meltdowns are frustrating and happen out of my control. emotions are foreign to me. they are hard to grasp and I dislike them. I am told by the adults who work with me that they help connect people but if this is the case I am unplugged. a meltdown happens when emotions finally crash down on me. people think that I meltdown over small things but really it is like loading bricks on a wooden plank. it can only hold so many little bricks before it breaks. a meltdown is when it breaks or when a really big brick is launched at it unexpectedly. if I am with people I do not know or I am surrounded by things I fear I have one but also if I just have had a bad hour, day, or even week. sometimes I know that the load is about to break or see a big brick coming so to avoid breaking, I send all my energy there. this means I do not talk, make eye contact, which I have learned to do minimally, or react to much of anything. I am robotic. but I am meltdown free. people who know me or the adults who work with me on these skills see this as an anti meltdown plan and do the same as they would for a meltdown that actually was visible. others see a quiet kid.
