 No, I don’t want to. No, I can’t do it. No, I want to but I don’t know how. No, not today. No, I have never done this before. No, not in front of you. No, I wasn’t expecting to do this. No, I think it is too hard. No, I don’t have enough time. No, you have already asked me. No, I’ve done it before so why do I have to do it again? What does “no” mean? Children who are “demand avoidant” are not “being naughty”. They are not seeking a power struggle with you as the adult in their lives. They are impacted by anxiety, fear and loss of control where a task (which appears to be within their scope to complete) becomes unachievable. Simple tasks and even tasks they have completed previously are too “demanding”. Pathological Demand Avoidance is described as a profile of Autism. A low threshold of tolerance to a variety of “demands” results in the child reacting with a fight, flight or freeze response. Anxiety and a need to feel in control underpin a child’s avoidant behavior. Each child who demonstrates avoidant behavior may do this in different ways. It could include shouting, laughing, crying, screaming, hiding, not talking, running away, throwing things, repetitive actions and more. Different children will present in different ways. One individual child may also show a range of behaviour that changes depending on the demand or who the child is with at the time.  The PDA society lists the following key principles for parents, teachers and therapist in helping a child with PDA; built on an engaged relationship between the child and adult. P: Pick Battles A: Anxiety Management N: Negotiation and Collaboration D: Disguise and Manage Demands A: Adaptation As an occupational therapist, finding the “just right challenge” is important for all children. For children with PDA, this can be particularly challenging. The importance of a therapeutic relationship should not be underestimated. Built on trust; rapport and respect need to be established before any “demands” can be expected. A therapeutic goal of “joint attention to a task” may be an essential foundation before further goals are established. Whilst every child is different, here are 5 examples of incorporating the PDA society principles.
In general; “heavy work” or opportunities for proprioception to joints, muscles and skin can help a child to regulate. This may include:
You can read more about sensory supports: 2. Include a puppet (or toy or pet). Puppets can help with communication. They can be used in a variety of ways that are engaging and fun for the child. Here are some examples for using a puppet:
3. Be flexible. There is nothing achieved with a power struggle between an adult and child. Having plan B is an important adaptation. Whilst some tasks should not be avoided for safety or long term health, many tasks can be forgone for something else or at least postponed. When a task really needs to be done, consider:
 4. Explore and engage with the child’s interest. Whilst there are often concerns of a child’s predominant interests becoming obsessions, exploring and engaging with the child’s interest may be an important step in “joint attention” and establishing rapport. Can the interest be used to try new activities? (eg. An interest in camping may lead to cutting paper “logs” to build a camp fire. An interest in planets may lead to drawing dotted lines for the space ship to visit each planet. An interest in video games may lead to creating a game to learn letters in a child’s name.) 5. Praise and rewards used unconventionally. Praise comes naturally when something is done well. We want to praise the child and their efforts. We want to reward behaviour that we want to see repeated. These can both (whilst seemingly positive) can cause a child to feel anxious with a perceived demand to repeat or improve performance of the activity (which may be your motivation and what you want). Complicated! This requires re-framing so …
Videos, books and social stories can be useful ways to help a child with PDA to de-personalise situations, learn from modelling and discuss how others approach a task or situation. Head over to Growing Hands on Kids where I have also written ANOTHER five strategies to support PDA - 5 Strategies to Support Pathological Demand Avoidance - Growing Hands-On Kids (growinghandsonkids.com) including creating a game with the task, do the task together, reduce indirect demands, ask without asking, using humor or novelty. Supporting a child with PDA takes time, creativity, patience and empathy. It is not easy and emotions may run high quickly. For further information on Pathological Demand Avoidance, refer to: * PDA Society, * Sally Cat’s PDA Page, * Pathological Demand Avoidance Australia & New Zealand, * Pathological Demand Avoidance Teaching Strategies (Podcast) Do you support a child with PDA? What has worked for you both?   Cindy is a registered occupational therapist practising in Sydney, Australia. She has two growing children who are a constant source of inspiration and learning. Cindy loves working creatively to help children to reach their potential, finding opportunities in everyday living and making learning fun. She is also addicted to making printables (even when they take a long time to complete). Cindy is the author of the Occupational Therapy blog Your Kids OT. Read more articles from Your Kids OT at https://www.yourkidsot.com/blog
Cindy is a contributing author of the Functional Skills for Kids Therapy Team. They have together published THE HANDWRITING BOOK, THE SCISSORS SKILLS BOOK and THE TOILETING BOOK. The information on this site is general in nature. The activities are safe for most children, however, you should consult an Occupational Therapist or health professional to address specific movement, sensory or other medical conditions. Affiliate links are used throughout this website to promote recommended products. Your Kids OT receives a small commission if any purchases are made through these links. Please see my disclosure policy for more details. Amazon Store: https://www.amazon.com/shop/yourkidsot YKOT shop: https://www.yourkidsot.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html Teachers Pay Teachers: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Your-Kids-Ot You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZUz_5nYEOCkj32DiOCQo4Q/featured Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourkidsot Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourkidsot/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com.au/yourkidsot/
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 We are approaching Easter and the run to the school holidays here in Sydney is real! Just a few day left of the term. Create a cute bouncing bunny with a FREE template.
An Easter inspired activity to encourage scissor skills, bilateral coordination and motor planning. Watch me make the bouncing bunny ---> https://youtube.com/shorts/z5VTkHFAv3A?feature=share Get your FREE BOUNCING BUNNY PRINTABLE HERE! Also check out other EASTER inspired activities: * Q Tip Easter Craft * Easter Scissor Skills Eggs * Oral Motor Easter Egg Transfer * Easter Drawing for Scribblers * Easter Prewriting Lines and Shapes  HAPPY EASTER and if you have holidays coming, ENJOY!   Cindy is a registered occupational therapist practising in Sydney, Australia. She has two growing children who are a constant source of inspiration and learning. Cindy loves working creatively to help children to reach their potential, finding opportunities in everyday living and making learning fun. She is also addicted to making printables (even when they take a long time to complete). Cindy is the author of the Occupational Therapy blog Your Kids OT. Read more articles from Your Kids OT at https://www.yourkidsot.com/blog
Cindy is a contributing author of the Functional Skills for Kids Therapy Team. They have together published THE HANDWRITING BOOK, THE SCISSORS SKILLS BOOK and THE TOILETING BOOK. The information on this site is general in nature. The activities are safe for most children, however, you should consult an Occupational Therapist or health professional to address specific movement, sensory or other medical conditions. Affiliate links are used throughout this website to promote recommended products. Your Kids OT receives a small commission if any purchases are made through these links. Please see my disclosure policy for more details. Amazon Store: https://www.amazon.com/shop/yourkidsot YKOT shop: https://www.yourkidsot.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html Teachers Pay Teachers: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Your-Kids-Ot You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZUz_5nYEOCkj32DiOCQo4Q/featured Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourkidsot Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourkidsot/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com.au/yourkidsot/  K.I. Al-Ghani is a special educational needs teacher who has worked for more than 35 years. She is currently a specialist teacher for inclusion support, author and mother of an adult son with ASD, Haitham. Haitham is the illustrator of the books which K.I. has authored on social emotional learning. The following is an overview of the books and my personal opinion for review. These books were purchased from various sources including Amazon and Booktopia. This is not sponsored. The books provide a wonderful way to approach tricky subjects with your children with a target audience of approximately 7-11 years. Each book has valuable information for adults (parents, teachers, therapists) with strategies to address the issues. There are lots of practical strategies that the children in the story use and which can be tried by your children too. The books provide children with "emotional literacy". It gives children and adults a shared language to talk about these issues together. Picture books also allow children to relate to the characters or distant themselves from the characters if needed. It may take time or a later discussion to connect some of the issues in the story with themselves. I do find each of the stories a little long and "wordy", so you may have to gauge your child's attention span. Some stories may need to be read in smaller parts or abbreviated. The pictures provide a talking point and a focal point for children to look at. Another way to engage your children whilst reading these books, is to assign an action for certain key words that are repeated. This could include hand or body movements that represent the words. On the whole, I have found that some of the children I'm working with can't manage the extensive language in the books so it is more helpful for the adults in their lives to read the books instead. Here is a closer look at the books.  The Red Beast: Controlling Anger in Children with Asperger's Syndrome. Back Cover Synopsis: Deep inside everyone, a red beast lies sleeping. When it is asleep, the red beast is quite small, but when it wakes up, it begins to grow and grow. This is the story of how one boy, Rufus, conquered his anger and sent the red beast back to sleep. Opinion: This picture book deals with a child who loses control of their emotions and lashes out. He is encouraged by teachers to use sensory solutions to calm down. The "taking to the sensory room" is a bit upsetting as the teachers drag him there. However, once in the room they offer strategies like breathing, squeezing a ball, taking a drink, popping bubble wrap. The beast within Rufus calms down and he can return to the classroom. I do enjoy reading this book with children who are working through social emotional regulation. It gives us a talking point for thinking about how people feel, what people are thinking, the size of the problem, the size of the reaction and calm down strategies. I think it misses a few things like empathy for Rufus when he is hit, as it paints Rufus as turning into the red beast (like a scary fairy tale) even though the story is saying it is the beast within him. I do like that when the red beast grows, his eyes and ears get small (letting children know when people get upset that it is hard to hear and see what is going on). You may have to think about how your child might react to this imagery. I think it is also important to emphasize that there is red beast in all of us (which the book does at the beginning) and not to single out one child with this issue of difficulty with anger management.  Winston Wallaby Can't Stop Bouncing: What do do about hyperactivity in children including those with ADHD, SPD and ASD. Back Cover Synopsis: Winston Wallaby, like most wallabies, loves to bounce. However, Winston can't seem to ever sit still and when he starts school he needs helps to concentrate...Luckily his teacher Mrs Calm show Winston how to settle down and focus his mind in class, and he learns new ways to help him with touch, feel, attention and awareness. This books was written to help children with ADHD, SPD and ASD to recognize their sensory needs and develop tools to support them. Opinion: This picture books links movement with inattention. It addresses the issue that Winston is trying his hardest but he can't fix the problem on his own. Sometimes his "bouncing" means that he misses instructions, physically hurts someone else or knocks things over. The book shines here when the teacher encourages the whole class to use the sensory strategies so Winston is not always singled out. Whilst Winston has a phrase that he repeats to himself throughout the book "I won't bounce", it would be also great to ask your children to think of other things that he could have told himself (ie. positive self talk).  Panicosaurus: Managing Anxiety in Children including those with Asperger Syndrome. Back Cover Synopsis: Have you ever felt a sense of dread and worry creeping over you? That might be the Panicosaurus coming out to play... Sometimes the Panicosaurus tricks Mabel's brain into panicking about certain challenges, such as walking past a big dog on the street or when her favourite teacher is not at school. With the help of Smartosaurus, who lets her know there is really nothing to be afraid of, Mabel discovers different ways to manage Panicosaurus, and defeat the challenges he creates for her. Opinion: The dinosaur chararacters are linked to parts to the brain to give children information about how our emotions and the brain are connected. Panicosaurus is described as "naughty" from the outset as a trouble maker for the girl character, Mabel. Where the previous book doesn't use "self-talk", this book does! I love the empathy of the fellow students in this book and how the main character is never made to feel "bad" about the difficulties she is experiencing. This book is a great way to talk about what situations might cause a child to be anxious and what strategies they might try. When using this book with one student we created different plans for different situations. I created a Smartosaurus vs Panicosaurus worksheet with a "playground plan". This included a reflection of how panicosaurus might trick us, how our body feels and smartosauraus' plan to solve the problem.  The Disappointment Dragon: Learning to cope with disappointment (for all children and dragon tamers, including those with Asperger Syndrome). Back Cover Synopsis: When things don't go our way, the Disappointment Dragon can come to visit and take us down to his home in the valley of despair... The disappointment dragon visits Bobby when he is not picked for the school football team. He also finds Lucinda when she has to miss an exciting school trip because she has the chicken pox. He even tries to take the whole of Class 3 down to the Valley of Despair when their favourite teacher moves away. Will the Dragon of Hope be able to chase away the Disappointment Dragon and help them to see things more positively? Opinion: This book is divided into 5 stories to introduce and address different ways a child might experience disappointment. This is a difficult topic to address and I have found this is my least favourite of the Al-Ghani picture books. Even though the introduction and the strategy sections of the book warn the adult reading it not to jump in to "fix" the situation and shield children from life's disappointments, I found that the stories do emphasize "banishing" the dragon. When reading these stories (or maybe before), I think it is good to acknowledge that we can all be disappointed and this is a normal reaction when we can't get or do something we want. Maybe it is beyond our control (eg. the weather, or someone else moving) or maybe it is because there are rules that we need to follow (eg. mask wearing, lockdown restrictions). For children, disappointment can hit hard as they can feel that there is very little that they can control or have a voice about. Whilst I agree with the book there are ways to help children to feel more hopeful, there is also more to it that a child might need to work through including perspective, flexible thinking, letting ideas go whilst showing the child empathy.  Super Shamlal: Living and Learning with Pathological Demand Avoidance. Back Cover Synopsis: Shamlal the Camel finds it almost impossible to do all the normal, everyday things that the other camels do. Her first word was "NO" and this is still the word she repeats the most throughout every day. Luckily, Shamlal's parents take her to a psychologist who explains that she has PDA, and gives her tips for how to live and learn with it. Opinion: I think this is a wonderful book for adults. The story clearly describes what is like for the camel who experiences panic when asked to do ordinary activities. It provides ways to help someone who is experiencing this to work through SODA (Switch on the thinking brain, oxygen, distraction and approval) and many more fantastic strategies including ask without asking, using humour, work as a double act, variety is the spice of life, handwriting help, using praise, supporting sensory needs, a typical day and more! In the story itself, the camel goes to a psychologist who gives Shamlal the label "Pathologcal Demand Avoidance". I think for the children I work with, having this label or knowing this is what others are thinking of them... is not necesarily helpful to them. It may be helpful for their parents, however many of the children I see are not diagnosed. For my own use, I leave out the diagnosis and also shorten some of the story telling. It is beautiful story telling, however it makes the book very long to read. This may be a good book for parents or teachers to read across several days in a row.  Are you Feeling Cold, Yuki? Interoception and Internal Body Awareness for Children with ASD, PDA, SPD, ADHD and DCD. Back Cover Synopsis: Yuki the snow monkey lives in Japan with his family and friends. He sometimes find it hard to realise when his body is giving him signals, like when he is hungry or cold. Grandfather helps Yuki to understand what his "funny feelings" mean, and what his brain is trying to tell him. This illustrated book will help children to build interoceptive awareness and gain an understanding of the body's activities. It also includes further information for parents and carers, as well as downloaded activities and strategies for building interceptive abilities. Opinion: I love this book! This is probably one of my favourite books in this collection as it keeps the message simple and clear. Grandfather monkey is kind and takes young Yuki through an interoceptive program. He draws the body outline in snow and explains about skin, the brain and body parts. Grandfather then guides Yuki through a series of actvities to bring awareness to sensations in different body parts and feelings (like hunger, the need to toilet and anger). A complete bonus but a brilliant one is access to the downloadable workbook. There are over 40 pages of information and guided interoception activities. Even if you have no other training, this workbook is easy to follow and user-friendly. There is one more book in the series by Al-Ghani called "The Green Eye Goblin" which I have read but don't own. There is also a series of social stories that she has written on Friendship. I have found these stories useful to use with children to talk about different issues which may affect friendships including learning to share, spitting, winning/losing, when to tell on others, obsessions, personal hygiene, personal space, using tact, being taken advantage of and jealousy. Overall, I highly recommend these books as fantastic resources for social emotional learning. They will teach both the adult reader and the child, providing information about the issue and pratical strategies to help address them. Have you read these books? Do you use them? I would love to hear your comments about these books or others you might use for social emotional learning.   Cindy is a registered occupational therapist practising in Sydney, Australia. She has two growing children who are a constant source of inspiration and learning. Cindy loves working creatively to help children to reach their potential, finding opportunities in everyday living and making learning fun. She is also addicted to making printables (even when they take a long time to complete). Cindy is the author of the Occupational Therapy blog Your Kids OT. Read more articles from Your Kids OT at https://www.yourkidsot.com/blog
Cindy is a contributing author of the Functional Skills for Kids Therapy Team. They have together published THE HANDWRITING BOOK, THE SCISSORS SKILLS BOOK and THE TOILETING BOOK. The information on this site is general in nature. The activities are safe for most children, however, you should consult an Occupational Therapist or health professional to address specific movement, sensory or other medical conditions. Affiliate links are used throughout this website to promote recommended products. Your Kids OT receives a small commission if any purchases are made through these links. Please see my disclosure policy for more details. Amazon Store: https://www.amazon.com/shop/yourkidsot YKOT shop: https://www.yourkidsot.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html Teachers Pay Teachers: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Your-Kids-Ot You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZUz_5nYEOCkj32DiOCQo4Q/featured Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourkidsot Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourkidsot/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com.au/yourkidsot/  Children learn through play. They learn by doing, experiencing things for themselves. We want our children to be safe, however risk tasking is an essential feature of play and healthy childhood development. I was recently interviewed by a current affairs television program about a local playground which has been controversial with some parents regarding it's risks. The segment understandably hasn't aired (and may not air) as I think there have been and continue to be bigger issues in the world right now. I thought I would share some of my thoughts on risky play for children with you here. Australian Playground Safety Standards On the 30th August, 2017 the Australian Standards issued a new Playground Safety Standard for the development, installation, inspection, maintenance and operation of playgrounds. The objective of AS 4685.0 is to minimize the risk of injury to playground users. Professor David Eager, Chairperson of the Technical Committee CS-005, Playground Equipment, "Risk is an inherent feature of playtime and there are many acceptable risks as part of a stimulating and challenging learning environment. The solution is not to wrap kids in cotton wool; the standard is all about challenging children and developing important life skills. AS 4685.0 introduces a risk benefit analysis technique that allows operators and owners of playgrounds to quantify their exposure to hazards using techniques that are simple to apply. Then they can make evidence-based decisions with regard to the maintenance, repairs and the timely replacement of their assets” . CEO of Standards Australia, Dr Bronwyn Evans said “the standard helps promote one of the joys of an Australian childhood. In a world that is increasingly digital it is important that children enjoy physical play environments as well,” added Dr Evans.*  Pioneers Memorial Park playground in Leichhardt Playgrounds in general provide a hands-on opportunity for children to learn about their bodies and the environment that they are interacting with. When you include risky elements in play, children can challenge themselves to try new things and work out what is an acceptable risk for them. There are opportunities for children to have physical challenges with bodies... their balance, their strength and movement. In an experiential and experimental way; children can work out how far, how high, how heavy or how wobbly something is. They can work it out for themselves and make adjustments. Beyond the physical development, educators and occupational therapists get excited by the social emotional skills that are gained from these experiences. Children learn problem solving – trying different ways to work something out, perseverance – trying things over and over, resilience – how to react when something doesn’t work and confidence when something is achieved. This can be impactful to a child's self esteem and also help them to know when to ask for help. What can parents do? Risky play does not mean unsupervised play. It is not an excuse for parents to be looking at their phones rather than their children. I love my phone as much as the next person; but playgrounds should be seen as opportunities for interaction, engagement and supervised play. We as parents can help our children to manage their risks. Firstly, we can stop ourselves from jumping in too quickly to solve the problems. Supervised play does not mean making every decision for our child. We can help our children by giving them the opportunity to problem solve and learn the consequences of their choices. We can help our children to look at a situation or problem from a different perspective – I wonder if that log would work? I wonder if we pushed instead of pulled what would happen? Is that bridge going to be wobbly? What if we held on with two hands? We can help our children with positive self-talk such as “I can do this. Let me try again. I’m not giving up.” We can help our children to try new experiences whether that be climbing a little higher than they have before, spinning on something, touching a new texture, balancing with no hands holding or whatever the new experience might be. Finding a challenge Some children are natural risk takers and others are not. Read more about helping children to manage risks and hazards with the Kidsafe (Child Accident Prevention Foundation of Australia).  We want our children to be risk-takers rather than risk-adverse. We want them to try new things even if that means that they won't be successful. We want them to be problem-solvers and want them to build resilience. We want our children to have the opportunities to develop self esteem and confidence by achieving things for themselves. Children are constantly processing all of the information around them from their own bodies and the environment. Learning through experience, exploration, play and taking risks means that they can learn how to regulate and organize their bodies for daily challenges they might face in life. Are you allowing your child to take risks?   Cindy is a registered occupational therapist practising in Sydney, Australia. She has two growing children who are a constant source of inspiration and learning. Cindy loves working creatively to help children to reach their potential, finding opportunities in everyday living and making learning fun. She is also addicted to making printables (even when they take a long time to complete). Cindy is the author of the Occupational Therapy blog Your Kids OT. Read more articles from Your Kids OT at https://www.yourkidsot.com/blog Cindy is a contributing author of the Functional Skills for Kids Therapy Team. They have together published THE HANDWRITING BOOK, THE SCISSORS SKILLS BOOK and THE TOILETING BOOK. The information on this site is general in nature. The activities are safe for most children, however, you should consult an Occupational Therapist or health professional to address specific movement, sensory or other medical conditions. Affiliate links are used throughout this website to promote recommended products. Your Kids OT receives a small commission if any purchases are made through these links. Please see my disclosure policy for more details. Amazon Store: https://www.amazon.com/shop/yourkidsot YKOT shop: https://www.yourkidsot.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html Teachers Pay Teachers: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Your-Kids-Ot You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZUz_5nYEOCkj32DiOCQo4Q/featured Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourkidsot Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourkidsot/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com.au/yourkidsot/
 Drawing is a stage of development where children are assigning meaning to marks on the page. Lines and shapes positioned together become representations of objects and people. As the child develops those lines and shapes are used in handwriting to form letters and numbers. As an occupational therapist, I use a multisensory approach for teaching children to draw. This helps guide a child to associate the object with the drawing...in this case a house. A multi-sensory approach is an engagment of the whole body during learning. It helps with visual spatial skills, motor planning and memory of the activity. Each of the three steps that I'm using to teach drawing includes singing a song about a house. Music and singing is a wonderful way for children to have a repetitive way to sequence and recall different components for drawing a house. I'll outline the three step approach below; however this process is best observed via the video that I've recorded. You will find the you tube linked here on the website or if you are reading this email use this link HERE. 1. SING AND ACTIONS Here's a house with a wall (hold up one arm vertically and keep it up) with a wall (hold other arm vertically and keep it up) with a wall (keep both arms up). Here's a house with a floor (place one arm horizontal and hold) with a floor (place other arm horizontal on top and hold) with a floor (keep both arms horizontal). Here's a house with a roof (place one arm diagonally above head and hold) with a roof (place other arm diagonally above head with fingers touching other arm and hold) with a roof. HERE COMES THE WIND (make blowing noises and arms shake) There's no house any more any more (arms are lowered and you can also fall down). There's no house any more. Repeat the song and actions several times. 2. SING AND MAKE I use matchsticks to help children to make the house. Match sticks are a good size to encourage a small drawing. Alternatives you might use include wikki stix, pipe cleaners, craft sticks or even pencils. Sing the song again and instead of doing the hand actions, place down a match stick for each wall, the floor and the roof. I like to join the house into a square before adding a roof. Have your child make their house next to yours and as you sing. Slow down the singing if needed to allow time for the "making". 3. SING AND DRAW After the child has learnt how to make a house, you can then introduce a pencil. You may leave the model of the matchstick house for your child to observe. I like to draw the house with the child so that they are imitating my strokes and direction. This helps children with the visual motor planning needed to draw. I use the same steps to draw as I did in placing the matchsticks (ie. the same order as I sing). Have your child draw their house next to yours and as you sing. Slow down the singing if needed to allow time for the "drawing". Encourage your child to sing along at every step! Watch as I use this three step approach - sing and actions, sing and make, sing and draw. Depending on your child's age and developmental ability; you may need to do these steps over several days or weeks. If your child is a little older, then you could possibly do all three steps within one sitting. YOU TUBE LINK: DRAW A HOUSE WITH ME Have you tried a multisensory approach to drawing? What other songs could you adapt in the same was that I've adapted this song? I would love to try out your ideas too so comment below, tag Your Kids OT on Instagram or send me an email cindy@yourkidsot.com.   Cindy is a registered occupational therapist practising in Sydney, Australia. She has two growing children who are a constant source of inspiration and learning. Cindy loves working creatively to help children to reach their potential, finding opportunities in everyday living and making learning fun. She is also addicted to making printables (even when they take a long time to complete). Cindy is the author of the Occupational Therapy blog Your Kids OT. Read more articles from Your Kids OT at https://www.yourkidsot.com/blog Cindy is a contributing author of the Functional Skills for Kids Therapy Team. They have together published THE HANDWRITING BOOK, THE SCISSORS SKILLS BOOK and THE TOILETING BOOK. The information on this site is general in nature. The activities are safe for most children, however, you should consult an Occupational Therapist or health professional to address specific movement, sensory or other medical conditions. Affiliate links are used throughout this website to promote recommended products. Your Kids OT receives a small commission if any purchases are made through these links. Please see my disclosure policy for more details. Amazon Store: https://www.amazon.com/shop/yourkidsot YKOT shop: https://www.yourkidsot.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html Teachers Pay Teachers: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Your-Kids-Ot You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZUz_5nYEOCkj32DiOCQo4Q/featured Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourkidsot Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourkidsot/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com.au/yourkidsot/ You may also like:
 Refusing to write. Sore hands during writing. Having difficulty forming letters. Confusing letters of the alphabet. Reversing letter formation. Unable to write on a line. Handwriting continues to be one of the main reasons I am asked to see children for occupational therapy. These are some of my top tips for helping to teach and remediate handwriting! 1. Check Pencil Grasp Whilst grasp doesn't always affect legibility, it should always be considered when a child is complaining about handwriting. It is important to consider a child's age foremost when looking at pencil grasp. Are they holding the pencil in a way that is developmentally appropriate? Are they efficient and functional? Does their pencil grasp demonstrate the fundamentals for good pencil control (ie. an open web space; tripod grasp between the thumb, index and third finger; separation of the two sides of the hand)? Read more about pencil grasp HERE and HERE! Find toys and activities to encourage fine motor skills HERE. Read more about what to consider if your child can't use a "typical" grasp" HERE. Pinch and Flip! A quick trick to achieve a dynamic pencil grasp. Would your child benefit from the use of a silicon pencil grip? A slope board? I have a lot more to say about pencil grasp...but you will have to wait until the book is finished! (progress is being made for those who have been following for a while... including the creation of a clinical reasoning decision making tree to help therapists work out when one should a pencil grasp) 2. Check Fluency and Pencil Control Ideally, a child will use the intrinsic muscles of their hand to move the pencil for writing. This dynamic movement allows them to have mastery of lines, curves and shapes and therefore smooth pencil control. Pencil control and fluency of movement is also affected by a child's visual motor skills as they move the pencil to create "neat meaningful" strokes on the page. " You can read more aboute pencil fluency HERE. 3. Check Postural stability and Core strength If your child is having difficulty with pencil control and fluency of movement, they may be using their whole arm or elbow or wrist to control the pencil. Shoulder stability and arm strength is seen when these are held in a relaxed position. The forearm and wrist are then supported on the table with the wrist slighlty extended. It is important for children to develop postural stability (to be able to sit upright) and core strength so that they are stable enough to use their hands for something as complex as handwriting. Read more about gross motor skills for page stabilization during handwriitng and gym ball activities. 4. Check letter formation. Letter formation (ie. writing letters) is a complex skill that requires the ability to control the pencil, plan how to combine lines and shapes and assign meaning to them. Teaching letters is often taught in groups for the benefit of reading (which is important). Occupational therapists also like to group letters into "families" to help children to become familiar with the letters that start with the same motor pattern. A multi-sensory approach to letter formation can help children to learn the correct starting points and the direction needed to form a letter. Kinesthetic learning (incorporating movement with learning) will help with motor and visual memory as well as help to prevent letter reversals. Refer to the following information and resources:
 4. Check handwriting legibility. If your child is approximately 8 years and older, handwriting legibility becomes more important than letter formation. Letter formation may affect the ability of someone to read the writing but legibility can be also taught with a few steps. Work on spacing, sizing and alignment. Spacing betweeen letters and words, the size of letters and alignment to the writing line. Together with these areas, also work on the use of capital letters and punctuation at the begining and end of sentences. Some children will need help to distinguish between and identify lowercase and capital letters. Some children will need to learn what other occasions they need to use capital letters (ie. proper nouns and the use of "I" when talking about oneself). Some children will need help with understanding the various types of punctuation. Refer to the following information and resources:
5. Check Self Evaluation and Executive Functioning. Whenever I am helping children with handwriting legibility, I am helping them to be aware for themselves what helps to make their writing neat. We want children to take ownership of their work which ultimately helps with carryover. Once we have worked on the components of neat writing, I ask children to be the "teacher" and often ask them to mark their own work. Assess how "neat" it is. I may even give them a red pen and call them Mr or Miss..... (whatever their surname is). Two the resources above really help with this process (the neat writer's checklist and Axel's neat writing rescue) Find lots more activity ideas and articles on Handwriting HERE. Did you know that I was a contributing author to THE HANDWRITING BOOK as part of The Functional Skills for Kids Therapy Team? This is e-book is now available from the YKOT SHOP.   Cindy is a registered occupational therapist practising in Sydney, Australia. She has two growing children who are a constant source of inspiration and learning. Cindy loves working creatively to help children to reach their potential, finding opportunities in everyday living and making learning fun. She is also addicted to making printables (even when they take a long time to complete). Cindy is the author of the Occupational Therapy blog Your Kids OT. Read more articles from Your Kids OT at https://www.yourkidsot.com/blog
Cindy is a contributing author of the Functional Skills for Kids Therapy Team. They have together published THE HANDWRITING BOOK, THE SCISSORS SKILLS BOOK and THE TOILETING BOOK. The information on this site is general in nature. The activities are safe for most children, however, you should consult an Occupational Therapist or health professional to address specific movement, sensory or other medical conditions. Affiliate links are used throughout this website to promote recommended products. Your Kids OT receives a small commission if any purchases are made through these links. Please see my disclosure policy for more details. Amazon Store: https://www.amazon.com/shop/yourkidsot YKOT shop: https://www.yourkidsot.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html Teachers Pay Teachers: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Your-Kids-Ot You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZUz_5nYEOCkj32DiOCQo4Q/featured Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourkidsot Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourkidsot/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com.au/yourkidsot/  It is a new school year here in Australia and our children have headed back into the classrooms. Everyone is hoping for a smoother year with less disruptions than the last few years! There are many new adjustments with twice weekly rapid antigen tests and mask wearing (mandatory for high schoolers). How have your children adjusted to "new school routines"? or Have you had children starting school for the first time? As we look ahead at 2022, as adults we like to plan and have goals. I REALLY like doing this now and hence the OT Planners that I published recently (Natural and Swish Designs). I'm using my planner every day! As a child, I was never very good at the idea of goal setting. What did I want to achieve? Shrug. I don't know. I was happy where I was and what I was doing. When someone asked me what I wanted to learn... I don't know. I think one of my own children are a bit like me. I've created some new planning tools have been designed to assist your sc hool age child (middle school and high school) with their executive functioning skills. The framework can be introduced as a traffic light system with the red associated with stop (or goal), the yellow light associated with think (or plan) and the green light associated with go (perform the activity). A "u-turn" feature has been included to assist your child to return to the beginning to check their progress. Students will need to be taught the components which correspond to each light. The resource has been designed with alternate wording (ie. stop/goal, think/plan) to provide versatility for use. It may be important for your child to grasp "stop" for attention or focus with an emphasis on whole body listening. In this case the STOP THINK DO CHECK framework may be more suitable. For some children, the concept of goal setting is more familiar to them and therefore the GOAL PLAN DO CHECK framework may be more appropriate. A small version of the STOP THINK DO CHECK and GOAL PLAN DO CHECK has been created. These smaller versions of the visual aids may be cut out and stuck on a desk or inside a workbook. The idea with this framework is that it can be used with individual children according to their needs. These could be goals from writing neatly on the page, finish work in the classroom within the allocated time, playing safely on equipment, raising a hand to ask a question rather than calling out, unpacking a bag in the morning independently, sitting with the other children on the floor, etc.  The worksheet pages provides a student the opportunity to focus on tasks and goals that they may be having difficulty achieving. A separate print out of the worksheet page should be used for each goal/task. The worksheet guides a student through the framework to plan (with the assistance of a parent, teacher or therapist) how these goals or tasks may be achieved. Your child may have difficulty with different aspects of the goal, plan, do, check procedure. That's ok. This is not a worksheet for independent work! The child, depending on their cognitive ability may be encouraged to come up with as much of the plan as they can. Mistakes can help children to learn. As the helping adult, you may want to jump in and change the plan. You can guide your child, however it it is safe to do so, you may allow the plan that you don't think will work to be actioned. This is where the importance of the "check" part occurs where a child evaulates what happened and whether a goal was achieved.  A page of "school goals" is included in this resource to prompt discussion with parents and teachers. These can be used to identify broad areas of need before measurable goals are written. The goal pages can be used in discussion with the student to determine priorities and to plan how they may be achieved. The Cognitive Orientation to Occupational Performance (CO-OP) approach is an evidence based approach used by some occupational therapists. Read more about a Co-op approach HERE from the American OT association or jump in to do the FREE online course by the University of Toroto (where the approach originated) HERE. This resource may be used to support a Co-op approach though the GOAL PLAN DO CHECK pages. If handwriting is difficult for a student, the worksheets may be discussed with them and completed by the adult. The last two pages of the resource that I've created are a repeat of the Goal Plan Do Check (CPDC) worksheets with the context of an OT session or a classroom environment These pages have the inclusion of what the teacher or parent may see as a goal for the student as this may guide how the student themselves sets their goals. The plan is also divided into three sections: developing skills, using resources and equipment, modifying the environment. This will help a student (and adult) to think of a wide range of options for achieving the goals. Watch a walk through of this resource on you-tube: Goal Planning Tools Do you have a student (or class) who may benefit from these executive functioning tools? Executive functioning skills are important for classroom and school participation. It is hoped that this NEW resource will provide some support towards your child's participation. Let me know if you try out these tools and how your children find using them.   Cindy is a registered occupational therapist practising in Sydney, Australia. She has two growing children who are a constant source of inspiration and learning. Cindy loves working creatively to help children to reach their potential, finding opportunities in everyday living and making learning fun. She is also addicted to making printables (even when they take a long time to complete). Cindy is the author of the Occupational Therapy blog Your Kids OT. Read more articles from Your Kids OT at https://www.yourkidsot.com/blog
Cindy is a contributing author of the Functional Skills for Kids Therapy Team. They have together published THE HANDWRITING BOOK, THE SCISSORS SKILLS BOOK and THE TOILETING BOOK. The information on this site is general in nature. The activities are safe for most children, however, you should consult an Occupational Therapist or health professional to address specific movement, sensory or other medical conditions. Affiliate links are used throughout this website to promote recommended products. Your Kids OT receives a small commission if any purchases are made through these links. Please see my disclosure policy for more details. Amazon Store: https://www.amazon.com/shop/yourkidsot YKOT shop: https://www.yourkidsot.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html Teachers Pay Teachers: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Your-Kids-Ot You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZUz_5nYEOCkj32DiOCQo4Q/featured Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourkidsot Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourkidsot/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com.au/yourkidsot/ 
Bubbles!
Most (ok almost all) children love bubbles! Even my dog loves bubbles! And like my dog, your child has the capacity to have some self-control. They can control their impulses (with help and training). This is an important skill in life for children to learn. Often it is a safety issue. Children need to resist the impulse to run across the road. They need to resist the impulse to reach to something bright red and hot. Maybe they need to resist climbing the ladder just because it is there. As children get older, they may need to learn self control and impulse control so that they are not running down the aisle at a grocery story or touching everything on the shelves. Maybe they have to work out what is appropriate to say or not to say. Whilst this activity will not address these particular issues of impulse and self control, activities such as these (for toddlers, preschoolers and early infants school age children) can teach them attention skills and begin to teach them that they have control over their own actions (ie. control over their own bodies). 
Bubble Game!
What you need: Bubbles and a bubble wand. (Alternatively use some dishwashing detergent or make it harder for your child by using an automatic bubble machine). How to play: 1. Blow bubbles so that your child can pop as many as they can. 2. Ask your child to freeze their feet and legs. They can pop the bubbles now with their upper body. 3. Ask your child to freeze all over. They can't pop the bubbles at all. 4. Unfreeze and allow your child to pop as many bubbles as they can. Repeat. Notes: 1. Allow your child to unfreeze and freeze at whatever length of time suits them. You may allow them to pop bubbles for longer and freeze for a very short length of time when you are first introducing the game. 2. Blow the bubbles further away from your child if they are having difficulty resisting the "pop". Praise them for trying when they do resist it. 3. Ask your child to freeze in a certain position to add interest (eg. like a dinosaur, like a tree, like a teapot). 4. Play this with a group of friends. 5. You could start by standing a distance away from your child and as they demonstrate that they can resist popping, you could step forward towards them. 6. Swap roles with your child so that they blow the bubbles and you freeze. 7. Change the activity to pop the bubbles with a certain part of the body (eg. elbow, knee). This is a fun game that will appeal to lots of children! You could even play this at a birthday party! Do you have a favourite game to help your child with "impulse control and self-control"? 
Cindy is a registered occupational therapist practising in Sydney, Australia. She has two growing children who are a constant source of inspiration and learning. Cindy loves working creatively to help children to reach their potential, finding opportunities in everyday living and making learning fun. She is also addicted to making printables (even when they take a long time to complete). Cindy is the author of the Occupational Therapy blog Your Kids OT. Read more articles from Your Kids OT at https://www.yourkidsot.com/blog Cindy is a member of the Functional Skills for Kids Therapy Team. They have together published THE HANDWRITING BOOK, THE SCISSORS SKILLS BOOK and THE TOILETING BOOK. ​The information on this site is general in nature. The activities are safe for most children, however, you should consult an Occupational Therapist or health professional to address specific movement, sensory or other medical conditions. Affiliate links are used throughout this website to promote recommended products. Your Kids OT receives a small commission if any purchases are made through these links. Please see my disclosure policy for more details. ​​​ Amazon Store: https://www.amazon.com/shop/yourkidsot YKOT shop: https://www.yourkidsot.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html Teachers Pay Teachers: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Your-Kids-Ot You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZUz_5nYEOCkj32DiOCQo4Q/featured Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourkidsot Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourkidsot/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com.au/yourkidsot/ ​ Have a look at my 16 month old labrador Monte as he demonstrates the Bubble game! 
Tools for regulation.
​There is NOT one simple answer to help a person (adult or child) with regulation. A combination of sensory supports, breathing techniques, thinking strategies, mindfulness and interoception will enable your child to have a "toolbox" of different ways to calm down, manage problems and navigate anxieties. It is essential that any "tools" are NOT "thrown" at a child, NOT produced as a list to "fix" them or NOT used to help us as parents/caregivers to stop a meltdown. Over the years, occupational therapists have been known for using sensory supports to help with regulation. Sensory integration (SI) is the process by which people register, modulate, and discriminate sensations received through the sensory systems to produce purposeful, adaptive behaviors in response to the environment (Ayres, 1976/2005). Refer HERE to more information from the American OT association bout sensory integration. There has been some controversy about SI as there is not a lot of scientific evidence to back up strategies taught and used. However, there have been some recent studies and this is growing - refer HERE for an overview and HERE for more. Sensory "diets" are a program of activities that can be incorporated throughout a child's day to provide a "sensory lifestyle". Some activities that are sensory based may assist with regulation by providing the body with a calming affect or helping to decrease arousal. Some activities may be alerting and increase arousal. Some activities may assist children to discriminate sensory information. Working out what works for your child can be helpful with an occupational therapist. Here are some resources that may also guide your journey: * Sensory Diet Activity Guidebook * Sensory activities for me: Sensory Activity Checklist 
Breathing is an important regulation tool. It is well documented that breathing helps the brain to calm down and relax. The brain can then signal the rest of the body to respond with a lower heart rate, less stress and reducing muscle tension.
Conscious breathing, linking the brain with deep breaths can help children to be mindful and deliberate with their breathing. You can try infinity breathing (see image above) where a child traces out an infinity image taking deep breaths in and out until they feel calm. Some children will like drawing a rainbow whilst working on breathing (see video below) or find this on Instagram HERE.
Mindfulness is a type of meditation in which you focus on being intensely aware of what you're sensing and feeling in the moment, without interpretation or judgment. Practicing mindfulness involves breathing methods, guided imagery, and other practices to relax the body and mind and help reduce stress. Read more HERE.
Here are some helpful mindfulness you-tube videos that you can work through with your children. Sometimes mindfulness activities are linked to interoception, connecting the mind to the body. This helps children to be more aware of their body's signals so that they can be linked with emotions and in turn can lead to action. Here are some helpful body scan mindfulness you-tube videos that you can work through with your children. 
For some children, "thinking strategies" can help them with regulation. There are many programs which used a cognitive based approach to regulation. I have discussed this in a recent article "What is Self-Regulation? Regulation resources and programs" HERE.
Theory of Mind is described in psychology as the capacity that someone has to understand other people (their beliefs, desires, intentions, emotions) and that they may be different from their own. Many of the children we see for occupational therapy have difficulty with this and some will benefit from a cognitive approach to social thinking. Regulation and self-regulation is complex! As I add to the information on this area on this website, refer back to these previous articles for more information, tools and insights:
What have you included in your child's regulation tools? Have you got a combination of sensory supports, breathing techniques, mindfulness, interoception and thinking strategies? 
Cindy is a registered occupational therapist practising in Sydney, Australia. She has two growing children who are a constant source of inspiration and learning. Cindy loves working creatively to help children to reach their potential, finding opportunities in everyday living and making learning fun. She is also addicted to making printables (even when they take a long time to complete). Cindy is the author of the Occupational Therapy blog Your Kids OT. Read more articles from Your Kids OT at https://www.yourkidsot.com/blog
Cindy is a member of the Functional Skills for Kids Therapy Team. They have together published THE HANDWRITING BOOK, THE SCISSORS SKILLS BOOK and THE TOILETING BOOK. ​The information on this site is general in nature. The activities are safe for most children, however, you should consult an Occupational Therapist or health professional to address specific movement, sensory or other medical conditions. Affiliate links are used throughout this website to promote recommended products. Your Kids OT receives a small commission if any purchases are made through these links. Please see my disclosure policy for more details. ​​​ Amazon Store: https://www.amazon.com/shop/yourkidsot YKOT shop: https://www.yourkidsot.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html Teachers Pay Teachers: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Your-Kids-Ot You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZUz_5nYEOCkj32DiOCQo4Q/featured Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourkidsot Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourkidsot/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com.au/yourkidsot/ ​  "Self- regulation" is a buzz phrase at the moment. Emotional regulation? Sensory regulation? Co-regulation? What does it mean and does it relate to executive functioning skills? Does it relate to interoception? What is age-appropriate? It can be confusing navigating these terms and sifting through all of the information available on this topic. Different people seem to use the term "self- regulation" in different ways. These authors found occupational therapy and self-regulation in 58 publications with many of them not defining the term! Here is a look at self-regulation according to several sources and common programs used by occupational theapists. Bookmark this one to read or grab a cup of coffee, as we are covering a bit today! 1. ALERT program and "arousal theory". Williams and Shellenberger (2012) describe in the ALERT program: "arousal" as the state of the nervous system that describes how alert one feels to attend, concentrate and perform tasks. "Self-regulation" is the ability to attain, maintain and change arousal appropriately for a task or situation (requiring neurological brain connections to do so). A developmental progression is described separting self-regulation by age into "first order self-regulation" (infants regulation of automatic body functions such as breathing, temperature and sleep-wake cycles), "second order self-regulation" (visual monitoring, selective attention, use of adaptive movement, coordination of suck/swallow/breath and vocaliszation), and "third order self-regulation"(higher-level cognitive skills for problem solving, self-monitoring, recognition of varying needs, language, planning, attention, working memory, organization of space, time, tasks, environments, goals). The Alert program focuses on using the third order self-regulation (ie. high level thinking) to help children to recognize their need for arousal state change (first order self-regulation) using second- order strategies. As children develop, they become more able to subconciously choose, use and refine sensorimotor strategies for self-regulation. Find out more about the ALERT program HERE. 2. Zones of Regulation and the integration of neuorological components to self-regulation. According to the Kuypers (2011) in the Zones of Regulation Curriculum; "self regulation" requires three critical neurological components to be integrated. The components are sensory processing, executive functioning and emotional regulation. Self-regulation is therefore defined as "regulating one's sensory needs, emotions and impulses to meet the demands of the environment, reach one's goals, and behave in a socially appropriate way". Kuypers describes sensory processing as how a person makes sense of the information perceived by sensory receptors, organize and integrate the information so that purposeful action can take place. Executive functioning is described as the cognitive processes involved in conscious control of thoughts and actions. Emotional regulation is described as the ability to control one's emotions to meet social requirements using cognitive thinking elements such as objectivity, motivation and understanding the perspective of others. These three components are interdependent and function together to achieve self-regulation. The Zones of Regulation Program uses a cognitive behaviour approach to assist children to consciously regulate their emotions, which in turns lead to increased control and problem solving abilities. Read more abou the Zones of Regulation Program HERE.
3. Executive Function in the Classroom by Christopher Kaufman According toe Kaufman (2010), executive functioning skills is a term that is an umbrella term for two strands (the Metacognitive strand and the Social/emotional Regulation strand). The Metacognitive strand includes one's ability for goal setting, planning, sequencing, organization of materials, time management, task initiation, executivite/goal-direction attention, task persistence, working memory and set shifting. The Social/emotional Regulation strand includes one's response inhibition (impulse control), emotional control and adaptability. This book outlines the neurology of self-regulation and asks adults (teachers, parents, etc) to consider how to provide children with a "surrogate prefrontal cortical capacity". This means how a child may be provided with more support to ensure a child's daily survival, the "stop-and-think" and problem solving skills a child might need until their regulatory capacity can take over. Executive Function in the Classroom may be purchased from a book supplier such as this one. 4. The Preschool Situational Assessment ToolKit (PRSiST) by Wollongong University This assessment and regulation handbook uses the Australian Early Learning Framework to support a child's self regulation. They describe both adult and child practices to facilitate regulation for preschool age children (approx 3-5 yrs). Self-regulation is defined as the capacity to control urges, impulses and natural reactions, as needed, both by stopping something (even if one does not want to stop) or by starting something (even if one does not want to start). By the end of the pre-school years, well-regulated children can wait their turn, resist the temptation to grab a desired object from another child, tidy up after play with little prompting, and persist with a challenging activity. In later life, well-regulated adults (who were often well-regulated children) tend to have finished school, be employed, and have fewer problems with their health, substance abuse, financial difficulties and the law.
5. Sensory Processing: The Star Institute The STAR Institute are known for their treatment, education and research of sensory processing disorder. The STAR institute use the following definitions: Regulation: How we shift and maintain states according to the demands of the environment. In a balanced sympathetic/para-sympathetic nervous system ‘regulation’ toggles between unconscious and conscious as we shift between states of arousal according to internal and external context-dependent demands. Co-regulation: When two people are connected / engaged there is a process of coregulation (or other-regulation) that takes place where they contribute to one another’s sense of calm and availability for the world. This impacts our ability to tolerate stressors and recover from stress. You can co-regulate OR co-escalate, in Daniel Siegel’s work this connection is often called the interbrain. Self Regulation: The independent ability to remain calm and alert and available to the world around us. Self Regulation is sometimes called self-care, it is a process that is running in the background all the time everyday. We cannot entirely self-regulate at any stage of life. However in early infancy we rely a lot more on coregulation than we do later in life. The STAR institute's model of practice includes their "Regulation Cup" with an interconnectedness between sensory registration, modulation and arousal within a context of a child's relationship with others. Find out more about the STAR Institute and access their FREE definition page HERE. 6. DIR Floortime Model The Interdisciplinary Council on Development and Learning (ICDL) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting each person's development to its fullest potential. ICDL provide training for parents and professionals on the DIRFloortime® model. DIRFloortime® is used to help children, young adults, and adults with a wide range of emotional, sensory, regulatory, motor, learning, and developmental challenges. DIR is the Developmental, Individual-differences, and Relationship-based model used to provide an understanding for human development and outlines the critical role social-emotional development has on overall human development. ICDL define regulation as... Regulaton: The ability to stay in the ‘just right’ state rather than being over- or under- aroused. When well-regulated, you are calm, alert and available. Your regulatory state for taking a written examination is different from when you are participating in a soccer match. Regulation is best when the following areas come together: sensory integration, cognitive understanding, problem solving, adaptive and coping abilities, and the ability to sustain interactions. Find out more about ICDL and access their glossary of terms.
7. The Interoception Curriculum: A step by step framework for developing mindful self-regulation. Interoception is described as the ability to feel internal sensations (aka body signals). The Interoception curriculum defines "self-regulation" is the ability to identify and manage how you feel, making connections with the body, emotions and regulation. To be able to self-regulate, Mahler (2019) identifies that it requires someone to be aware of how one's body feels which in turn provides valuable information about one's emotions. Recognizing when one needs to regulate and knowing what action will help with independent self-regulation. This independence may not mean "people free"regulation as there is an acknowledgment aht other people help us to regulate and to feel good. This curriculum believes that interoception is the foundation to self-regulation. Find out more about Interoception and the curriculum HERE.  So what can draw on with these definitions of self-regulation? Here is my version. Self-regulation is the ability to recognize and manage our emotions, behaviour and thinking within the context of our relationships with others and activities of daily living. Whilst this is not an exhaustive list of programs and resources, I hope that this article provides an overview of different approaches to regulation from the "bottom up" and the "top down". You can also read about the Pyramid of Learning HERE. Professionally, each of these programs and resources have a place in my "toolkit" to look at regulation with the different children I see clinically. Some children will have difficulty identifying and answering a simple question of "How do you feel?" Other children have the cognitive capacity to consider the social expectations of a situation and manage their behaviour and emotions accordingly. As parents, teachers and therapists; it is important for us to know that children are continuing to develop physically, emotionally, cognitively well into their teenage years. Co-regulation, where an adult guides a child with principles for regulation and provides appropriate tools ... is important throughout every stage of child development. This is a valuable article on co-regulation that is a must for all of you to read "Co-regulation from birth to young adulthood: A Practice Brief (The University of North Carolina)". At the time of writing, I've misplaced (or maybe loaned out) my copy of "The Whole Brain Child" by Daniel Siegel and Tina Payne Ryson (another valuable reference for parents and therapists on co-regulation and emotional intelligence), however refer to this excellent summary HERE. There will be more to come this year as I share on regulation tools, strategies for regulation as well as more on interoception that many of you have been asking about! You may also want to look at the following printable resources. * Social emotional compentencies bundle * Stories to teach emotional regulation * We can share! Social Story for children. * How do I react? How do you define self-regulation? What are the programs and resources are you using?   Cindy is a registered occupational therapist practising in Sydney, Australia. She has two growing children who are a constant source of inspiration and learning. Cindy loves working creatively to help children to reach their potential, finding opportunities in everyday living and making learning fun. She is also addicted to making printables (even when they take a long time to complete). Cindy is the author of the Occupational Therapy blog Your Kids OT. Read more articles from Your Kids OT at https://www.yourkidsot.com/blog
Cindy is a member of the Functional Skills for Kids Therapy Team. They have together published THE HANDWRITING BOOK, THE SCISSORS SKILLS BOOK and THE TOILETING BOOK. The information on this site is general in nature. The activities are safe for most children, however, you should consult an Occupational Therapist or health professional to address specific movement, sensory or other medical conditions. Affiliate links are used throughout this website to promote recommended products. Your Kids OT receives a small commission if any purchases are made through these links. Please see my disclosure policy for more details. Amazon Store: https://www.amazon.com/shop/yourkidsot YKOT shop: https://www.yourkidsot.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html Teachers Pay Teachers: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Your-Kids-Ot You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZUz_5nYEOCkj32DiOCQo4Q/featured Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourkidsot Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourkidsot/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com.au/yourkidsot/ |
AuthorHi, I'm Cindy and I am an Occupational Therapist. I enjoy working creatively with children to see them reach their potential. Read more about me here. 
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Disclaimer: The information on this site is general in nature and should be used for educational and entertainment purposes. The activities are safe for most children, however, you should consult an Occupational Therapist or health professional to address specific movement, sensory or other medical conditions. This blog does not replace formal therapeutic professional advice given by a health professional or medical practitioner. Reviews and endorsements of products will only be made based on my expertise and personal opinion; and deemed worthy of such endorsement. The opinions shared in sponsored content will always be my own and not that of the advertising company or brand. Content, advertising space or posts will be clearly identified if paid, affiliated or sponsored. Affiliate links may be found throughout this website in advertising. This means that if you follow through with a purchase from these links, Your Kids OT will receive a percentage of the sale. Your Kids OT undertakes to meet the requirements of the "Social Media Policy" as published by Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA). Further information about this policy can be found here.
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About me
AuthorHi, I'm Cindy and I am an Occupational Therapist. I enjoy working creatively with children to see them reach their potential. Read more about me here. 
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