My ASD Child

Question "Are there some ways to prevent some of the discipline-related problems encountered with ASD children (e.g., meltdowns associated with receiving a consequence for misbehavior)? I say ‘prevent’ because it seems that once my son knows he is going to be punished, it quickly escalates into meltdown, which by then is much too late to intervene (i.e., it just has to run its course at that point). In other words, can a parent ‘predict’ - and thus prevent - a potential meltdown?" Answer Sooner is better than later. Most people tend to wait until a problem arises and then attempt to deal with it through the use of a consequence. Consequences can be positive (gaining something) or negative (losing something). At times, consequences are discussed prior to an event, but usually in terms of a motivator: "If you do this, you will gain (lose) something else." More often we use consequences in the middle of a problem, such as, "If you don't stop th