Observe, Observe, Observe
Is your child having a meltdown or is he or she having a tantrum? The two may look the same, but there are differences. When your child is upset, you don’t know which it is. Look for clues and observe your child, and you’ll know whether it is a meltdown or a tantrum.
What is a tantrum?
Does your child want or need something? If so, he or she is having a
tantrum. The child is demonstrating to get the item he or she wants.
This type of behavior is common for toddlers and preschoolers.
Because they lack the language to express themselves, they
demonstrate. Once they have developed their language, their tantrums
become less often.
However, some children get frustrated easily beyond the toddler stage.
reasons they will demonstrate with a tantrum. Perhaps, he or she is
angry because you’re giving his or her sister more attention. If he or
she can’t score in a baseball game, he or she may demonstrate with a
tantrum.
Toddlers can control their emotions if they want to. Sometimes, a child
may suddenly stop demonstrating long enough to check that he or she
has your attention.
The child’s tantrum may stop if one of the following happens. When
the child realizes he’s not going to get his or her way, the tantrum may
suddenly stop. Two other possibilities might be that the child gets what
he was demonstrating about or he or she may realize that acting out
won’t get him or her what he or she wants.
What is a Meltdown?
The little girl above is in a classroom, but she’s suffering from sensory
overload. In other words, she’s suffering from sensory overload. When
a child has too much information from their senses, sights such as a
bright light, loud sound such as loud music, various textures around
them, or sour tastes, they will be overwhelmed by his or her senses. A
meltdown is surely going to occur. The cause of a meltdown of a small
child is usually a sensory overload.
A meltdown may be confused with a tantrum. A tantrum of a toddler is
caused by the toddler wanting something. Whereas, a meltdown may
appear to be a tantrum, but it isn’t. The toddler just can’t deal with too
much sensory input, and the result is a meltdown.
Special Needs Children
“Why?”, you might ask yourself. Why does my child have so many
meltdowns? If you understand your child’s special needs, you most
likely know the answer. A special needs child’s life is more difficult than
that of the average child. Understanding his or her special needs will
help.
· Autism: Autism causes a child to learn differently. Sometimes, an autistic child can’t communicate due to his or her language difficulty. An autistic child finds it hard to interact with people. Often, an autistic child will react with a meltdown due to his or her not being able to communicate his or her feelings.
· Asperger’s Syndrome: Asperger’s syndrome is a form of autism. However, a child diagnosed having Asperger’s syndrome has difficulty with social skills, but he or she is said to be high functioning in intelligence. He or she may perform some behaviors over and over again due to his or her having an obsessive focus. He or she may also find writing and talking difficult.
· Dyslexia: Dyslexia is a learning disability. Children suffering with this learning disability have problems with language and communication. Most parents don’t recognize this problem until the child enters school.
· Tourette’s Syndrome: Tourette’s syndrome hinders a child’s ability to communicate. It is difficult for a child to communicate because his or her nervous system causes sudden little movements called tics. The child can’t control the tics.
Notice all these conditions make it difficult for a child to communicate. Therefore, it’s easy to understand that any of the above conditions would make communication difficult for a child. No wonder, a child must become frustrated when he or she can’t communicate. Not being able to communicate problems certainly must make a child’s life unbearable.
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