• How effectively and efficiently a child deals with a stressor and then recovers from the effort
• Every time a child has a stressor the brain responds with processes that consume energy
• This is followed by restorative processes to recover from this energy expenditure
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What is Self-Regulation?
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The Effects of Excessive Stress
CalmFocused
Alert
The Human Condition – Writ Small
The Self-Regulation
Matrix
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• Heightened stress means child has to work much harder to pay attention
• Negative effects caused by falling further behind, being yelled at, having greater social problems, etc., exacerbate the drain on nervous system
• Leads to a chronic state of heightened anxiety
The Effects of Excessive Stress
Three core systems for responding to stress:
1. Social Engagement2. Fight-or-Flight3. Freeze
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Stress-Response Systems
1. Identify and reduce stressors
2. Develop self-awareness - interoception and exteroception
3. Develop self-regulating techniques, learning what to do to mitigate a stress response and what to avoid
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The 3 Stages of Self-Regulation
• If child expending too much energy on environmental stressors, has less resources for growth and restoration
• Does not recognize when he is hungry, tired, cold
• Does not engage in basic self-regulating behaviours (eating, resting, putting on a sweater)
• Exacerbates his depleted energy problems
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Survival Brain/Learning Brain
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Suppose we are dealing with a child who finds sitting in a classroom very demanding, for different reasons:
• Maybe he finds the visual and auditory stimuli distracting and he has to work hard to filter this out in order to pay attention to his teacher
• Or he finds the hard seat uncomfortable and it is taxing for him to sit still for too long
• Or he finds concentrating itself very taxing
Sitting in Class/Paying Attention
• A child’s meltdowns are often precipitated by something by something that has frightened them, including emotional associations
• They are particularly vulnerable to these reactions when they’re in a LE/HT state
• These reactions can put them instantly into LE/HT
• Far from being acts of self-indulgence, a child’s meltdowns are a cry for help
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Being an Emotion Detective