Fight, Flight, or Freeze: The Anatomy of a Meltdown

All behavior has meaning; it’s our job as the care giving adult to figure it out. In this workshop we’ll use a sensory processing perspective to better understand what triggers a child’s meltdown. It’s easy to get overwhelmed, frustrated and even angry when a child is having a meltdown. It’s not pretty and it’s not easy to live through for anyone! There are three stages of a typical meltdown. By understanding these stages and some of the possible triggers as well as the felt experience of what happens to the body when feeling under attack and helpless caregivers may be able to adapt the environment and support the child having the meltdown. Case studies will be utilized as a means to practice identification of triggers and practical intervention strategies.