To want to scream in the face of those who say "he/she had a MELTDOWN"

[Skeeter3]

Just no, ok!?

The frequent current misconception that even a big tantrum is in any way comparable to an actual meltdown REALLY boils my piss!!!!!

Yes tantrums can be unpleasant and distressing for all parties BUT they're still not meltdowns.

It demeans those that are dealing with medically defined meltdowns.

The more the word is used to describe a normal childhood tantrum, the less people understand or are tolerant when a child does suffer a meltdown.

If you're guilty of this JUST STOP DOING IT!!!!!!!!!!!

Time to create your own language Skeeter.

Meltdowns are not the exclusive reserve of children with ASD/ADHD
Other people can have meltdowns too
And often tantrums and meltdowns look very similar.
I have 2 autistic children who have had both tantrums and meltdowns. It never bothers me when other people use the word meltdown.

That's so positive Hag, well done to both of you for reaching that point. I know we're in a very intense phase just now with our lo and don't like to look to far ahead, but I do so hope we get to a point where our lo can manage day to day, any more than that is the cherry on top.

TheListingAttic

It's simple to understand if you read the thread and realise that people change their minds, post in a state of high emotion, and that life isn't as simple as being right or wrong

And when my unicorn farts it comes out like rainbows. God I love my life.

We have a lot of made-up words in this family, it's called 'wordsmithing'
You can't find a word that fits so you create one. Sometimes it's forged from recycled material, sometimes it's a completely new word.

Hag

My favourite is 'fossicking'. It's a verb meaning to pootple about, searching for things eg in rockpools. I am not entirely sure if I made it up or if I heard it somewhere

pootle about, even

The squealing! I honestly didn't think such a decibel existed.

We were on the train Wednesday and my lo gets super flappy and sequel-y when on the train. We got sworn at! I just thought well she's happy so I joined in with her, I love a good flap.

I haven't read the full thread so someone may have already said when meltdown came into common usage, but my son was diagnosed almost 20 years ago and it was never used then or really through his childhood.
I only seem to have heard it used in recent years.

Skeeter I always RTFT before I post or at least all the OP's posts precisely because of threads like this < polishes halo >
You will continue to get people reading your OP and replying on the basis of that. You've had a really hard time on here and I'm sorry things are so difficult for you. I agree that language is important- I work in mental health and get incensed when people talk about being a bit Bi-Polar or feeling a bit schizophrenic about something. I don't agree with your OP but I get where you're coming from. There is a lot of support on MN but you won't get it in AIBU

I was just at a workshop on BPD and we discussed this. There is also emotional dysregulation in autism but the model of how it comes to be is different. So BPD is a genetic or biological tendency to emotional dysregulation activated by an invalidating environment and in autism it arises from neurocognitive deficits in interpreting and learning to respond to emotional cues.

And no, autism is not in itself disabling. Disability arises when, on an ongoing basis, people can't access and participate in life in a way that's meaningful to them due to how a particular bodily or mental function operates for them.

You're just being a bit invalidating Charis.

Yarp, fossicking is Cornish.
We have 'jabberwocking' which is to burble on about something even when your audience is completly uninterested, or possibly asleep.
Or 'truffling' which is to search through heaps of stuff in quest of some small item that you need or that might come in handy. One cannot truffle angrily, or quickly though.

Ahh, Thankyou Hag. That makes sense!

MrsDeVere

And one of my favourite things to do too