I realized I was misreading my son's meltdowns for years

A therapist in Phoenix pointed out last month that his 'tantrums' were actually sensory overload, and I'd been making it worse by raising my voice. How do you tell the difference between a meltdown and a bad mood in your kids?

3 comments

3 Comments

tessa3943mo ago

It's a tough spot to be in. Figuring out the difference changed everything for my family too.

wood.john3mo ago

Is it possible we're overthinking this? Sometimes a kid is just in a bad mood and needs to learn to deal with it. Labeling every outburst as a meltdown feels like making excuses. Raising your voice might not be perfect, but it gets a kid's attention when they're acting up. The real world won't stop for sensory issues, so they have to toughen up sometime.

hugo23615d ago

@wood.john look i get what ur saying but the tough it out approach actually backfires for some kids. my nephew would have full on screaming fits at target when he was 7. his mom tried the yell louder method for months. it just made him shut down harder and throw things. turns out he had legit auditory processing issues. loud voices literally scrambled his brain. she switched to a calm low voice and a quiet corner with his tablet. meltdowns went from 45 mins to under 10 in like 2 weeks. sometimes the real world does need to adjust a little.