Calming
Some children, for a number of reasons, can become highly anxious, stressed or have a heightened level of arousal or alertness.
They may respond inappropriately or out of context to a particular event, stimulus or the environment, for example by hitting out at another pupil because they brushed past them, by running out of the classroom, or shouting at an adult when asked to complete a task.
This can indicate that they have difficulties with processing and integrating sensory information. This inability to correctly process sensory information can result in a child going into Fight, Flight or Freeze responses to a stimulus. These reactions are beyond the child’s control. They will be incapable of logical thought and reasoning until they have calmed down.
Children can become stressed and anxious for a variety of other reasons such as illness, difficulties at school, difficulties at home and poor peer relationships. No matter what the reason, once a child becomes stressed, over anxious or over alert, they will not be able to concentrate on the task at hand and this will therefore impede their learning.
We can often prevent children’s level of anxiety from increasing to the point where they lose control, by using the strategies below at regular intervals during the day or at the first signs that their levels of anxiety are increasing.
Many of these activities involve the use of joints and muscles, which provides proprioception sensory input, which can help to calm and regulate the sensory system.