Each day, our brains organize incoming information, sensations, and more so that we can participate in and perform meaningful activities in different environments. For children to successfully engage in these activities they must feel safe and regulated. This blog aims to explore the different arousal levels, discuss the implications of mismatched arousal levels within different environments, and suggest sensory strategies to increase engagement for your children. 

The ability to regulate emotions and cope during times of stress or failure are important skills for children to develop. Emotional regulation promotes self-reflection and resiliency, and the right tools and strategies can help your child recover from disappointment or irritation faster, solve problems under stress, and adapt to other environments. This blog will cover a variety of strategies you can use to help your child develop the ability to regulate their emotions.  

Many people use masking behaviors daily, especially those in the Autistic community. This blog will explain what masking is and how to identify those behaviors.

Is it difficult to determine the best way to de-escalate a situation or meltdown with your child? This handout provides guidelines on the do’s and do not’s of verbal intervention (what to say and how to say it) with your child when navigating difficult situations.

Navigating challenging behaviors with our children is hard. This handout provides 10 strategies to implement in/around those difficult situations in order to promote more positive interactions and outcomes for both you and your child.

Today, join Ashleigh (SLP) as she chats with Kathleen (OT) all about behavior: how to support your kids, strategies to use, and how to re-frame your perspective during those stressful times.

Children with sensory and executive functioning challenges often struggle with daily demands resulting in regular meltdowns. When a child’s nervous system feels taxed, something like putting on their coat can lead to a meltdown. As caregivers, it’s our job to identify why behaviors occur so we can give our children the tools to self-regulate. When we view behavior as an attempt to communicate, we begin to understand our children better and can help predict and prevent future meltdowns. Read on to learn strategies to predict and understand your child’s meltdowns and provide the tools they need to overcome those moments.