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- Dr.Joni Redlich PT,DPT
As we are finally back to school, it is important to also acknowledge and address the stress that may accompany a return to the school environment. Any transition to a new setting can be stressful, especially for children with disabilities. The combination of an unfamiliar environment, interactions with peers, classroom expectations, unpredictability, reduced control, change of routine, challenging coursework, facing the unknown, or the impact of disabilities can signal the stress system (aka sympathetic nervous system) in our children’s bodies. This is also known as the fight, flight or freeze system. When faced with fear, uncertainty, a perceived threat, or the anticipation of a stressor our bodies will increase the stress messengers of the body (aka adrenaline and cortisol). This results in changes in breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, posture, concentration, and also systems like digestion. As this is a normal response in the human body, sometimes it can be overactive and can impact a child’s ability to engage with peers and learning activities.
As parents/ educators/ therapists, our desire is that our kids thrive and enjoy learning about our crazy, cool world with confidence and curiosity. A calm, confident, and aroused state is key to this success in the classroom and with peers. Luckily, our body always tries to have a balance (homeostasis) by having its own checks and balance system.
Introducing: the de-stress system (aka parasympathetic nervous system) which counteracts the stress messengers and helps achieve a calm state. Successful strategies of managing stress often include techniques that help stimulate this de-stress system. Such strategies include slow/ controlled breathing, postural alignment, reducing arousing stimulus, adjusting exposure to stressors, calming touch, engagement in a soothing activity, spending time in nature, and consistent exercise.
Below are some practical tips to incorporate these de-stressing strategies into your household routine for your children and the whole family!
Recommendations:
This post is for education purposes only. Please seek medical advice from a licensed health care provider that directly manages your care.
Further reading on stress:
…and what to do if this is a challenge!
Do you know what is more fun than learning new school concepts while sitting at a desk…?
Learning while on the MOVE!
Sometimes combining movement with learning helps kids learn faster if they function better while on the go.
This is especially so if your kiddo is a mover and a shaker and loves being active and on the go. Using movement, a strength of theirs, to teach something new may open up the neurological floodgates in new ways. This can give your child access to different and novel pathways in the brain to reinforce concepts as opposed to taking the same traditional and traveled routes!
Learning with movement is also a change from the norm, and even if your kiddo doesn’t always crave movement, any new way of learning is usually more engaging than the same ol’, same ol’! The brain loves novelty, so let’s take advantage of that to build some new connections!
So let’s stand UP and try these fun learning games with us:
Do these kinds of exercises seem tricky for your child?
All of these exercises practice something called “dual tasking” where your child is required to perform a task with their body (a motor task) and their mind (a cognitive task). These kinds of tasks are great to practice with your child because with practice, they make it easier for the body and the mind to work on things at the same time. These kinds of tasks can be very difficult for some kids, especially if their body is taking a lot of their attention away from the cognitive tasks they are being asked to do (like schoolwork).
When does this happen? This happens when balancing and controlling their body is very hard and the child is diverting focus to keeping their body still and in one place. If you feel like your child is spending a lot of energy and focus just keeping their body still and in one place, they may benefit from physical therapy to improve their balance and overall control of their body. Giving a child this kind of control can improve their lives for the better because their brains are free to think, focus, and remember things from school and beyond!
Here are a few red flags that dual tasking is tricky for your child:
If this sounds like your child, call us at 908-543-4390 to set up a free Discovery Visit with one of our Physical Therapists to see if Physical Therapy would benefit your child!