IMany of the schools I work in have wonderful social emotional programs and strategies and I have learned so much from the social workers there. One tool that is used is the Zones of Regulation. I used this briefly as an outpatient therapist but to date, I have not implemented this with any of my OT students in the schools, because the school social worker's had it covered. School social workers are amazing by the way, I admire all of the ones that I work with for their ability to interact with every student and their ability to teach "strategies". I learned from them that I can tell a student exactly what we're doing...learning strategies. Here is a chart taken from the Zones of Regulation website: Taking this chart into consideration and this new day and age of at home learning, I've been able to look at my own children and decide what "zone" they are in and what strategy they need. Then I decided to tell my kids that they were crabby and needed "quiet time" as a calming strategy. Ask me how that worked out? It didn't necessarily help. I started with my 7 year old who has emotional ups and downs like a teenager, and showed her the colors of the zones and the emotions that fall into each. Then we started with talking about what calms her down and what makes her feel better. I started teaching her that the items we came up with are "strategies". So now when she is acting a certain way I can ask her....what zone do you think you are in right now? How can we get you back to the green zone? Some students will need help to figure out their strategies. As parents you know your child best and you know what tends to help them regulate and get back into that "green" zone. I know there isn't more "time" at home right now with work and school schedules but maybe there's more awareness about the triggers before your child goes into a red zone, or awareness of what strategies seem to get your child back on track. The distance learning link to the Zones website is below, to check out for more information. These are good strategies and tools for all children and even adults who are looking for more awareness into their own emotional regulation. Thanks for reading! LeAnn
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The past month has helped me organize my thoughts around my children's chore responsibilities since there has been many more messes around my house. You can have the conversation, like I've had with friends, about whether to compensate your kids for chores, what is a chore vs. expectation, etc. There are alot of opinions out there and I have my own mom perspective on those. However, for the purpose of this blog, I'll stick to my OT perspective :) Chores are a great way to teach responsibility, routine, skill acquisition, and to get sensory input! I happened upon a chart from Integrated Learning Strategies that has sensory sensitive chores. I follow them on Instagram and get quick tips and ideas from them as a therapist. I am posting this chart for you to check out to see what chores might suit your child and their sensory system the best! You can download the chart below to have the whole picture. Here are the types of kids that would fall into the outlined categories: Chores with no texture: for those that are sensitive to how things feel and different textures, maybe your child doesn't even want to look at things that have different textures. Chores with texture: for those that seek a variety of textures and touch alot of items. They may seem "obsessed" with petting the animals or rubbing people's arms. Heavy weight chores: for anyone! "Heavy work" provides sensory input to the joints which is calming. Most therapists would agree that you can't get enough heavy work input. If you have a child with endless energy, put the energy to good use and ask them how they feel when they've completed a purposeful task. Chores without loud noise: for the kiddos that are sensitive to loud, unexpected, or alot of varying noise. Chores with headphones or earplugs: for the kiddos that want to participate in the process of vacuuming, baking, etc, but are typically aversive to the noise of the activity. Chores with gloves: for those with tactile sensitivities (myself) who need to get some chores done but don't want to touch anything yucky. Gloves (if you don't have a latex allergy) offer a great barrier to the "yucky" stuff but allow the task to still be completed. The child then learns they can still participate in activities with some simple accommodations. Hopefully you will find something on this list for your children to do, so that you have some relief and so they reap the benefits as well! LeAnn
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AuthorLeAnn Wald Archives
May 2020
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