The entire time my eyes were locked on my daughter. The coach explained to me that she was upset, but couldn’t tell her why. There was another 30 minutes left of practice and I had a feeling of panic for her. I knew she was doing everything she could to try to stay calm, but I had to get her out of there, away from her squad and all the eyes staring at her. As soon as I walked in I heard another parent say to the coach that I was here, but all I could see was my daughter.
I noticed I was walking down the school hallway at a very fast pace. I returned to the school early and figured I would watch practice.
I quickly ran my errands, but had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. As I dropped her off, I took one last look over my shoulder and could see the first visual sign of impending trouble: red cheeks. She assured me she was fine and I crossed my fingers. I reminded her it would be loud, but she would be ok. Her coaches were aware of her SPD and anxiety. I drove her to the school thinking of loud gymnasiums and echoing voices. She was involved in Cheerleading and as the weather grew colder, practices were moved inside. She was nine and had already learned about what could trigger her to have an SPD meltdown. There is one SPD meltdown, which took place a little over a year ago that is so vivid in my mind. The child in that moment has no control, telling them to calm down is an absolutely pointless strategy. Their daily environment is continually assaulting their central nervous system until eventually there will be an overload. It can happen at any moment in time as the trigger is different for each individual child. A sensory meltdown is not a temper tantrum!!! It is an overload on the central nervous system. I feel it needs explanation for people to completely understand what it’s like through the eyes of the child. An SPD meltdown is like no other meltdown. I can recall so many examples of sensory meltdowns over the years, and none of them are pretty. When I decided to write this blog post, I approached my husband with the topic of Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) meltdowns, he turned to me and asked “Which one of the many that we have experienced over the years, are you going to use?” VS: Unpacking Sensory Differences in Autism.School-Based Intensive: STAR for School.Importance of Early Identification of SPD.
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