How to Manage Meltdowns in Kids on the Autism Spectrum
A meltdown is an intense emotional and behavioral response to “over-stimulation” (a form of distress for the child). Meltdowns are triggered by a fight-or-flight response, which releases adrenaline into the blood stream, creating heightened anxiety and causing the Asperger's (AS) or High-Functioning Autistic (HFA) child to switch to an instinctual survival mode. Common Features of Meltdowns— after the meltdown, there may be intense feelings of shame, remorse or humiliation, and a fear that relationships have been harmed beyond repair children in the middle of a meltdown will likely become hyposensitive or hypersensitive to pain cognitive dysfunction, perceptual distortion, and narrowing of sensory experience are associated with meltdowns meltdowns are a reaction to severe stress, although the stress may not be readily apparent to an observer meltdowns are caused by sensory or mental overload, sometime in conjunction with each other meltdowns are due to overwhelming