Hello Community,
I work as a teen mentor/leader in a small (25 or so daily) after school program. Among my teens are an extraordinary number on the autism spectrum, and/or with high ACE scores.
One of the teens has, among other issues, a lot of food allergies. I am afraid their parent has been slipping and allowing foods into their diet which trigger both external signs such as flaking skin and itching, and internal signs like anger and frustration.
This kid has, for the past two days they have been at our facility, gone into violent outburst mode, with yelling, door slamming, and stomping out of the room. Granted, this is better than two years ago when we saw chairs thrown and kicked across the room.
I am not at leisure to leave the others to tend to this kid, other than within the room. Yesterday they just yelled at me when I attempted to intervene, even by suggesting they might be hungry, and offering to make a snack.
They did sit themselves on the couch, and managed their own anger after a time, walking peacefully to a computer when it became available.
My question to the group is; should I attempt to initiate any other intervention? I would like to know the "why", and also how I might help this kid. When the kid isn't in a crisis, they are loving toward me. They refuse, however, to engage in any group activity such as crafts, cooking, games, etc. They want video games and computer, and will read video game related books if forced to read.
I never attempt to touch this child during a crisis. I ask them to talk to me, but I get screamed at...
:-/