An Important Topic To Learn: Regulation

Sensory self-regulation is the brain’s ability to calm down or become more alert depending on the environment, task at hand, and social situation.

Emotional regulation is the ability to control our emotions when they are faced with things such as the following: unmet expectations, waiting, needing to be flexible, meeting new people and going to new places or change in routine.

How can you help as parents?

Sensory regulation: Providing your child with consistent sensory feedback which provides regulation to their bodies, such as proprioception (force into their body) throughout their day can help them remain more regulated during the day. An example of how a child calms themself through this type of input is by flapping or teeth grinding. Discuss what sensory input assists your child’s regulation with your therapist.

Being aware of what causes their emotional regulation to waver can assist you in preventing tantrums. This may include: not arriving early to prevent waiting whilst they are still learning this concept and trying to maintain a well structured routine. It is important that from a young age a child does not always have their expectations met. An example is removing screentime after a period of time even if you expect it to cause a tantrum.