Re-Learn Autism

Re-Learn Autism "The 8 Stages of a Meltdown" is has been rewritten as the "Abridged" version. This is not an insult or a judgment, but a vast gap which needs filling.

It is also available as an elearning course with a sister course about the biology of a meltdown, I have called "Biodynamics of a Meltdown" Check out the Education/Events page. More and more I'm seeing behaviour issues being shared indicating to me that there is overall a lack of knowledge of the Nervous System and that both adults and children have a lack of emotional maturity. This page and group is dedicated to those on the Autism Spectrum and the Mums and Dads doing their best with the knowledge and interventions and strategies they know in every moment. We all meltdown (yes we all do) at various times and in various ways and scales of magnitude. Severe Autistics more commonly experience the frequency and magnitude expressed physically. Many times this can be from a lack of ability to communicate what is going on for them and secondly knowing how they deal with their "big" emotions. What I am trying to achieve with "The 8 Stages of a Meltdown" is for people to recognize the symptoms before a meltdown occurs; being aware of the issue before it becomes an issue and the cyclic nature of a meltdown. It follows a pattern. Once you see and understand the pattern and how it expresses for you child, the more able you are to intervene, to support and assist your child through the cycle. Ideally what this is about is that the parent, caregiver or person on the Autism Spectrum can mitigate the issue before the energy wave of the Meltdown ensues, so this is about mitigating the cycle of Meltdowns. This is an educational guide to increase awareness and expanding the reader's horizons and learning from the author's personal experience as well as those shared by others.

24/08/2026

Parent of a student Yrs9-13 sitting exams soon, or a student and any of these situations are familiar

If you go into an exam and suddenly forget everything?
or
you get to a particular question and your mind goes blank?

Your brain has gone off-line. This is a regulation issue.

Our framework includes 6 learning zones:

โค๏ธ Regulation Zone

๐Ÿง  Memory Lab

๐Ÿ“š Subject Vault

โœ๏ธ Expression Studio

๐ŸŽฏ Exam Ready

๐ŸŒฑ Progress Wins

Come along to our information evening about our Skool going live in September.

Book for the event following the link in the comments.

โ€œW๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฑ๐—ผ ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—บ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ด๐—ผ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ธ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—ฒ๐˜…๐—ฎ๐—บ.Join us online for an introduction to:๐—ก๐—˜๐—ฆ๐—ฆ๐—ง๐—ฆ๐—ธ๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—น โ€“ ๐—•๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—™๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐˜‡๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ก๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—น...
23/08/2026

โ€œW๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฑ๐—ผ ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—บ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ด๐—ผ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ธ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—ฒ๐˜…๐—ฎ๐—บ.

Join us online for an introduction to:

๐—ก๐—˜๐—ฆ๐—ฆ๐—ง๐—ฆ๐—ธ๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—น โ€“ ๐—•๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—™๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐˜‡๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ก๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—œ๐˜! - ๐—™๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—บ ๐—•๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—™๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐˜‡๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—˜๐˜…๐—ฎ๐—บ ๐—˜๐—ฎ๐˜€๐—ฒ.

This session is for parents, caregivers and neurodiverse students in Years 9โ€“13 who may know their work, but struggle to regulate, retrieve or express what they know when it matters โ€” particularly in tests and exams.

We'll introduce the practical strategies behind NESSTSkool and our six Learning Zones:

โค๏ธ Regulation Zone
๐Ÿง  Memory Lab
๐Ÿ“š Subject Vault
โœ Expression Studio
๐ŸŽฏ Exam Ready
๐ŸŒฑ Progress Wins

You'll also find out about the resources, coaching and community spaces being developed for students and parents, including free and subscription options.

๐—ฆ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—น๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐˜๐˜‚๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ต ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐˜‚๐—ฏ๐—ท๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜. ๐—ก๐—˜๐—ฆ๐—ฆ๐—ง๐—ฆ๐—ธ๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—น ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ด๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€.

Our aim is to help students move from Brain Freeze to Exam Ease.

This Skool while it has framework - it is a "Build as we go" model. Students learn in different ways, remember in different ways and have difficulties emerge through the exam season. We discuss how we would deal with them pre and post exams, along with exam examples.

When the mind goes blank, strategy matters.

What a great dad!  Some wonderful ideas here.
15/03/2026

What a great dad! Some wonderful ideas here.

So the tortoise does actually win against the hare!  (Note that the poor hare goes into freeze mode).
15/03/2026

So the tortoise does actually win against the hare! (Note that the poor hare goes into freeze mode).

The story of "The Tortoise and the Hare" came to life when the two animals were placed side by side to race each. As expected, the rabbit started off strong ...

BEFORE THE MELTDOWNThis workshop is for mums, focused on understanding whatโ€™s happening in the body before, during and a...
08/03/2026

BEFORE THE MELTDOWN

This workshop is for mums, focused on understanding whatโ€™s happening in the body before, during and after meltdowns โ€” and how to support both yourself and your child before things escalate.

While this covers autistic children, it can apply to others who meltdown too.

Session - Before the Meltdown โ€“ A Workshop for Mums
Hobsonville Point | In person | Small group

Before the shouting.
Before the tears.
Before the meltdown or
Before the shutdown.
Before you tear your hair out.

There is always a moment.

And if we can understand that moment โ€” we can change what happens next.

This workshop is about what's happening in the body and brain before your child loses control.
Because meltdowns aren't "bad behaviour."
They're nervous system overload.
Through working with autistic children, I began to notice something powerful:

Every meltdown has a different triggerโ€ฆ
But the way it unfolds?
The pathway is almost always the same for your child.
And when that pathway repeats, it strengthens.
The brain learns it.

That's why early intervention matters.

In this workshop, you'll learn:
โ€ข What's happening biologically
โ€ข Why I choose the strategies I do
โ€ข When you can offer change
โ€ข How to interrupt the pattern
โ€ข And how to build a new, calmer pathway instead

This isn't about control.
If you're walking on eggshellsโ€ฆ
If you're exhausted from the cycleโ€ฆ
If you feel like you're missing something important โ€”
Come and join me.

Let's do what we can before the meltdown.

We begin with mum, because as they say on planes: put your own mask on first, before helping others.

Details:
Tiger Moth Room - Sunderland Lounge,
214 Buckley Road, Hobsonville Point.
Tuesday 17 March
9:30โ€“11:30am
We explore:
โ€ข whatโ€™s happening in the body during a meltdown
โ€ข what โ€œregulationโ€ actually means in real life
โ€ข staying calm under duress
โ€ข how your nervous system affects your childโ€™s
โ€ข tools to intervene earlier and reduce escalation
================================

26/02/2026

"What if the meltdown wasnโ€™t because of the noise, or the crowdโ€ฆ but the colour of the food or drink.?"

โ€œOne of our families discovered something surprisingโ€ฆโ€

"Every time their child had something blueโ€”a meltdown followed.โ€

๐Ÿ”ต Blue Powerade / Gatorade
๐Ÿซ Goody Gumdrops ice cream
๐Ÿ”ท Blue jellybeans & candies
๐Ÿฅค Slushies or blue snow cones
๐Ÿง Frosted cupcakes with blue icing
๐Ÿซ Blueberry muffins & pancakes
๐Ÿซ Even natural blueberries

"From bright blue food colouring to even natural fruits, blue was a signalโ€”not a snack."

โ€œThese werenโ€™t just coincidences. They were clues.โ€
โ€œThis family started tracking ingredientsโ€”and saw patterns and found relief.โ€

โ€œWhen they removed blue-coloured foodsโ€ฆ the meltdowns didnโ€™t just lessenโ€”they sometimes disappeared altogether.โ€

โœจ โ€œSometimes the meltdown trigger isnโ€™t what you think. It could be hiding in plain sight.โ€

๐Ÿงฉ โ€œRe-Learn Autism helps you uncover your childโ€™s unique triggersโ€”and respond with confidence.โ€

โ€œReady to rethink meltdowns?

My question is (self reflection) is this contributing to the increase in non- verbal?
22/02/2026

My question is (self reflection) is this contributing to the increase in non- verbal?

Why you may want to stop the white noise from sound machinesโ€ฆ

There is a lot of back and forth about how white noise can impact a childโ€™s overall development and if it should be used to help infants and toddlers get into a regular sleep routine.

Why is there hesitation and what does the research say?

Andโ€ฆwhat have we also seen with our own students?

As many of you already know, development of speech and language skills happens at an early age. But, it can also cause trouble with this other learning area.

Whatโ€™s recommended, how to make adjustments if you start to see delays and what you want to watch for when using white noise for your baby or toddler.

To find out what weโ€™ve seen and to read more about the research, comment below ๐Ÿ‘‡ and we will send you the link.

Good advice.
22/02/2026

Good advice.

๐Ÿšธ Ever notice kids who lean in way too close when talking, or bump into others without realizing it?

This is called invading personal space, and for many children, itโ€™s more about body awareness and self-regulation than bad manners.

๐Ÿ™Œ The good news? You can teach personal space in fun, engaging ways!
Try role-play, body awareness games, and even the ๐ŸŽต Personal Space Song to help kids understand their own bubble.

๐ŸŒŸ These strategies make a big difference in the classroom, at recess, and even at home.

22/02/2026

The Technology meltdown i believe is different. Much more instant, coming out of nowhere (seemingly). But there is a reason. Technology is bringing harm to brains - from developing brains to older brains.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Ai3DtwSrZ/

22/02/2026

New workshops running in-person locally in Hobsonville, Auckland. If the workshops are of interest to you and you are not local or want to have run in your location or online, when you click the link in the comment, select - Register your interest and follow the prompt.

In the first workshop we were focused on Mum. The second workshop is focused on the child/children.

There is a discount for the second workshop for those who attend the first. Please email for the discount code before registering.

๐Ÿงฉ Session Two (2 hours): Supporting your child
๐Ÿ“… Tuesday 24 March
๐Ÿ•ค 9:30โ€“11:30am
We focus on:
โ€ข Build your emergency kit
โ€ข helps you to respond, rather than react
โ€ข remove decision making under stress
โ€ข reduces escalation for both of you.
This is a small, supportive group โ€” no judgement, no pressure to share, and no โ€œquick fixesโ€. Just understanding, practical tools, and space to breathe.

If this if of interest, click on the links in the comments, or scan the QR code.

๐Ÿ“ Location: HQ Tiger Moth Room, 214 Buckley Road, Hobsonville Point Hobsonville Point, Auckland
๐Ÿ‘‰ Reserve Your Spot
(limited places to keep the group small)

If this feels like something you need โ€” or you know a mum who might โ€” please feel free to share ๐Ÿ’›

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Auckland

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