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Embracing Transitions and Growth: A Year of Learning and Achievement

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EMBRACING TRANSITIONS AND GROWTH:
A YEAR OF LEARNING AND ACHIEVEMENT

Embracing Transitions and Growth Fuels Our Success!

As we approach the end of the year, it’s the perfect time to reflect on the incredible journey we’ve shared. All I can say is, “What a year it has been!”

It was a year of exploring ways that we transition throughout our lives. From significant life changes such as transitioning into adulthood, moving homes, transitioning into a new school year (especially Kindergarten or year 7), starting new careers, trying a new sport, or managing health conditions to the everyday transitions we experience, like transitioning from home to school, catching the bus, transitioning from playtime to dinner, or switching off technology devices. The list is endless.

Every transition, big or small, contributes to our growth and learning.

By embracing transitions and growth, we develop new skills and gain valuable experiences at each stage of life.

Celebrating Success in Life Transitions

At Explore and Soar, we understand that embracing transitions is essential for both children and their families. Each step forward is a sign of progress.

What truly stands out this year is the unwavering support from parents and caregivers. Your dedication, love, and hard work in helping your children navigate these transitions have been truly inspiring. The effort, persistence, and love you pour into supporting your children as they reach their goals is a beautiful sight. We’ve witnessed the joy and pride on their faces as they master new skills – a testament to your hard work. We also recognise the challenges you face, and in those tough moments, please remember – we see you, we hear you, and we are here to help!

For more on managing life transitions, check out our previous blog to learn more about transitions in therapy.

Explore and Soar: Growing Together

This year, Explore and Soar has expanded its horizons! We introduced a fresh new look and broadened our age range to better support clients transitioning from school to university, work, or community life. We were also thrilled to open our new space in the Kurri Kurri clinic for therapy sessions when home or community settings aren’t ideal.

These transitions wouldn’t have been possible without the collaboration and commitment of our families and, most importantly, the continuous work of our dedicated team, who tirelessly support these transitions and consistently assist our families in new and evolving ways.

End-of-Year Celebrations & Transition Ahead

As we wrap up the year, the Explore and Soar team celebrated with a joyful Christmas party, creating beautiful macrame pieces and enjoying a delicious dinner. We had so much fun!

We also held our Annual Reflections and Projections Day, where we identified our achievements and worked toward an actionable plan for the new year. It was a wonderful opportunity to connect, share ideas, and commit to growing together as a team while continuing to support each other, our families, and our communities.

Important Dates: Holiday Closure & Upcoming January School Holiday Programs

At the end of each year, our team takes a well-deserved break to rest, recharge, and spend quality time with our families and friends!

This year, our Christmas closure will begin at the end of business on Friday, December 20th. We will return with our January School Holiday group programs starting Monday, January 13th, 2025!

If you’d like to join our January programs, be sure to secure your spot today! These fun and engaging programs will run from January 13th to 17th and again from January 20th to 24th, 2025. We cannot wait to see you there. Click here to see more about the programs and secure your spot!

Looking ahead to the new year, embracing transitions and growth will remain a central focus at Explore and Soar.

Until next time, we wish all of our Explore and Soar family a joyful Christmas break filled with quality time with loved ones, sunshine, and relaxation. Look after yourselves, and we can’t wait to reconnect in the New Year and continue this journey together!

Wishing You a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Until next time, 
Jess and the Explore and Soar Team

PUBLISHED DECEMBER 2024

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Navigating Therapy Transitions: Your Path to Growth, Health, and Adaptation

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NAVIGATING THERAPY TRANSITIONS: YOUR PATH TO GROWTH, HEALTH, AND ADAPTATION

In our previous blog posts, we discussed various life transitions, such as parenting, regulating emotions, and adapting to change. One of the most significant transitions we experience is therapy transitions, whether as therapists or clients. In this blog, we’ll explore our approach to therapy transitions and the services we offer to ensure the best outcomes for our clients and their families. 

Client-Centred Approach 

At Explore and Soar, we believe that every child’s journey is unique, which is why one of our values is “Client Adaptability.” We want to work closely with you and your child to achieve your goals and help them grow and adapt so they can engage, connect, and confidently navigate the world in their own way. As Occupational Therapists, we are privileged to help your child. However, we also understand that we are just one tool in your toolbox. Our role is to provide clinical knowledge and reasoning skills while empowering you to make informed decisions about the best path in your child’s therapy journey.

Transitioning Into Occupational Therapy 

As a parent, transitioning into health services, such as Occupational Therapy, can be overwhelming and daunting. Our mission is to make accessing services as seamless as possible, providing high-quality intervention support to help achieve your goals. 

We understand the mixed feelings that come with reaching out to us, whether through a phone call or an email. However, we are here to help and work with you. The best way to start is by having a phone conversation with us. Talking to someone and gaining clarity on the next steps can be reassuring. Depending on your individual needs, we can provide different therapy intervention options customised for each child and family’s needs. So, rest assured that we are here for you every step of the way.

Factors Considered in Therapy Recommendations

When recommending therapy supports, we consider several critical factors, including –

  • Your child’s age and development stage.
  • Motivation and ability to participate in therapy.
  • Functional goals tailored to your child’s needs.
  • Critical periods in your child’s life include early intervention and key transition periods.
  • Your family’s motivation, availability, and ability to support your child’s therapy journey.
  • The level of clinical knowledge and support required to attain the desired goals.

Based on these factors, we make clinical recommendations on the best approach for your child’s therapy journey.

Range of Therapy Options

At Explore and Soar, we use different intervention frequencies to work towards your child’s specific and diverse goals. Some goals can be achieved quickly, while others may take longer or may only partially achieve. This doesn’t mean that your child should be in therapy interventions continuously or forever.

 Regular Term-Based Appointments  

  • Regular term-based appointments are offered based on school terms. This is one of the most common intervention therapy approaches we implement. 
  • This allows for regular ongoing therapy, enabling us to check in at regular intervals to modify and adjust therapy intervention to work towards achieving an individual’s goal. 
  • Depending on the situation, we may offer either fortnightly appointments (5 sessions per term) or weekly appointments (10 sessions per term). 
  • This helps us adjust intervention recommendations for further practice and refinement at home, offering a consistent approach for both child and family to work towards goals.

Intensive Therapy

  • Intensive therapy involves a daily session for a week, with five sessions in total. 
  • This approach is ideal for clients who require a high intensity of therapy to achieve their goals or to consolidate their skills. It is particularly helpful for rapid progress and building upon existing skills.
  • Intensive appointments are an excellent opportunity for those looking to achieve a specific goal. 
  • This program consists of five one-hour therapy sessions in a week, in which we expose our clients to hundreds of repetitions of particular exercises, activities, or functional skills in a short period. 
  • This method allows for increased progress and quicker results compared to our fortnightly therapy sessions. If term appointments do not suit your family, the intensive model is an excellent alternative. 
  • This type of therapy is effective only if the client’s family fully commits to ensuring that the client attends all five sessions within the week. 
  • Following up the intensive therapy with home programming is crucial to supporting further development and consolidation of skills.

Block Therapy

  • Block therapy interventions follow a structure similar to regular term-based appointments. However, their frequency is slightly different. Instead of being assigned a weekly or fortnightly ongoing therapy session, you will be allocated a block of therapy to work on a specific goal, which may span one school term.
  • Once that block of therapy has been completed, there will be an equal-duration break from therapy, followed by re-engagement for another block of therapy in the following term. Alternatively, this could be done over two terms in a year, for instance, six months of therapy followed by six months of integration time.

School Holiday Group Programs

  • Exploring small group programs during school holidays is a fabulous way to simulate social interaction in a safe and supportive environment. 
  • These groups are designed to offer clients opportunities to practice their social skills with others. 
  • Group programs provide a platform to explore different interests, make new friends, or expand on old friendships in their local communities. 
  • Group programs offer an interactive and creative way of teaching, supporting, and achieving goals rather than one-on-one sessions with a clinician. 

Peer / Sibling Sessions

  • At times, one-on-one sessions may not provide enough challenge, while group programs may prove to be too challenging for our clients. In such cases, we find peer sessions to be the most effective therapy intervention approach.
  • Peer sessions strengthen our clients’ social relationships with family members, siblings, or other clients. These sessions can help clients build initial connections that may eventually develop into solid friendships. 
  • They are an excellent way for clients to motivate each other, work towards common goals, and learn how to encourage and support one another.

Home Programming

  • Home programming is offered as additional support for our clients to practice and improve their skills or tasks that we work on during our sessions.
  • The home program includes strategies, ideas, and activities that can help clients achieve their goals and develop new skills.
  • While we understand that our sessions are only a part of the overall support system for your child, we highly recommend completing the home programming set as it is essential for achieving the best possible outcomes in the shortest time.

Integration Time – Therapy Pauses

  • Many of our clients require a strong brain-body connection to achieve their goals. Once this connection is made, we can celebrate reaching our goal!  YAY! 
  • Not many people talk about the importance of integration time. After a goal is achieved or a skill is developed, the body needs time to process and integrate the new skill into everyday life. Have you ever learned a new skill and felt unsure of what you were doing, but later, it became second nature? That’s because your brain and body need time to integrate the skill into your lifestyle.
  • This is also true for children. Allowing time for pause and integration of new skills gives the brain and body time to practice and refine these goals. It also enables clients, families, and therapists to observe what is happening with the child, their priorities, and what additional support may be required. 
  • Alternatively, it gives our clients, families, and therapists time to observe what else is happening with the child, what is of concern, and what is a priority in achieving next. 
  • The timeframe for integration varies for each person and therapy option. For example, with intensives, there is usually a 10-week integration and skill-building period. Ongoing therapy can vary from 3, 6 or 12 months, depending on the length of appointments and required breaks.
  • Therapists are still available to provide support and check-in during the integration period. Remember that as the client or family member, you can reach out to the therapist if unexpected issues arise and receive the necessary support.

Parent Coaching Sessions

  • We understand that you play a crucial role in your child’s development as a parent or caregiver. By investing time, effort, and support in learning and implementing different strategies in your daily routine, you can become a more confident and effective caregiver. 
  • The more confident you are in implementing strategies, the more consistent you become, and the quicker positive changes occur for your child.
  • This is one of our favourite ways to support you and your whole family. We usually offer these sessions as a one-on-one appointment via face-to-face or telehealth, depending on your preference.

Understanding Family Needs

In reviewing goals for each child and family, we understand that goals are hit or life fatigue is felt; families are busy, and our world is constantly changing; therefore, you may require breaks from therapy at different times in your journey with Explore and Soar.

As so many of our families need to attend multiple services such as physio, speech, and psychology along with OT appointments on a regular basis, then add in school, other activities for the child and siblings, working parents, and the fact that families are generally time-poor we recognise the importance of flexibility and the need to support our families to see that taking a break from therapy is normal, okay and does not mean that we are ceasing to support your family. Instead, we believe it is critical to allow some breathing space for things that we may not be seeing yet to come to light so we can adapt our goals and refine our intervention. Or it may be that you and your child are ready to move to periodic check in’s where we catch up, review one specific goal, provide some ideas & strategies with home programming, and you implement them at home as you are now the key person in being able to do this.

Focus on Mental Health

At Explore and Soar, we prioritise not only your child’s mental health but also your family’s well-being. We recognise the impact of therapy transitions on mental health and aim to provide support that fosters resilience and positive outcomes.

Transitions in therapy can be challenging, but they also signify new opportunities for growth and development. At Explore and Soar, we’re committed to supporting you every step of the way. If you’re ready to embark on the next phase of your child’s therapy journey, we’re here to help. When one door closes, another opens.

Thank you for joining us in exploring transitions in therapy. For more information, please get in touch with us today.

If you’d like to chat more, please don’t hesitate to contact us today! Call us on 0477 708 217 or email admin@exploreandsoar.com.au

Until Next Time,
Lori

PUBLISHED MAY 2024

Trembath, D., Varcin, K., Waddington, H., Sulek, R., Pillar, S., Allen, G., Annear, K., Eapen, V.,Feary, J., Goodall, E., Pilbeam, T., Rose, F., Sadka, N., Silove, N., Whitehouse, A. (2022). National guideline for supporting the learning, participation, and well-being of autistic children and their families in Australia. Autism CRC. Brisbane.

Bailes, A.F.; Reder, R., & Burch, C. (2008) Development of Guidelines for determining frequency of therapy services in a pediatric medical setting. Pediatric Physical Therapy, 20 (2), pp. 194-198.

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Nurturing Imagination and Social Skills in Today’s Digital World

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NURTURING IMAGINATION AND SOCIAL SKILLS IN TODAY’S DIGITAL WORLD

In our fast-paced digital era, fostering social skills in children is more crucial than ever. These skills are the cornerstone of effective communication, relationship-building, and navigating social situations.

As children grow, their social development equips them with tools to handle conflicts, understand emotions, understand social roles, solve problems, and adapt to changes. However, in a world dominated by technology, the landscape of social interaction is evolving.

Embracing Technology for Social Growth

While children increasingly engage in online activities like online gaming, it’s essential to recognise the potential for social skill development in digital spaces. Online platforms offer unprecedented opportunities for connection, creativity, and sensory input, enriching social experiences in new ways.

Challenges in the Digital World

Despite the benefits, parents’ concerns about online safety and screen time persist. By fostering open communication, setting boundaries, educating on privacy, and serving as positive role models, parents can guide their children through the digital landscape with confidence and resilience. The skills they learn while playing virtual games can also translate into real-world social connections.

Exploring Social Thinking Concepts

Our children may encounter difficulties in participating in imaginative play and sustaining conversations. Sharing what someone else is imagining involves complex processing! It requires focusing your attention on what the other person is doing, interpreting the person’s words and actions, and then placing those ideas in the context of what you already know about the person and the environment.

Incorporating Social Thinking Concepts 

Incorporating social thinking concepts helps promote self-regulation in social contexts. 

Social executive functioning is important for classroom learning, playing, joining in activities, and online social interactions. It can be divided into four categories: Hidden Rules, Smart Guesses, Flexible and Stuck Thinking, and Size of the Problem.

Hidden Rules, Expected and Unexpected Behaviours –

Understanding the unspoken rules of social interactions, known as ‘Hidden Rules,’ is crucial for navigating various situations. It involves aligning our behaviours (what we say and do) with social expectations through skills like interpreting non-verbal cues, social cues, negotiation, collaboration, problem-solving, compromise and empathy. 

Various events, such as turn-taking or winning, may occur during activities like gaming. While adhering to expectations may not always be enjoyable, it ensures smooth progression. Unexpected actions can lead to discomfort among peers, highlighting the importance of social cohesion.

This concept can be challenging for many children, especially when games hold significant meaning. Collaborative efforts with families, including sensory diet activities, help foster self-regulation and engagement during challenging situations.

Smart Guesses –

Making informed guesses, known as ‘Smart Guesses,’ is foundational for social and academic problem-solving. It involves observing cues from peers and anticipating the outcomes of social interactions. In contrast, ‘Wacky Guesses’ are often inaccurate and stem from a lack of information.

To make a Smart Guess in social interaction, we need to figure out what people mean by what they say, and we try to figure out what someone’s facial expression or gesture means and what will happen next. 

This is something that can be a challenge for our children. Here are some strategies to support Smart Guess development:

  • Observation: Encourage children to notice everyday clues in their surroundings, aiding in making informed guesses about others’ thoughts and plans.
  • Guided Narration: Provide guidance during games or activities, helping children interpret and plan for potential outcomes.
  • Interactive Games: Engage in games like “Guess Who,” prompting children to observe, listen, and think critically about their environment.

By implementing these strategies, children can enhance their social insight and navigate interactions confidently and accurately.

Flexible and Stuck Thinking –

A high level of flexibility is needed to consider and adapt within social interaction.  In any given situation, we are expected to consider where we are, who is there, what is happening, what people are saying and doing around us, how they are feeling, and what they might be thinking, and adjust our plans and behaviour accordingly. 

A challenge in any of these areas can lead to getting “stuck” in Stuck Thinking.

Flexible Thinking means we can change our plan, try a different solution to a problem, change our thinking, or give up what we want based on the larger plan of the group.

Stuck thinking is the inability to change what we are doing or thinking based on what is happening around us. If we are Stuck Thinkers, we might see a problem or situation in only one way or follow one rule all the time, no matter where we are or what is happening around us.

Teaching flexibility begins with understanding that there are multiple ways to approach a situation, fostering problem-solving skills and a sense of control. Empowering children to recognise choices and alternatives makes them more comfortable with change, reducing frustrations and promoting active participation.

Incorporating “Flexible Thinking” and “Stuck Thinking” vocabulary in daily activities reinforces these concepts, facilitating smoother adaptation and enhancing social interactions.

Size of the Problem –

In daily life, a ‘problem’ is something that happens that is not part of the plan and makes people feel uncomfortable. Problems cause emotions and reactions of different sizes, and the size of the emotions and reactions are expected to match the size of the problem. 

Problems come in different sizes – 

Small problems can be resolved quickly, and children can handle them independently or with minimal help from others. Children can also aid each other in resolving minor problems, promoting collaboration and empathy.

Medium problems require more time and usually will need assistance from adults. 

Big problems take significant time to resolve and require extra help from others. When big problems happen, even adults may need help from other adults.

It’s crucial to acknowledge that everyone has the right to their own emotional reactions, shaped by their hardwiring (temperament) and life experiences. Encouraging children to understand the varying sizes of problems fosters emotional intelligence and resilience.

Parents can also model problem-solving behaviours and narrate their experiences to reinforce this understanding. This includes identifying the problem’s size, emotional reactions, and potential solutions. For example, what happened? What was the problem’s size? How did you feel about it? What did you do to solve it? How did you feel afterwards?

How Can Explore and Soar Help?

As Occupational Therapists, we target underlying regulation strategies to help children maintain and shift their attention and concentration to activities and navigate their thoughts, feelings, and actions. 

We implement ‘Social Thinking Concepts’ ideas within one-on-one sessions, peer sessions, group programs, and parent education to facilitate the transition into the home environment. You can learn more about our group programs on our website. 

Empowerment and Positive Behaviors

By encouraging children to share ideas and imaginations, we help them learn the skills that are crucial for more sophisticated social interactions and conversations with their peers. Implementing social thinking concepts can support and scaffold their social interactions, empowering them with confidence, resilience, and a foundation of positive social skills that endure throughout their lives.

During gameplay, it’s vital to acknowledge and reinforce positive social behaviours, such as good sportsmanship, cooperation, and empathy. By consistently praising these behaviours, we reinforce their importance and encourage their continuation.

Join us in nurturing our children’s social skills and imagination. Together, we can shape a brighter future filled with confident, resilient, and socially adept individuals. Give us a call today if you would like to find out more.

If you’d like to chat more, please don’t hesitate to contact us today! Call us on 0477 708 217 or email admin@exploreandsoar.com.au

Until Next Time,
Maddie

PUBLISHED APRIL 2024

References – We Thinkers! Volume 2 Social Problem Solvers

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Smooth Sailing Through Life’s Changes: Mastering Emotional Regulation During Transitions

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SMOOTH SAILING THROUGH LIFE’S CHANGES: MASTERING EMOTIONAL REGULATION DURING TRANSITIONS

As we delve deeper into 2024, emotional regulation is a prominent theme that goes hand in hand with supporting transitions.

Understanding Transitions

Transitions in life are inevitable. Whether it’s starting a new school year, moving to a new home, or experiencing changes within the family dynamic, transitions can be challenging for both parents and children alike. During these times of change, emotions can run high, leading to stress and uncertainty.

What is Emotional Regulation?

Emotional regulation refers to an individual’s ability to recognise, process and act upon the emotions that they feel within different situations on a regular day. It is one’s ability to adjust and control their energy level, emotions, behaviours, and attention to allow for success in connecting with our loved ones and engaging in our daily lives. We provide even more information on our “Tools to Support Emotions” blog.

Emotional regulation is a skill that is developed over time. Emotional regulation is essential for healthy emotional development and well-being throughout life. There are two stages to emotional regulation.

Co-regulation is the foundation for emotional development, allowing children to explore, learn and understand unfamiliar situations while parents support them by providing a safety net. 

Self-regulation involves the ability to notice and change/control one’s own feelings and adapt to surroundings. Emotional regulation is essential for healthy emotional development and well-being throughout life. To find out more information, refer to our “Emotional Regulation” blog.

The Emotional Rollercoaster

Transitions can evoke a range of emotions, from excitement and anticipation to anxiety and fear. Children who thrive on routine and stability may feel their sense of security disrupted, leading to vulnerability and insecurity. Similarly, parents may experience a mix of pride, worry, and doubt as they navigate unfamiliar territory. With the right tools and support, families can navigate transitions more smoothly, fostering emotional regulation and resilience along the way.

Strategies for Emotional Regulation

So, how can we help you support your child emotionally regulate during transitions? As Occupational Therapists, our role is to enable children and parents to recognise, understand and manage their emotions during times of change. Whether they are transitioning from breakfast to getting dressed or from home to school, navigating our emotions is a difficult task and can depend heavily on our sense of safety within ourselves and others and our connection to place, person, or thing. 

Here are some practical strategies and tools:

1. Transition Time: Allow ample time for transitions, providing a buffer for individuals to adjust mentally and emotionally.

2. Observation: Pay attention to the child’s body language, affect, tone of voice, and overall demeanour to gauge their emotional state.

  • Are we slouching our shoulders or dropping our head?
  • Are we smiling, and are our faces lit up? 
  • Is our tone of voice low, high-pitched, or fast-paced? 
  • Do we appear frazzled or disinterested?
  • Do we seem tired or overwhelmed from something that happened earlier?

3. Tools and Techniques we utilise, and you can too.

  • Visual schedules for predictability and routine. This also provides a point of orientation. 
  • Visual timers to set task timeframes and provide visual information of how long the task is.
  • Therapressure brushing is a technique for grounding and calming.
  • Therapeutic use of self for connection, following their lead and co-regulation.
  • Breathing exercises such as belly breathing or blowing bubbles.
  • Incorporating vestibular input through activities like wobble boards.
  • Providing oral input with stretches, cold drinks, or chewy foods.

Setting the Body Up

We call this process ‘Setting the Body Up’ as this prepares the body with sensory input and transition time to ease into daily activities.

Once our body is adequately ‘set up’ and we’ve allowed ‘transition time’. Transitions into daily activities won’t be as overwhelming. 

Emotional Continuum

We use cognitive-emotional strategies to support the emotional continuum. Strategies like sensory processing and cognitive strategies can help refine knowledge and apply skills in social situations. To learn more about how we use the above techniques as well as “Zones of Regulation,” “Size of Problem vs Reaction,” “The Alert Program,” “The Incredible Flexible You Series,” and “The Social Thinking Detectives” refer to our “The Emotional Continuum” blog. 

Embracing Change Together

Transitions are unpredictable, and allowing yourself grace in navigating them is essential. Understanding your own triggers and emotions is key to understanding how to emotionally regulate yourself. As parents, showing vulnerability can help model to our children that, YES, change can be scary, but you can do this as a TEAM.  Encourage open communication about challenges and solutions, empowering your child to take ownership and responsibility for the transition process.

Ask your child and yourself what is challenging about the transition to school/work or what makes it hard to go to soccer training or out for a catch-up with a friend in the afternoon, and what could we do to make it easier? This collaboration provides a sense of ownership and responsibility for our child and can result in increased adherence to routine, reducing the risk of emotional dysregulation.

Ready to embark on a smoother journey through life’s transitions? Start implementing these strategies today to foster emotional regulation and resilience in your family. Remember, every small step counts towards a smoother sail!

By implementing these strategies and fostering a supportive environment, families can navigate transitions more smoothly, fostering emotional regulation and resilience along the way. Contact us today if you would like to chat about transitions and how we can help.

If you’d like to chat more, please don’t hesitate to contact us today! Call us on 0477 708 217 or email admin@exploreandsoar.com.au

Until Next Time,
Molly

PUBLISHED MARCH 2024

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The Emotional Continuum

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THE EMOTIONAL CONTINUUM

Emotions; the one thing that many people find hard to acknowledge, understand and express freely. 

Yet they are the one thing that binds us together. They are a constant in out lives, changing as we navigate through day to day life. Our emotions live on a continuum and on any given day we eb and flow between them. 

At Explore and Soar, we describe this by using the terms optimal band of arousal and window of tolerance. Each allow us as humans to function optimally on any given day, to be able to maintain a home and  hold down a steady job as adults. For our children, being able to participate in everyday self-care activities, maintain engagement at school for learning and be flexible and dynamic in their thinking and feelings when socialising and playing with peers, is obtained when their optimal band of arousal is reached. 

There are many everyday functions and aspects of our lives that are relying on us to live in our optimal band of arousal, in order to attend and achieve these expectations. However, this is not always achievable and on any given day, our body and minds experience a range of emotions from our internal and external environments. When this happens, our ability to remain in an optimal band of arousal is not always achievable. Instead, we start moving on the emotional continuum either into a high arousal state of survival with responses of fight, flight, fright or freeze where an array of emotions and behaviours can become apparent or alternatively into a low arousal state where fatigue, tiredness or sickness can become apparent. 

Our ability to move consistently on the emotional continuum is guided by natural and unique instincts. 

By doing so, our body is expressing how we are feeling in the moment by telling our mind and body to respond in a particular way. As an example, if we are beginning to feel overwhelmed and stressed, moving into a heightened state, we are required to slow down to allow our body to rest. We can all become unstuck in this state from time to time, when we have difficulty regulating our emotions appropriately and being able to respond to our internal and external environment in an appropriate way, such as size of problem vs reaction. This is where the foundational emotional regulation skills of co-regulation from a young age and the development of self-regulation capacities is fundamental in supporting our children, but also enhances our adaptability and flexibility in all situations when we are older.

Take a look at our previous blog on co-regulation and self-regulation strategies >

In everyday life, if a child is expressing themselves with an action or emotion, that is their way of asking for help. As social beings we do not like expressing ourselves in a way that is perceived to be out of the norm, yet when things are not going ok for young children, their way of and asking for help is through emotive behaviour. As adults it is our job to be role models, provide support and teach them how to express their emotions appropriately. We must offer support to them as they move through these feelings, whilst trying to understand the situation at hand. That’s not always easy. Sometimes we as adults alone are unable to figure it out. This is where we as occupational therapists working within emotional regulation and sensory processing capacities can come in and help, to further breakdown what is going on, determine what is impacting our children and to determine the best strategy to support them in their daily experiences, on their own individual emotional continuum.

As occupational therapists there are a range of strategies and intervention options that we can do to support your whole family in better understanding each other’s emotional continuum. 

Our ultimate goal is to work successfully through everyday activities and allow you and your children to live your life to the fullest.  

Regulation strategies: As occupational therapists we can determine where each individual’s band of arousal sits on the emotional continuum. Once identified, we develop goals and implement strategies to support increased time in optimal throughout the day. Goals and strategies are targeting the development of co-regulation strategies with parents/caregivers and loved ones, self-regulation strategies and increasing the independence in identifying how your body is feeling and reacting, then completing strategies to calm, additionally reducing the time frame and recovery time if their emotions heighten. These are all powerful approaches to supporting our children in order to be successful in everyday activities. 

Take a look at our previous blog on co-regulation and self-regulation strategies >

Sensory processing activities: Utilising our individual sensory needs helps facilitate and develop regulation and achievement in maintaining an optimal band of arousal. Well known strategies such as heavy work, respiration and roughhousing strategies can be quick sensory activities in your everyday life in order to facilitate this. Over the years we have written about the benefits of all these strategies and you’ll see them regularly in our social media posts. This is because the benefits are paramount. This is also why you will see us in sessions working with our children with things like whistles, utilising oral motor strategies to support the development of skills, and individualised heavy work strategies (movement with resistance such as push, pull, lift, carry) to help achieve these outcomes. 

TRE (Trauma Release Exercises): Known as trauma release exercises are a simple yet innovative series of exercises that assist in the body in releasing deep muscular patterns of stress, tension and trauma. TRE can be implemented through an active way of exercises that activate the natural reflex mechanism of shaking or vibrating that releases muscular tension, required for calming down the nervous system. I have been utilising this strategy as a self-regulation and self-care tool for myself consistently since 2013. Due to the extreme benefits of TRE and my own love of it I then studied his intervention approach and have completed my qualification in 2018-2019 to become a trained trainer. Since then, I have been implementing these strategies within our sessions with our children where needed through a passive, non-invasive and safe way. This strategy has been successfully implemented with adults and children in altering their band of optimal arousal and increasing their control and confidence in sitting in the emotional continuum. Do not hesitate to seek further knowledge and information from us on this method.

Cognitive emotional strategies: When working on the emotional continuum, sometimes using sensory processing and bottom up strategies are effective, but can be complimentary providing top down cognitive strategies to assist in the refinement of knowledge and applying these skills in social situations or transfer these skills in everyday environments, including home, school (classroom and playground), and the community. Some strategies you will see us utilising in sessions are concepts of ‘Zones of Regulation’, ‘Size of Problem vs Reaction’, ‘The Alert Program’, ‘The Incredible Flexible You Series’ and ‘The Social Thinking Detectives’. These strategies for us are generally used once the development of the above mentioned skills have been supporting each individual’s emotional continuum and then building these skills on top of. 

As a team we are always building our knowledge and exploring further strategies and intervention approaches to enhance our children’s emotional capacities and independence. Ultimately we are all learning to understand and identify their emotions on a daily basis. The emotional continuum is so important to us as it allows our children to build their confidence, self-worth, self-awareness and to develop strong foundational blocks in order to achieve success in their life. Don’t hesitate to chat to us further about how we can support you and your children with their emotional regulation capacities. 

Until next time,
Jess

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED MARCH 3, 2021

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