Overstimming and meltdowns?

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My 4-yr old (about to turn 5) non-verbal daughter with Autism/ADHD has recently been home for the summer, and though she has a limited (don't even get me started) ESY program for the summer, she is still home and searching for activities a lot. From the moment she wakes up, I am literally walking on egg shells to prevent meltdowns and keep her busy. I take her to the park, I take her to stores, I drive her around all day, she has gymnastics once a week, I put her in the pool outside. She literally has activity all day long, but it's never enough. The second she gets bored, she goes into complete meltdown. At this point, it's about 6 or 8 a day....

I try to combat with her favorite ways of stimming... watching videos on YouTube, stickering, and she likes to rip up puzzle pieces...she'll do this for about 10-15 minutes quietly and then it's right back to meltdown.

I'm just looking for some insight from those who've experienced this kind of non-stop anxiety/boredom/need to move or interact.

She is not currently on any medication, but since she is turning 5 at the end of the month and her symptoms are worsening, we're considering getting her on meds to calm her anxiety and increase her attention span. She also will self-harm if she gets easily frustrated (bites herself hard or scratches), especially when she feels like we don't understand what she's trying to communicate (she doesn't sign, doesn't use PECS or any other assistive language - so she gets mad, FAST).

Wish I could be of help.

How "independent" is she? Are there things she could do to amuse herself if you put her in a room with stuff? Does she enjoy TV, movies, music?

She's not very independent at all. She used to be, but now she attends to a stim for a short period of time and then immediately goes and seeks either myself or my husband to drag us to whatever the next stim is that she thinks she needs, but doesn't really want. I'm literally up and down every 2-5 minutes. I'm just trying to figure out if there may be a trigger that's causing this or if others are familiar with her sensations and what helps them?

You said you have a pool. try keeping her in the water. I'm 43 now and I still do swimming all the time to calm my nerves. Being in the water does wonders for the senses. In fact. I think it's very important for an autistic person to be in the water. I learned how to freedive when I was 8 years old and if I hadn't, I might still be in a mental hospital today. BTW: how does she like gymnastics?

Thanks for the advice! Yes, she definitely enjoys water, and so I'll try and increase that to see if it's her "happy place". She LOVES gymnastics! She has vestibular sensory issues, so she's always climbing and jumping. OT was helping her to some extent, but it wasn't helping her with her gross motor needs, so we tried gymnastics as a supplement. She does private lessons and her gymnastics coach actually used to be a special needs teacher so she's familiar with how to work well with autistic children. She's made amazing strides, and I can't believe some of the things she was able to get her to do - like parallel bars, rolling, and even working on backflips!

interesting. i behaved that way when too much stuff was going on like you said she wants. The pool idea is a good one. Drop me in the pool with my floaties on and am good for hours. and you know, just because kids are autistic doesn't me we can't be brats. I know my parents had a hard time deciding what was seeing to my needs and what was spoiling me.

hi bringle,
how is the swimming working? you mentioned starting home... does that mean she has been at school? school is typically "structured" in activities that are 10 - 15 minutes. after one activity another takes its place... could your child be looking for that same thing in the present environment? does the school use a schedule? does your child have a schedule? would your child want one?

hope this helps...