Written by Nicky Ellis – www.horsesandfoals.com 
Horses have shared a bond with man for many thousand years. Horses have been used extensively to transport goods as well as people. Horses have also lent help in the fields of construction and agriculture. They are also used in sports such as horse racing, polo etc. and also for recreational riding purposes. Over the last few decades, horses have also contributed to helping individuals with physical disabilities, mental health, and behavioral issues.
Let’s take a look at how these gentle animals help promote developmental benefits.

1. Positive influence on fitness and health
2. A boost in scholastic performance
3. Effective tackling of Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD)
4. Boost in confidence
5. Helps ingrain positive traits

1. Positive influence on fitness and health
It has become extremely easy as well as affordable to gain access to the latest technological gadgets, in this digital age.Children are often found engrossed with games on their smartphones or tablets or watching mindless television. These habits lead to a sedentary lifestyle and can oftentimes lead to physical health problems including childhood obesity. It also hampers their creativity, reasoning power and the capability of thinking logically.
Bringing kids in the outdoors has many benefits. Besides breathing in the crisp and fresh air, your child learns to be in sync with their natural surroundings. Taking in fresh air helps boost memory, and also keeps your child’s mind active. It also helps your child improve their creativity. Introducing your child to a sports activity such as horseback riding will be a good motivation for them to spend time outdoors.
Horseback riding is an excellent form of exercise to the body as well as the mind. This activity helps utilize the core muscles optimally. In order to avoid falling off the horse and maintain a steady balance, when engaged in horseback riding, the rider is required to use the muscles of the inner thighs and the pelvic muscles. Usage of these particular muscle groups help children in developing a correct posture at an early age. It also improves flexibility and helps build muscle tone. Besides promoting good health, activities such as horseback riding are great for burning off calories.
When your child is mounted on a horse, you are highly likely to think that the horse is carrying the weight of your child and walking/running as well. Therefore all the hard work is done by the horse and not your child. This, however, is not the case. The rider is required to put in an equal amount of effort when engaged in horseback riding. The rider must adjust their body position and balance to match the horse’s movements. This helps your child sharpen their focus on the task at hand – staying mounted on the horse and navigating the horse to stay on track.
2. A boost in scholastic performance
Extensive research has proven that the cognitive ability of the children, who engaged in horseback riding, showed great improvement. Research has also proven that the vibrations given out by a horse when it is being ridden, has the ability to activate the sympathetic nervous system in the brain of humans.In layman’s terms, what this means is – horseback riding can help children get better at problem-solving, improve and increase their learning ability, strengthen their memory power and sharpen their focus. All of these skills and qualities acquired when engaging in horseback riding, spill over into children’s academics as well. Such children are better disposed to take on academic tasks and do well in school.
3. Effective tackling of Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD)
Even if a child doesn’t have a diagnosis like ADHD or Autism, it is imperative to understand that the child could still be struggling with attention and concentration in their class. Some kids might ‘appear’ to be struggling with an SPD (Sensory Processing Disorder) or may have unidentified sensory issues.
Sensory processing issues can involve extreme or overwhelming responsiveness to a host of stimuli. These stimuli can involve balance, body awareness, sounds, sights, touch, taste, smell etc. The vestibular sense organs in our body help us with experiencing body balance and spatial orientation. These sense organs are situated inside the inner ear. These are stimulated by the incline, speed and direction change.Horseback riding gives the required stimulation to energize the sensory preceptors.
When engaged in horseback riding, children who have an underdeveloped sense of balance are able to figure out how they must adjust their body position to match the horse’s movements to avoid falling off. As mentioned earlier, horseback riding helps build the muscle tone. They learn how to get a good grasp of reins as well. All this helps children learn about motor control and body balance.
4. Boost in confidence
When children are faced with the challenge of riding an animal that is more than twice their size, they are highly likely to feel daunted by the task. However, with proper guidance and training, when they are able to mount the horse and ride it, you will notice a remarkable surge in their confidence. This confidence that children earn in their formative years plays a key role in ensuring that they develop a well-rounded and wholesome personality as they grow up. This confidence also helps children develop a larger peer group, which has a positive impact on their well-being.
5. Helps ingrain positive traits
When children learn horseback riding, they also learn how to care for the horse , how to feed the horse and groom it. This helps develop a strong bond between the horse and child. This way children learn to put the needs of the horse before themselves. Traits like these spill over into their day to day lives and children become more caring and compassionate towards their family and friends.
When learning horseback riding, children meet other kids who share a similar liking for horses. This helps them develop a friend circle outside their school. It also helps them learn and develop social skills.
Children are also likely to engage in friendly races with their friends at the horseback riding facility. This teaches them to accept winning and losing with equal grace. They learn the importance of sportsmanship through healthy competition.
Other Articles from LifeSkills4Kids with more tips on Sensory Processing Disorders :

• An Overview of Sensory Processing Behaviours and Protective Factors: The See-Saw Model of Sensory Processing
• How to Know If Your Kid Has Sensory Issues and How Can You Help
• SPD and Anxiety – How Do Symptoms Look Similar (and Different) in Classrooms
• Idenfitying Sensory Issues that Impact Learning in the Classroom
• Sensory Processing Disorer (SPD) and Anxiety – How are they similar and different?

Written by Nicky Ellis – www.horsesandfoals.com 

How to use a calendar to help transition back to school?

Here’s how!
Summer holidays can be the carefree, fun-packed time of experience and shared experiences which neither kids nor mums and dads want to end. It can be very appealing (and rightly so!) to make the most of every day of the school vacation, especially the days which directly precede the back to school date on your calendar.
Keep in mind however, to also do some preparation so that the shift back to school can be a smooth, confident one for both you and your kids.
What are the triggers that can potentially cause challenges for your kids when they are faced with returning to school?

How can the transition back to school be difficult for you and your kids?

• Feeling rushed – you’ve had a great summer and then suddenly the holidays are over and it’s time to return to school
• Disorganised – those last few days go SO quickly!
• Morning routine is difficult to return into
• Difficulty in getting out of bed/out of your home on time
• Mums and dads are nervous about the kids being okay
• Kids can be distressed about:
  • What will my new teacher be like?
  • Will my new schoolmates like me?
  • Will I be able to sit with my friends?
  • Who will I sit with at lunch?
  • What if I miss the school bus?
  • Will people make fun of me?
  • What if I don’t understand the lessons?
  • Will I look foolish?

How, as mums and dads, can we minimize these triggers for our kids and facilitate a smooth shift back to school?

Using a Calendar to Help Transition Back to School

Everybody, parents and children alike, prosper on routine and this holds specifically true when, as a household, we are confronted with the prospect of going back to school.
It is very important to take a look at methods of decreasing stress and anxiety around that date and finding a way to make going back to school an exciting, organised and positive experience.

Using a Timeline/Calendar

• Make a timeline together or go shopping and choose a big calendar that you both like.
• Calendars are often offered for the scholastic year and these can be perfect to prepare all of the household for getting back into the swing of school life.
• A timeline can be a great tool in helping all of the household lower any school stress and anxiety that they may have.
• All kids like to be involved in choices that effect them and their households.
• Make a timeline that covers the last 2 weeks prior to school starts and the following 2 weeks when school has started.
• For the last 2 weeks of the holidays, factor in treats and rewards as well as challenges which the household will need to attain to receive the treat or reward. For example, all of the household should get up 10 minutes earlier every day for the first week of your timeline to be able to enjoy the daily rewards that have been planned.
• Plan these joint challenges so that they assist your kids (and you!) to cope and get used to the early morning regimen once again or leaving your house on time each day.
• For the first 2 weeks of school, factor in after school activities, activities at the weekend and decide in advance who will choose your kids up from school each day.
• This visual structure, which you can display somewhere for you all to see, will provide a more mild re-introduction of the back to school regimen than if you all of a sudden panic on the night before school and try to arrange yourself and your kids out!
• If you leave tasks to the eleventh hour you are producing stress and anxiety in children and yourselves – which is a dish for disaster on the first day back and will take days or perhaps weeks to pull back.

Agree on a Morning Routine to Help Transition Back to School

• A visual timetable can be invaluable for lowering anxiety and enabling your kids to efficiently shift from vacation to school time.
• Visual timetables are typically utilized in school, so prior to completion of the academic year, find out from them what sort of symbols, words, images they use daily.
• Utilizing familiar visual hints in your home can increase self-confidence in your kids and this will likewise spill over into minimizing any school anxiety they might have.
• If it’s possible, this is an excellent activity to include your kids in well prior to the stressors of imminent school, you can develop and create an early morning schedule together.
• You can make this activity enjoyable by utilizing timers to find out how long it requires to get on a school uniform or make a jam-packed lunch or pack a swimming bag.
• When you have actually exercised the timings of activities that you require to consist of in your early morning schedule, then you can add those timings into it and find out what time you will all need to get up to be ready to leave your house at a set time.
• Enabling kids to take ownership of their early morning schedule by working it out with you is an excellent method to increase their feeling of responsibility, whilst lowering anxiety at the exact same time.

Have family ‘Golden Time’ to Help Transition Back to School

Your kids may well be familiar with ‘Golden Time’, which often happens in schools on a Friday afternoon. The offer at school is if the kids have actually got their stickers/rewards for the week, then during Golden Time they get to choose their preferred activity.
All of us like to feel special and have quality, one-to-one time with the people we like. Add into your calendar a daily Golden Check-In Time at home with your kid. (You could have two of these if it works, one in the early morning and one in the evening).
Plan a 10-30 minute time with your young person and include it in the calendar.
Make this time unique and pick together what you want to do throughout this time, examples could be:

• Make and share hot chocolate with marshmallows and relax on the couch together (NO smart phones, NO disturbances!).
• Share a video game, take your pet dog for a walk, go outdoors and construct a cubby house / go to beach.
• Have a pamper session – a manicure, pedicure, facial – whatever you both enjoy!
• Construct a design together, paint together.
• The possibilities are unlimited!
• The most IMPORTANT thing to remember is that while you are taking pleasure in each others’ company, you also chat about how your child is feeling, ensuring they are okay, that school is okay and they are mentally in an ok place.

In general, with some thoughts and early preparation, the trauma of going back to school can be handled efficiently and in a positive way. Taking a little bit of time to put some strategies into practice can positively affect your child and your whole family too.

Happy New Year!  This is a great time of the year to take a bit of time and reflect on what has happened over the last 12 months.  Now that the hectic festive season is (hopefully!) calming down, I invite you to look back and congratulate yourself on ALL the wonderful things you’ve done to make your family a cohesive, happy and relaxed unit.  Equally, be curious about things that are not quite working yet, it is the nature of living within a family that you are bound to have some issues which are still a ‘work in progress’.

Let’s do some reflections on 2018 and analyse what worked for your family.

Tips before you start:

• The paper and pens you use do not have to be lined
• If it works for you, you could use different colours and potentially use blank paper
• Sometimes the freedom of blank paper will allow you to express yourself how you want to, without any constraints
• If you prefer to use a tablet or a computer, feel free to do so – if you choose this though, make sure you print it – so that you can see what you have written
• If you can, find yourself a quiet space, where you know that you will not be disturbed and if you need to, you can always set a certain amount of time to give you parameters to work within.  (All humans like to have boundaries, it helps us feel safe!)

So, take a bit of time out of your busy day, make yourself a cuppa, find yourself a pen and paper and answer the following questions:

What were the wins for your child/ family?

• Be kind to yourself, sometimes it can seem like you have no wins to celebrate
• BUT take a step back, look at the big picture and write down some of those WOW moments that you’ve experienced over the last 12 months (and even further back than that if you want to – you could look back at 1 year ago, 3 years ago and then 5 years ago)
• Remember, it doesn’t matter how small these wins are – little steps are just as valuable as big steps
• What matters is the continuity of you not giving up, and when you have needed to, being willing to break everything down into small enough chunks so that your family CAN cope with it
• Remember also, all of those times when you have wanted to give up, but you haven’t!  You have been willing to persevere, to keep taking a deep breath and to keep following the routine that you have decided on
• This reflective process isn’t just about the young person in your family that may have SPD or have autistic tendencies, anxiety or any other challenges; it is all about how you and your significant family who have had minor or major wins throughout the time span that you are looking at
• Be generous and compassionate with yourself and your family, be willing to write down what seems insignificant things – which actually are wins!

What areas are still hard and you want to make easier at home?

• Ok, here’s your chance to write down all the areas that are still hard, the things that continue to frustrate you and all of the members of your family
• Give yourself permission to just write – leave the analysis and thinking for later, this is your moment to be able to scribble down things for as long as you want to, until your pen stops!
• I’d encourage you to do this in a totally non-judgemental way – leave out the ‘shoulds’ and the ‘can’ts’ – when you notice yourself about to write those sort of words with a potentially negative connotation …. take a deep breath and make what you write more neutral and less personal

What are your ways forwards as you welcome in the 2019?

• It is totally up to you, you may want to continue and answer this question straight away OR you may want to walk away and leave what you have done
• Your mind is a very powerful machine and you will find that once you have committed something to paper, it will often help to allow for some time for your brain to collate, order and think about what you have written.  It is often in moments when you are not specifically working on these questions that you will find clarity and ideas for how to move forwards
• If your child is able to, it is also a great idea at this point to invite them to work through ways that you can all move forwards together.  If you get agreement with your kids for future plans, they can be much easier to implement successfully
• Take some time to look through relevant articles on LifeSkills4Kids – this will provide you with countless ideas of how to tackle areas that you are still finding hard.  On our site you can find articles, podcasts, webinars and practical tips and suggestions to help you
• If you are a regular visitor to our site, you will know that I am an Occupational Therapist with 20 years experience of helping and empowering parents

Remember that 2019 is a new year for you to experiment with and explore different strategies to help yourself, your kids and your family.  Remember also, that you are not alone – we are here to help you and help your kids to find ways to deal with their anxiety, sensory issues and to provide as many skills for all of you as possible.
You might find the following links in our website useful:

• Online Workshops
• Resources for Parents
• Free Newsletter & eBook
• Sensory Processing Tip Sheets
• Our Products

Written by Deb Hopper, Occupational Therapist

Ready to have a sensory safe Christmas in the Winter?
LifeSkills4Kids is based in Australia, but we know that some of our readers live on the other side of the world, where your Christmas will be considerably colder!
So, let’s take a look at preparing for a sensory safe Christmas during the winter months. There will of course be many similarities whether Christmas arrives in summer or winter time.  Have a look at our article about a Sensory Safe Christmas Day.

Top Tips for a Sensory Safe Christmas in Winter

Be Mindful of “The Winter Blues”

• Many of us can struggle to cope with the darker days and nights that winter can bring
• There is a lot of research around Seasonal Affected Disorder (SAD) which can lead to depression
• SAD can affect our kids too!  We all know what it is like when the weather is cold, wet and dreary – it can greatly effect your mood and make you feel sad, tired and unsociable
• As parents, we also know that if our kids get tired they are more likely to have meltdowns and experience sensory overload

Dealing with The Winter Blues

• Christmas time can assault the senses from EVERY angle!
• How do we help our young person to deal with Christmas when they may also be affected by SAD?
• These days there are many light therapy boxes available to help people with SAD – they do not claim to be a total cure, but they provide natural light during the winter months which can help alleviate feelings of tiredness and general lethargy
• There are also light boxes which can help you wake up, by simulating the dawn and therefore providing help to wake up naturally in the morning (even if it is still dark outside!)

A Sensory Safe Winter Christmas

Pre-Planning

• Make sure you involve your kids in all aspects of the planning of your activities at Christmas time
• Make a Christmas planner together – start the planner as soon as possible – so that your child has plenty of time to assimilate what is happening and prepare themselves for as many eventualities as possible
• Discuss with your young person where the trigger points might be and come up with plans together which could help them cope with these triggers
• Prepare your extended family and friends by letting them know what the triggers might be too and how they can help

Extended Family and Friends

• All of the people that care about you and your family will want to help make Christmas a wonderful time together
• Prepare them well in advance so that they can help make visits to their house as easy as possible
• Ask them to provide one or two foods that you know your child will like and ask them if they could keep a little space as a quiet place for your child to have a sensory time out if they need one

Winter Clothing

• You will know if your child has any issues with clothing types
• Make sure that you have winter clothing that is made with the right materials, with user-friendly labels and colours
• Make a game out of wearing gloves/hats/scarves and give your child lots of options and choices
• Winter clothing can be quite heavy – which is often good for children with sensory processing issues, the heavy clothes can mimic the same calming effect as a weighted blanket
• A weighted blanket can be a great way to help your child feel relaxed and chilled out when you are out and about.  You can take the blanket with you and use it for travelling and for visiting different venues at Christmas-time

Winter Activities

Whatever activities you plan to do over the Christmas holidays, it can be a great idea to do them with your child first before the holidays.  This can provide your child with a chance to practice and learn new skills in a safe environment.  When you repeat these activities in a slightly larger group, your child is much more likely to be able to cope.
For example, if you plan on going ice skating over the festive season (many towns have temporary ice rinks), your child can really benefit from checking out the area, the ice rink and having a go with just you and your close family.  This will give them the confidence to enjoy this activity in a larger group at a later date.  A pre-visit will also help to find out what triggers may be present, so that you can plan strategies to cope with them.

Decorations and Presents

• When you are decorating your house and your tree, it is really helpful if you can do this with your kids
• They will then be able to tell you if any of the decorations/lights are triggers for anxiety or sensory meltdowns
• Encourage your kids to make some decorations that feel safe and calm for them
• When you are opening presents, it is often really helpful for your kids with sensory issues to open one gift at a time.  This provides them with the opportunity to open presents in a methodical, calm manner.  It will take longer this way, but it will be much easier for all of you!
• Provide plenty of breaks when opening presents and be prepared for your child to withdraw into their safe space or use their sensory toolkit to help them get through this time.
• Opening presents can be a frantic experience – allow your kids to take their time, move at their pace and enjoy the day as much as possible

Social Stories at Christmas

• Creating a social story or several of them can be really helpful for your young person
• A social story can help them with cues about how to receive gifts; how to react when they are visiting the extended family and many other activities around Christmas
• If at all possible, create the social story together with your young person, so that they have valid input and feel that they are included in every aspect of the story

Other Articles from LifeSkills4Kids with more tips on surviving the holidays :

1. Reducing Anxiety for End of Term
2. A Sensory Safe Christmas
3. How to Transition from School to Home
4. Tips for Reducing Anxiety at Christmas
5. Creating A Sensory Safe Corner At Home
6. Helping Hyperactive & Busy Kids
7. Tips for Travelling with Children
8. Fireworks Survival Guide
9. Minimising Tantrums at the Shops

Written by Deb Hopper, Occupational Therapist

Are We Ready to Support Kids End of Year Routine Changes?

Oh yes! How can you support your kids through end of year routine changes? And without hurdle?
It’s THAT time of year again!  Christmas is coming and your kids are breaking up for their long summer holiday.  Your kids can’t wait to be out of school, but how are you going to cope and support your kids through end of year routine changes?
Are you looking forward to OR are you dreading the summer holidays with your kids?
Are the holidays going to be fun OR have you been having nightmares and waking up in cold sweats just thinking about them?
Follow some of our Top Tips to support your kids through end of year routine changes.

Top Tips For Surviving School Holidays

PLAN! PLAN! PLAN!

• The adverts you see and the general presumptions that we all make, tell us that the summer holidays will be a perfect, chilled out and fun time for all of our family.
• This can become your reality but only if you are willing to do a bit of planning.
• If you have kids who need a bit of extra help through routine changes, then pre-planning is a vital component in making the summer holidays a success.
• Do not be afraid to ask for support from school and find out what coping strategies work best for your young person.

Keep Your ‘At Home’ Routines

• It’s very tempting as the summer holidays approach that you start to change the routines that your child is used to at home.
• We all get tired, especially at the end of a school year and because of this it really helps everybody in the family to stick to using the ‘at home’ routines that have been working for you
• Remember that school routines can change quite a lot around all the different things that the kids do eg, outings, a play, transition days to new classes and new teachers.  This can easily send your child into overwhelm – if they have to deal with all of these routine changes at school and then come home to find that has changed too, that can lead to meltdowns and tantrums
• All kids like to know where their boundaries are, it provides them with a sense of safety – by keeping home routines the same, you can ensure that your child continues to feel safe and secure when they are at home.  This feeling of safety will help them to deal with the inevitable  end of year changes at school

Make Family Decisions Together

• Whatever choices you are making about what the school holidays will look like, involve your kids and all members of the family whenever it is possible to do so.
• Provide choices and options for both yourselves and your kids so that everyone gets some things that they want.

The Summer Holiday Bucket List

• It can be great fun to all come up with a bucket list of what you would like to spend your summer holiday doing
• You can then plan out your summer holidays and work on ticking off as many items on everybody’s bucket lists.

The Summer Holiday Calendar Planner

• You can print off or make a free calendar to help you all plan what you will be doing.  If you can see what you’ve got planned on the wall, then all the family can firstly look forward to each week and secondly tick activities as you do them.

The Summer Holiday Survival Kit

• If they are able to, allow your child some time to build, for themselves, a holiday kit which contains lots of favourite activities eg colouring books, fidget toys, sensory items, headphones, games.
• If your child needs help, make sure you add to their survival kit the things that motivate them and allow them to self-regulate.  You may need a simple visual timetable to enable them to cope with each day and self-soothing sensory items, which you know they show a preference for.

Extra Planning To Think About

Lifeskills4kids is a great place to come for ideas on how to support your kids through end of year routine changes.  We specialise in helping you AND your child to work out the strategies which enable you both to have a great summer holiday.
You can find plenty of things to help you ensure that you are well-planned and well-prepared for the summer that is stretching out before you.
I have written a Sensory Holidays Survival Guide, where I provide you with the Top 5 Sensory Holiday Tips.   There is also a guide to a successful transition from school into holidays – as this can be such an unsettling time for kids to have to cope with.
The combination of tiredness and end of term can exacerbate anxiety for your child, find ideas to help with this in our article about keeping end of term anxiety to a minimum.
I also know that Christmas can be a challenging time for our kids who get anxious and need help to understand what is going on around them.  It is so easy, in the rush to Christmas Day to forget how much this potentially manic time of the year can affect our kids. With this in mind I’ve written several articles to help you:

• Check out my free webinar where you can learn how to create a “calm kids plan” to survive the Christmas holiday chaos.
• My article on tips for a Sensory Safe Christmas will help you to think about Christmas from a whole new perspective and help your child deal with it.
• Christmas can also be a time when kids can become more anxious.  Have a look at my article on 5 Top Tips for reducing this anxiety.

If your summer holidays include a lot of travel, you can find some great travelling tips here.

One Small Step At A Time!

So whatever you are planning for this summer, for the sake of both you and your child, break everything down into manageable chunks and create a plan that works for the whole family.
Written by Deb Hopper, Occupational Therapist

Depression in parents with special needs kids – the realities….

I know that parents of special needs kids are really struggling!

I know, all parents are busy, are juggling way too many balls, and are far too busy.

But for special needs kids, parents really need to have time out for self care, but they often don’t get that. Apart from the day to day juggles of getting the kids out the door to school, shopping, work, all those other things, they also have the extra appointments. The OT, speech, psychology, behaviour support plan meetings, NDIS plan meetings, and all the paperwork and emails. Managing that is extremely time consuming and emotionally taxing.

I really take my hat off to parents who have to cope with this extra stress as well. You guys are just amazing.
It got me thinking about, as professionals, we see parents and kids most days and at least a couple of them everyday are struggling with their mental health or with tiredness. Often these kids really struggle to sleep, which means that the parents and the whole family doesn’t get enough sleep, which impacts on not being able to cope and the feeling of not being able to cope. It can be a never ending cycle and it really is taxing.

Sometimes parents may come across as setting really clear boundaries with professionals. Parents may seem a little prickly or defensive. But this is just their way of coping. I’ve always thought, when dealing with friends or family or other professionals or parents, that if something is happening in their lives, they can’t be there and react as they would always want to.

So my thoughts for today are, if you are struggling with working with a parent, try not to get involved personally or take their reactions personally. Step back. Consider what else is happening for them at the moment. Reach out to support them in whatever capacity you have.

I hope that this is helpful in reflecting and to perhaps refocus on being more compassionate towards our parents who carry such a heavy load.

Written by Deb Hopper, Occupational Therapist

Great Ideas for Creating the Best Home Environment for Your Autistic Child

Written by : Jenny Wise, Special Home Educator
Autism affects the way a child interacts with the world around them. As parents, it’s important that we do whatever we can to keep our children comfortable and safe. While you can’t adapt the entire world to fit your child’s special needs, you can ensure that their home environment functions as a safe, comfortable haven. Here are some key areas to consider when adjusting your home to fit your autistic child’s needs.
Color
As you’re probably aware, a child with autism perceives light, color, and sound differently. With a heightened visual perception, different colors can elicit different moods and reactions from your child. Red, vibrant colors can feed into energy, while cooler neutral colors can soothe and relax. When decorating your home, choose a color scheme that gives off the appropriate mood for the room. For example, when decorating your child’s bedroom, use a blue or purple scheme to promote sleep and relaxation.
Neutral color schemes are best for children with autism and provide the most comfort. When deciding what patterns and combinations to use, it’s always ideal to keep the aesthetic as simple as possible to prevent sensory overload. Also, opt for solid colors and minimalist patterns to keep your child at ease.
Lighting
Just like with color, the lighting you use in your home stands out to your autistic child. Lighting that is too abrasive or inconsistent can have a negative impact, as opposed to softer, more natural lighting. It’s for this reason that most autism experts warn against using any kind of fluorescent lighting, which can easily agitate your child due to its tendency to flicker. To make a more comfortable environment, stick to shaded or gradient lighting that gives you more control over the lighting from room to room.
Flooring
Children on the autism spectrum are not only hypersensitive to visual stimuli, but also to what they can touch and feel. To most children, a floor is for more than just for walking; it’s a giant canvas for playing games or it can double as a place to lie down and take a nap. Your child will spend a lot of time on the floor, so it’s important that your floors are safe and comfortable. Laminate flooring can be hard and cold to the touch, while tiling can be uneven or have over-stimulating visual patterns. You want your floors to be soft, and warm. Vinyl flooring is cheap, easy to clean, and typically softer and warmer on bare hands and feet.
Furniture
Finally, you’ll want to have furniture that’s suitable for providing the comfort your child needs. Remember that for children with autism, tactile sensation is important, and having material that is soft and squishy will provide a pleasant and comfortable sensory experience for your child. In your living room, most furniture types will be suitable for your child, but remember to avoid loud patterns, and sharp corners for their safety.
For their bedroom, you might even consider getting them a big squishy chair. Hug Chairs are giant beanbags that are fun to collapse on, and extremely comfortable. A Hug Chair might be the perfect addition to make your child’s room feel even more like their own.
These are just a few ideas to make your house suitable for your child on the autism spectrum. Home is a place where we are supposed to feel safe, comfortable, and loved. Give your child that extra sense of safety and comfort so that when the world gets to be a little too much, they have something familiar to come home to.
Photo Credit: Pixabay.com

Developmental Stages of Self Regulation and “The Zones of Regulation Workshop”

I’ve just come back from listening to Leah Kuypers, Occupational Therapist,  who is the creator of the Zones of Regulation Program. She is an amazing OT (Occupational Therapist) and she has done so much to contribute to the world of self-regulation.

I want to give you my top three learnings that I gathered from her workshop. And, surprisingly, it wasn’t in the practical “how-to” strategies. And, that was amazing too!  I really, really got lots of tips, and I will be transforming the clinic with lots of visuals over the next few months, to really do the Zones of Regulation Program really well with the visuals.

But, I just wanted to talk to you firstly about what her definition of self-regulation was, which I also really loved. She suggests that self-regulation is the ability to adjust the level of alertness, which makes sense, whether we are going fast, whether our bodies are going slow, or whether we’re going just right.
But then also, I love this second bit, so good.  Self-regulation is looking after our level of alertness. But also, how we direct our emotions is revealed behaviorally in socially adaptive ways in order to achieve our goals. It’s not just our alertness and behaviour or alertness and emotions, it’s how our behaviour is shown through the emotions. And, the goal is for ourselves and for our kids, that we can do this in a socially adaptive way.

So, you know, if I have an unexpected phone call when my son is hurt, can I adapt in a socially appropriate way at work rather than just losing it. Or, if a child gets to school after a really tough morning, then can they adapt behaviorally to be able to self-regulate, both their level of alertness and also their emotions.
Now, I just wanted to share next the three … this was just a great way of looking at self-regulation differently. And, I have looked at self-regulation a lot myself in my clinical practice and in my own personal research. But, I just loved how she reflected on the developmental stages of self-regulation.

Self Regulation Stages

The first one is the initial behaviour strategies. Okay, by this we can think about younger children, especially babies in the first year of life. They need to have lots of co-regulation. They need to have you there. They need you to help them to settle, to soothe them, so that they can calm down if they’re feeling upset or whatever. So that, you know, when we have an upset baby, we will pick them up, we will use some sensory motor strategies. So, we will hug them, give them some nice deep touch pressure, we’ll do some vestibular up and down, and we’ll rock them back and forth. So, the behaviour is a way that the child or the baby can tell adults that they have needs that they need to have met.

The second area was language strategies. So, by language, it’s when kids can start to tell us, you know, “I’m feeling sad” or “I’m feeling hurt”. And, so many of the kids that we work with, and not just kids who have a diagnosis such as ASD and ADHD, but many of them do struggle with these, but also I saw that many typical kids, they really find it really hard to label and to say exactly how they’re feeling.

And then, the third area of self-regulation development is the metacognition, which is linked to executive functioning. So, number three, metacognitive strategies.  Yes, so this is where, for an adult, so we can get that phone call that our child is hurt, and we can reframe in our head. We can use cognitive strategies. We can problem solve. We can call somebody for help. We can figure it out. So, this is where a child who might arrive upset at school might be able to walk into a classroom, might be able to say in their head, “Oh, I had a really rough morning, but that’s okay, that was this morning. I’m going to sit down. I’m going to listen. I’m going to attend.”

Or, if they’re finding it noisy in the playground, then they can think, rather than acting from a behavioural perspective, which is the first level here. If it’s too noisy, if it was a behavioural reaction, then they might just react, have a meltdown, because they just can’t handle it. If they have language strategies, level two, they might be able to say to the teacher, “It’s really noisy here. I’m not feeling well.” And then the teacher can help with a strategy, a problem-solving strategy, of helping them to move to a quieter place, for example.

But, if a child who has level three skills, the metacognitive strategies and for example, finds it too loud, then they can go through all three of the levels and they can problem-solve in their own mind. They can say, “Oh, I notice that it’s too noisy. Hmm, what can I do? I can tell the teacher and I can ask if I can go to a quiet area of the playground”, for example.

So, where I was really challenged with Leah’s workshop, was how many of our kids are stuck in this behavioural strategy stage? So this is when they’re in the fight/flight/fright response. How many of our eight, 10, 12, 17-year olds that we work with, how many of them are in the behaviour strategies where they’re just reaching out and they need us to help them to add language to what they’re feeling and to add strategy to how they can problem-solve and what they need to do.

That really spoke loudly to me and I found that so interesting!

Written by Deb Hopper, Occupational Therapist

Sensory Issues and Self Regulation at Bedtime

Bedtime can be a difficult time of the day for kids and when your child has sensory issues, that difficult time can multiply over and over again.  The thing is, sensory issues can exacerbate what seem like minor irritations into major problems when it comes to coping with bedtime for your young person.
There are so many factors and disruptive noises, clothes labels, textures of bedding, temperature of their room, bodies that want to keep moving, background sounds of people talking or the TV – all of these can have a massive impact on kids with sensory issues being able to self regulate and calm themselves down enough to go to bed and stay in bed, let alone sleep.
As we all know, sleep is a vital component in our wellbeing, in keeping ourselves in a good place and in giving our bodies chance to rejuvenate and provide us with enough physical, emotional and mental energy for the day ahead.
So, if you have a child with sensory issues who needs help to fall asleep, or may be fine when they go to bed but then wake up at 2am to “play”, or always wake up like a bear with a sore head – then that situation will not only impact your child’s ability to cope with life, it will affect your whole family on an every day basis.
Once the whole family is affected by sleep deprivation, this causes a snowball effect and can lead to a vicious downward spiral for everyone involved in their ability to be able to function, especially the kids who has sensory issues in the first place.
So, as a parent, how can help your kid with sensory issues to be able to cope with the routine of bedtime on a daily basis?

Sensory Tools & Strategies that a Positive Impact on Bedtime

Essentially, this will be a trial and error process as all of our kids with sensory issues are unique and you will need to build up just the right toolbox for your young person.
You can try a combination of these ideas … and remember, that what works one day, may not always work the next.  It is always a good idea to have other sensory tools available just in case your kid is having “one of those days”.

Hearing

• Wearing noise cancelling headphones or earplugs at night can be helpful for some children.
• They are also good for blocking out sounds that you and I don’t even notice and can do little to eliminate such as the hum of the freeway or passing traffic, distant trains, loud neighbours or even crickets. 
• Other kids are not quite as sensitive but do need to have white noise to sleep. You can try items like fans or a sound machine that has a variety of different options, it is soothing as well as providing white noise and makes sleeping much easier.

Proprioception (Deep Pressure)

Visual

• Some children need it to be completely dark in order to fall asleep while others need to have a nightlight.
• It’s a good idea to use a dimmable night light because that way, they can adjust to the amount of light they are comfortable with.

Smell

• Try applying magnesium oil to the bottom of the child’s feet at bedtime. 
• Some parents swear by putting lavender oil or another calming essential oil in a diffuser. You can also use lavender oil and epsom salts in a warm bath before bed

Taste

• Provide an oral sensory tool, for example a chewy
• Some kids find particular types of toothpaste help within their bedtime routine – experiment with tastes and textures, to see what your child prefers

Bedtime Routine

Bedtime routines are helpful for all kids, but are especially so for sensory kids. Routines help their mind and body recognise that it’s time to start winding down and preparing to sleep. These routines also become helpful when they face changes such as traveling. Traveling can be difficult, but if you can bring along part of the routine like teeth brushing followed by a story, then they still have a sense of familiarity to help them cope.
Kids will also appreciate having their own custom-designed space.  They can help you pick out blankets, pillows, soft toys and styles of bed which will help them.  Sensory kids often like to feel enclosed, for example, sleeping on the bottom bunk bed or being surrounded in a canopy bed.

Other Important Tips:

Be sure to offer a variety of sensory activities throughout the day. Meeting your child’s sensory needs during the day will positively impact your child’s ability to fall asleep at night.
It is up to you to be a “sleep detective” and find out what works for your kid!  Try lying in their bed in the dark and using your senses to troubleshoot what issues there may be. Is there any type of noise that may be bothering them? Are the sheets scratchy? Are the walls painted a bright colour or is there too much clutter in the room? How is the temperature in the room? Is there a smell?
Extra tips include:

• Limit screen time during the day and cut it off completely in the hour or two before bedtime. This will improve their body’s ability to fall asleep
• It can be hard to find the right combinations and conditions to help your sensory kid find rest, but don’t give up, that combo is out there. And you can try to have fun finding it too. Anything to relieve the pressure and stress is a step in the right direction.
• This sleep smoothie contains some natural sleep help and most kids will happily drink it.
• Nutrition is an important piece of the sleep puzzle. Ensure that your child has a well balanced diet, limited sugar and no caffeine.

If you’re looking for more practical strategies that work for your child’s everyday sensory needs for things like picky eating, refusal to wear certain clothing, difficulty self-regulating, meltdowns, and challenging behaviours, have a look at our article on finding out whether your kids has sensory issues.
Written By Deb Hopper, Occupational Therapist

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