General Information
Sensitive Children in Quarantine and How to Help Them Thereafter
We’re continuing our discussion of strategies to help sensitive children adjust to life after quarantine. Some children may struggle with separation anxiety.
Others will be hesitant to participate in group activities out of learned shyness from social distancing. Some may even be afraid of this virus that all the adults have been talking about for so long.
Considerations for supporting children with each of those challenges are covered in my last article. But today, I want to spend some time focusing on feelings in general.
No matter what specific challenges your children (and maybe even you yourself!) might face during this transitional period, it’s important to have strategies in mind for managing your feelings.
Much like preparing for an overwhelming activity – like the fireworks discussion we’ve been having lately – we don’t want to wait until the moment of overwhelm to start practicing emotional regulation.
Understand that being emotional does not equal bad behaviour
Emotions are a core part of being human. You cannot be blamed for how you feel. You should not invalidate how your child feels, either. It’s important that everyone knows that concept before moving forward.
Let’s not shame our children for their body’s natural response to fear, anxiety, or anger.
However, learning to manage oneself appropriately is critical for success in social settings. Understanding and practicing naming your emotion and regulating yourself back to a state of calm is a difficult, but necessary skillset for us all.
Transitional periods can often trigger fear, anxiety, or anger. That’s why now is a great time to start discussing and practicing emotional regulation strategies with your whole family, and to review your own while you’re at it.
Strategies for keeping feelings in check
1. Use the How Do You Feel Chart to get ideas of how to start conversations about feelings and emotions. The chart offers a visual guide for children to understand how they feel, physical symptoms for the to consider, and a few strategies on how to regulate.
2. Deep breathing may sound cliché, but it’s one of the easiest ways to physically help yourself regulate anxiety and emotion. Your body has a built-in mechanism that connects slow, deep breathing with restfulness and calm.
After all, when “fight or flight” kicks in from fear, your body will react by freezing in place with shallow, sustained breath, or by running away with fast, short breaths to accompany the movement.
3. Mindfulness is a buzzword these days, and for good reason. Mindfulness is the act of learning to live in the moment. It’s about being mindful about your current activity, the food you are eating, the conversations you have.
When we spread our attention thin among several things at once, we are not just dividing our attention, but we are also dividing our sensory processing abilities.
We stretch our mental and emotional capacities thinner and thinner, and are less able to practice minute differences in our emotional state. We are less able to self-regulate. Read more about mindfulness and tips for practicing mindfulness in our lives.
4. Practice focusing on happy thoughts. If parents have this attitude, kids will follow! Here’s how: When you are involved in a positive experience (a happy moment), treasure it in your memory, think of it as often as possible, re-visit these thoughts when negative thoughts pop up in your mind.
- Focus on small, positive events such as a game played with a parent, a beautiful tree, a pleasant smelling flower, a smile from a stranger – do not let these moments pass, treasure them and focus on them, keep them in your memory.
- Practice gratitude, for the big and small things – from a big present to a cuddle with a pet.
- Be kind, do something positive for others. For example, teach your child to make the perfect cup of tea for a parent, and show your gratitude every time to enjoy it.
- Create fun and positive family experiences, write them down, and put them in a jar on the centre of the table as a reminder. Pull a happy thought from the jar when you need to practice distraction from fear and anxiety.
- Acknowledge negative thoughts, but do not ponder on it for a long time. Trial different strategies to either solve the problem or to turn the negative thoughts into positive thoughts by practicing the above-mentioned ideas.
If your family is having a particularly difficult time these days, feel free to book a CoordiConsult with family counsellor Marga Grey.
Using CoordiKids to boost self-regulation throughout the day
Movement breaks are a great way to help children regulate throughout the day. Based on research and experience, the exercises used in our CoordiKids Home course program are all about encouraging students with targeted movements to help them focus, concentrate and feel refreshed throughout their day.
Designed by our team of paediatric occupational therapists, these exercises are packed into videos that run for 5-10 minutes with which students can simply follow along as part of the regular classroom schedule.
Our goal was to provide teachers with a simple activity with plug-and-play capabilities that won’t cause them undue additional preparation time.
At CoordiKids, we might be known for our specialist work in sensory, fine, and gross motor skill development, but children at all levels benefit from movement breaks.
How movement breaks can improve self-regulation and behaviour
Movement breaks have been shown to help increase concentration and focus, as well as increase the efficiency of learning in general. 5 minutes of movement between lessons can make a huge impact in your student’s attention and behavior.
Movement breaks also allow students a chance to regulate or interrupt any anxiety or stress.
Following directions, sitting still without blurting out or having emotional outburst at every turn are all correlated with one’s ability to self-regulate.
Exercise in general has a positive effect on emotional regulation of both children and adults. Moreover, the specific exercises used in this type of class-wide occupational therapy movement breaks like CoordiKids Home course program target the brain-body connections that aid children in physically being able to regulate their emotions better.
Specifically, vestibular stimulation movements have been scientifically shown to improve self-regulation of emotions (along with coordination, balance, and focus on tasks).
Vestibular stimulation activities target the vestibular system in the inner ear. These specific types of movement are among the best type of self-regulation activities for kids. The vestibular system is triggered with head movements.
A common example of this type of movement is bending over at the waist and straightening back up again – anything that moves the head in drastically different directions.
That’s why the CoordiKids program includes several vestibular movements as self-regulation activities for kids.
What is the CoordiKids Classroom Course?
Designed by our team of paediatric occupational therapists, the exercises of CoordiClass are packed into videos that run for 5-10 minutes with which students can simply follow along as part of the regular homeschool or classroom schedule.
Teachers or homeschooling parents play the CoordiClass videos once a day. Each video takes approximately five to ten minutes to complete, and exercises may be reinforced throughout the day as necessary.
Many of the exercises complement or parallel the self-regulation activities for kids offered in the CoordiKids How Do You Feel curriculum for Teaching Emotional Regulation Skills to students.
With a new set of exercises available every week for 30 weeks, CoordiClass covers a full school year, providing consistent and progressive learning!
But, does it really work?
We are always tweaking our programs based on feedback from you, the parents and teachers. But, after our initial launch of the program with students ranging in age from 8-11 years, this is what the teachers utilizing the program for the first time had to say about using CoordiClass:
Teacher 1: “At the beginning some Grade 4 students refused to participate, by the end of a week, all children took part. Within 2 weeks, CoordiClass became an important part of the day.”
Teacher 2: “Students were much more settled and attentive following CoordiClass. A very worthwhile program.”
Teacher 3: “I found CoordiClass especially beneficial before reading groups for Year 4 students.”
Teacher 4: “I use CoordiClass at least once every day, but more and as often as the time table permits!”
Teacher 5: “I use CoordiClass twice per day. It helps students to re-focus during a 2-hour learning block. The Grade 6’s enjoyed the exercises!”
Teacher 6: “I use CoordiClass twice per day if possible. I definitely observe my class working a lot more quiet and settled for the duration of the morning.” (Year 6 class)
In summary
The teachers, as a group, reported that after a 5-minute CoordiClass movement break they observed a 90% – 100% reduction in:
- the number of children fidgeting,
- children in need of repeated instructions,
- children in need of re-direction to sit still and to stop talking, and
- in children re-directed to stay on task.