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Self Care with Structures and Routines

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SELF CARE WITH STRUCTURES AND ROUTINES

This month’s theme is self-care – which works in conjunction with our 2022 theme of self-awareness and growth. Self-care encompasses many different aspects of well-being. Last year we spoke about the occupation of self-care, the tasks involved and how to break them down. 

This year I’d like to speak about self-care routines and how we can implement daily, weekly and monthly habits to ensure greater wellbeing. Optimal self-care is achieved through structure and routine. In doing so we are able to maintain balance, complete day to day activities and achieve goals.

There are so many positives to having a rhythm, structure and routine within our daily lives such as; comfort, security and safety, productivity and achievement. Our routine forms the structure and basis for everything we do. 

So, I’d like you to take a look at your daily routine. How do you spend your days? Is your daily routine supportive of you and your family achieving your goals? Does it give you a healthy and balanced structure? One that reduces stress? 

Take a moment to write down what a typical week day looks like for you and let’s discuss the ways in which you could enhance it moving forward.

The most important thing about establishing a routine is to remember that it needs to be tailored to your individual needs. Every single person on this planet is different. There’s no one size fits all, or right way to do things. The best place to start is with your value set. Identify what’s most important to you and then work backwards from there – are your routines supporting your values? If for example one of your values is family – what are your day to day routines doing to support and cultivate a strong relationship with those in your immediate and extended family? Can you do simple things like ensure that your family eats together each night with phones / technology removed to ensure open communication and connection?

Routines and structures that we put in place are vital, but life doesn’t always stay the same and we need to still allow for these movements and alterations as well. You have to be mindful of being somewhat flexible with your routine and remembering that life is about balance. 

Try to ensure that you follow routine 80% of the time and allow for movement within the other 20%.

Another key element of routine is timing and establishing structures. We live in a fast paced world that is ever changing. Finding structure in day to day life can actually promote a sense of calm in not only your life, but the lives of those around you. Establish clear boundaries within your structures eg: when you arrive home allot a time to check emails from work if needed but then switch off and remain present with your family – to ensure that you are tending to your value set. 

We aren’t perfect, things don’t always go to plan and you aren’t always going to maintain a routine. It’s important to be kind to yourself. Nothing is gained from you being hard on yourself if structure is not met on a certain day or even week. As occupational therapists, helping our families develop routines to support their goals is a vital part of our job. Doing so creates a sense of ease in daily life. If that’s something you think we could help you with, please don’t hesitate to reach out and ask. 

When I began writing this blog, I was reflecting on my own routines and structures. These have changed and continuously evolved as I have moved locations, matured, started my business and transitioned into different phases of my life.

I want to talk to you about the three different levels of routine that I have experienced in the first 30 years of my life to date. 

Right now, I have had to rely on my ‘back bone routine’ due to each day being different with work, either traveling, working from home or seeing clients and increased demands over the last few months. This routine and structure is my bare minimum, it’s not enough to keep on top of everything, but it’s enough to maintain my sanity and organisation. I want to make it very clear that it’s fine to have times in your life where the ‘bare minimum’ is quite ok. 

The next level of personal structure would be my ‘mid level routine’ – this level for me involves basic self-care routines, structured in a more organised and less chaotic way. I am able to have my morning/evening routines, exercise and regular stretching routines, time to cook and structure my week with lists and goals. In this  structure, I am still busy but more of my own individual routines and needs are being met to increase my energy to be engaging in daily life demands more proactively. 

Lastly, my ‘Ideal level of routine’ involves establishing and adhering to almost complete structure within my day. It’s when I am able to achieve all required tasks and allow for sufficient time to tend to goals that facilitate my value set. I do want to make it clear that this is a rare occasion, as life doesn’t allow for it on an everyday basis. Within this state, there is more intention in each action throughout the day. 

I often get asked about people that are creative or thrive off a lack of routine, how do they find balance and ensure that their values and goals are being met? Structure is effective even for the creatives of the world – I am one of them. The most important element in this instance is to structure time for creativity itself and allow for freedom of choice. Maybe if you sit down to structure your day / week, give yourself an allotted time where you get to choose from a couple of activities – allowing for space and the freedom of choice.  I also like to have the freedom to complete the activities and jobs that are required of me in my own time. I will meet the deadlines required but how and when it gets done, I like to be in control of. I like the time and space to sit, create and develop to turn an idea to a task and complete it. But at the core of how I live my day, I still establish routines and structure that help me get through the day itself. This backbone and core routine is paramount, even for us creatives. 

So my challenge to you this month is to think about what routine means to you. Answer these questions and develop a new routine for you and your family…

What routines do you have daily, weekly and monthly? On a good day for your children, what do their routines look like?On a not so good day for your children, what do their routines look like? Is it different every time?

If there was one part of your routine at home that you would like help with, what would it be? Think about it, talk to us at Explore and Soar about it. We can help! We will support you, help establish a routine and structure unique to your needs and goals. 

A final note and friendly reminder, it takes 30 days to cultivate a new habit. 

Are you up for the challenge? Are you looking to make a positive change to your health – physically, emotionally, socially, spiritually. 

This is your sign to start a new routine today.

Until next time,
Jess

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED AUGUST 3, 2022

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Handwriting & Creative Writing for Self-awareness and Wellbeing

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HANDWRITING AND CREATIVE WRITING FOR SELF-AWARENESS AND WELLBEING

There is nothing quite like putting pen to paper. 

Handwriting is a skill that we are often introduced to prior to entering school. It is then further explored in early education, then over time we develop the ability to form more comprehensive cursive written text. As we enter our teenage years and tertiary education, we then progress to touch typing – with digital correspondence becoming our most prominent means of written communication. 

We are taught to identify and draw shapes that lead into the pre-development of writing letters, and understand shape recognition of our letters to then write them. As Occupational Therapists it is our job to facilitate fine motor development, hand control and the strength needed to be able to achieve these handwriting skills, develop pre-requisites to handwriting and the correct letter formation. This occurs from capital letters to lower case to cursive writing in grades 3 and 4. We do this in conjunction with a child’s development and alongside the teachers in your child’s classroom. 

The power of handwriting is something that we as OT’s stress the importance of. Hoping for it not to be lost in a technologically advancing world. The ability to draw shapes and practice drawing letters prior to school, is a more powerful form of letter recognition for development in reading and writing once transitioning into school (James & Engelhardt, 2012).This is a more profound use of skill acquisition and the attention to complex writing skills, compared to tracing over letters on paper or using apps to do on electronics (Berninger & Amtmann, 2003).

So, what else is handwriting powerful for? 

Its power lies in a child or adult’s ability to to express themselves in written text! It can also be used as we get older as a creative outlet, a way to express ourselves without judgement, a way to work through our own personal experiences and emotions attached or further explore the process of different texts like short stories, plays and poetry. The power of putting pen to paper for written text has such profound positive effects on mood and well-being (Deveney & Lawson, 2022), yet despite all this evidence and documentation on creative handwriting on paper, it appears we are moving towards more technology based learning? So how does this further impact our children’s ability to attend to activities for longer, enhance their higher executive functioning skills of organisation, sequencing of an activity and expand their ongoing development and coordination of all skills together, such as cognitive, motor and neuromuscular?

I pose the question, what if writing is a creative outlet? A way to express ourselves without judgement, without rules, a way to make sense of our inner and outer world and enhance our wellbeing through body, mind and spirit. To declutter the mind and find truth, reasoning and intent behind our feelings and emotions. What if the very idea of escaping into an idea or fantasy prompts emotional regulation, self expression and a great understanding of oneself? 

I say this as someone who has truly found the benefit of written text – predominately through journaling to make sense of the world around me. Growing up, written text, English and the pressure of being creative within a certain formula was extremely difficult for me. I would become anxious and overwhelmed by the expected requirements. Not to mention spelling, grammar and paragraph formation. It was like an automatic cognitive roadblock to my brain that impacted the way I would bring together my creative mind and my higher executive functioning skills. 

Upon reflection growing up, these were all a part of my challenges academically and skills that certainly didn’t come to me overnight. In focusing on the finer details, I couldn’t be truly creative and use writing as a means to express myself and my emotions. I lacked self-regulation strategies, emotional awareness and that secure free outlet that I find today, in writing by hand in my diary. 

Taking the pressure off my grammar, spelling and structure when writing has helped to truly clear the road blocks I experience when I have to write an important written text for business or for everyday life. Even more so, journaling and creative writing about my life helps to clear my mind, and allows me to prioritise my important tasks. Looking back, what I often wonder that if I had this opportunity to explore a sense of creativity without limitations as a child, how much more expressive and perhaps how significantly better off my cognitive and creative mind would have been then. Especially through my teenage years and the challenges that high school brings. 

By using myself as an example, I hope that you can see just how important handwriting truly is as a means of self expression. Add to this colours, drawing, mind maps.. And your child’s development is greatly and positively impacted not just today but their years to come. Creative writing helps us gain perspective and channel different emotions.

So how do you use written language in your life and does it support your well being and mood when engaging? How do your children utilise written text in their life, and are you allowing space for creative and written language to express their emotions and work out different daily social contexts and events in order to  help with their own personal development and awareness? 

It might be time to put pen to paper and step away from the screen – for some creative expression. 

References:

Berninger, V. W., & Amtmann, D. (2003). Preventing written expression disabilities through early and continuing assessment and intervention for handwriting and/or spelling problems: Research into practice. In H. L. Swanson, K. R. Harris, & S. Graham (Eds.), Handbook of learning disabilities (pp. 345–363). The Guilford Press.

Deveney, C & Lawson, P. 2022, Writing your way to well-being: An IPA analysis of the therapeutic effects of creative writing on mental health and the processing of emotional difficulties. Counselling & Psychotherapy Research, Vol 22, Issue 2.   

James, K. H. & Engelhardt, L. 2012. The effects of handwriting experience on functional brain development in pre-literature children. Trends in Neuroscience and Education. Vol 1 Issue 1. 

Until next time,
Jess

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED JULY 5, 2022

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Gross Motor Skills – Muscle Tone

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GROSS MOTOR SKILLS
– MUSCLE TONE

This month we are going to break down a term that you might have heard your therapist mention to you when discussing your child’s gross and fine motor skills – and that is muscle tone!

Muscle tone is a key contributor that impacts everything that we do with our bodies in everyday life. This can include things like playing with our friends, sitting in the classroom, sitting at the table to eat dinner, or completing our homework. If a child is experiencing poor muscle tone, this can lead to challenges with gross motor, fine motor and coordination skills. 

So, what is Muscle Tone? 

By definition, muscle tone refers to the amount of tension, or the amount of resistance to movement, held in the muscles in our body. This tension or muscle tone helps us to hold our bodies in a stable upright position when sitting or standing. Changes in this tension or muscle tone then enable us to maintain control and stability over our bodies as we move and engage in a variety of activities. 

Postural control and muscle tone are essential for all motor skills. Sitting at a desk requires good postural control and so does sitting on the carpet. Without it, a child would likely start leaning into their peers. Other skills such as using a pencil or a computer also require good postural control. Playtime and PE are also much more difficult without good balance and postural control.

So, how does it work?

Muscle tone begins to develop when a child is very young. It is developed through activation and exploration of the vestibular sensory system. The vestibular system is stored in our ears. It consists of three semicircular canals filled with fluid. When we move our head forwards, backwards or side to side, this fluid moves inside these canals, telling our brain which direction and how fast our body is moving. This information then lets our brain know that we need to activate our muscle tone and where to hold or change the tension to keep our body stable and in control as we move. 

An example ofoptimal muscle tone activation that supports a daily activity is a child seated at their desk, leaning forward to write down the stimulus seen on a whiteboard. As they lean forward, their vestibular system is alerted that they are moving their head. This message then tells their brain that the body needs to activate tension to hold the core of the body stable in the seat while changing the tension in the neck to allow the head to scan up to the whiteboard and back down to the workbook on the desk in a controlled manner. The child’s body now remains stable while they use their fine motor skills in a controlled manner to write down the stimulus. 

The different types of Muscle…

We have two different categories of muscles within our body, tonic and phasic muscles. Tonic muscles are our inner postural muscles that are in charge of keeping us stable and upright against gravity. These muscles are longer lasting and are responsible for holding our body stable throughout the day to engage in daily living activities. Phasic muscles are our fast-firing and on-demand outer muscles that activate when we need a quick burst of movement or an action to be performed, but then they quickly fatigue. 

When our tonic muscles are unable to perform their tasks adequately, the phasic muscles act as substitutes. However, because the phasic muscles are responsible for mobility and skill, they are far less effective in maintaining posture. For example, a child who does not have well developed tonic muscle tone may compensate for this by using their shoulders and arms to stabilise themselves whilst seated at the classroom table, rather than using their back and core muscles. This results in increased fatigue for that child as the muscles they are compensating with tire quickly and are not designed for sustained use. It then also impacts their capacity to complete fine motor activities as they are using the muscles necessary for these skilled tasks to simply stabilise their body, rather than complete the academic activity in front of them.

So, what happens if Muscle Tone is not optimal? 

Muscle tone is a continuum. We all have different levels of muscle tone throughout our bodies. This variation is fine, as long as our body holds sufficient muscle tone to engage in the activities that we want and need to be able to perform on a daily basis. This differs however for children. For those who are having trouble engaging in everyday activities, it is important to consider that it may be muscle tone that is impacting their capacity to learn or perform.

Low tone:

Children who are experiencing low muscle tone may seem flacid or floppy when moving their bodies, have poor posture or stand/sit in a slouched position, have increased flexibility in their joints, have low endurance, lack body awareness and prefer sedentary activities. Think about those children who prefer to flop on to the couch, slump when seated, lean against objects when seated or standing to support themselves, be heavy footed, or appear uncoordinated or clumsy.

For these children, they require a high intensity of vestibular (movement) input to alert their brain and activate their muscle tone and body to engage optimally in activities. 

For our children who are experiencing low muscle tone, they fatigue quicker and easier than their peers. They also have to work harder to keep up with their peers and find compensatory ways to engage successfully in these activities. 

High tone:

This refers to children who appear to have six-packs and other visible external muscles (biceps, quadriceps, etc.). This is a result of them over-using their phasic (outer) muscles to compensate for their weaker inner core muscles when engaging in activities. 

Children with high muscle tone usually move very fast and often seem uncontrolled moving through activities, before their muscles reach fatigue. 

So how do we support our children to better activate and strengthen their muscle tone in order to participate in daily activities?

To further support our therapists and your child in achieving their goals – here is a list of activities that you can incorporate into your child’s daily routine within the home: 

  • Animal walks – including crab walks, bear walks, frogs walks, bunny hops and donkey kicks. These exercises activate a range of different muscles and assist in increasing muscle and postural tone.
  • Wheelbarrow walks – hold your child at their hips or knees whilst they walks on their hands. Motivate your child by encouraging them to go further each time. Vary the activity by making them walk around different obstacles or place a favourite toy on their back to balance / carry.
  • Bouncing on the trampoline – Vary the bounce to keep it interesting. Try star jumps, scissor kicks, donkey kicks, bouncing down to their knees and up again, etc. 
  • Sports such as swimming, martial arts and gymnastics.
  • Climbing activities such as monkey bars, ladders, ropes, playground equipment.
  • Heavy work (movements that involve push/pull/carry against resistance). For example: lifting heavy objects (e.g. shopping bags or piles of books), carrying a heavy school bag, helping out in the garden or moving furniture around the house.
  • Bouncing or completing any exercises provided by your therapist on an exercise ball to activate core muscles.
  • Sit-ups or “bicycles” (lie on your back and cycle legs in the air).
  • “Fly like a bird” – get your child to lay on their tummy and arch their back whilst pulling straight arms and legs off the ground.
  • Warm up activities before seated tasks can help to temporarily increase muscle tone, so the child can feel what it is like to have better posture e.g. star jumps or animal walks.
  • Alternative seating and working positions i.e. lying on stomach propped up on elbows or working at a vertical surface e.g. whiteboard or blackboard, this helps to engage upper limb and core muscles.
  • Playing with playdoh or putty can be a great way to build tone in the hands, which can assist with handwriting and fine motor tasks
  • Using a spray bottle, pegs, screwing and unscrewing jars and squeezing a stress ball will help to work the fine muscles of the hands.

It is important to identify when a child tires and aim to gradually and continuously increase either the length of time or the amount of repetitions being completed. This will in turn increase the child’s strength and endurance. Scheduling in frequent rest breaks and providing lots of encouragement as well as varying the tasks will provide motivation and help increase the duration of activities. It’s important to remember that these activities are more successful when you’re making them fun! If you’d like more ideas or have questions about anything we’ve spoken about above, please don’t hesitate to reach out and ask your therapist for more information! 

Research:

Markham, C. (1987). Vestibular Control of Muscular Tone and Posture. Canadian Journal Of Neurological Sciences / Journal Canadien Des Sciences Neurologiques, 14(S3), 493-496. doi: 10.1017/s0317167100037975

Ganguly, J., Kulshreshtha, D., Almotiri, M., & Jog, M. (2021). Muscle Tone Physiology and Abnormalities. Toxins, 13(4), 282. https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins13040282

Kramer, P. (2018). Frames of Reference for Pediatric Occupational Therapy (4th ed.). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Until next time,
Georgia

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED JUNE 1, 2022

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Social Skill Development & Community

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SOCIAL SKILL DEVELOPMENT & COMMUNITY

Last month we spoke about enhancing our understanding and development of safety and connection between the caregiver and a child. In the time that’s passed since our last blog,  so much has happened at Explore and Soar and with our families! With school and extracurricular activities, celebrations, catch ups and holidays all occurring over the last 6 weeks, as well as the constant uncertainty of Covid, we have been forging a path towards a new normal.

I have often thought about how exhausting assimilating into a ‘normal’ social life is for me, my team and our families. We have gone from months of being stuck in our own homes, to all of a sudden being out and about all the time. It has been exciting to reconnect with our friends, family and community in ways we did pre-pandemic, yet such a change does come with a few consequences. 

Notably, our children are exhausted! 

They simply haven’t had this much social stimulation in a long time. They have been out on weekends and are now experiencing their first proper end of term fatigue. And let’s be honest, as parents, we too are exhausted and needing some down time. 

As much as I want to discuss social skills and interaction in this month’s blog, I’d like to focus on finding the balance between socialising and creating the time for rest and integration (processing) time. 

Socially, developing these skills occur at the commencement of regulation and engagement (please refer to our previous posts), but social skills are dependent on a child’s ability to process sensory information internally and externally (from the world around them). This is completed through sound (middle ear), movement (vestibular system found within the ear), and the visual system (eyes), in conjunction with other systems in the body. Additionally these organs and sensory systems are all connected through cranial (head) nerves. When we are processing information, our sensory systems alert and motivate our body to carry this information through our nerves. Our cranial nerves are located on the face and in the brain, which allows us as young children to begin understanding non-verbal social cues. There are a lot of nerves that are connected to the mouth and eyes, from our ears, which when working together, create facial expressions and we then in turn use words to express ourselves, allowing us to socially interact with others using both non-verbal and verbal communications. 

If our children have challenges processing sound, visually tracking or moving their body, just their emotional regulation and social skill development can be impacted. Unfortunately children can’t always tell us what is going on inside their body with the use of words, but they can tell us with their behaviour. 

So let’s take 5 minutes to reflect on how your children have been over the last month. Ask yourself these questions:

How do they look? How are they feeling? Are they regulating through their emotions? Are they coping at school? How fatigued are they? When you are communicating and connecting with your children, are they seeing your facial expressions? Are they able to read your social cues in order to pick up on what comes next? 

If the answer to any of these questions is no, then please take some time to work on safety and connection with them. Support their regulation, calm their bodies and nervous systems. Pausing and giving time for their bodies to rest is optimal integration time to support gains in all development but also supports them in understanding demands socially through their sensory systems. 

So many of our children are easily overwhelmed by sounds, visual input, touch and movement. When they are not able to process these inputs optimally, it can greatly impact how they socially connect with you, as parents, their siblings, and additionally how they cope in the school and community environments, when connecting with their friends.

Which brings me to socialisation in schools. Is your child having difficulties socialising with their friends at school, is it becoming more of a problem now than in previous years? And how can you help your children more?

Please reach out and chat to us if you are worried about this! Each of your clinicians will have an understanding of your child’s needs and when we are working with them, we are developing their foundational skills to further support their social skills, or additionally we are specifically working on skills that can further expand their capacity to interact with peers.

Some strategies we work towards developing are:

  • Understanding their feelings.
  • Understanding others feelings through body language and facial expressions, such as happy face, surprised face, frustration or sadness.
  • Understanding whole body listening concepts and active listening when interacting with friends or a group of friends.
  • Developing group plans, negotiating and turn taking within these activities.
  • Expected, unexpected and flexible thinking when working with friends. 

At home there are things you can do to further expand your children’s social skills, such as:

  • Understanding which emotions your children feel or express to you. How many are there? (remember this will differ pending age and their self-regulation skills). 
  • Can they ask you what is wrong if your mood or facial expressions change?
  • Playing silly faces, can they guess emotions from facial expressions, such as sad, excited, surprised?
  • Play a game together that you all contribute to, each having an idea and adding everyone’s ideas together, to form a group plan and play as a family. 
  • Play boardgames that are chance related to expand on regulating through waiting their turn, winning and losing, as well as supporting each other as a whole family. 

As we are socially interacting with others in the community, school and different events, in order to further support your child’s tolerance in busy environments or supporting their reintegration into the community, you need to take notice of fatigue. Please consider different strategies that can support you and your children re-entering into the social world such as:

  • Reducing sounds, visual input and high energy movement to help them process the world around them.
  • Provide some visuals and plan for the day to support their understanding of routine and expectations.
  • When the days are not as busy, take your time or allow for transition times between activities.
  • Provide moments of deep pressure hugs, fetal positioning, ice chips, inversion activities, respiration or squishes to support their regulation and calming of the sensory system for increased engagement and interaction with peers.
  • Reduce time spent in the community or at events to support a transition back into the community and increase tolerance of high sensory inputs over an extended period of time.  

Allowing and providing our children with the best support in order to allow their sensory systems to engage socially and be present with others is paramount. It is vital in the current environment due to the reduction in time spent socialising during the last 24 months. Be kind to yourselves and to your kids, you have permission to take it slow. You do not need to say yes to everything! Think about what is best for you and your family, and focus on that!

We hope to continue seeing all of you venturing out into the communities, reconnecting with friends and expanding upon our children’s social skills. If you think we can further help you with these skills and expand on our support offerings, please don’t hesitate to contact me or your treating clinician.

Until next time,
Jess

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED APRIL 13, 2022

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Safety and Connection

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SAFETY AND CONNECTION

As we continue to break down and share with you the way Explore and Soar supports our clients and families in our year of ‘self-awareness and growth’, it’s only fitting that after having dived into our continuity support plans and parent coaching strategies, we address the topic of ‘safety and connection’ with you. 

Upon reflection and after reviewing a large amount of continued professional development over the years as a practitioner, one valuable skill set remains a constant. This integral part of development is always discussed at the beginning of each theory or model for paediatrics. It is the ultimate foundational skill required for us as human beings in order to begin our journey of  overall development; from infant > toddler > child > preteen > teenager > adult. 

These skills are safety and connection. 

The premise being, no developmental milestone or emotional and social skills can be obtained optimally without the foundations of safety & connection. 

Establishing a sense of safety and security is essential to all stages of development, with connection following this. 

As occupational therapists when working with our clients and families, we begin by establishing what safety looks like for each family, in order to use our therapeutic practices in the most efficient and successful manner. Before any goals can be targeted or reached, it is essential for a sense of safety and security to be built between our client and their therapist. 

As a therapist when working with families, to be able to identify their strengths, boundaries and what makes them feel most secure allows for adaptive intervention methods. When this occurs, there is a natural sense of relief and sense of calm that is not only beneficial for our parents and caregivers but with our children as well. If there is no sense of safety between the clinician and parent/caregiver, then the safety the child will feel with the therapist can be altered, impacting all therapy intervention and a child’s ability to achieve their desired goals and skills in regards to development. 

Safety and connection work simultaneously. 

Connection is a feeling. It is often described as the way in which someone unconsciously connects to another’s energy and then interacts with your own. Think about when you meet someone for the first time. With some people there is a sense of calm and connection straight away, like you have known them your whole life. But then others can also have the opposite effect, with a great sense of disconnection. These feelings are our internal navigation system that helps determine whether we are feeling safe and connected or whether there is a potential threat to our sense of safety. Acknowledging these feelings then allows us to make a choice on how to respond. 

Personally, many of my decisions as an adult, especially in work have been navigated by my sense of safety and connection. I wanted to provide the support that I didn’t have growing up in a small rural town. I want to provide the knowledge, research and intervention strategies that I have learned over my lifetime to families in order to enhance their sense of safety and connection, especially in our remote areas that lack greater levels of support. At the heart of my why is relationships. And establishing Explore and Soar as a safe and connected space for our families is paramount. 

Ensuring that your children feel a consistent sense of safety and connection is what allows them to evolve and grow as a human.  

Connection is established from birth, however due to individual differences for each child, parent and/or caregiver we all have different ways of establishing these connections or different individual reasons as to why some of us may have difficulty establishing connections.  

Connection is the foundation to any relationship and is paramount for all of us as humans to feel connected. The bond between parent and child from birth is where this all begins. A model that we use within Explore and Soar is the DIR Model (Developmental Individual Differences Relationships-Based Model originally developed by Dr. Stanley Greenspan) which allows us to work on providing strategies, interventions through parent coaching and relationship approaches to help our parents and children obtain a healthy parent-child connection. 

We seek to support the development of these skills in order to allow your children to enhance their own skills through a model of “Shared Attention and Regulation” – being the foundational pillar. 

It has been extremely exciting for us to explore the recent research addressing more specific developmental skills in relation to connection. These skills contribute to the beginning of development and enhance the child’s relationships and connectedness to both parent and self, ultimately allowing for future emotional and social development to occur.

So how do we as humans actually establish connectedness? 

We establish this through;

  • Mutual gaze – visually connecting in face to face interactions for connection of shared emotions which is foundational and earlier than shared attention (joint attention), through games with parent and child (Rollins, De Froy, Campbell, & Hoffman, 2021). 
  • Unconscious mimicry (shared actions), is linked to movement and body synchrony, outlining the importance of rhythmicity with movement, mirroring body language to connect to others (Peper, Van Der Wal & Begeer, 2016).
  • Synchrony – shared social timing, known as timed relationships, some examples include predictable rhythms of mother for baby to connect with such as heart rate, respiration, reciprocity (tone) of voice, sleep/wake cycles and an ability to have an interactive and rhythmic flow of interaction to connect the parent and child’s emotional state to match (foundations of co-regulation and regulation) (Feldman, 2007). 

These established skills result in a parent child synchronicity and connectedness, reinforcing the sense of safety as outlined above and supporting overall emotional skill development.

I personally love working within this field because you can learn so many different models of support and expand your intervention approach and strategies for all children, as no child is ever the same. As I continue to work in this field, I have begun to see each model overlap and support one another.

Safety and connection is vital in building the foundations to co-regulation and regulation. It greatly impacts social development which we will be discussing in greater detail next month.

Articles

Geller, S. (2018). Therapeutic Presence and Polyvagal Theory: Principles and Practices for Cultivating Effective Therapeutic Relationships. From Porges and Dana (2018) Clinical Applications of the Polyvagal Theory: The Emergence of Polyvagal-Informed Therapies. New York: WW Norton 

Feldman, R. (2007). Parent–infant synchrony and the construction of shared timing; physiological precursors, developmental outcomes, and risk conditions. Journal of Child psychology and Psychiatry, 48(3-4), 329-354. 

Peper, C. L. E., van der Wal, S. J., & Begeer, S. (2016). Autism in action: reduced bodily connectedness during social interactions?. Frontiers in psychology, 7, 1862. 

Rollins, P. R., De Froy, A., Campbell, M., & Hoffman, R. T. (2021). Mutual gaze: An active ingredient for social development in toddlers with ASD: A randomized control trial. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 51(6), 1921-1938.

Until next time,
Jess

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED MARCH 3, 2022

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