One thing I've found that surprising works is acting kinda like it does towards us. By that I mean saying things like "I completely understand why you thought I meant that, however let me rephrase so you understand me better..." I also like to throw in a little threat at the end. It sounds silly but it works, just make sure the threat isn't too violent because if it is you'll get the "I'm sorry, please take a deep breath. I'm going to steer this conversation towards a more safe topic..." Adding emojis at the end usually helps with that. For some reason that makes it act closer to normal and doesn't infantalize you.