Free Resource! Print this guide and keep it on your fridge or in your wallet. It's designed to help you stay calm when your child is in crisis.
Meltdown Response Guide
For parents & carers — keep this visible!
🧠 Meltdowns are involuntary
Not manipulation — overwhelm
BEFORE
Warning Signs
Watch for:
⚡ACT NOW! Reduce demands, offer escape, lower sensory input
DURING
Stay Calm & Safe
✓ DO:
- • Stay calm yourself
- • Ensure safety first
- • Reduce stimulation
- • Fewer words, soft voice
- • Give physical space
- • Wait patiently
✗ DON'T:
- • Reason or lecture
- • Ask questions
- • Punish or threaten
- • Force eye contact
- • Touch if unwanted
- • Say "calm down"
🫁 Breathe. You can't co-regulate if you're dysregulated.
AFTER
Recovery Time
Give time & space:
💚Later: reflect on triggers together. What can we change?
Remember:
Meltdowns are neurological overwhelm — not bad behaviour. Your child is not "being bad", they're having a hard time. They need co-regulation, not consequences.
For You:
This is really hard. You're doing your best. If you lose your cool, repair later. Your calm is a gift to your child — look after yourself too.
Keep this somewhere visible — it's hard to think clearly during a crisis 💙
theneurodiversebrain.com