• 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