
Episode #218
After-School Meltdowns and Autism: What to Do and What Can Wait (Ep #218)
Your autistic child comes home from school yelling, disappears into their bedroom, or follows you around asking the same question repeatedly. Each situation requires a different response, but your automatic reactions may be making those difficult after-school hours even harder. In this episode, Lisa Candera, The Autism Mom Coach, explains how to respond to three common after-school patterns: the Collider, the Cocooner, and the Clinger. Drawing on her personal parenting experience and coaching work, Lisa introduces opposite action, a skill she learned during her son's OCD therapy, to help autism moms interrupt their automatic reactions and decide what needs immediate attention and what can wait. In this episode, you'll learn: How to respond when your autistic child comes home angry, argumentative, withdrawn, or demanding constant attention. Why providing more attention, asking more questions, or offering repeated reassurance can sometimes make after-school dysregulation worse. How to recognize your own reactions and use opposite action to determine when to engage, when to establish boundaries, and what can wait. Learn how to stop turning one difficult afternoon into a series of unnecessary battles by identifying what actually needs your attention and responding deliberately rather than reacting automatically. Ready to create your own Meltdown Action Plan? Join Lisa for MAP Live on October 8 at 7 PM Eastern, a live 90-minute workshop where you'll create a personalized plan for managing your triggers and responding to your child's meltdowns before, during, and after they happen. Register for MAP Live Here.

