What is happening in my child’s body during a meltdown?

The short answer

Fight, flight and freeze are shorthand for automatic stress responses when a person perceives threat or becomes overwhelmed. A child may have a faster heartbeat or breathing, tense muscles, shaking, heat, nausea, urgent toileting, restless movement, escape behaviour, stillness or reduced speech. The patterns can overlap and change within one episode; shouting is not proof of a 'fight response', and silence is not proof of freeze. Physical signs can also have medical causes. During intense overload, reduce information, social and sensory pressure, protect safety and avoid requiring a complicated calming technique. Help the body first through space, predictable presence and familiar support. Teach and practise any breathing, movement or sensory strategy when the child is regulated and wants to use it.

• Fight, flight and freeze are a useful model, not three boxes that diagnose behaviour.
• Stress can change heart rate, breathing, muscle tension, digestion, attention and movement.
• A child may move between outward agitation, escape and stillness.
• Reduce work and input before asking for reasoning or a new technique.
• New, severe or unusual physical signs need medical consideration.