By Shelly Moore, COTA/L
“The ALERT program assists students in understanding the basic theory of sensory integration related to arousal states. The primary focus is to help children learn to monitor, maintain, and change their level of alertness so that it is appropriate to a situation or task.” (Williams, Shellenberger)
The ALERT program provides a vocabulary for parents and children to use to help increase a child’s awareness of their arousal level, to help parents learn to recognize arousal levels in their children, and gives children “tools” to use to help regulate their arousal or energy level.
Every day children (and adults) are exposed to sensory information. Sounds, smells, tastes, bright lights, movements, touch sensations. Some of us go through the day unaware of these things or with the ability to tune most of it out. Others of us may feel like running away when we hear a loud sound or feel sick riding in the car or walking on an uneven surface, we might chew on our pens or fingernails when we are stressed or have to wear sunglasses to block out even a little bright light, or we may be irritated all day by a tag in our shirts. Sensory integration is the ability to integrate sensations in a meaningful and productive way. Our senses give meaning to the world around us and when our brains can’t make sense of, or integrate that information we may respond with anxiety, act out, or become frustrated and dysregulated.
The first step in the ALERT program is learning vocabulary words associated with it. The analogy of an engine and colors are used to describe a person’s alertness. Sometimes our engines run FAST (RED), sometimes they are SLOW (BLUE) and sometimes our engines are JUST RIGHT (GREEN). When our engines are FAST/RED we might be angry or very excited, our bodies are in constant motion, unsafe and we can’t focus our attention to be productive. When our engines are SLOW/BLUE our engine is tired or feeling sick or bored, our bodies aren’t moving much and we are unable to focus and be productive. When our engines are JUST RIGHT/GREEN our bodies are safe and focused on the task at hand. It is important to reinforce this vocabulary at home by parents labeling themselves and the child, “I see you jumping off the furniture and being unsafe, your engine is RED,” “I just woke up, my engine is BLUE.” And, having your child label what they see in others (T.V. characters, people at the store) will reinforce the vocabulary which is the foundation of the ALERT program, and help to increase a child’s awareness of their alertness level. And, ultimately the child will be able to identify their own alertness level when asked.
Once a child is familiar with the vocabulary and can state where their alertness level is, they need to learn about the tools that will help them to bring their engine back to just right when they are dysregulated. There are 5 types of tools; Mouth, Move, Touch, Look, Listen. Tools are individualized which means they may work for one person and not another. Some tools will help to increase alertness and some will help to decrease it. Exploration is key in finding what each child is drawn to.
Some people are oral sensory seekers and putting something in the mouth is a way to change their alertness. Sucking, blowing, chewing, or crunching all help to regulate our engines. Some ideas are sucking on a water bottle with a rubber straw, blowing bubbles, deep breathing, chewing gum, eating sweet, sour, crunch or chewy foods.
Movement can help decrease alertness from FAST to JUST RIGHT or it can increase alertness from SLOW to JUST RIGHT. Walking, running, pushing, pulling, jumping jacks, sitting on a therapy ball, swinging are just some ways we can move our bodies to change our alertness.
Touch tools are things we feel or fidget with that help to change our alertness. Temperature, texture, light or firm touch affects all of us differently. Some ideas are holding a fidget such as putty, tapping a pen on the desk, pulling a rubber band, fidgeting with jewelry, holding a soft stuffed animal, a warm bath, a weighted blanket or a hug.
Watching fish in an aquarium, a clean work area as opposed to messy one, bright lights vs dim lights, these are all Look tools. Bright lights are alerting and help us wake up in the morning, dim lights are calming and help us fall asleep. Other Look tools, reading a good book or staring at a campfire.
Listen tools such as Music or sound engages more brain systems than any other stimulation. Loud noises are alerting or increase our engine speeds, quiet sounds are calming. Some people focus better with silence while others need some background noise. More ideas are falling asleep to the sound of a fan, walking outside in nature, the sound of the ocean, listening to books on tape.
As adults, we use “tools” throughout the day, usually without being aware of it. They are just a part of our lives. The ALERT program seeks to help children understand their alertness level, engine level or energy state and helps them find things they can do or tools they can use to help them get back to just right in order to focus and function appropriately in a given situation.
The ALERT Program runs for 8 weeks and each group has 3-5 children who are the same age. If this sounds like something that could help your child, contact our office to find out when our next group starts.
