DIR/Floortime Friday Developmental Level 1 – Shared Attention and Regulation This is the ability to control attention and behaviour while being interested in a range of sensations (eg. sights, sounds, movements) and later emotions. Basic abilities in this area start to develop at birth as a child is calmed with touch and movement. When calm, children then start to show an interest in different sensations such as looking at a caregivers face for short periods of time or orienting to a caregiver singing or reading a story. Over time more complex shared attention and regulation develops such as when a child has to process all of the sensations of a busy playground and use their imagination in play. An even older child must do all of this while also managing their emotions during play. A well regulated child is able to experience a broad range of emotions and sensations while still maintaining an appropriate state of arousal for the activity they are completing. A simple idea to support school-aged children who have problems at this stage is to set up a cool-down area at home or somewhere in their classroom. A pop-up tent or spare table with sheet over the top works well. Fill this area with a range of calming tools such as pillows, fidgets, music/iPod, favourite toys, etc. At school a token system can be used – for example a child is given 2 x 10min tokens each day to use when they need some cool-down time. Cameron Griffths Occupational Therapist & Floortime Provider (Intermediate Certificate)
Posted on: Fri, 01 Nov 2013 08:00:00 +0000
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