Many people think of a meltdown as a child on the floor, shouting, crying, stamping and banging. However, from time to time we deal with a slightly different type of meltdown.
This we like to call the hyper boy meltdown.
Quite simply put, little Mr goes through these stages where he is so hyper and being silly, he is just falling about all over the place.
Laughing, giggling and basically falling to the floor in these giggly uncontrollable, what only can be likened too, meltdowns. Though instead of the shouting, screaming and all that - it's laughing, giggling, wriggling and so on.
The thing is, this is no less difficult than a crying, screaming meltdown. In both cases, he's on the floor, completely unmanageable. In both cases, you simply have to wait it out.
The big difference is that in this hyper giggly type of meltdown he's actually happy. A bit too happy.
Triggers wise it's also quite similar. Like a meltdown where the trigger is possibly something in his environment that is overloading him sensory - this hyper giggly meltdown is also often caused by some sort of sensory.
Though, in this case, he finds that sensory funny.
Unlike a meltdown, these hyper giggly sets go on for some time. They can last hours even. Which does make it difficult if we are out. Where we are trying to get somewhere or to the car, we end up taking quite some time as he often goes to the floor and is just lying there giggling.
If we're at home it's also as difficult as he starts doing silly things which can end with him bashing an arm, leg or some other part of his body.
How we manage it is we try to calm him down as much as we can while also making sure he doesn't hurt himself.
However, what we can't do is stop it. It has to play out. We can just put other things around him, calming music and so on. Things to try and bring him down from his giggling. It can take time but eventually, he comes back to calm.
It's certainly difficult for both types. One you would certainly think of as a meltdown. They are upset. They have been overloaded sensory wise and they can't handle it.
This other type you may not think of as a meltdown per se. Though in little Mr's case, he is just as unmovable and still doing similar things, though laughing instead of crying or screaming.