
A therapist or psychologist in order to manage emotions better.
An occupational therapist skilled with talking and integrating senses into one.
One’s pediatric or mental health doctor in cases where other disorders coexist like severe anxiety or adhd and they need to be treated.
Final Thoughts
Dealing with emotional issues in patients with ADHD and autism explains how much labour, sympathy and planning it takes. A proper setup includes heartfelt empathy and dealing with the emotional complexities involved with developing coping strategies. For long lasting results and self regulation techniques, providing an enabled caregiving environment should be the driving force.
