Managing Anger

I attended a seminar this week about Managing Anger with regard to those on the spectrum and how to support families too. It was really interesting and there were some very useful tips for handling certain behaviour, coping with anxiety and the dreaded melt downs.

I must admit that my son doesn't lash out and show his anger too much, he tends to do the opposite and when his anxiety hit's a high he keeps it in so much it comes out in a lot of echolalia and repeated behaviour. When we visited the dentist the other week I noticed that he had to have a sleep afterwards. The sensory implications of having a filling would have been massive and he coped, but exhausted himself. 

Although anger can be very visible there are are some who do keep everything in which sometimes can have severe consequences too. My son doesn't always recognise his feelings and masks them quite well. The seminar did cover this as well which was good. I did contemplate whether this would be relevant to our situation as a family but yes it did. Bear that in mind if you get a chance to attend one of these seminars as it does cover coping mechanisms to help with anxiety, therefore helping to reduce the chance of getting to the meltdown stage, if that is at all possible. 

The course explains what anger is, how to use the low arousal approach, coping with meltdowns and how to help your child manage their feelings.
If you cannot get to a seminar the booklet that accompanies it is available on the NAS website, just follow this link:
www.autism.org.uk/products/core-nas-publications/autism-seminars-for-families-managing-anger-seminar-booklet.aspx

It only costs £5 and has quite a bit of information in there which you can keep referring to when needed. Always find support though if you need to talk to someone. There are many groups available which are great for families to get together and share experiences and information.

I would just like to thank the NAS for allowing this seminar to be given out to us as a branch and we hope it helped everyone who attended. These kind of courses are vital for people to grab solutions and ideas, not everything works for everyone in the same way but a lot of strategies can be adapted to help. 

I hope this was useful and thank you so much for reading.
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I will be back tomorrow for 'Pass the Remote' but for now take care.

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