Mackie was in the room while I was watching the news. He saw Mr. Trump on TV
and told me "That man is in the "Red Zone and he needs to go find some tools to get into the Green Zone!
Mackie is not only mastering reading his own zones of regulation, but seeing it in others!
Mackie is not only mastering reading his own zones of regulation, but seeing it in others!
Aha... There is an idea for Mom's Day 6 Writing Post on FASD and the Alphabet Soup of overlapping diagnoses!
Emotional Regulation
I learned very early on that my kids with their FASD and the alphabet soup had emotional regulation problems. My kids needed external support to keep them from the highs of bouncing off the ceilings or the lows where they function as slow as snails. I had to learn early on what works to get them moving and what tools were helpful in the process. With five children from 5 to 15 with their FASD's and their alphabet soup and of course Miss Becca at 7 with her ADHD, autism and her own alphabet soup I had to do something! I ended up being everyone's external brain and if I left the room for a minute, things could quickly spiral out of control and chaos ensued.
I found a good therapist for both them and me who recommended us getting the younger kids into occupational therapy. At 7 and double 10, Becca, Dee and Bean were exposed to the Alert Program and their How Does Your Engine Run. We spent many weeks figuring out that spinning makes Becca hyper and off the charts wild. While that if you spin her the opposite way she unwinds and her moods settle down. Crunchy foods in the morning wake her up and Power sitting (a Mom learned trick) calms Bean and Detamara right down. (Sitting Criss Cross Applesauce with your hands the legs with the pressure of your body down). When I saw the things were spiraling out of control, Mom commanded "Power Sit" and they dropped wherever they were and we all calmed down.
I found that I had to teach and model emotional regulation. I had to tell them what mood (zone) they were in. Red Zone, Yellow Zone, Green Zone and then see if they could identify which zone they were in. Helping them connect the dots to what zone and what they could do to change it. I had to learn to model the zones for them. Teach by example. "Mom is in the Red Zone (someone broke something), Breath Mom, in and out, in and out. It was an accident and no ones fault. Just clean it up and go take a break". Soon I saw that the younger kids were learning from the lessons and they began to realize their own moods and were using the tools that we taught. I was also becoming aware that my moods affected my children and try to come up with my own strategies to calm down to not stir the pot.
When we got Mac many years later , he was l7 months old. He couldn't yet sit up and only a teeny tiny 13 pounds, but he could say simple words. We realized by 21 months he was loosing his speech and I had already picked up on the sensory processing issues. We knew he had partial Fetal alcohol syndrome. For the most part he was a happy little guy, quiet, but his moods swung from an over stimulating sensory environment.
I worked with his PT therapist who agreed that he was somewhere on the autism spectrum and I needed to find a way for him to "tell" me that something was bothering him but also begin early to teach him to understand his zones. Sometimes in FASD and the Alphabet Soup of other diagnoses, the lack of emotional regulation is gets them into too much trouble. So I knew I had to start early and I had learned the hard way that once they found their "own tools" to cope, it took ten times or more work to change it.
We started with modifying the Alert Program for a toddler. Pooh Bear, Tigger and Eeyore. Pooh Bear (just right), Tigger (too high) and Eeyore (too low). He learned them and could point and identify his emotions by the age of 2 with no speech which had left him at 21 months overnight.
When he was 4 he started in The Wisconsin Early Autism Project and I asked for help with one of the goals that I had for him. I wanted him to be able to tell the therapists his zones and identify tools. He could do it for us, but would he do it for others. He needed to generalize it to other environments.
He at the age of 6 he is proficient in his naming his zones, identifying them correctly in himself and regulating himself most of the times. We do have moments which he speed up from 1 to 100 in a couple of seconds, but with us prompting him or using a tool. We can get him down quickly and back on the even keel. We also speed him up when his body and processing is just not moving by using the tools we know help him "wake up". Crawling, spinning, crunchy foods, hanging him upside down his the best one to flip his moods.
Mac has even asked for his sensory breaks at school and will head to his sensory box in his own spot for a time to put himself back together. He has asked to be put in his medical stroller to have a break when he is getting tired. He knows and he has learned to help us manage his regulation. He will just go sit and calm himself down with his blanket and iPad at the times when it gets "just" too much. Asking for his headphones to block out the noise, wearing his sunglasses when it is just too bright.
He automatically uses his tools many times a day to keep regulated.
Mackie is mastering the Alert Program and their How Does Your Engine Run Alert Program for Self Regulation and the Zones of Regulation.
They often say in FASD they can't learn. They learn in different ways and times. They can learn, but we have to begin early, use tools and programs, repetition, modeling, strategize many differing ways of teaching until it works and catch those early behaviors before they get stuck proactively. Early intervention and applying what I have learned from the others does work, and with the right supports and understanding our kids can have a better chance. Mackie is proof!
Anny
