#254 - Tips for Supporting Meltdowns at School

Improving Focus and Behavior in the Classroom Digital Course

We get questions all the time asking how to help kiddos in school - parents who are concerned that their child is having meltdowns at school; teachers who are struggling to help their students; and therapists who are having difficulty connecting with teachers. 

Today’s episode is all about how to help a child / student who is having meltdowns in the classroom.  We dive into the reasons WHY a child might have a meltdown - this is the first step! Then we break down tips and tricks for parents, teachers, and therapists! 

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Links
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Teaching Your Child to Self Regulate
Zones of Regulation
FREE Social Story Template
8 Sensory Breaks for Kids in School
Sensory Strategies for Every Classroom
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Transcript

Rachel Harrington: 0:00

So if your child is having a meltdown at school, really the biggest thing we need to find out is why. When are the meltdowns occurring? This tells us why it's happening. I'm Rachel.

Jessica Hill: 0:17

And I'm Jessica. And this is All Things Sensory by Harkla.

Rachel Harrington: 0:20

We are both certified occupational therapy assistants and together with Harkla. We are on a mission to empower parents, therapists, and educators to help raise confident and strong children of all abilities.

Jessica Hill: 0:32

On this podcast, we chat about all things sensory, diving into special needs, occupational therapy, parenting, self care, overall health and wellness and so much more.

Rachel Harrington: 0:42

We're here to provide raw, honest and fun strategies, ideas and information for parents, therapists and educators as well as other professionals to implement into daily life.

Jessica Hill: 0:53

Thank you so much for joining us.

Rachel Harrington: 0:58

Hey, everyone, welcome back to another episode, we're so happy to have you. We are talking about strategies for meltdowns at school. If your child is melting down, really struggling at school, we're going to talk about some strategies because we received a question about this.

Jessica Hill: 1:17

We get several questions about this throughout the year, the school year, specifically, from parents asking how to help their child who's having meltdowns at school. And today we're gonna talk about what parents can do. And then we'll also talk specifically about what teachers can do to help their students in the classroom.

Rachel Harrington: 1:40

Before we jump in, we do have a course that is perfect for teachers, therapists, parents. It is Improving Focus and Behavior in the Classroom. We dive into sensory strategies in the classroom and tools and tips and activities that you can do in the classroom. So we highly recommend checking that out. So that way, you can be ready for next year, and have some really helpful information in your back pocket

Jessica Hill: 2:09

Sidenote, I actually received an email from a PE teacher. And he was saying that he noticed challenges with some of his PE students, when they were kicking a soccer ball around. He noticed some overflow in their upper body. And I actually recommended this course to him because we do talk about primitive reflexes and how primitive reflexes affect learning and gross motor skills. And I think we actually have a PE teacher who went through this course. And she said, she got tons of ideas for her PE class. So even if you're not like a regular classroom teacher, if you're in the education system anywhere, this course can give you a lot of really great ideas.

Rachel Harrington: 2:52

Alright, let's jump in. Let's start with parents. So if your child is having a meltdown at school, really the biggest thing we need to find out is why? When are the meltdowns occurring? This tells us why it's happening. So start a journal, keep track, find a pattern, are these meltdowns occurring at the same time every day? Do you see that pattern, and that's where journaling can really help us figure that out.

Jessica Hill: 3:20

Your child could also be overwhelmed or overstimulated by certain things happening in the class. If they are having meltdowns every time the class gets super busy and noisy. Or if it's during transitions, which transitions can be overstimulating, oftentimes, because everybody's moving around, everybody's making noise. I was also thinking if your child is hungry at certain times during the day that can cause meltdowns as well.

Rachel Harrington: 3:50

Another thing to identify as if your child has any learning difficulties, things like dyslexia, handwriting challenges, communication difficulties, even things like ocular motor challenges can impact their ability to learn and understand information which of course if you're struggling in school and you can't process anything or you can't read or write like everybody else is doing, it's going to cause stress and anxiety and that leads to melting down.

Jessica Hill: 4:18

We also want to look at any biological challenges that might be occurring such as constipation, sleep challenges, nutrition deficiencies like I mentioned earlier, hunger or thirst or dehydration. So we want to check on how the child is doing physically and biologically, like are.. is biologically the right word?

Rachel Harrington: 4:39

I would Yeah, I was even thinking gonna throw emotionally in there as well. Like are they are their needs emotionally being met at home, too.

Jessica Hill: 4:46

Just those overall health things that we all deal with sleep and food and go into the bathroom. Because those can all have an effect.

Rachel Harrington: 4:57

The next thing we want to work on is emotional regulation at home. So we mentioned earlier, identifying the emotional connection, making sure those emotional needs are being met. So we need to help your child identify their feelings and emotions. So that way you can name it, tame it and claim it. So you can identify those emotions, you can tame those emotions if the dragon is coming out. And then you can claim and say, Yeah, I was struggling with that, I had a really big reaction to a really little problem. And I learned that's not really an expected behavior and expected choice.

Jessica Hill: 5:27

If your child is able to identify their feelings and emotions at home, then they are going to be better able to do it in other environments, like at school. Additionally, you want to help your child learn strategies that they can use during different times of the day during difficult challenges. So practicing different strategies for when they're frustrated for when they're overstimulated. And you can use different emotional regulation programs or tools. We love the Zones of Regulation, the Alert program, How Does Your Engine Run. There's a lot of different ones out there. So you can use whichever one fits your child's needs the most and which one they like, right, if your child doesn't connect with the Alert program, don't use it.

Rachel Harrington: 6:12

You don't want to force it. And you also want to make sure that you're modeling all of this to your children. So if you are overstimulated, you're frustrated, instead of you know, lashing out and yelling, calmly say, I need a break, my body is in the yellow zone, I'll be right back. And maybe like set a timer, and go lean against a wall or smell some essential oils or you know, do a wall walk up, something so that your child can see that even you get overwhelmed, you struggle sometimes too. But you are using tools consistently to help you. That is a game changer.

Jessica Hill: 6:52

And it's important to remember that all of this takes consistency and patience. Because change doesn't happen overnight. You have to stay consistent with what you are doing at home, when it comes to identifying feelings and emotions and using strategies for yourself. But then also practicing it all with your child as well.

Rachel Harrington: 7:14

And also there's never going to be a perfect child who's able to do this. Even kiddos who are neurotypical aren't going to be able to handle their emotions all the time and use strategies. And I'm feeling overwhelmed right now I need only that blanket, really it's not rainbows and butterflies all the time. But the goal here is lifelong emotional awareness and emotional regulation. We want to teach them strategies that they'll have in their toolbox for the rest of their lives and to learn that it's okay to have these emotions. It's not okay to hurt people or hit people. It's not okay to hurt yourself. So just really getting those foundational skills solid is the goal here. And don't expect perfection, because you're not perfect.

Jessica Hill: 7:59

No, we're not perfect. Yeah, it's not always perfect. It's consistent. It always is going on. But that's the trick is you just you have to be consistent, and you have to co regulate as well. If your child is struggling having a hard time you need to be you the parent needs to be there safe space, so you can help them out.

Rachel Harrington: 8:21

Alright, the next step we're going to do is to start working on role playing different situations at school. So this is great to do on the weekends away from school, definitely not after they are done at school, and they're overwhelmed and already overstimulated. So just focus on talking to your child about what happens at school, identify their emotions around it and ask if they have any strategies that they want to try or that they're aware of. And if they don't, then that's when you can create something like a social story for a situation that they can take to school. So maybe if they're struggling with standing in line going to recess, maybe they're getting really squiggly, squiggly, squiggly, that that's that's a word, they're getting very silly and wiggly, and they are maybe getting in trouble. And then they're crying on the floor because they got in trouble or because they had to go to the back of the line. But you can create a social story that works them through and includes those sensory strategies as well. So if they are, you know, Johnny needs to grab his fidget and hold it in his hands while he's standing in line. And then he needs to practice taking a deep breath and if someone bumps into him, you know, that's okay. People make mistakes and we ask if they're okay, we take a deep breath, we can move our body, so you just kind of walk them through those those different situations and give them the tools and the strategies to practice that.

Jessica Hill: 9:50

And then you need to have an open line of communication with your child's teacher. Your child is having meltdowns in the classroom where your teacher is present. You need to find out what the teacher is doing for your child to help and approach this from a team perspective, you and your child's teacher or a team. So you need to approach it as, hey, I really want to help my child be successful in the classroom. I know you do, too. We've been working on emotional awareness at home, here are some strategies we've been practicing at home, what can you include in the classroom to help my child before they have a meltdown and open that line of communication, whether it's a phone call, or email or an in person meeting, and let them know that you want just you want your child to be successful. And just keep in mind that your teacher ultimately does too.

Rachel Harrington: 10:47

Yeah, but they have a lot of kids that they have to wrangle in and make sure that they're listening to them as well. That's why that empathetic kind of team focused way is always the best.

Jessica Hill: 10:58

So parents, you need to practice emotional awareness at home, talk with your child's teacher, those are the main things.

Rachel Harrington: 11:06

So teachers, let's move on to what you can do to help children in your classroom who are losing it and having meltdowns. And you know, I think the first thing to identify is... Is it sensory or is it behavior?

Jessica Hill: 11:21

We talk a lot about that in our digital course, because there is a difference between a tantrum where a child is upset because they don't want to do something or they're upset because they're not getting exactly what they wanted, versus a sensory meltdown, where the child is overstimulated, they are having a meltdown because of something that they can't quite control. But they will if they can.

Rachel Harrington: 11:51

I think too, it's important here to refer or get a screening from an occupational therapy practitioner in your school, if possible. I think that's always a good route to start for sure.

Jessica Hill: 12:04

Then you want to identify why this specific student is struggling. Talk to the parents, if you can, ideally, you will chat with the parents and find out what they're doing at home that's being helpful. But notice and look for those patterns of when this student is melting down. To figure out why.

Rachel Harrington: 12:22

From there, we're going to start incorporating some irregular and consistent sensory strategies into the entire classroom because everyone has a sensory system, and everyone needs strategies to keep it regulated. So the first thing that you could try is our five minute sensory breaks, so take a short break every hour or less.

Jessica Hill: 12:42

If you're in elementary school, you probably want to be doing this every like 40-45 minutes.

Rachel Harrington: 12:47

Yep. So take five minutes, crawl around the classroom, do some jumping jacks, do some wall push ups, try to push the wall over, go upside down, smell some essential oils, or some scented stickers or markers. Think about all of your eight senses and how you can stimulate those in five minutes.

Jessica Hill: 13:07

And then you want to use sensory strategies during transitions because transitions can be overstimulating, they can be difficult for some students. So use some different sensory strategies during transitions as well as after the transition. So after your students come back to the classroom after lunch, or after recess, spend five minutes doing some calming activities to help your students nervous systems feel more calm and regulated so you can start the next lesson.

Rachel Harrington: 13:37

A big one is a recess. Recess is like the reset button for kids, especially kiddos who have sensory processing challenges. So we don't want to take away recess as a punishment, or as a way to motivate them to get their schoolwork done. It will just make things harder, it will make the child struggle even more, I promise. So please try to focus on more of that positive reinforcement, instead of taking away things or having them get in trouble because they will do better when they are recognized for doing good things. And they're being patted on the back foot, maybe not because that might be alerting if you pat them on the back of their shirt, but give them a high five if they sat down at their desk, you know, without disrupting the entire class. So keep that in mind that recess is the reset button and focus on that positive reinforcement instead of the negative.

Jessica Hill: 14:29

And if the student is really struggling, you can bring positive attention to their effort. Even if the results aren't where you want the results to be. If they are putting forth effort, make sure you praise them for that because if they are recognized for effort, they will continue to put more effort forth and I think that's important, especially with students with ADHD. Those students need to be recognized for the effort they're putting forth so that they can continue to put more effort forth. That was something I learned in one of my ADHD trainings was. And I think that's true for all kids, though, for sure.

Rachel Harrington: 15:09

I agree. I do want to recommend proactive sensory strategies rather than reactive. So what that means is instead of waiting for the child or the classroom to become overstimulated and overwhelmed and losing it, and then trying to implement a sensory break or incorporate some sensory strategies, consistently implement those sensory strategies and those sensory breaks throughout the day, in order to be proactive with giving them the input that they need. So their sensory systems need to be filled up with this input. So this jumping and crashing and smelling and looking and I mean, think about all of your senses, our bodies crave that. So if we can give them that proactively, then ideally, that's going to help prevent those sensory meltdowns.

Jessica Hill: 15:54

We do have podcast episodes and YouTube videos that give specific examples for classrooms sensory breaks, different activities that target different sensory systems. So we recommend you check those out to get specific ideas.

Rachel Harrington: 16:11

So after talking with a child's parents, you can start including specific sensory strategies for a child who is struggling, make sure that you have that open line of communication, you're not just going to like throw a weighted vest or like a lap pad on them without asking. That communication is important.

Jessica Hill: 16:27

A couple of other things to learn more about when it comes to the classroom, primitive reflex integration, retained primitive reflexes have a direct impact on learning and coordination. So that is going to directly affect your students, we also recommend looking into therapeutic music, classical music, the listening program, having something available to turn on in the classroom that is calming and regulating to the nervous system can be really helpful for your students.

Rachel Harrington: 16:58

Yeah, and also keeping the environment suitable for learning. I feel like so many kids can't focus can't learn in classroom environments, because they are so overwhelming. There's always so much noise and so many visual things to look at, and fluorescent lights. So think about changing what the environment is like and see if that fosters any more, I don't know, just maybe fosters more of a safe place for learning. And children might be a little bit more comfortable. And they aren't going to be flipped into those primitive reflex patterns, because they aren't going to be triggered as much.

Jessica Hill: 17:37

If you want to use a weighted vest or weighted lap pad with certain students, definitely chat with your OT first, we do not recommend using a weighted vest for hours at a time. You want to use a specific wear schedule. And we do have an episode on using weighted products efficiently. So we'll link that in the show notes because that is a very important topic. And then always just looking to see if the students, the child's needs are being met. Are they happy? Are they motivated at school? Or is school a drag and they're not engaging? We need to figure out how we can set up the environment to promote motivation for the child and help them be happy to learn and be there.

Rachel Harrington: 18:26

Yeah, so with that a lot is what we have for you today. We hope this episode was helpful and kind of gives you the kick in the right direction to end the school year.

Jessica Hill: 18:36

When you said that he thought about kicking the pants.

Rachel Harrington: 18:38

A kick in the pants, and the school year on a positive note. And also you know prepare for next fall. Next, you know if you if you take the summer off, then prepare for the fall. Take our courses, please. We just want every classroom to be inclusive and providing sensory strategies and also incorporating primitive reflex integration into the classroom. So take advantage of our courses. They're fantastic. Shameless plug.

Jessica Hill: 19:06

I know I was like we're not biased at all.

Rachel Harrington: 19:09

No, but we we created them so that way they would make a difference.

Jessica Hill: 19:14

If you enjoyed this episode, make sure you leave a review on whatever podcast platform you're listening on. Also share this episode with someone else that you think could benefit from it. Because spreading the word on this topic is is important. And that's how we'll get more people on board and help more children.

Rachel Harrington: 19:33

Yes. Okay. Thank you so much for being here. Take a screenshot and tag us on Instagram while you're listening at All Things Sensory podcast, and we will plan on chatting with you next week. Thank you so much for listening to All Things Sensory by Harkla

Jessica Hill: 19:51

If you want more information on anything mentioned in the show, head over to Harkla.co/podcast to get the show notes

Rachel Harrington: 19:59

if you have any follow up questions, the best place to ask those is in the comments on the show notes or message us on our Instagram account which is @Harkla_Family or at All Things Sensory podcast. If you just search Harkla you'll find us there.

Jessica Hill: 20:15

Like we mentioned before our podcast, listeners get 10% off their first order at Heartland, whether it's for one of our digital courses or one of our sensory swings, the discount code sensory will get you 10% off. That's s e n s o r y.

Rachel Harrington: 20:34

Head to harkla.co/sensory to use that discount code right now.

Jessica Hill: 20:39

We are so excited to work together to help create confident kids all over the world. While we make every effort to share correct information, we're still learning.

Rachel Harrington: 20:49

We will double check all of our facts but realize that medicine is a constantly changing science and art.

Jessica Hill: 20:54

One doctor or therapist may have a different way of doing things from another.

Rachel Harrington: 20:58

We are simply presenting our views and opinions on how to address common sensory challenges health related difficulties, and what we have found to be beneficial that will be as evidence based as possible.

Jessica Hill: 21:09

By listening to this podcast you agree not to use this podcast as medical advice to treat any medical condition in either yourself or your child.

Rachel Harrington: 21:18

Consult your child's pediatrician or therapist for any medical issues that he or she may be having.

Jessica Hill: 21:24

This entire disclaimer also applies to any guests or contributors to the podcast.

Rachel Harrington: 21:29

Thanks so much for listening