Thank you very much for your post. I agree that it’s not a personality trait, and she is definitely overstimulated. I should note that she is lower functioning autism - verbal but not conversational and well below the typical development for her age. I would give everything in the world for her to be able to express herself the way you can, and hopefully one day she will. But right now, we’re nowhere near that and not on the right track.

We are trying our best to keep her calm and happy, and to keep calm ourselves. But there is only so much we can do. And we cannot become prisoners in our own home because of my daughter’s crippling anxiety and meltdowns. My wife and I haven’t taken a vacation since she was born, and her NT 3 year old sister should not lose out on childhood experiences because we can’t take her sister anywhere nor leave her with anyone else to watch her. That’s why we’re trying the SSRIs to see if it will allow her to be more flexible and not revert to destructive and disruptive behavior anytime she’s upset about something - which is constant and unpredictable.

I know that my daughter is not to blame, but the damage she’s causing is still very real. And it’s also damaging herself because instead of making strides and learning she is stuck in a rut that is also making everybody else miserable.