As podcast DJs, we LOVE answering your questions and this episode is just that - answering a listener’s question regarding gravitational insecurity. What is it? Why does it happen? What can you do to help your child if they exhibit gravitational insecurities? Listen in and take notes!
Be sure to check out the show notes on our blog at Harkla.Co/Podcast.
Brought To You By Harkla
This podcast is brought to you by Harkla. Our mission at Harkla is to help those with special needs live happy and healthy lives. We accomplish this through high-quality sensory products, child development courses, and The Harkla Sensory Club.
Podcast listeners get 10% off their first order at Harkla with the discount code "sensory". Head to Harkla.co/sensory to start shopping now.
As podcast DJs, we LOVE answering your questions and this episode is just that - answering a listener’s question regarding gravitational insecurity. What is it? Why does it happen? What can you do to help your child if they exhibit gravitational insecurities? Listen in and take notes!
Be sure to check out the show notes on our blog at Harkla.Co/Podcast.
Brought To You By Harkla
This podcast is brought to you by Harkla. Our mission at Harkla is to help those with special needs live happy and healthy lives. We accomplish this through high-quality sensory products, child development courses, and The Harkla Sensory Club.
Podcast listeners get 10% off their first order at Harkla with the discount code "sensory". Head to Harkla.co/sensory to start shopping now.
Welcome to the sensory project show with Rachel and Jessica. We're here to share all things sensory occupational therapy, parenting, self care, and overall health and wellness from the therapists perspective, providing raw, honest, fun ideas and strategies for parents and families to implement into daily life. Thank you so much for joining us.
Rachel:Before we jump into today's episode, we have got to talk about a company that we recently discovered, Harkla. Not only do they make high quality, sensory products, and supplements, but the owners are also local to us in Boise. We had the opportunity to sit down and chat with them and our missions totally aligned. You know that we only recommend companies and products that we trust and use ourselves, which is why we're so excited to share this amazing company with you.
Jessica:Stay tuned to hear more later in this episode, as well as to get a special discount.
Rachel:Let's start today's episode. Hey guys! Welcome back to another episode of the sensory project show. This is 127.
Jessica:We are Rachel and Jessica and today we're going to talk about gravitational insecurity. We got a question about it and since we are podcast DJs, that's what we do is we answer your questions. What is gravitational insecurity and what the heck do you do about it?
Rachel:Oh, man. Okay. First of all, let's talk about what exactly gravitational insecurity is and we used a couple of different resources to put this episode together. We'll link those in the show notes, if you're curious and you want to read something about it instead of listen. Gravitational insecurity is significant fear when the feet leave the ground, essentially. The child or adult, whoever it is, will have an anxious reaction to different changes in position: their head is in a new position, upside down, sideways, moving fast, being on an unstable surface, things like that. It's anxiety and fear are related to movement.
Jessica:And then this relates back to the vestibular system. If we are working with a child that exhibits gravitation security, then we know that we need to address the vestibular system.
Rachel:Children who experiences gravitational insecurity, their exaggerated responses to movement can like 100% affect their social relationships because they're not going to want to participate in "typical" childhood activities and society is going to misunderstand those responses as psychological conditions. Basically, what that means is, people are going to see these kids having these big reactions to movement, and they're going to put a label on them. We don't want that, we don't want that to happen.
Jessica:Just a couple of other examples of what gravitation security might look like. Se talked about fear when the feet leave the ground, but the child might also avoid different playground equipment like swings and slides. They might avoid climbing activities, what comes to my mind is the rock wall. Kids who want to climb that rock wall because it looks so fun, but they start to go up in a little bit, and they become very afraid, and they have to get down.
Rachel:Another thing you might see on something like a rock wall is they might freeze. We talked about that fight, flight, and freeze reaction and oftentimes, these kids will freeze and they won't know how to move their body to get out of the situation that they're in.
Jessica:Kids might also dislike rough play. You think about infants and when the parents might toss the infant up in the air and catch them. The response that we expect to see is laughing and giggling, but a child has gravitation and security will become fearful with that activity.
Rachel:Another thing we might see is when a child is unable to get into a variety of typical positions, like doing a somersault, looking between their legs, doing a log roll. If you think about how your head moves in those different activities, you're getting a lot of input to the vestibular system and that's going to cause that fear and anxiety.
Jessica:These kiddos are also the exhibit poor balance, fear of heights, they might avoid stairs, and they might just have overall higher anxiety. Because their body is just in this constant state of fight, flight or freeze because their vestibular system is basically out of whack, and not allowing them to move through their environment successfully.
Rachel:The last thing, not necessarily the last thing, but the last thing we're going to talk about today, is these kids might struggle with focusing in the classroom because they're trying so hard to maintain an upright position in their chair,. Which is sometimes challenging for these kiddos and their high anxiety already as it is that, they can't focus, they can't get their schoolwork done, they can't participate in those normal activities and be comfortable with them. Which again, they might get a diagnosis that isn't 100% reflective of what's actually going on.
Jessica:Right. I also think about kids like in elementary school, specifically, where they're going out to recess a couple times during the day, at least in normal school. I don't know about right now, it's kind of wacky, but you think about those kids who don't want to play on the playground equipment. They're outside at recess, and they have this high anxiety because they're expected to play on the equipment and then that anxiety is just going to last throughout all day. Then the anxiety is going to continue when they go home and it's just this constant cycle.
Rachel:Absolutely. Sometimes we can see these kiddos as the quiet reserved kiddos and sometimes gravitational insecurity can go unnoticed. A child might just look quiet and shy and sweet. They don't necessarily want to rough and tumble, play, climb, run and you're like, oh, I have just the sweetest little quietest, shy child. Great, you know, they're an easy kiddo. When in reality, they're just not processing that vestibular input the proper way and they're uncomfortable with all of those movement activities we'd consider typical. Because kids are meant to move - that's what we would consider typical is running and jumping and moving and playing and causing all sorts of trouble, right?
Jessica:Well, that's how that's how we learn. Children learn
Rachel:Absolutely.
Jessica:Let's talk about what causes gravitation security. I think the first thing is that don't really know. It's very through movement and through play. Even as adults, we should similar to sensory processing disorder, where we don't know continue to move because that's what our bodies are made for. the exact cause and for some people, the cause might be very evidence, right? Like they had a traumatic birth. We know there's going to be vestibular processing challenges, but for some kids, it's very, very unknown. You don't know,
Rachel:One thing that I noticed quite a bit is genetics. Sensory processing challenges are very much genetic and here's an example for you guys. If the parent of the child has some gravitational insecurities, they're not going to push the child to climb and swing and jump and play. They're going to kind of pass those, this is just environmental, not even genetics, but they're going to pass those fears and sensitivities on to their child because of the things that they're saying, because of their body language, things that they're doing and not doing. That's more of an environmental example. But from a genetic standpoint, we'll be working with families and talking about the sensory preferences. The family member will say something like, oh, my gosh, I struggle with that too or, oh, yeah, my, my husband or my wife struggles with that, as well. We kind of see this pattern of the child is presenting with this significant sensory processing challenge. Whereas, we're finding out that the parents maybe struggle with the same thing, whether it's a little bit more mild or severe, like the child, they're struggling with the same thing.
Jessica:Totally and then I think the other big one is going to be visual processing challenges. Any type of visual delay or we think about visual acuity, right? Visual acuity is our ability to see near and far depth perception. If a child has challenges with that, they're going to be fearful when their body is moving throughout space. Sometimes glasses can be a almost "fix" for them because all of a sudden they can actually see the depth perception in their environment. Other times, it might be more of a visual perceptual deficit in relation to like ocular motor skills, and we've talked about that before. If they're by an ocular vision is there's something going on with that, then they're gonna have challenges with that vestibular system as well.
Rachel:I'm glad you brought that up. Other things that we'll see, like Jessica mentioned, traumatic births. Whether it's a typical birth, but there are a little bit maybe the cords wrapped around the neck a little bit, or we had to have a C section, or anything. I mean, birth is traumatic, in and of itself, no matter how the baby comes out. It's a it's a challenging process,
Jessica:The one that I think of is and I mean, we've talked about this before, but when the mother is put on bed rest.
Rachel:One hundred percent, yes!
Jessica:There is not equal to move around while she's still pregnant, then that baby is not getting any of that other similar input in the womb, and they're going to be born with vestibular challenges.
Rachel:Absolutely. Going along with that we've got head injuries, if the baby is dropped, or there's an accident that happens, I mean, it happens.
Jessica:That's just funny. If the baby is dropped!
Rachel:Now that I have a newborn, they are hard to handle, and you're passing them back and forth. I'm like, I can see how it would happen. But you also hear about...
Jessica:I think every baby is dropped.
Rachel:Think about those like bouncers. Daniel's parents were telling me that he bounced himself out of the bouncer that was on the kitchen counter and fell down. I'm like, that stuff happens, right? No matter how great of parents we are, but something like that could cause some sensory challenges down the road.
Jessica:I also would think of like, a child who suffers a concussion and how that might affect their vestibular system. Oh, for sure.
Rachel:Absolutely. One last thing that we notice quite a bit is when a child comes in with retained primitive reflexes and maybe it's, again, a challenge with the birthing process. Maybe they weren't having enough floor time as an infant. But when these retained reflexes are inhibiting natural movement sequences, natural patterns, just natural safety mechanisms, and they're, they're causing ongoing challenges being retained, that can present as some gravitational insecurity. Alright, guys, let's talk a little bit more about today's sponsor, Harkla. Like we said earlier, they make high quality products, things like sensory swings, weighted items, compression sheets and supplements that everyone could benefit from.
Jessica:If Rachel can successfully install a swing in her house and if you didn't see her Instagram Stories, a while back, then you're missing out. You guys need to just watch them because it was great, but if Rachel can do it, then you can to. I'm not saying anything bad about Rachel, I'm just saying that it's so easy. It's a simple process that takes less than a day, and provides results that will basically last as long as your house does.
Rachel:If you're in a clinic setting, this company is perfect for all of your sensory needs. Their equipment will withstand even the roughest of sensory seekers and with their lifetime guarantee, should something crazy happen, they will replace it. Stay tuned, because at the end of this episode, we're going to give you a discount for when you purchase an item from Harkla.
Jessica:Let's talk about the best part of the episode: what can you do to help a child who has gravitational security?
Rachel:This is why you're all here.
Jessica:Definitely. First and foremost, do not stop vestibular activities.
Rachel:Yes, let's say that one more time.
Jessica:Okay, do not stop this tubular activities. In fact, maybe you need to do more.
Rachel:Yes. Now remember vestibular base tasks, that means movement activities. That means jumping and spinning and rolling and roughhousing and swinging and bouncing and moving, don't stop. Don't stop, guys.
Jessica:Don't stop the movement.
Rachel:You might have to change your approach a little bit when you are presenting these activities and you're incorporating these into your daily routine. You're most certainly going to have to change your approach because, number one, we don't want to force the child to do something they're uncomfortable with. But we want them to feel supported and understand why it's important to move.
Jessica:It's really all about the way you present the vestibular activity, about the way that you show them how to do it, make it fun, made it make it motivational. The more fun you can make it the more likely they are to do it.
Rachel:Yep. Now another thing that's important to remember is to include proprioceptive input with those vestibular based tasks that you're doing.
Jessica:If you remember proprioceptive input is calming. You want to do those heavy work activities that get the muscles and the joints engaged and that's going to help to create a more calming effect on the body after and during these vestibular based tasks.
Rachel:We actually have a freebie in our Instagram bios. You can go to either the Sensory Project 208, or the Sensory Project Show on Instagram and click the link in our bio. Then you can download a freebie that gives you a bunch of proprioceptive based activities.
Jessica:Yeah, go get it!
Rachel:An example of what you might try to include proprioceptive input during these vestibular activities is hugging your child really tight while you're spinning together in each direction, or hugging your child after they spin in each direction. You think about they're getting that movement, and then you're squeezing them really tight and giving them that heavy work, proprioceptive input, afterwards.
Jessica:There's also the astronaut training program and this is a specific protocol that is designed to help integrate the visual vestibular and auditory systems. There is training that you need to go through if you're a therapist, or a parent, in order to get the full benefit of the program. But we will link their website in the bio because the astronaut training program is really, really great.
Rachel:Like we said already, but we want to reiterate, positive feedback and modeling. If your child is uncomfortable, they don't want to get on the swing, if you hop on the swing, and you model for them, and you show them how much fun it is. You get them on your lap, and you just move ever so carefully and then that's it. Then the next time you go to the park, you do a little bit more, and then the next time you go to the park, you do a little bit more. It's very slow, but you're keeping it positive.
Jessica:One of the best ways to help a kiddo do something that's hard, or maybe they don't want to do is use video feedback. Get your camera out, take some pictures, make some movies, and just create that visual feedback that's really, really motivating.
Rachel:Kids are, obviously we know this kid, they're so motivated by technology these days. If you can make it fun, make a pretend YouTube video so they can watch how they're climbing the rock wall, and they're being so brave and they're using their superhero powers. They're going to be more interested in it and whether or not they know that you're recording, if they don't know, and you can sneak a video and then show it to them afterwards. They can see they were scared, but they did it and they survived.
Jessica:They survived.
Rachel:I think that's important.
Jessica:I also think it's important to validate those feelings, like if your child is very fearful, go ahead and validate that. Let them know like, I see that you're scared and that's okay to be scared. Let's take a break, or let's try one more time or whatever it is, but making sure that your child knows that it's okay that they have the feelings they have, and that you see and understand. That's going to really help them to feel secure and safe.
Rachel:Instead of saying you're okay, you're fine, you can do
this, tell them:yeah, I understand that you're scared, we're going to do this together. Like Jessica said, I'm here for you, instead of telling them that they're okay because something in their brain is telling them that they're not okay. Really focus on that validation.
Jessica:Another strategy you can use is to do the brushing protocol. This is the Wilbarger brushing protocol and kind of similar to the astronaut training program, you need to be trained in order to do it correctly so that you don't promote the opposite of what you want. But the brushing protocol is great for kiddos who are hypersensitive to sensory input, including vestibular input. The brushing protocol is a great calming strategy as well because they're getting a lot of deep pressure to their body. It can help with that calming feeling.
Rachel:I actually had someone on Instagram send me a YouTube video that their therapist had recommended to do the brushing protocol because with with COVID, doing teletherapy, they couldn't get in online. I watched the video and it wasn't the same as how I was trained to do it. It was a parent who was doing the video in the Youtube video and they had been trained by someone. It's just that's why we always recommend talking to your therapist, getting In training person. Like Jessica and I will never, like show a YouTube video or talk about how to do it on the podcast or in our club because we have to be in person to teach someone how to do this protocol. Like it's very specific, very detail oriented. It just works so much better that way.
Jessica:Yeah, for sure. Let's also talk about primitive reflexes. The first one that comes to mind for me is always the Moro reflex, right? Because the more reflexes that fight or flight, and when a child has gravitational insecurity, they are in that fight or flight response. But then there's also the TLR reflex that can be a factor here.
Rachel:Now the TLR. You know we struggle at pronouncing this: The Tonic Labyrinthine Reflex, right?
Jessica:Yeah, sure.
Rachel:One of our favorite books, it's called reflex learning and behavior by Sally Goddard. We're gonna quote this because it's so good and this book is awesome. If the TLR fails to inhibit at the correct time, it will constantly trip up the vestibular system, and its actions and its interaction with other sensory systems. The child who still has that retained TLR, when they start to walk, they can't acquire true gravitational security, as head movement will alter muscle tone throwing the center of balance off.
Jessica:There it is.
Rachel:If you think primitive reflexes aren't that important, think again, guys.
Jessica:We'll also leave all of our primitive reflex sources and our crash course in the show notes so you can check that out. If you want to get more info on that. Then the last thing is we talked about making sure you don't stop vestibular based activities. But it's really important to make sure that you're incorporating a variety of head position changes during play activities because that's really going to activate that vestibular system. These are the hardest activities for kids with gravitation security to do, because it really throws their balance off. If you think about doing a somersault, like if it's been a long time, since you've done a somersault, you should go do one.
Rachel:Oh, yeah.
Jessica:And notice how you feel after you do that somersault and how you kind of feel wobbly, and you don't feel centered. Then think about those kids who feel like that all the time and that'll just give you a really good viewpoint of how hard these activities are.
Rachel:Absolutely. Think about what the somersault does to your energy level and your arousal level. I have to share this because you said somersaults and it's funny, but my mother in law was asking me for strategies on how to wake up and have more energy without necessarily having coffee. I said, oh, just do a couple somersaults. We were on vacation together and I go into her room to ask the question, and she's standing on the bed. She was able to say, yeah, this actually helps I feel a lot more awake. But also, like, dizzy and we get a lot more sensitive, as we get older, typically. It's a great way to understand exactly how these kids are feeling when they're sensitive, and dizzy and uncomfortable after doing those movements.
Jessica:If your kiddo is struggling with gravitation and security, and they refuse to do somersaults, they refuse to go upside down over the ball. That's okay, let's start back at the beginning of just moving their head in slow, different ways. Instead of that big intense movement.
Rachel:Yes, the astronaut training program has these activities called preparatory activities. They're basically like a warm up to doing the astronaut training program and those are great ways to get the head into different positions without needing the astronaut training board. We'll link that training book in our show notes. That way you can at least purchase the book and read about it and check it out a little bit more. But there's also courses that vital links does. There's lots of great resources out there, but the most important thing is just keep moving.
Jessica:Yep. We love obstacle courses. That could probably be the simplest way to incorporate more movement and vestibular into your child's days. So just do some obstacle courses. We have a lot of examples of obstacle courses on our Instagram. That's a really great place to go and just check out some of our videos.
Rachel:We also have some great resources in our ebook. We've put together our Therapeutic Resource Guide, which is an ebook. You can purchase it online and print off laminate the resources, whatever floats your boat. But we've got a lot of obstacle course information and just activities to incorporate into your routine. Whether you're a therapist needing some new ideas, a parent needing some new ideas, or even teachers who are like, How the heck can we get more movement into our day. Because I guarantee teachers if you're listening, your kids will do better if they have the opportunity to move.
Jessica:I hope that this episode was informative helps you understand a little bit better these kids who struggle with movements and let us know your thoughts,
Rachel:Let us know. Leave us a review on iTunes if you love this episode. It's very helpful for us to see that and if you need more podcasts on topics like this, like Jessica said we're podcast DJs, send us an email, send us a message on Instagram. That's where we like to hang out and you can find everything linked in the show notes. We'll plan on chatting with you guys next week.
Jessica:We'll see you later!
Rachel:One more quick reminder about today's sponsor, Harkla.co, a family owned company that provides therapy and sensory equipment, along with supplements. We love them. We love their mission. We love their equipment. And we love that 1% of each month sales goes to the University of Washington's Autism Center which funds cutting edge research and sponsors scholarships for children with autism to attend a summer camp.
Jessica:How cool is that?
Rachel:For real? I love it. They're great. They're local to Boise, which is really cool for us, but I mean, it's still cool for everyone else too. But if you're ready to jump in and check these guys out, go to Harkla.co and you can save 10% on any of their products by using the code sensory. Make sure you let us know what your thoughts are and definitely go check them out.
Jessica:We are so excited to work together to help create confident kids all over the world and work towards a happier, healthier life.
Rachel:Just a friendly reminder this is general information related to occupational therapy, pediatrics and sensory integration. We do not know you or your child therefore we do not know any specific needs. Therefore you should always refer back to your pediatrician and occupational therapists for more information