Based on the work of Stanley Greenspan, PhD & Serena Wieder, PhD Discover Your Child s Sensory Response Patterns: Too much? Too Little? Just Right! Ricki G Robinson, MD, MPH Step 2: Webcast 12 Webcast 12 Goals Explore your child s sensory response patterns Learn strategies based on your child s sensory response profile to help him stay calmly focused and engaged with you Experience the mutual feeling of connection and enjoyment when regulation is sustained in play Toolbox Strategies Tailor to Individual Differences 1
Welcome! You ve been learning about your child s sensory preferences and challenges Your child s sensory response patterns may also contribute to his individual differences Welcome! Sensations from the environment that seem ordinary to most of us may be very challenging for your child to tolerate, resulting in a loss of regulation (more of this term to come!) and difficulty maintaining engagement and interactions Welcome In this webcast we will explore how you can.. Discover your child s sensory response patterns and Use Toolbox strategies to help him/her stay calm and ready to attend and engage with you 2
Sensory Response Patterns: How people respond when they are exposed to sensations from their environment or their own bodies. Types of sensory response patterns include: Typical Over-responsive Under-responsive Sensory-craving Mixed Typical Sensory Response Pattern: Expected reaction that most people will experience when exposed to sensations - range of response can be wide Regulation: The ability to take in sensory information (and disregard irrelevant information) while maintaining the attention to engage with activities or other people 3
Sensory Overload: When a child takes in too much sensory information and can t focus on what is relevant May result in constant shifts of attention, flitting from one thing to the next Dysregulation: When a child s behavior becomes unregulated and no longer matches the expected range of responses for an interaction or activity Dysregulation looks different for every child, depending on his/her individual response patterns Dysregulation due to sensory responses are often misinterpreted as untoward behaviors Over-responsive: When the response to sensation is more than what is typical Often the response is painful, fearful or anxious These children can go from 0 to 60 in moments if reacting to sensations they find unpleasant 4
Children who are over-responsive are often described as... Irritable, fussy, moody,anxious Prone to tantrums especially during activity transitions and unexpected changes Aggressive (though remorseful about it) Impulsive Excessively cautious and/or controlling Afraid to try new things Parents of these children often say they have to walk on egg shells around their child, not knowing when or why the next episode may occur Under-responsive: When response to a sensation is less than what is typical These children often seem not to be responding to the environment, as if unaware of what s going on around them Often their bodies are also very low-toned Children who are under-responsive are often described as... Passive, quiet, withdrawn Self-absorbed Lost in their own world Hard to engage in interaction Excessively slow to respond Aimless Aloof Parents often question whether these children are even aware of others in the world around them 5
Sensory-Craving Response: When children seek sensory input more than typical or expected, such as Excessively touching, smelling or tasting things Making excessive sounds Constantly moving Children with a sensory-craving response are often described as Hyperactive Angry or explosive when asked to stop what they re doing Intense, demanding, hard to calm Prone to create situations often perceived as risky or dangerous Excessively affectionate Children who have sensory-craving responses engage in excessive activity but never experience the reward or satisfaction Mixed Sensory Response Pattern: When the response to sensations varies from over-responsive to under-responsive to sensory-craving behaviors. For example, a child may be Under-responsive to voices and not respond yet be the first to hear an airplane overhead and/or always make his/her own sounds (Under-responsive to foreground and overresponsive to background sensations) Under-responsive to sound but overresponsive to touch 6
Questions to Consider... What are my child s sensory response patterns? Am I able to support those sensory responses that are challenging for my child? Am I able to help my child stay regulated so that he can join with me in interactions? Am I able to keep myself regulated when my child has sensory overload and breakdowns? Questions to Consider... When my child is regulated what happens to our interactions? Does he/she show more or less attention and engagement? Do we have more circles of interaction? How does it feel when he is regulated? Does your child notice too? Idea 1 Explore your child s sensory response patterns 7
Strategies Observe your child s sensory reactions and fill in the 3 Sensory Response Questionnaires in your Workbook Determine for each sense whether your child s responses are Typical, Over-reactive, Under-reactive and/or Sensory-craving Record these observations to create your child s Sensory Response Patterns in his/her Individual Profile Sensory Response Checklist Example Individual Profile Example 8
Pause and Reflect Now review and record your child s sensory response pattern for each sense in your Individual Profile Idea 2 Support your child s sensory response patterns to help him stay regulated and engaged as you play Strategies If your child is OVER-RESPONSIVE, think S SOOTHE - voice, tone, music, white noise, deep pressure SOFTEN - voice SLOW - movement, voice SIMPLIFY - space with lights off, sound down... 9
Pause and Reflect (Video 4: Trent Soothe RR Edits.mov) Which S strategies did Lisette use to support her interaction with Trent? What happened when strategies tailored to Trent s sensory response pattern was used during the interactions? More attention? Engagement? Circles? Gleam? What might have happened if Lisette had not used S strategies and become insistent that Trent needed to get going? If she had added fuel to the fire? Strategies If your child is UNDER-RESPONSIVE, think G GEAR UP... Become the actor on the stage Show what you mean Use drama Use high affect cues: tone of voice, movements, facial expression GET MOVING...Get his body GOING! Swing, bounce, dance GIVE A NUDGE Pause and Reflect (Video 5: Baz RR Edits 1-2-3 linked together...edits 2.mov) Which G strategies did Laura use to support her interaction with Baz? What happened when strategies tailored to Baz s sensory response pattern was used during the interactions? More attention? More engagement? More circles? More gleam? 10
Strategies If your child is SENSORY-CRAVING, think D DESIRE: Use your relationship making it bigger than the sensory attractions DELETE: Eliminate offenders from the environment (such as fans, lights, switches, water spigots) DIVERT: Change your child s attention from the sensory attraction to a functional goal-oriented activity that is relationship-based Pause and Reflect (Video 6- Mitch with Michelle tape, cars and bridge (longer)) Which D strategies did Michelle use to support her interaction with Mitchel? What role did their relationship play? What happened when strategies tailored to Mitchel s sensory response pattern was used during the interactions? More attention? More engagement? More circles? More gleam? More problem-solving? Strategies If your child has a MIXED Response (any combination of over-reactive, under-reactive and sensory-craving response), use.. S G and D strategies as needed 11
Idea 3 Help your child tolerate challenging sensations through your relationship Strategies Relax - Stay regulated yourself Be confident that your relationship will help support your child during challenging sensory based behaviors and breakdowns Believe in your child and show through your affect that he can get through the situation Use your emotional expression to let your child know you understand he is having difficulty and to give meaning to what is happening... Oh, that alarm is so loud, it must hurt! Strategies Use the appropriate response strategies (S,G,and/or D) and then offer options for next steps (such as, Should we stay or leave? or Do you want ear phones? ) that empower your child to help himself Take time to work through the hard moments and allow your child the opportunity to practice strategies he can rely on and use when needed - even when you are not there to help! SENSORY REGULATION IS THE NAME OF THE GAME! 12
Pause and Reflect (Video 7: Steel ball 2.mov) What response strategies did Danielle use to help Steel stay calm enough to follow through with his new task even though he had not done this before? Was Danielle encouraging? Did she maintain her regulation? What message did this give to Steel? Do you think Steel would have thrown the ball without Danielle s support?... to explore and support your child s sensory response patterns Questions to Consider... What are my child s sensory response patterns? Am I able to support those sensory responses that are challenging for my child? Am I able to help my child stay regulated so that he can join with me in interactions? Am I able to keep myself regulated when my child has sensory overload and breakdowns? 13
Questions to Consider... When my child is regulated what happens to our interactions? Does he/she show more or less attention and engagement? Do we have more circles of interaction? How does it feel when he is regulated? Does your child notice too? When It s Not Working... Do I understand my child s sensory response profile? Did I miss (or not addressing all of) one of his sensory challenges? Am I using the S, G or D strategies at the right times? Am I keeping myself regulated in the moment? Is my reaction adding to my child s dysregulation? Determine your child s Sensory Response Profile Take Away Strategies S for over-responsive: Soothe, Soft, Slow, Simplify G for under-responsive: Gear up, Get moving, Give a nudge D for sensory-craving: Desire, Delete, Divert Keep yourself regulated Believe your child can make it through the situation Use your emotional expression to support and engage during your child s sensory dysregulation Once regulated, offer options to empower your child to help himself next time 14
Profectum Parent Toolbox We are grateful to all those who have supported this series. Our thanks to... This webcast series is based on the work of Stanley Greenspan, MD and Serena Wieder, PhD This series has been made possible by a Grant from the John and Marcia Goldman Foundation Celebrate the Children School and Exceptional Minds Studio for their contributions to this series Profectum faculty and staff Each and every family who allowed us to enter their lives, join their journey and videotape their progress and who then went the extra mile to allow us to share these moments with you 15