Programs

THE ALERT PROGRAM FOR SELF-REGULATION

How Well Does Your Engine Run?

Purpose

The Alert Program consists of a series of lessons and activities that help children learn to monitor and change their levels of alertness appropriate to a situation. If your body is like a car engine, sometimes it runs on high, sometimes it runs on low, and sometimes it runs just right. When therapists, teachers, or parents use these simple words to begin the Alert Program, they enter an exciting adventure with children. The journey unfolds easily with the program's clearly defined steps for teaching self-regulation awareness. Those facilitating the program have been delighted to discover the ease with which many children learn how to choose sensorimotor strategies to attain an optimal state of alertness.

Through the Alert Program, children learn a repertoire of strategies that strengthens their abilities to learn, interact with others, and work or play. Children not only learn to monitor their level of alertness, but improve in self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-monitoring skills.

Program Goals

1. To teach children, parents, and teachers how to recognize arousal states as it relates to attention, learning, and behavior styles.

2. To help children define the self-regulation strategies they use in a variety of tasks and settings.

3. To give parents and teachers a framework (vocabulary, activities, and environments) to help children recognize and regulate their arousal states.

4. To help parents and teachers understand that a behavior reflects both the current status of the individuals nervous system and their best attempt to respond adaptively and efficiently to the demands of a situation and/or task.

Program Target Population

The Alert Program has been effective with the following populations and learning disabilities

• Attention Deficit Disorder
• Elementary school age (8 - 12 years) but adapted for the preschool and early elementary-aged child
• Across settings of private clinics, public schools, and home

Theoretical Basis

In teaching this program to parents and teachers, one must include basic understanding of occupational therapy, sensory integration theory, and arousal states. Occupational Therapy is a health profession concerned with improving a person's occupational performance. In a pediatric setting, the children's occupations are usually players, preschoolers, or students. Occupational Therapists use a knowledge base of neurology, anatomy, physiology, kinesiology, child development, psychology, psychosocial development, activity/task analysis and therapeutic techniques.

Dr. Jean Ayres developed sensory integration theory over thirty years ago to better explain the relationship between behavior and neural functioning, especially sensory processing and integration. Her goal was to develop a theory to describe and predict the specific relationships among neural functioning, sensorimotor behavior and early academic learning. Play is the work of children. Through play, children learn about themselves and the world around them. When all they see, hear, and feel makes sense to them, the process of sensory integration occurs. Sensory integration supports the normal developmental sequence which drives children to move, explore, and learn through pleasurable experiences. It would, therefore, logically follow that sensory integration allows for the best learning when an individual experiences pleasure, satisfaction, and safety. Arousal states or engine levels can be considered a state of the nervous system describing how alert one feels. To attend, concentrate, and perform tasks in a manner that is suitable to the situational demands, one's nervous system must be in an optimal state of arousal for that particular task.

JUMP AND SHOUT, HOP AND SQUEAK AT THE PARK
(Motor-Language Groups)

A four or six week club for varied ages who could benefit from combined sensory integration and language techniques in a natural group setting to improve functional performance and social skills.

LET'S DO LUNCH

For Preschool children with feeding differences This five week group addresses the sensory, social, and play aspects of feeding in a group meeting.


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LIFE ON THE FLOOR

For 2-4 year olds and their parents. This is a prevention oriented early intervention model as researched by Dr. Stanley Greenspan which involves six weeks of learning developmental processes vital for healthy functioning.


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PEER PLAY GROUPS

For children on the autistic spectrum who could benefit from learning play skills with "expert players" in order to develop creative/symbolic play and social skills. The goal is JOYFUL COLLABORATION.


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TOOLS FOR TEENS

This summer group gives our teens the "tools" they need to honor their own sensory preferences for self-regulation and is done during community outings.


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