Increased meltdowns

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So, my son has been having a lot more meltdowns over christmas break. I honestly believe it's because he got a new lego train set and has been taking it apart and putting it back together a lot. It's hard for him to stop even given a time warning. I asked him why he starts yelling and what I can do to help him. He said, "Mom, I just don't know where to put my things when it's time. I get mad." I am impressed that he was able to state this even being a little upset. This has caused me to think that I have a lot of growing to do personally. Today I have been organizing like crazy. I am ADHD so it's a little difficult for me at times but I just needed to bite the bullet.

The toy room is getting really organized and clean and so is the rest of the house. Both of my kids survive on structure, more structure then the average kid. It seems to calm them down.

Any organization tips that help you or help your children, especially with playroom and bedroom?

Hiya natesmom, so sorry to hear your son has been having increasing meltdowns. Christmas is a difficult time for everyone and especially a child on the Autism spectrum. I am also diagnosed with ADHD and have children all diagnosed too on different parts of the spectrum, I have an Aspie or two and Auties with lots of ADD/ADHD mixed in for good measure!!

It will more than likely NOT be solely the new train set that is causing problems, it is just one of many volcanic layers......change of routine, excitement, sensory overwhelm......all these things happening......Christmas music, shopping, wrapping paper, trees, tinsel, socialisation...uggg, sometimes it is all just toooooo much and come Christmas itself a meltdown is the result!! So always look at the bigger picture, often visitors pouring in and out of the house are enough to send anyone on the spectrum giddy and that won't help either! Christmas.......can be such a chore sometimes!!

Tidying stuff away for many of these kids is a problem.....I am still struggling and my house looks like a jumble sale on a bad day most days!! But one tip I can give you is to warn your son how long he has got left before he has to start packing up.....give him a first half hour warning and then again soon after........have a special toybox just for his train....that is his and when his train set is up and running that box should be empty waiting for it to be returned.

Routine and patience are the key here. If you like me with ADHD like to do everything sooper fast we get fed up when others can't do the same!! ! How come I can get out of bed, washed and dressed in 5mins when everyone else needs 55?? Uggggg, but most people don't do things as quickly as we do and we have to remember that....oops sorry forgot our memories are rubbish aswell!! !

But slow down if you can....I know it's tricky..........have routine, structure and give PLENTY of praise....give a child on the spectrum a SYSTEM and they feel safe.....I wish you lots of luck

We're a clear tub household, ourselves. All the legos are jumbled together in 3 large clear tubs, which are stacked against the wall on top of each other.

However, if your son is the more organized type, I would discuss with him the ideas of either sorting by set or by piece type. If you've ever gone to a Lego Engineering play center, you will note that they have scores of clear plastic drawers, small to large, and all the Legos are sorted by piece type, and for large collections again by color. My son could never keep up with that, but it is a marvelous system for finding the building pieces you want, and worth considering if its right for your child.

Jelibean: you are right. It's probably the combination of factors. Thanks for the support and advice

DW: Thank you! That what we did for the legos. A few months ago I bought a lot of those clear tubs to place legos in. I had the lego directions to each particular set in those. It was the best things we did!! He seems to love that system. I think I may have mentioned this before on here and you were the one who told me this idea. Whoever did, I took that idea and ran with it.

The problem is other messes. What to throw away, what to keep? We have so many random toys everywhere that I feel it's cluttering everything else. I have clear drawers for that stuff but they are so random, they end up boing in drawers with other random items that end up not being played with. Should I just get rid of those and keep the items that fall more neatly in a system? Both of my sons and even me tend to get overstimulated by stuff.

The problem is definitely more with me. I have been organizing my papers and house these last two days and it's hard. If I dont' have a system myself and seem anxiety ridden, how can I expect my sons to be fine. This morning they seemed happier and less anxious. The play room is cleaned and almost organized. The living room almost has everything it its place.

We have the "random toy" clear tub as well