Child Success Center
Understanding Interoception-New Insights into Common Childhood Issues
The little known sense, “interoception” might be the reason for common childhood issues with sleeping and potty training.
Interoception is the sense within the human body that enables it to experience, understand and react to the physiological state of itself. It has two main functions: body state and emotional state.
Interoception and Body States
Body states involve the basic functions or physical conditions of the body and interoception allows us to feel and be aware of the inside of our bodies, including organs and skin. It is vital in helping us feel sensations such as pain, tickle, itch, body temperature, hunger, thirst, heart rate, breathing rate, muscle tension, pleasant touch, nausea, headache, sleepiness, and when we need to use the bathroom.
The ultimate goal is for our bodies to reach homeostasis, an internal balance of systems using the least amount of energy. When our internal balance, or homeostasis, is off, our interoceptive system signals our body to take action. For example, if we experience a dry throat and mouth, our interoceptive system, if working properly, will tell our brain that we are thirsty and we need to get a drink of water, which results in decreased discomfort and reduced dry throat and mouth. However, if our interoceptive system is not working properly, signals can be misinterpreted by our bodies, resulting in what presents as an “outburst,” “tantrum,” or “shutdown”, agreeably inappropriate reactions to thirst.
Likewise, if our interoceptive system sends a signal indicating a full bladder and the message is not processed correctly, the appropriate response of heading to a bathroom might not occur. A chronic inability to react appropriately to a given signal can lead to emotional distress and compensatory behavior such as moodiness, nervousness or distraction.
Interoception and Emotional States
Emotional states involve our moods and the emotional conditions of our bodies. The interoceptive system helps us to regulate our emotions, identify our emotions, and determine how we view other’s emotions. It helps us identify anger, embarrassment, happiness, anxiety, excitement, sadness, and fear. For example, a fast heartbeat, tingly stomach, and shaking muscles could mean you are anxious, while slow/rhythmic breathing and loose muscles could mean you are relaxed.
Our ability to self-regulate is closely tied to our interoceptive system. If our interoceptive system is working properly, we are aware of our internal signals (thirst, hunger, full bladder, heart rate, etc.) and able to guide our reaction to those signals. A person with poor emotional awareness could have an interoceptive system that is working inefficiently and therefore not providing clear body signals. Without clear body signals, they may not notice subtle differences in the way each emotion feels and can result in difficulty identifying and controlling those emotions.
Without clear and understood awareness of their internal state, it can be impossible to develop good self-regulation skills, therefore impacting a child’s ability to successfully engage within their social and physical environment. Helping your child begins with learning about treatment options. Occupational therapy, with a focus on sensory processing and with the use of mindfulness activities, can help facilitate interoceptive processing and awareness.
Child Success Center offers many options in the way of treating sensory processing issues and building your child’s interoceptive system. Call today to learn more about our individualized, peer-to-peer and group programs.
Learn more about Child Success Programs that support development of a child’s interoceptive system…
Looking Back on Kindergarten Camp Summer 2018
Kindergarten Enrichment Camp – Summer 2018 – A Look Back
The fall school term is fully under way, and here at CSC, we’re thinking back with smiles on our faces, about the wonderful children we shared our summer with, that are now officially Kindergarteners!
We’re smiling remembering all the fun we had, but also because we know that after a few weeks at Summer Kindergarten Enrichment Camp, these little bundles of energy are prepared and ready to take on the challenge of a new environment, new adults, new peers and new experiences.
The Kindergarten setting requires young students to spend more time sitting, listening, and following direction. They need more refined motor skills to create letters and numbers. They need to be able to integrate sensory input and self-regulate and self-monitor in order to respond appropriately to changes in the physical environment of the classroom as well as the social landscape of the classroom and playground. Summer K-Camp gave our little pre-Kindergarteners the tools they need to meet all these challenges successfully.
Hanging out in our large sensory gym, campers, using mindfulness as a platform, engaged in myriad positive social learning experiences, built phonological awareness, and began to build their desire for lifelong learning. Mindfulness practices during circle time and moments of stillness, taught campers to pause and recognize sensations, impulses and the need to think and plan. They learned about positive self-talk, and how to build a loving relationship with their inner selves, a critical first step to developing successful social relationships with others.
Using the methodology of “whole-body” listening and the “Zones of Regulation”, campers fostered the self-awareness needed to be social and open, and to be able to ask for help and verbalize needs and experiences. Working these social-emotional “muscles” resulted in our campers gaining strength in social and educational learning, allowing it to happen organically and with meaning. Working those muscles also required “flexibility” in thinking during activity transitions, like from the fully active gym to table-top time, which required children to attend and be more on task.
Our camp facilitators loved seeing the kiddos learn while they played with letters and sounds. Who doesn’t love to hear little voices boisterously “moooooo-ing” like cows to match the sound with the letter? Every year, it seems, the sensory activity the kids like the most is using their fingers to form letters and free form shapes on the “shaving cream table”. Messy, but fun!
Like any summer camp experience, each child took away his/her own set of “nuggets” of fun and learning, but we know that all of them left with a tool box full of skills that will help them have the best start possible to their academic career.
Learn more about Kindergarten Enrichment Camp at Child Success Center.
Supporting the Dad of an “outside the box” Child
The journey a dad will take with his “outside the box” child may be long and challenging. How and where will he find the support he needs?
Any father-to-be experiences myriad emotions when contemplating his new role as a parent. Elation and excitement will likely give way to some level of anxiety, as he questions his ability to be a “good dad”. Questions like, “how will I financially support my growing family?” “Will I be able to find enough time in the day to work and be there for my family?” He might even fall asleep at night wondering if his child will be successful, get married, have children of their own. All of this might well be addressed with the creation of a “plan”. A roadmap that, if followed closely, will lead to the desired outcome. Done.
But, what happens if a dad suddenly is faced with a major detour in that road? What happens when he receives a diagnosis for his child of a developmental delay, whether it’s sensory-processing based, speech related, or behavioral? It can be jarring and confusing, causing dad to go back and question his parenting choices, or feel guilt, fear, anxiety and anger. Ultimately, dad may even choose to deal with this by creating a new “plan”. But how? How to make things better – what to do – how to help?
Now this certainly doesn’t apply to all men, but, according to gender research men have difficulty dealing with things they can’t fix or problems they can’t solve. When their usual problem solving methodology doesn’t work, they may feel powerless or inept. Add to this the emotions and fear of their spouse, the sense of aloneness, and the realization that some of the “dreams” they had may not turn out just as “planned”, what parent wouldn’t get overwhelmed?
While a parent is a parent, no matter the gender, moms, dads and even siblings and grandparents will all deal with the diagnosis in their own way and at their own pace. No two people are the same, nor do they process and experience events in the same way. It would be unrealistic to expect two parents to understand and process a diagnosis and be “on the same page” all the time. A disconnect can occur when fear and anxiety about the child’s future, coupled with the sheer amount of extra work and patience it takes to deal with your child’s challenges, all feel like too much to bear. It would be shortsighted to think that support would come in a “one size fits all” form.
The journey a dad will take with his “outside the box” child and the rest of his family may be long and challenging. There is much parents will have to decide and do together to achieve the best possible outcome. But while the need for teamwork is crucial, there is also room for individual support and guidance. The “dad will tough if out” mentality is no longer the norm, and our community realizes the need to acknowledge the dad’s perspective and offer solutions that he can relate to and apply in familiar ways. Whether dad is “stay at home”, primary care giver, tag-teammate or weekend warrior, joining a dads’ support group can bring camaraderie, patience, insightful information, new perspective and help focusing on the positive and the strengths of all involved.
Child Success Center is presenting a Dads’ Discussion Group in a series of 3 evening sessions to be held this fall, designed to provide insights into self-care, ways to support your child and partner, information about diagnosis, provide camaraderie (you are not alone), and tools needed to maintain patience and a perspective of positivity. This feedback and coaching will be helpful to dads endeavoring to adjust to the new needs of his child and systems in place within the home and out.
Learn more about this innovative new program and sign up today.
Is Your Child Ready to Transition to Kindergarten Activities?
Is your pre-school age child making the transition to Kindergarten in the fall?
As a parent, this can be both an exciting and emotional time, but for the child making the transition to kindergarten it is a major shift in routine, environment and academic expectations. Common Core Standards have raised the academic bar, even at the Kindergarten level. But it is a child’s ability to attune, adapt, anticipate and efficiently process information, that is critical to a successful transition from the pre-school environment.
In pre-school a child may be given a single level task that when autonomously completed frees the child to go off and play. In contrast, as a Kindergartener a child may be asked to remain with an activity for a longer period of time, requiring auditory attention to both learn and follow an external plan. The activity may involve a series of directions that require the child to adjust his perspective or body multiple times, while self-regulating his emotions and actions. Since more time is spent in Kindergarten with whole-class, teacher-led instruction, a child must have the ability to think as a “we”, to attend and adjust to a group activity that requires social collaboration such as discussions about a story being told, its characters, settings and how they can relate to the story.
As a Kindergartener, a child will now have to attune herself to her surroundings and peers, a shift from the more self-attuned pre-school positioning. The child must be able to walk into a situation and be able to observe and listen then perceive what is expected of them. For example: a child walks into a classroom where other children are sitting and drawing. The child can then conclude that she is expected to sit and draw. This awareness, or metacognition, will keep the child from getting distracted and disorganized, helping to facilitate the efficacy of each learning experience. Auditory processing allows the child to attune to teacher directions and turn language into actions in order to follow new routines or complete a task. Repetition established by the kindergarten teacher will support this learning curve throughout the kinder year.
The ability to think as a “we” and follow directions, listen, attend, modify behavior and anticipate change, are the building blocks of executive functioning, a set of processes, or neurologically-based skills, that all have to do with managing oneself (mental control and self-regulation) and one’s resources in order to achieve a goal. A solid foundation of Executive Function skills is imperative to all future learning.
All of these so-called “soft skills” are necessary for the Kindergartener to achieve success in the development of the “hard skills” such as the acquisition of the understanding of letters and numbers. Kindergarteners are expected to recognize the letters of the alphabet, both in upper and lower cases. They need to understand the difference between sounds, letters and words, and that words have meaning and make up sentences. They must know number formation so they can begin the process of learning how to break out numbers.
Fine motor skills such as holding and using a pencil/crayon/marker/ and scissors, are required as children, over the course of the school year, will need to be able to express their thoughts, ideas and experiences through drawing and writing.
It is important to note that approximately 1 in 5 children experience one or more challenges with behavior, communication, body movement and learning. While these challenges are common, each child’s root issues can be vastly different. If your child is struggling in any of these areas as the transition to Kindergarten approaches, it would be wise to seek out a consultation or assessment with a pediatric therapist who can get to the root issue and facilitate a program of occupational, speech/language, educational or multi-disciplinary therapy.
What Your Child May Experience in an Occupational Therapy Session
An occupational therapy session is work for a child’s brain, disguised as play.
A child’s “occupations” include everything he or she does throughout the day – the “jobs of childhood” – the most important jobs being playing, socializing, and learning. The purpose of pediatric occupational therapy is to help a child become comfortable, independent, and proficient in these areas of their lives.
Occupational therapy addresses a variety of areas of deficits including fine motor skills, gross motor skills, social emotional skills and sensory integration. Initial therapy sessions help the therapist to understand the unique wiring of the individual child’s brain and nervous system. The therapist will consult with the child’s parents to ascertain what home and school life are like for the child, and what they have observed in their child’s development. This evaluation and analysis process will continue across subsequent sessions as the child’s nervous system develops.
Each occupational therapy session is tailored to meet the child’s specific needs, facilitated in a warm and comfortable environment, and created to reflect the child’s interests.
Sensory processing, or organizing, is how a child learns and experiences the world around him. “Just right” sensory experiences during the therapy session will help the child with emotional regulation, self-regulation and social engagement. Intact sensory integration provides the fundamental building blocks for attention, emotional development, motor skills development and higher-level academics and social skills.
An occupational therapy session, utilizing a sensory integration treatment approach, will often target the social-emotional system, employing the Zones of Regulation, Floortime and Social Thinking® (Attributed to Michelle Garcia Winner as creator of the Social Thinking Methodology) programs. Covered would be social skills concepts such as staying with the group, taking turns, collaborative play, and interacting with peers and adults, in order for children to be successful in relationships and group environments.
Occupational therapy may work on fine motor skills such as grasp and in-hand manipulation, necessary for drawing, coloring, folding and cutting. Visual motor integration, the ability to use the visual system and the fine or gross motor systems together, and essential to activities such as handwriting, ball play and sports, may be addressed.
An OT session might include work on gross motor skills that are involved in playing sports that require bilateral coordination, ball skills, strength, coordination and balance. The therapist will provide easy and creative activities and exercises to help increase upper body and core strength necessary for postural stability, balance, coordination, gross and fine motor control and will often provide a home-based program for follow through.
Often, children who struggle with Sensory Integration and are referred to Occupational Therapy have challenges with Executive Function Skills, necessary for learning and development. In order for a child to plan and organize what they need to do throughout the day, such as getting homework done, they need to be able to focus attention, filter distractions, remember and perform multi-step directions.
Occupational therapy is work for a child’s brain, disguised as play. All children engaged in occupational therapy experience a new level of confidence and self-esteem that comes with learning a new skill or overcoming a challenge. The smile on their face will say it all.
This program, including its teacher or leader, is not affiliated with, nor has it been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by Michelle Garcia Winner and Think Social Publishing, Inc.
Firing Up Your Child’s Language and Speech Skills for the New School Year
Language and speech development issues can lead to reading and writing difficulties, impeding a child’s ability to enjoy learning and to experience successful academic outcomes.
Poor readers often have an early history of spoken language deficits. Not all communication challenges are rooted in a language and speech disorder, but it is important to make that determination, one way or the other, via a thorough assessment process. If a language and speech challenge is the issue, the summer is a good time to get your child the help he or she needs to be prepared to meet the expectations of the next grade level with confidence and the right tools for success.
Our Speech Therapists implement the most effective language and speech strategies available utilizing individualized play-based treatment plans. Therapies provide the child the language processing skills needed to be a friend, a learner, and productive group member.
More than 70% of teachers believe that students who receive language and speech therapy demonstrate improved pre-reading, reading, or reading comprehension skills.
The stress free environment of a summer enrichment speech therapy program provides a child with the support needed, combining learning with play. Without all the expectations of school looming, a child can relax, enjoy and retain skills learned during each session.
The development of communication skills begins in infancy. Any communication issue is likely to have a significant effect on the child’s behavior and academic skills. The earlier a child’s speech and language problems are identified and treated, the less likely it is that problems will persist or get worse.
This year use the summer break as an opportunity to advance your child’s communication skills.
To continue current speech therapy over the summer or to set up a speech and language assessment, please give our office a call. We look forward to hearing from you.
Speech and Language Therapy – Helping Children Communicate
When Parents Need More Support With a Child’s Challenging Behavior
What are Behavior Therapy Services?
Parenting Techniques and Family Work
Some children are more challenging to parent than others. Parents with multiple children say, “It wasn’t like this with my other kids”, or first time parents say, “My friends don’t seem to have the same problems that we are having.” A set of parenting techniques used with one child may not necessarily work with another, based on individual differences in temperament, behavior and developmental challenges.
There are research-based techniques that can provide help with the understanding and application of positive behavioral strategies for your child. Topics include positive discipline techniques, difficult behaviors at home and at school, positive praise and attention, providing effective directions and transitional warnings, how to create and maintain a home-based token system, and effective conflict resolution and problem solving with your child. For most families, behavior therapy begins with a series of meetings with parents to create a foundation for behavior interventions.
Individual Behavior Therapy – Child Based
Once at least two parent meetings are complete, our therapists can provide individual behavior therapy for your child. This therapy is generally play based and uses the Social Thinking® (Attributed to Michelle Garcia Winner as creator of the Social Thinking Methodology) curriculum to explore social concepts. Individual Behavior Therapy is recommended for children that have a difficult time emotionally regulating in a group, separating from parents, or require more individual attention in learning and practicing social concepts than they would in a group setting. Once a child has completed between 4-12 individual sessions, it may be recommended they practice their skills in a therapeutic two-person play session, or a group setting. During these sessions, occasionally parents may be asked to join in on part of the session.
How Does Behavior Therapy Help at Home and at School?
Each child and family is different, and requires different techniques and tools. The number of sessions above, indicate the average numbers of sessions for behavior intervention. In order for behavior to change and generalize between settings, it is important to have effective communication between the adults in your child’s life. The more consistent all of the adults in a child’s life are, the faster change is able to happen. Being consistent becomes the most challenging part of behavior therapy for parents. Receiving behavior therapy interventions can be equated as having a personal trainer at the gym. They hold you accountable for the behavior “work outs” that your family is going through, and provide support during the difficult times when you want to throw in the towel. Once a positive behavior system that works for your child is in place at home, often times that same or similar system can be implemented in school to support your child.
Learn more about Behavior Therapy at Child Success Center.
This program, including its teacher or leader, is not affiliated with, nor has it been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by Michelle Garcia Winner and Think Social Publishing, Inc.
Friendship Club – Practice Social Skills in a Group Setting
Friendship Club groups at Child Success Center are developmentally based and designed to give children an opportunity to practice social interactions with therapeutic intervention and coaching.
For some children, friendships are difficult to make- and even harder to maintain. Friendship Club groups are developmentally based and designed to give children an opportunity to practice successful social interactions with therapeutic staff intervention and coaching. Friendship Club uses positive reinforcement to help children stay motivated to join a group plan, be flexible with their ideas, and stick with social situations that are challenging. Once a child has practice with positive social interactions, their confidence builds. Children are able to join groups easier, transition to and from activities, share their feelings effectively, and problem solve with their friends in order to create meaningful and long lasting friendships. We use the Social Thinking® (Attributed to Michelle Garcia Winner as creator of the Social Thinking Methodology) curriculum to support social skills concepts, role play, engage in group games, and use art projects to facilitate social interaction. We use unstructured play in order to create scenarios similar to those children encounter at school, parties, and play dates in order to socially coach children through big feelings and conflicts.
The goal of Friendship Club is for children to increase their confidence and positive behavior skills to generalize to the home and school setting. Rome was not built in a day, and the same goes for children’s social skills. In this social skills based program, children benefit from being given the opportunity to practice effective communication in a supportive environment. Educating the adults in the child’s life, and using the same social vocabulary in group, at home, and at school helps generalize the desired behavior changes and social interactions. Friendship Club members are physically active and challenged in a sensory gym environment, while being given a social skills curriculum that addresses both social needs and behaviors that may impede successful peer relationships.
It is the job of childhood to learn how to play and interact successfully. Friendship Club uses external motivation, a token economy system, to grow and learn positive social skills. Members “earn” Friendship Tokens they can use to “shop” in our prize bin at the end of each session. Over time, the need for external motivation decreases as the new habits increase and social reciprocity is achieved.
Summer is an excellent time to help foster the social growth of your child, especially for those moving from a pre-school to Kindergarten, or from Kindergarten to First Grade. The Child Success Center offers Friendship Club on weekends through the summer to help children and families stay on track with their social learning.
Learn more about Summer Learning Academy and Friendship Club on our website.
This program, including its teacher or leader, is not affiliated with, nor has it been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by Michelle Garcia Winner and Think Social Publishing, Inc.
What is a Kindergarten Readiness Program?
A Kindergarten Readiness Program is designed, with the individual child in mind, to best prepare him to successfully enter school and joyfully manage the “job of Kindergarten”.
Each summer Child Success Center has the pleasure of helping children acquire skills to manage their “job of childhood” through our Summer K-Camp (Kindergarten Readiness Program). K-Camp is the cornerstone of our Summer Learning Academy. Children entering kindergarten in the fall are facilitated by a learning specialist, who utilizes a curriculum designed by a team of occupational, speech and language, and educational therapists and psychologists. This unique curriculum has been carefully honed over the 7 years CSC has offered K-camp. It addresses each child’s unique strengths and stretches as they relate to kindergarten readiness and provides each child the opportunity to strengthen the foundations needed to successfully enter school and joyfully manage the “job of Kindergarten”.
Our learning specialists understand how critical it is that the foundation of development and learning be well integrated and efficient over the first 6 years of life. They come to K-Camp with an intimate understanding of each child’s learning styles. Our team gathers a history and is able to adapt the curriculum to create the “just right challenge” for each learner. More evolved reading, writing, spelling and math skills rely upon foundational attention memory, listening, language, visual and motor processing. Camp provides opportunity to grow in these areas as well as those of social learning, academic learning, gross and fine motor skill development, verbal communication, imagination and creativity, and the exploration of personal interests.
For children that have not attained pre-school level foundational skills such as the ability to wait, focus, attend, follow direction, easily adjust to new surroundings, collaborate, cooperatively negotiate in play, or are unable to grasp the relationship between sounds and symbols, K-Camp provides a fun, engaging and grounded environment where this foundational building process can occur via positive, successful social learning experiences.
Through a social learning lens, mindfulness-based practices allow the camper to explore group dynamics, practice transitions and develop skills to monitor changes in the environment. Skills are added to their toolbox for attending, being present and listening with their whole body, while creating a foundation for emotional balance.
CSC K-Camp is open to all children entering Kindergarten in the Fall, including those who have been in a preschool setting that has not exposed them to academic learning opportunities, those who have struggled with the job of preschool and those entering a new school setting which can be anxiety producing. In addition to preparing kids for a successful transition, K-Camp is a great time for socializing and making new friends.
The Child Success Center Kindergarten Readiness Program (K-Camp) has benefited many children over the past 7 years and their parents have been delighted with the results….
“I can’t say enough about K-Camp. My daughter attended K-Camp for two weeks and it gave her exposure to early literacy and numeracy, as well as provided a structured day that really prepared her for the kindergarten transition. As a parent, it gave me peace of mind that she would be ready to take the next steps.”
“My son had the best week at the Kindergarten Readiness Camp. He is starting Kindergarten in September after completing a year of TK so it was the perfect refresher midway through summer. The camp focused on academics but also social interaction, self-regulating, transitioning and much more. My son said they played fun games and he loved taking breaks and playing in the gym. For a boy who doesn’t love doing table work he said it was the best camp! I could not be happier.”
Additional information about Kindergarten Readiness Programs
Summer K-Camp (Kindergarten Readiness Program) at Child Success Center
Is Kindergarten Camp a Fit For Your Child?
Why Your Child May Need Educational Therapy
How Educational Therapy Helps a Child That is Struggling to Learn?
We all expect and hope that our child will have a love of reading and learning. It is heartbreaking for a parent to see their child struggling to learn. Often, however, a parent is uncertain what is getting in the way of their child’s ability to learn. After all, children are natural learners, right? Yes…and no.
In the very early years from birth to 3 years old, a child’s learning rate is the fastest of their lifetime. As a child grows older, however, he may find himself in a learning environment that doesn’t necessarily suit the way he learns best. While it may be natural to learn, not every child learns in the same way. If a child’s learning style is not recognized and difficulties in learning are not addressed, as he falls behind his peers the child can lose confidence and self-esteem, which will in turn further decrease his desire to pursue learning and may result in behavior issues. Early intervention is key and it is vital that the child be given access to a safe space to gain insight into their own particular way of learning and develop the skills needed for successful learning.
Educational therapy provides personalized remedial instruction to a child with learning and attention challenges that may be connected to root causes such as dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, ADHD, executive function deficit, and language, visual and auditory processing issues. Other circumstances to take into consideration might be a child’s regulatory system, sensory experience, emotional involvement, social connectedness and reciprocity, executive functioning, attention, and frustration tolerance. Educational therapy demystifies learning problems, enables a child to build underlying learning skills and stimulates a child’s self-awareness of his strengths so he can use them to his best advantage to overcome or compensate for areas of weakness.
We continue to learn our entire lives. Learning and attention issues don’t go away, but educational therapy will teach your child new learning strategies that will help him improve concentration, memory and attention, and be a more successful, self-confident and efficient learner in school and all through his life.
