Read how Tyson’s first meltdown at Early Intervention turned into his first visit at McDonalds.
Tyson has autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) and is extremely oversensitive. It doesn’t take a great deal to upset Tyson and he can become very agitated. Tyson has been attending early intervention (EI) since February 2008 and during this time, he has never had a meltdown – well, not one that he couldn’t be ‘bought back’ from.
So, when I received a phone call from EI saying that Tyson has had a meltdown and could I please come a pick him up, my heart lept into my mouth. Thoughts of “what happened?” and “is he okay?” rushed through my head. This has never happened before, not even when that little boy, Arthur, bit him and left a mark. All sorts of things ran through my head, as they do.
By the time I got to the EI centre, Tyson was in the transition room happily eating his honey sandwich, under the watchful eye of his case manager. Tyson’s case manager is lovely and Tyson really likes her. The cause of Tyson’s meltdown – a pattern made on his tummy by his new belt that was causing him a little discomfort. Tyson doesn’t like his shirt to be tucked into his jeans and had pulled it all out, allowing his new belt to rub against his skin, which had caused a red rash.
Thankfully, I always keep a change of clothes in Tyson’s bag for ‘accidents’ and Tyson was a lot happier once he had a pair of tracksuit pants on – YAY!
Because there was still an hour of the session to go, I had to find something for Tyson and I to do whilst we waited for Taj to finish his EI session. Thankfully, the EI centre isn’t too far from McDonalds so we walked there, which took about 3 minutes. Tyson’s eyes went wide and he had the biggest grin on his face. It was then that I realised that, even though we had been through drive-thru many times, Tyson had never been into a McDonalds to sit down and eat. We ordered a large fries and a large vanilla thickshake and Tyson found us a place to sit.
Normally, Tyson takes ages to eat but no today! Tyson actually ate warm fries – WOW!!
(image of Tyson at McDonalds)
When it was time to leave and pick up Taj from the EI centre, Tyson was very well-behaved. He even put the rubbish in the bin and the tray away for me.
I was a little worried about Tyson thinking that he had been ‘rewarded’ for having his meltdown at the EI centre and voiced my concerns to his case manager. Thankfully, we haven’t had any problems in this area and there have been no more meltdowns at EI.
Thank you for reading!
Related articles:
Diagnosis: Autistic Spectrum Disorder
Welcome to Authspot, the spot for creative writing.
Read some stories and poems, and be sure to subscribe to our feed!
