Children with autism or developmental delays are often sometimes unable to control their emotions and feel unusually excited, for example, talking loudly or suddenly crying loudly, etc. Along with the over-excitement, they may even engage in aggressive behaviors, such as kicking and jumping.
What is excitement?
Excitement, i.e. the person is very emotional, and this excitement is not only reflected in the movements, but also in the jumping of thoughts.
People with autism may have flashbacks or time shifts in their memories, remember things that happened in the past, or feel excited when they think of things that happened in the past.
Therefore, many parents report that their children are excited and do not sleep at night.
In fact, it may be a good idea to develop some short, predictable bedtime routines that your child will look forward to.
A good routine can help a special needs child to be relaxed and ready to fall asleep at bedtime. The entire flow of the sleep routine should include activities that make the child feel relaxed, and a regular flow each night can help calm the child down.
Parents should not allow their child to watch easily excitable TV shows, movies, videos, or play video games before bed, or to play on the computer, listen to loud music, or be in the presence of bright lights, and should avoid activities such as running, jumping, or playing.
This routine should start 15-30 minutes before your special child’s bedtime. Younger children will only need a shorter period of time (e.g., 15 minutes for a 1 year old) and gradually longer as they get older. However, the bedtime routine should not last longer than 1 hour.
A good bedtime routine can look like this
1. The bedtime routine should take place in the child’s room and the surrounding area should be quiet (except for bathing and brushing teeth).
2、Perform the same sequence of bedtime routines each night so that your child can calm down.
3. Using a visual schedule (e.g., pictures, words, or a combination of graphics) can help the special needs child remember what needs to be done at each step. This allows the child to understand that the bedtime routine involves doing the same things in the same order every night.
A visual schedule also allows other family members or those caring for the child to do these activities in the same order. If the child is not interested in pictures, parents can substitute objects (each step should correspond to an object).
4. Parents need to discern which activities calm the child and which tend to excite him. Incorporate activities that tend to calm the child into the bedtime routine, and move those exciting activities to an earlier time.
For example, if your child gets excited (rather than calm) easily during bath time, put bath time earlier in the day (rather than in the bedtime routine).
5. Listen to why your child is excited. It may be more effective to try to listen to why your child is excited in the first place and treat the cause.
Of course, it is difficult for a child to receive outside signals when he or she is excited, so parents should first calm the child down and then communicate with the child to listen to his or her reasons.
Children with autism and developmental delays are excited for a variety of reasons due to their characteristics. As they grow up, they also diminish a lot and a complete cure seems difficult. But getting them to learn to calm down and learn to control their emotions is also an important aspect that should not be ignored.