The Neuroscience Behind Self-Regulation

• A look at sensory-motor pathways
• Brain dissection video: The emotional brain and its connection to executive functioning
• Neurological dysfunction: Hyper-activity, hypo-activity, aggressiveness, self-stimulatory, and inattentiveness

Neuro and Sensory Integration: Linking to Behaviors

• Breaking down self-regulation: Sensory, cognition and emotions
• Self-regulation effects on behavior: Flapping, inflexibility, rigidity, lack of inhibition, poor social skills, risk taking
• The power of the autonomic nervous system and its connection to behavior (ie. stress, fear and primitive reflexes)
• The power of primitive reflexes and how they impede on function
• Tools and strategies for assessing primitive reflexes

Video Case Study Analyzation: Aligning Symptoms and Characteristics with Appropriate Interventions

• ADHD: Diagnosis and current treatment strategies
• Autism: Diagnosis and DSM-5® updates
• Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD):
  • Sensory modulation disorder
  • Sensory-based motor disorder
  • Sensory discrimination disorder

Self-Regulation Techniques and the Vagus Nerve Connection

• Communication strategies that provide control: Symbolic and non-verbal
• Self-management and behavioral strategies: Behavioral contracts, checklist for tracking behaviors, video modeling
• Addressing picky eating and poor sleep habits: Desensitizing and non-threatening activities
• Music as a technique to initiate sensorial stimuli, calming and attentiveness
• New interventions for vestibular, proprioceptive, auditory, smell and vision work

Apply Neuroscience to Interventions: Hands-on Activities

• Neurological connection of current programs such as Brain Gym®, sensory diets, and MeMoves™, just to name a few!
• Integrate a mindfulness program for self-regulation
• Address primitive reflexes and improve social participation and age appropriate behaviors
• Tool to assess child’s arousal levels to be used for daily schedules and to organize daily interventions

Treatment Planning: Video Case Examples of Children Displaying Challenging Social, Eating and Sleep Behaviors

• Perform a virtual evaluation
• Develop a treatment plan
• Goal development
• Re-assessment: When is it needed and when to discharge

Psychoeducation for Clients and Parents

• Evidence-based intervention and techniques to address challenges with self-regulation
• Address psychosocial concerns and experiences of caregivers of children with self-regulation challenges
• Communicate methods to address reciprocal regulation between the child and caregiver to address the influences and interaction each have

Varleisha D. Gibbs, PhD, OTD, OTR/L, is an occupational therapist and author with over 13 years of experience working with children and adolescents diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Sensory Processing disorders and Neurological disorders. Dr. Gibbs is the inaugural chair and director of the master’s programs in occupational therapy and full time associate professor at Wesley College in Dover, DE. Prior to joining Wesley, she worked at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, PA, where she served as the director of the doctoral programs in occupational therapy. Dr. Gibbs is steadfast and an expert in the field of neurology, cognition, and pediatric therapeutic intervention.

Dr. Gibbs continues to lecture, and provide training, on sensory processing strategies and self-regulation to practitioners, parents, and teaches throughout the country and internationally. As co-author of Raising Kids with Sensory Processing Disorders (Prufrock Press, 2013), she has provided families with strategies to understand and care for their children. Dr. Gibbs is the developer of the Self-Regulation and Mindfulness program and the author of Self-Regulation and Mindfulness: Over 82 Exercises and Worksheets for Sensory Processing Disorder, ADHD, and Autism Spectrum Disorder (PESI, 2017). Click here for information about Varleisha Gibbs.