Articles
Tools to decrease anxiety
Liz Day - Senior Therapist, Hon. BA, Rehab Dip.
Many children on the Austim Spectrum (as well as any child) often experience times of significant anxiety. Often we can see the signs escalating as the body gets tense, facial expressions may show frustration or begin to cry, voices may get louder, breathing gets faster and then explosion of emotions, and meltdowns occur often with physical tantrums of throwing, kicking, biting, yelling, etc. How do we deal with these meltdowns? What caused them?
Kari Dunn Buron and Mitzi Curtis have developed a tool called the 5 Point Scale (www.5pointscale.com). This is a great support to parents, therapist and teachers to visualize the anxiety escalation and teach us to deal with the anxiety before it heightens to a full on tantrum.
The following is a summary of the emotional scale:
5 – Enraged Meltdown
4 – Stressed, Upset, Frustrated
3 – Neutral, So-So, Fine, Okay
2 – Happy, Content, Calm
1 – Excited, Very Happy
The time to teach calming strategies to children is in the number 2 phase. Calming strategies can be anything from deep breathing, reading a book, taking a break, decreasing the noise, squishing a toy. Whatever is a calming thing for your child, now is the time to teach them to use it – when all is calm. As we give these strategies and begin to implement them when we see the frustration beginning and the muscles tensing, the child will begin to learn that they can stop themselves from escalating by using these tools when they feel the early signs arising (children may need to be taught how to identify their feelings first).
Another key to remember is to look for what causes the initial feelings to begin escalating. Are they hungry, tired, what time of the day is it – have they had enough teaching, too much being with people? Especially in non-verbal and younger children who may not be able to communicate their feelings yet. Check your antecedents of what can set the behaviours off and be sure to do all you can to keep those in check as much as possible. Life is not always predictable and controlled but the things we can control will help.
Check out the website for the 5 Point Scale and begin teaching your child to help control their own emotions. They will feel the success, realizing they can manage their own emotions and don’t have to get to the point of melting down. And just think, your anxiety may decrease too!
For more information, please contact YOUR HEALTH at 905.829.0724 or .