Our bodies are constantly When a child is taking in too bombarded with sensations. We much or too little sensory can see the light in the room, information, he or she may hear the sound of others working become overly active during nearby, feel the pencil in our class. As a teacher, there are hands, and feel the weight of our strategies you can use to help body touching the chair. We can students receive the right feel whether our body is amount of sensory information. positioned upright or if our legs How Does Your Engine are crossed without looking. We Run? are also picking up different “How Does Your Engine smells, and feeling the air Run,” or the ALERT Program for temperature on our skin. Self-Regulation, is a model We are so used to designed to help professionals experiencing all of these teach students cognitive sensations that we hardly think skills. It is designed to about these things. However, it help students: took a lot of practice for us to get 1) recognize their “engine to this point. Children are still level” as it relates to attention, learning this process and tend to learning, and behavior be easily distracted by all of 2) Help students expand the these sensations. Sometimes, number of self-regulation children can become so strategies in their toolbox. distracted that it interferes with the things they need and want to do, especially in the classroom.
Our bodies are constantly bombarded with sensations. We can see the light in the room, hear the sound of others working nearby, feel the pencil in our hands, and feel the weight of our body touching the chair. We can feel whether our body is positioned upright or if our legs are crossed without looking. We are also picking up different smells, and feeling the air temperature on our skin. We are so used to experiencing all of these sensations that we hardly think about these things. However, it took a lot of practice for us to get to this point. Children are still learning this process and tend to be easily distracted by all of these sensations. Sometimes, children can become so distracted that it interferes with the things they need and want to do, especially in the classroom. When a child is taking in too much or too little sensory information, he or she may become overly active during class. As a teacher, there are strategies you can use to help students receive the right amount of sensory information. How Does Your Engine Run? “How Does Your Engine Run,” or the ALERT Program for Self-Regulation, is a model designed to help professionals teach students cognitive skills. It is designed to help students: 1) recognize their “engine level” as it relates to attention, learning, and behavior 2) Help students expand the number of self-regulation strategies in their toolbox.