Sensory Overload

We had a rough weekend. Deklan was in sensory overload all weekend. It started with a HUGE meltdown on Friday afternoon/evening. I took him in to the psychologist for some tests. He knew we were going to the psychologist, but he wanted to play - not test. The first part of the test was just describing the word. Example: policeman. He answered the first few just fine then he just clamped his mouth shut and refused to talk or respond at all. He then followed that with a complete shutdown, laying in the floor turning circles, crying, and screaming at the top of his lungs. It was too much for me. Before it was over I was in tears too. This went on for about an hour or more. Finally the psychologist helped me get Deklan to the car - actually she carried him once we got outside. Then she got into the car with him while I shut and locked the door - she crawled out through my door. But she was gentle with him - not rough or angry. We started to pull out of the parking lot and he completely calmed down. He said he wanted to finish the questions and play with the blocks. I told him he'd have to wait until Monday afternoon because she was probably gone (it was nearly 6:30 in the evening by then - we got there at 4:30). He asked if we could check so I took him back to the door. It was locked. We checked a different door - it was locked too. But on our way back around the front Shani was coming out the door. I told her Deklan had something to say to her. He said he was sorry. I told her he wanted to take the test on Monday. He said, "Unless you have time now." She said she did and we went back inside - he answered every question she asked, played with the blocks and made plans for a "picnic" the next time we see her. It was like the previous 2 hours of melt down never happened. When we got in the car I asked him if he wanted his banana that I'd brought for snack. He said, "Yes Mama I would love that." Amazing. But it just went down hill from there. By the time we got home he was touching everything, hand flapping, couldn't get his sentences out without starting over 5 times. The next morning was his Boy Scout derby car races. He made it almost 2 hours before he went into overload and we had to leave. They let his car keep racing though. He came in 33 out of 51. Since this was his first year and we didn't really do a whole lot of work on the car, I think that was pretty good. Anyway, the whole weekend was just overload - although not too many meltdowns, which was good.