Temper Tantrums

It sure is frusterating to be the parent or babysitter in a situation where the child is throwing themselves onto the floor full force and crying, kicking, and screaming. What gets even more tense and uncomfortable is if this fiasco is happening in a public place. Whats even a step above this level of frusteration is if you are a severley autistic child throwing the tantrum! I personally can't even imagine how that must feel. To have all these feelings, needs, wants, and thoughts with no way to successfully communicate them to the adults surrounding you and caring for you. Almost as if you are experiencing pain, exhaustion, or frusteration and your mouth stops working. You can't make it form the way it should in order to create the words you need. As if someone has duct taped your mouth shut or stolen the words straight out of your mind. A major trait of autism is the lack of both communication and social skills in order to express what they are feeling or thinking to those around them. My brother still isn't able to form any words to tell us how we can help or soothe him. With the average child, when they throw fits most of the time the adult is aware of the cause of the behavior. My step-mom and I attempted to supervise my not-so-little-little-brother in a mall in the Boston area once. He is taller than her and stronger than me so when he threw himself to the ground crying there wasn't much either one of us could do. It took three grown men to assist us. While it was embarassing and upsetting for us, what he went through was much worse. Even after the twenty minute battle to sooth him, to this day we are still unaware of what triggered the outburst. We never for sure find out what is causing a severly autsistic child to get as worked up as they do during those temper tantrums.