Designed for new and expecting parents, as well as therapists and professionals working with children ages birth - 4 years.
OTs and OTAs - earn 11 CEU contact hours through AOTA with this digital course!
What is regression?
Why do some children go through a regression during therapy?
Why do some children go through a regression during primitive reflex integration?
We answer these questions as well as provide some suggestions for parents and therapists, including focusing on connection, using sensory strategies, and trying new approaches.
Designed for new and expecting parents, as well as therapists and professionals working with children ages birth - 4 years.
OTs and OTAs - earn 11 CEU contact hours through AOTA with this digital course!
What is regression?
Why do some children go through a regression during therapy?
Why do some children go through a regression during primitive reflex integration?
We answer these questions as well as provide some suggestions for parents and therapists, including focusing on connection, using sensory strategies, and trying new approaches.
What is regression? It's a return to a former or less developed state, we generally see it and OT we generally expect it when we're starting something new. We generally see it with Reflex integration with some starting something like the listening program. We generally see this in therapy. And I think my whatever I'm explaining this to a client, I always kind of like to warn them and tell them like, look, we're challenging your child's brain, other body.
Jessica:
I'm Rachel. And I'm Jessica. And this is all things sensory by hartcliffe. We are both
Rachel:
certified occupational therapy assistants and together with Harkless. We are on a mission to empower parents, therapists and educators to help raise confident and strong children of all abilities.
Jessica:
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. We're
Rachel:
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:
Thank you so much for joining us.
Rachel:
Hold on before we jump into today's episode, we are so excited to finally announce the launch of our Newly redone course early intervention blueprint sensory and developmental milestones for infants and toddlers. This course has been in the making for six plus months, we've had it done previously, we completely redid it updated it added to it. And now professionals, occupational therapists and assistants can earn 1.1 A OTA see us after they complete this course, which means it's 11 hours of video demonstrations, teaching lectures, videos, pictures, and you get a workbook as well. It is an absolute game changer for new parents for expecting parents who are learning how to best support their child's sensory and primitive reflex development. Which one thing that we get asked so often is can we incorporate primitive reflex integration for this population birth to three to four years old. In our other primitive reflex course we focus on kiddos five and up. But this course here our Early Intervention blueprint covers reflex integration for infants and toddlers. It tells you everything you need to know about developmental milestones, sensory milestones, sensory activities, sensory play, for babies and toddlers, it is the jackpot that everyone every parent, every therapist, every you know, anyone who works with kiddos, daycare, preschool, everyone needs to take this course in our opinion. So it is officially launched. We will put everything you need to know in the show notes of this episode, so you can check it out. Happy Oh T month it is April. And we are so excited to celebrate this year. Because we have three like kind of brand new courses that we are bundling together to give you a huge discount on all of your A OTA CEUs, for like 10 years basically. So
Jessica:
if you are an OT practitioner, and you're celebrating ot month, this April, we want to give you our OT month bundle, which includes our primitive reflex digital course, our sensory diet, digital course, and our infant and toddler development, digital course, all three courses bundled together, you get them for 25% off. So the price bundling them together would be almost $1,000 We're giving it to you for less than $700. When you purchase the bundle between now and April 14 at midnight. Yes,
Rachel:
so you will get the three different courses for a discount, primitive reflexes, sensory diets infant and toddler sensory development. And you'll get all of those for a discount if you maybe have taken one of them already. Or maybe you don't want to take all of them, you can get 20% off one or two of these courses. If you add it to your cart, you'll get 20% off. So it's just overall it's a great sale. We just really wanted to bundle all of these courses together because we just wanted to celebrate now that we have a OTA see us, which just makes everything better.
Jessica:
Plus each course comes with a physical workbook, which is probably the coolest part of the course besides all the cool information you learn. But that workbook is so incredible to have whether you're In the schools or in the clinic setting or doing in home therapy or private pay whatever you're doing, those workbooks are just so great to have with you at all times. Yeah,
Rachel:
the feedback that we've gotten from people having those workbooks in the clinic setting or the school setting has been really helpful. So we just wanted to share this with you. Check it out, we'll put all of the links in the show notes for you to check out and without further ado, we're going to jump into today's episode. Hey there, welcome back to all things sensory by Harkless. Welcome, welcome. Hey, If this is your first time, welcome back, if you've listened to all are we at 300? Probably, wow, we should have done a celebration. Probably. This is just goes to show our current mental states. We're both sick. We're both trying to hit deadlines. We're doing all the things and clearly, the third 300th podcast episode is not need to be celebrated. Okay,
Jessica:
let's celebrate at 500 rupees. Today we're going to talk about regression. We're going to talk about why some children go through regression, what it looks like what it means what you can do about it. Because I think that it happens pretty frequently, especially with our kids who are in OT, maybe speech therapy as well. And we get questions about it from parents saying, why is my child regressing? Why does it seem like my child is going backwards? Why do they seem to be losing skills all of a sudden? Why is their emotional regulation a hot mess right now what's going on? So we wanted to address it.
Rachel:
So let's chat about it. Let's get to the bottom of this. So really, let's break down what is regression, it's a return to a former or less developed state, we generally see it and OT we generally expect it when we're starting something new, we generally see it with Reflex integration with some starting something like the listening program. We generally see this in therapy. And I think my whenever I'm explaining this to a client, I always kind of like to warn them and tell them like, look, we're challenging your child's brain, other body, we are pushing them to the just right challenge, but we're pushing them regardless. They're going to push back, they are going to make new neural connections, they are going to see what's happening and why it's happening. And that can come out in a variety of ways like emotional regulation, challenges that can come out and behavioral outbursts, tantrums, that can be more physical or emotional. It could be it could even manifest as like a rash for some kids who are having a hard time, right. So there was a lot of different ways that we could process regression.
Jessica:
There was another definition that we found that said, regression can vary, but in general, it is acting in a younger or needier way, you may see more temper tantrums, difficulty with sleeping or eating, or reverting to more immature ways of talking. If a child has achieved something like getting dressed by herself, you may see a loss of some of those skills. And like Rachel said, We'll see regression when a child is beginning something new or challenging. Or if they're going through a traumatic period in their life, maybe in their family, something is happening in their family that is traumatic, and they don't fully understand what to you know what's going on how to talk about it. If we're doing I mean, Rachel already mentioned this, but if we're doing a primitive reflex integration program, then we are creating those new neural pathways in the brain. And it can be challenging, it's like getting over that hump, right, you're gonna see some challenges, you're gonna see that regression. But if you can push through it, and get to the other side, then you'll start to see those positive results. We often see regression in children when they're in therapy, because we as therapists, like Rachel already said, all of this, when I'm just repeating it, clarity, just, I guess, we're providing them with that just right challenge. So we're pushing them in a way that is difficult and new for them. And then they go home, and they have a complete meltdown at home because of this. And parents oftentimes are so confused by it. But it is typical. It's something that we kind of expect to see. And I think it's great when we as therapists can provide families with that advanced warning of hey, we're doing something new and difficult. There's going to potentially be some adverse reactions, maybe some regression, we're going to push through it and we're going to get to the other side so we can see the progress. Here's
Rachel:
what I like to connect it to, because I'm all about empathize. Seeing and helping adults understand what these kiddos are going through. And I was just thinking, as Jessica was repeating everything that I was saying the other way. Oh, it totally is. Leave me alone. But as I was just thinking, if you think about being adult, what have you regressed in? Right? My first thought was working out. If you just my current state, honestly, because I'm sick and I haven't been able to work out in a week or so. And I'm feeling like I've regressed my lung capacity is gone. My muscles are all dwindling and falling off, you know?
Jessica:
It really feels like no,
Rachel:
I'm, you know, all the things right. So we're thinking about regression in that way, we stopped doing something and then we regress, right? But for kiddos that can be a little bit different, in a way of like, challenging them in a different way. You think about working out new muscles, and your muscles get sore? Well, you're not regressing, but it's hard and it feels uncomfortable with kiddos. therapy can be hard, it can feel uncomfortable. So we can see that same regression with them to that same push back
Jessica:
and actually looking at working out and building muscle, the muscles almost do regress. Because that soreness that you feel when you work out is actually the muscles breaking down and rebuilding. So actually, it is a really good example. Because when you work out and you build that muscle, your muscles do regress, they break down, but then they build up stronger and bigger.
Rachel:
Because we're fueling them, we're eating protein. And we have to do the same thing for our kids, we have to fuel their brains back up and their bodies back up and fill their cup back up. Think about their confidence, we have to be consistently building them back up and making sure that we're also incorporating things into their daily routine that they are good at, and then they enjoy and that they feel successful with. So I think that's a big part of it. And, and also, you know, going to OT, we've talked about this in previous episodes, too, I was just thinking about it. But so often, therapists parents will talk negatively about the child or the session in front of them. And we just are not here for that. So I think it's really important to be aware of how you're communicating about your child around your child. So focus on the positives, email about the negatives, let the child go play, and then chat about the challenging things. But we have to be so careful with our kids and their self esteem, especially in today's day and age.
Jessica:
Yeah. And that's not to say that we don't talk to our children about their challenges. It's really about how we talk about it. And oftentimes, when a child hears their parent talking about them to someone else, it is I mean, I would be the same way if I heard Rachel and somebody else talking about my deficits, not talking to me about them, but talking about me about them, like that wouldn't feel great. Versus Rachel coming to me and saying, Hey, I noticed that this was challenging. What can we do about it would be such a different conversation. So it really is all about talking to our children versus talking about our children. Yeah. And I
Rachel:
feel like when kids hear things being said about them negatively, or positively, they almost embody what people are saying about them. So if we are consistently saying, You're so kind, you're so smart, you are helping your friends, you're sharing your toys, you're really brave if we if they hear that they're going to embody those traits versus if they hear Yeah, he had a meltdown. Again, he was, you know, struggling with XYZ, I can think about the negative things right now. But like, you know what I mean, kids totally embody the things that they that are said about them. And I don't know if this has to do with regression at all, but I just felt like it was a part of
Jessica:
it totally is, especially if you are working with a child or if you have a child who is going through regression, just being careful about how you're talking about it in front of them around them. Yes, is very important. So what do you do if your child is regressing if you're a therapist working with a child who the family is concerned about the regression? First thing to do is to just be careful about way we talk about it around the child. Next, if possible, don't stop the challenging thing that they're doing that's causing the regression. The goal is to get over that hump, get through that regression continue moving forward. If the regression is so bad that the family is not able to get through their day It might make sense to take a break from whatever it is they were doing that was new. But if possible, continuing and pushing through is ideal.
Rachel:
Another strategy is to focus on connection with your child more often or with the child, if it's not your own child, focus on like 20 minutes of that, like special time where you do something that your child enjoys, they pick out, you listen, or then you talk, you don't tell them what to do, or how to play or where to go. You're just really focusing on that connection and building rapport. So that way, the child has a higher level of trust with you. And you can just help them through those difficult moments because it doesn't feel like you're hounding them for everything they're doing wrong, or, you know, all of the challenges that they're having, it's more of like, let's just play and however it goes is totally fine.
Jessica:
The next one is to use sensory strategies and sensory activities to meet the child's sensory needs and help with this regulation shocker that we're going to talk about this using a sensory diet routine every single day, multiple times throughout the day, to meet the child's sensory needs. So if they are a sensory seeker, you're doing a lot of jumping and crashing, a lot of crawling, maybe some runnings and bike riding, you know, whatever it is that your child is seeking out, you're incorporating that into the daily routine. Because if your child's sensory needs are not being met, they're more likely to be dysregulated, that regression might be bigger, and more difficult. So being sure to just be consistent with sensory strategies throughout the day, if
Rachel:
you like using visual reward charts or systems, so that way your child can see the progress that they're making, or your client can see the progress they're making. They're trying to reach their goals, they can help keep track of where they're at, they could see the progress that they're making. Sometimes that can be really, really beneficial. Or maybe you just need to try a different approach. In general, if you're working on reflex integration, and maybe you're working on integrating the Moro reflex with one activity, but maybe it's just not right. And maybe you need to try integrating it with different more functional activities and see if that incorporates more of the play based skills that we need to work on. So just being flexible, as a therapist, as a caregiver is really challenging, but it's also really important. And I think that we as adults need that reminder to be flexible in our approaches that our thinking and in our expectations of our children.
Jessica:
Yeah, I do want to comment that if you're seeing regression in your child because of a traumatic event, then your approach might be a little bit different for sure. That might involve the use of a counselor or a different professional who has experience in trauma with children. So you know, what were our strategies that we talked about are more geared towards children who are regressing because of challenges in therapy because of a primitive reflex integration program, that kind of thing. Their brains and bodies are being challenged in therapy. But if there was a traumatic event, if there's something going on, you know, outside of therapy that's causing regression, then we want to look at that in a different way and maybe get another professional onboard.
Rachel:
Good call. I'm glad you brought that up. Okay, I think that's all that we have for you today about regression. Hopefully, it was beneficial. Hopefully, you learned something, hopefully, you're going to try something new. And hopefully it works. Okay,
Jessica:
if you liked the episode, make sure you leave us a review on iTunes or Spotify. Share the episode with a friend. Take a screenshot and share it on social media tag us at all things sensory podcast, we love seeing that you guys are listening and which episodes you're listening to. Okay,
Rachel:
with that we'll plan on seeing you next Wednesday. Goodbye. Thank you so much for listening to all things sensory by heart.
Jessica:
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Rachel:
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 at Harkless underscore family or at all things sensory podcast. If you just search Harkless you'll find us there.
Jessica:
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Rachel:
Head to Heart glut Dotco slash sensory to use that discount code right now. We
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are so excited to work together to help create competent kids all over the world. While we make every effort to share correct information we're still learning.
Rachel:
We will double check all of our facts but realize that medicine is a constantly changing science and art.
Jessica:
One doctor or therapist may have a different way of doing things from another. We are simply
Rachel:
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. By listening
Jessica:
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Rachel:
Consult your child's pediatrician or therapist for any medical issues that he or she may be having.
Jessica:
This entire disclaimer also applies to any guests or contributors to the podcast.