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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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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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Team Culture

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TEAM CULTURE

Over the last few months we have had the privilege of sharing the way in which we as a team can provide support to our clients and families; through a multidisciplinary team approach, therapeutic assistant support and the way in which OT’s share their skills through our own unique lense. 

To be a part of a great team and work alongside some amazing health professionals is a privilege. 

Our desire to offer support, bring joy and give back to our communities through effective collaboration, is the driving force of everything we do.

The Explore and Soar team love working together in our regular meetings. I always encourage creativity and the freedom to express ideas, recommendations and thoughts with one another. Often our greatest ideas stem from our team catch ups. We spend the time bouncing off one another’s energy, brainstorming and providing support or encouragement when needed. As we are a mobile business, it’s vital for us to put aside the time regularly to maintain a positive and productive team culture.

Team culture at Explore and Soar revolves around building strength and unity together, where open communication and connection is paramount. Ensuring that these things remain a core focus, allows us to collectively feel empowered whilst working independently but also allows us to work efficiently and cohesively as a team. Without this integral core value, our quality of service, knowledge and connection with our clients and families would not be present. It is what sets us apart; our connection and relationships. 

Maintaining connection within our team is also encouraged through staff development and training days. These are vital for the continued development of knowledge, skills and support. We also share time together through staff retreats and team days where we can reconnect with each other in order to sustain our culture as a team. This has been paramount over the last few months as we have now doubled our team! To ensure our quality of service remains the same, we must maintain a cohesive work flow and communication. It’s important that we bring our best individual qualities together, placing value on our individual strengths, further allowing us to expand our knowledge as a team. 

Our connectedness as a team allows us to offer adaptive, creative and flexible support options to our clients. In addition, our ability to build relationships and connections with your whole family, whilst collaborating with other services, means that we are able to attain the best results for your unique and desired goals.

As we are a mobile business, our way of connecting can sometimes be different within our own team. That’s why it’s so important for us to maintain our regular coffee debriefs, training days and phone calls in amongst our busy schedules. We offer each other support and advice throughout our weeks and sessions with clients – ensuring that the whole team is there to support our communities and one another.

As we finish one year and get ready to step forward into another, we are truly excited to be expanding our team further in order to support our families. We plan to end the year on a positive note, with excitement for the future and by continuing to offer the highest level of support to our clients. 

Keep an eye out on our socials for some new team members in the coming weeks! We look forward to introducing some new faces to you all!

Until next time,
Jess

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 4, 2020

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Multidisciplinary Approach

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MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH

Building a multidisciplinary team involves a range of professionals from different disciplines, working in harmony to provide care. 

At Explore and Soar, a multidisciplinary approach is about building a strong team around our families, in order to provide high quality, best evidence intervention, coaching and strategies to reach the desired outcomes of each individual and family. 

This process can be somewhat overwhelming but incredibly powerful and rewarding.  

So let’s start by talking about the definition of multidisciplinary care, in order to give you a little more detail on what’s involved.

The following definition outlines the objectives as well as some of the challenges involved in the provision of multidisciplinary team care:

Multidisciplinary care – when professionals from a range of disciplines work together to deliver comprehensive care that addresses as many of the patient’s needs as possible. This can be delivered by a range of professionals functioning as a team under one organisational umbrella or by professionals from a range of organisations, including private practice, brought together as a unique team. As a patient’s condition changes over time, the composition of the team may change to reflect the changing clinical and psychosocial needs of the patient.

Mitchell G.K., Tieman, J.J., and Shelby-James T.M. (2008), Multidisciplinary care planning and teamwork in primary care, Medical Journal of Australia, Vol. 188, No. 8, p.S63.

So now that we know what it involves, how do you find the right team?

Trying to navigate the world of health professionals and creating a seamless connection between each discipline can become somewhat arduous. Deciding on the right individuals that best suit your family and that work well together as a team can take years to build. Having a strong connection and trust with each member of your team is essential. 

It’s important to remember that nothing worth having, ever comes easily. Building the right team can take time and may mean that you will be seeing multiple different professionals until you find the right ones for you. 

But here is the key to successfully building a great multidisciplinary team – it all starts with just one connection and finding that first perfect fit.

Whether you are just starting your journey in the allied health world or you have been working with different professionals for years, exercise patience and keep searching for that first perfect fit. Once you find one professional that you trust, everything will change for the better. This will have a flow on effect with the rest of the required team members. Often if you find a great fit with your OT, they can then recommend a wonderful speech pathologist or physiotherapist that would be the best fit for your family. 

Personally, I too am building my own allied health team after my recent accident.

A team that I can trust, connect to and one that fits seamlessly with my values and goals. One that will support me as I continue to embark on my journey back to full health. In doing so, I have learnt the complexities behind my own injuries, long term implications and affects I will be working through and on, for the years to come. My own team is now quickly building around me in order to personally help me through these challenges, and this is what I hope and wish for you. A strong team to build you up, to inform, educate and support you in the decisions you make for you, your child and your family. 

Professionally speaking, working as a part of a multidisciplinary team brings me so much joy! I have been working alongside some fabulous and highly qualified clinicians for the last decade and have witnessed the benefits of multiple disciplines coming together first hand. 

As occupational therapists we work closely with a range of allied health professionals; speech pathologists, physiotherapists, psychologists and chiropractors, just to name a few. The real power of collaboration lies in open communication and the transference of strategies across our therapy intervention sessions. 

Our love for working within multidisciplinary teams to build support around our clients, families and communities continues to be one of our greatest strengths and passions at Explore and Soar. We are always looking at exploring the best ways to support our families. 

At Explore and Soar we are always listening to the needs of our clients. We pride ourselves on being able to assist you in building a high quality allied health team that achieves your desired goals. So please never hesitate to reach out and ask us any questions that you may have! We want nothing but the best for you, your child and your family – and we won’t stop until that is delivered with a team that you trust.

Over the next month you will see some posts on our social media detailing how occupational therapists work with other allied health professionals to achieve our clients goals. Follow us on Instagram or Facebook (links below) and learn about the ways in which a multidisciplinary team can work together to achieve your goals. 

Until next time,
Jess

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 2, 2020

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