::Attendees visible:: [Lacey Sorrels] Good afternoon. I wanna welcome everyone today to our Lunch and Learn. This Lunch and Learn is being brought to you by collaboration between Oklahoma Human Services, the University of Oklahoma Anne and Henry Zarrow School of Social Work, and the Oklahoma Adoption Competency Network. We appreciate everyone joining during your lunch and noon hour. We would like to get started so that we can make sure to respect everyone's time and the great information being discussed today. So first, let us go over a few housekeeping things for our time together this afternoon. First, we are recording this meeting. By participating, you're giving your consent to be recorded. Second, help us reduce distraction so that we are all able to focus and participate. We have muted everyone to make it possible for everyone to hear the speakers. We do want you to express your thoughts and questions, so please utilize the chat for this purpose. We'll be monitoring the chat and questions will be touched upon during our Q&A time in the last 15 minutes of the webinar. We also want to see you, so if you're willing and you're able, please turn on your video. If you're unable to do so, that's fine also. To receive information about other post-adoption events, please list your name and email in the chat and we'll make sure to add you to our contact list. Third, let's remember confidentiality. It's vital that we protect confidential information so that we will not share specifics, names, details, et cetera about adoption cases, people and or children. Lastly, if you're a foster parent attending this training, you'll receive one hour of training credit towards the 12 hours of in-service training that you need each year. These trainings are not yet available as CEU credits for professionals. However, you may submit the certificate to your agency and request training credit per your agency's policies. Please indicate in the chat box if you would like to receive a certificate of attendance and participation for today's Lunch and Learn. Now, I'm gonna hand everything off to Katie Stewart, who is today's host. [Katie Stewart] All right guys, gimme just a second. I'm going to share my screen. ::Screenshare alternating with attendees visible while figuring out technical issue:: All right, can everyone see that okay? [Bonni Goodwin] Katie, it looks like we are seeing the, uh, presentation -- presenter view. [Katie] Oh, shoot, hold on. Let me fix that. Let's try that again, See if that'll work. We still seeing my presenter view? [Bonni] Yeah, we are. [Katie] What in the world? Okay, Well, does anybody more tech savvy than me know why? [Bonni] Whenever you're sharing your screen, like choosing which one to share, is there one that -- I usually start playing the presentation and then... [Katie] Okay. Yeah, I'll try that. I'll see if that works. Okay. Like, I know I had this last time and it worked great, but ::Slide - Sensory Processing & Integration:: Okay, now what are you seeing? [Bonni] That's it. You did it. [Katie] All right, great. Okay, so now that we got that outta the way, I like to get my tech issues outta the way at the beginning of these things. Um, we're gonna talk about sensory processing and integration today. Um, first, my name is Katie Stewart. Um, I work for the Department of Human Services. I'm a clinical social worker and I'm part of the new post-adoptions clinical team. Um, so I'm a master's level social work, um, social worker, and then I am under supervision for my clinical license as well. ::Slide - What is Sensory Processing & Integration?:: So to start things off, we're gonna talk about what do I mean when I say sensory processing and integration? What is that? So that is a function of our brains to receive information from our senses. So we're taking in sensory input from our environment, sight, sounds, et cetera. We're organizing that information and storing it in our brain, and then using that information in our daily activities to create behavioral responses. So that's what I mean when I use these words: sensory process and sensory integration. So how do we do this? Well we use our sensory system. ::Slide - Sensory System:: Which, um, when you think about your sensory system, the first thing that you probably think of are those five senses that we have all learned about, right? Sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. And those are very important parts of our sensory system, but we actually have eight senses, not just the standard five that everyone knows about. Um, so the additional three senses that we have, the first is called our vestibular sense. And, um, that is our sense of movement and our sense of where our body is in space. [crosstalk] [Katie] It's, uh, responsible for our ability to sit, stand, and walk. So to be able to hold ourselves upright and have balance when we're doing those types of activities. Next is our proprioception. This is our awareness of our body position and our body parts in relation to one another, as well as our muscles. So our awareness of how much pressure our muscles are feeling and how much force we need to use to complete a task, such as cracking an egg without crushing the shell, or being able to kick a soccer ball into the goal. And then our last sense is interoception. So this is an internal sense. This is our feeling of what's going on physically inside of our body. So our ability to tell when we are hungry or thirsty, whether we're too hot or too cold, knowing when we need to use the bathroom, recognizing when our breathing is heavy. All of those kinds of things are interoception. ::Video - What Is Sensory Processing?":: So, next we're gonna watch a short video, um, that goes over our senses in a little bit more detail. [Video plays] [graphics appear on screen to emphasize narration] [Narrator] We have eight senses. Five you have probably heard of: sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. And three that you may not be familiar with. [Film - person walking on a log] The vestibular sense, sometimes known as the gravity or balance sense, allows us to move smoothly. [Film - older child running toward younger child, sitting in grass. Younger child stands & walks away with older child] It helps us with balance while we walk and run. And to stay upright when we sit and stand. [Film: person with boxing gear on, practicing punching & kicking] Proprioception is the sense of self movement, force and body position. It is present in every muscle movement you have. [Film - people's feet & legs kicking a soccer ball] Without proprioception, you wouldn't be able to move without thinking about your next step. [Film - person holding their stomach as if it hurts] Interception helps you understand and feel what's going on inside your body. [Film - person sitting against pole, drinking water] For example, when you're hungry, thirsty in pain, or need the toilet. [graphics & words appear on screen to emphasize narration] Imagine for each of our eight senses, we have a cup. And for us to feel regulated, each cup needs to be full. Each time we get some sensory input for one of our senses, it fills up the cup a little. For each sense, some of us have big cups and some of us have small cups. Imagine you have a small cup for sound. It fills up quickly with a little noise, and any more can feel overwhelming. Imagine you have a big cup for proprioception, you will need lots of movement to feel regulated. Understanding someone's sensory profile is really important in order to know what they need to feel, learn, and perform at their best. [video ends] [Katie] So like that video talked about, um, for all of our eight senses, we each have different cup sizes, so different amounts of sensory input that we can handle and that we prefer. And when I talk about the word sensory input, um, I mean anything, um, that comes in as sensation. So feeling, um, tasting something, a sound, um, something that we're seeing. So lights, et cetera. So you'll hear me use that word, "sensory input" a lot throughout the presentation. So for example, some people really love spicy food, right? The spicier the better. And then there's others who can't handle any spice at all. Or there are some people who do their best work when they're in busy environments. So like, in a full office or in a bustling coffee shop, uh, while others need quiet in order to be able to focus. So this is a normal part of being a human being, that we all have these different preferences, and it's important to be aware of what our own sensory preferences are so that we know how that can impact our behavior. So for example, um, I'm a person that has a small cup when it comes to sound, um, and I noticed, um, that I was often irritable in the evenings. Um, and then when I thought about it in the terms of my sensory system, I would realize that, you know, we've got the TV going on, and then maybe my daughter is listening to a music video on her tablet, and my son is talking to his friend on the phone and he's got it on speaker phone. And then my husband's coming in and talking to me and telling me about his day. And it's like at a certain level, there's just a switch that flips in my brain and I get super irritable and I might snap that everybody needs to be quiet, or I might snap in response to my husband because I'm also trying to focus on the tasks of cooking dinner, you know, this needs to come out of the oven, I need to stir this. And it's like my brain gets overwhelmed because of all of the sound and I can't focus on the tasks that I'm supposed to be doing, cooking dinner, and I can't engage in a normal conversation with my husband. So it's aware, it's important for me to be aware that this is my response, so that then I can make sure that I'm doing what I need to to change that. So making sure things are a little bit quieter or taking a minute to go to a, a quiet room and take a break. In order for us to feel regulated in our emotion response, our behavioral response, and our ability to think clearly, our sensory system has to have the right amount of input for us. [Slide - Atypical Sensory Profiles] So while it's normal for everyone to have varying cup sizes for the different senses, um, there are situations that we call atypical sensory profiles where those sense -- those preferences are the point that they really interfere with everyday life. And these generally fall into three different categories. So first we've got sensory avoidant. This is also called hypersensitive. So these are people that have most or all of their senses having small cups, and so they're easily overwhelmed by everyday stimuli and they experience a significant amount of stress trying to manage the responses to that sensory input all day. Then on the flip side of things, we have sensory seeking or hyposensitive. These are people that have most or all of their senses having big cups. And so they require high intensity, frequent and long lasting sensory input. And this craving often results in destructive or high risk behaviors. So if you think about a kiddo who is really rough and destructive with their toys or with other materials like craft supplies, um, or those kiddos that are climbing on everything and jumping off constantly, just engaging in play that can get them hurt. Um, this is what, uh, some of the things that we're talking about with sensory seeking. Their body is craving more and more input. Then our third category is not as, uh, common as the other two. It is called passive regulation. So people in this category can be either hypersensitive or hyposensitive. So they can be, they can act like our seekers or our avoiders in that, um, on the inside their body responds to sensory input, but they don't actively work to change their environment. Um, so for example, a hyposensitive kid, they need, um, or a hypo-passive regulation kid, they need more input. They're not recognizing, recognizing or processing sensory information coming in 'cause they need more, but they don't compensate by seeking out more, they can seem uninterested and inattentive to their surroundings. And then on the flip side, um, people that are hyper sensitive but also passive, they don't, they feel overwhelmed by stimuli like our avoiders do, but they don't avoid -- actively -- avoid input. They might just be super irritable or display frustration. They're also easily distracted, um, can be very cautious and very uncomfortable, seem very uncomfortable. So for the majority of this presentation, we're going to focus on sensory avoidant and sensory seeking just because they are so much more common, um, and they are easier for you as a parent, um, to, uh, to do things about, to use tactics in your home without the assistance of additional professional help. And we'll talk some more about professional help at the very end of the presentation. [Slide - Solid black then Sensory Avoidant & Sensory Seeking info bubbles appear] Okay, so now that we've talked about what the atypical profiles look like, we're going to look at the ways that two of the categories, the sensory avoidant and sensory seeking, translate into behavior. So for sensory avoidant, if somebody is sensory avoidant, you might see them doing things like refusing to eat certain foods beyond that of what is, you know, typical kids going through picky phases. This is a severe refusal to eat foods. They might have a very, very, limited diet and it's really stressing for them to try new foods. Um, they refuse to wear certain types of clothing, um, often clothing with tags and socks or things that have really hard seams. Um, they might not like hugs or kisses. They refuse to get their hands dirty. And then, um, they dislike and have extreme reactions to loud noises, bright lights, and strong smells or odors. And then they also prefer to initiate contact themselves rather than receive it from others. For someone who is sensory seeking, you might see them frequently spin, jump, swing. They might want bear hugs all the time or enjoy being tightly wrapped up in blankets or other items. Um, they enjoy being tossed in the air or just being off the ground in general, that swinging feeling. Um, they may crave getting their hands dirty, they might also bite or suck on their, their fingers a lot, um, and they enjoy rough play. So wrestling, tickling, just general roughhousing, and again, they might be very forceful with their toys, banging, hitting or dragging them, and then they frequently fidget or have trouble sitting still. They always need to be on the move and they prefer loud environments. So these are some common behaviors for these two types of atypical sensory, um, profiles. So we've talked about, um, what our sensory system is, what is typical and what is not typical. And now we're going to look at, um, some ways to help regulate our sensory system. So we're gonna talk about two things. We're gonna talk about ways to downregulate, which is reducing the intensity of sensory input. And then we're gonna talk about upregulating, which is increasing the intensity of our sensory input. And we're gonna break it down by each of our eight senses. [Slide - Sight] So first is for sight. Some ways to downregulate using sight is to reduce movement in the environment and reduce bright or flashing lights. Um, looking at nature and using calming colors like blue, gray and green, and then seeing or being close to a trusted adult. All of these are downregulating. And then for upregulating, using bright lights and lots of movement, um, contrasting patterns, so like a checkerboard pattern and contrasting colors and, um, colors in general such as red, orange, and yellow. [Slide - Sound] For sound, Some ways to downregulate or calm are using headphones, reducing background noise, using a low tone of voice and speaking slower when you're speaking to someone overstimulated and ensuring that only one person is speaking at a time. And then some ways to upregulate are using loud or unpatterned sounds, multiple people speaking or singing together at once. And then higher-pitched and faster voices. [Slide - Smell] So for a sense of smell, there are certain scents that are, uh, calming and certain scents that are invigorating. And so you can use these in candles in your home, in, um, body sprays, essential oils, diffusers or just being aware of them in the cleaning products and the laundry products that you use. So some downregulating scents are lavender, chamomile, frankincense, aloe and eucalyptus. And then some more invigorating scents, or upregulating, are peppermint and citrus, sage, tea tree, and rosemary. [Slide - Taste] For our sense of taste, um, for downregulating, especially for our littles, so infants and toddler age, um, that sucking reflex is really calming. So things like nursing, using a pacifier or thumb sucking are great downregulating, um, tactics for them. And then for older kids and adults, drinking through a straw activates that same sort of ref -- uh, same sort of calming reflex. And then you can also use, um, sweet foods and chewing gum. Those are all downregulating. So when we think about upregulating for our sense of taste, we wanna think of things that activate a lot of our taste buds. So, um, things like sour candy and crunchy textures or things with lots of different textures, those are going to be upregulating. [Slide - Touch] Now for touch, for downregulating, things like a massage or a back rub, uh, weighted items like a weighted blanket or those weighted stuffed animals that you can get. Those are downregulating. Also some, uh, fidget toys can be downregulating. Um, so things like, um, these, you might call 'em a sensory bottle or a calm down bottle. Um, you can purchase them, you can also look on Pinterest or Google and you can make 'em with glitter, um, and food coloring and different things like that. Um, those types of fidget toys can be very downregulating. So upregulating for touch, things like rough house play. So again, wrestling, tickling, being rough. Um, and then again, fidget toys. Fidget toys are really great all around for sensory. Um, you can find lots of different ones, um, that are, uh, that can be used. Um, so things that have a lot of different textures, again, for touch, um, can be, uh, upregulating. Things like spinners with a lot of different colors. Um, or you can get ones that have lots of different sounds. Um, so they're great things to have on hand and to experiment with which ones are, um, calming or upregulating for you and for your children. [Slide - Vestibular] So next is our vestibular sense. Remember, this is our sense of balance and movement. So some downregulating movements are things like rocking, gentle swaying back and forth, or swinging. And then upregulating movements are things like cartwheels and handstands. So things, you know, where you're going from upright to upside down to upright. Again, lots of changes in body position, um, and also things like wrestling. So again, things that, where there's a lot of quick changes in movement. [Slide - Proprioceptive] So proprioception, again, this is our, um, sense of where our body parts are in relation to one another and our feeling of our muscles and how much force we're using. So downregulating options are yoga, um, swaddling or being wrapped up tight in a blanket and bear hugs. And then upregulating can be things like taking a brisk walk, um, a jump -- jumping rope, playing tug of war, things that are activating a lot of force, um, on our muscles, especially with movement combined. [Slide - Interoception] And then interoception. So again, this is our internal sense of what we're feeling in our body. So you can't upregulate and downregulate your interoceptive sense in the same way that you can the others. Regulating interoception is really about an awareness of what's going on inside your body. So activities like yoga, like mindfulness, breathing exercises, all of these help to slow down our focus and focus on what's going on in that moment, including what you're feeling in your body. Then alerting exercises are a type of mindfulness, um, that help you recognize how fast your heart is beating or how heavily you're breathing. So you can do them, like if your kid is running around playing on the playground, you have them stop and put their hand on their chest and feel their heartbeat or count their breaths. Um, so it's easy to do, um, in the midst of another activity. And then the last thing that we can do for our interoception is to have a really regulated proprioceptive sense. So these two work in tandem with one another. So doing, um, what's called heavy work activities for our proprioception is gonna help with our interoception. Heavy work activities are things where you're doing a pushing and pulling motion or pushing and pulling with your muscles. So things like swimming, um, vacuuming, hanging from bars on a playground. The goal is to activate as many muscles and joints as possible, um, for short periods of time. Uh, interestingly, interoception is also linked to our emotions. So we feel our emotions physically in our body often, right? So we might get butterflies when we're nervous, our muscles get tensed up when we're angry, et cetera. So our ability to recognize, um, our physical feelings in our body and identify them correctly is directly correlated to our ability to identify and regulate our emotions. So it's a really good motivation to have, um, a well-regulated interoception sense. [Slide - What Do We Do Now?] Okay, so what do we do with all of this information that I have given you guys? Well, first we're going to identify sensory preferences. So like I talked about earlier on, it's important that we as parents or we as adults working with children are aware of what our own sensory preferences are and what is going to overwhelm us. Then we're also going to watch our children. We're going to look and see what their sensory preferences are, and in particular, we're gonna watch for anything that might be challenging. Um, one example of a way to do this aside from just observing, is to take a one week diary of all the instances of, um, challenging behaviors or moments where your child is dysregulated, and then look at what is going on, um, in that moment in the environment. Um, what happened right before, sensory-wise? So what is going on? Is it loud and busy and crazy? Or was your child just expected to sit quietly for an hour and really needs movement? So what's going on sensory wise around those behaviors? And see if you can identify any patterns. And then we're gonna try different regulation tactics. So I broke, um, the upregulating and downregulating tactics out by our sense, but you can mix and match them as much as you want for what works for your child and for yourself. So not every one of these is gonna work in every situation. You have to learn their preferences and also those preferences can change. Um, for example, my daughter, um, is a sensory-seeking kiddo. And when she was little, um, when she got dysregulated, you could just bear hug her and that would just calm her down, uh, very, very quickly. And then you could talk about what was going on and move on with your day. Now that she's older, um, when she gets dysregulated, in particular showing anger, she does not want you to bear hug her. She needs space. And so we've had to adjust how we parent her as she has grown and her preferences have changed. [Slide - Why Does This Matter?"] So next we're gonna talk a little bit about why this matters for this particular population. Why does it matter for kiddos who have experienced trauma, um, and who have been adopted or are experiencing foster care as well? Um, we're gonna watch a quick video and then we'll talk more about it. This video is, um, Karyn Purvis. She's the founder of TBRI or trust-based relational intervention, which you may have heard of. Um, it's a therapeutic method, um, that's very, um, shown to work very well for kiddos who have experienced trauma. [Video - "Understanding Sensory Processing"] [Video plays] [Karyn looking towards the left speaking to a person offscreen] [Dr. Karyn Purvis] Sensory processing issues are very, very common in our children. It makes sense when you think about it developmentally. When a parent holds their newborn child, they're touching them, they're cradling, that baby feels the warmth of that parent's hand, the warmth of the parent's body. When I hold my baby against my chest, they feel my heart pounding and thumping gently when I speak, they feel the vibrations. Matter of fact, I'll often ask parents who are talking to me, just put your hand up on your chest and keep talking to me and feel that vibration. Our babies, as they're held and cradled, they feel our warmth. They might taste our milk, the mother's milk, they, they hear our voice, they see our face. The sensory regions of the brain come alive in that environment. There is a lot of research from 50 years and longer of research with, um, deprivation that shows if children, and even any living creature, but if we're not picked up and held, touched, cradled and nurtured, the brain simply doesn't mature in appropriate regions. There's not synaptic connections. One of the real travesties about that that we know is well is if there's a change in the sensory processing, we've got changes in the brain development, also the brain chemistry. So actually children who don't process the senses are now going to be much higher risk to be reactive to senses. So think about there's five external senses we all think about: smell and, uh, sight and sound and so forth. But think about the internal senses. So the first internal sense is, it's called vestibular, which is just a big word that means "I know where I am in space." When I pick my baby up, the vestibular fluid and the inner ear moves so that baby knows when I'm being picked up, when they're being picked up that they're here with me. They were here, now they're here with me. A lot of our kids, if they're swinging or spinning or doing an activity, they don't know where they are in space and they're thumping into things. They're bumping into things, they're clumsy, they're breaking things, they're not being malicious, but the sense didn't mature. Then for a lot of our children, there's another sense it's called proprioception. It's just how tightly my muscles register deep touch. Now for me as a mother, when my child cries, I hold them tighter. If they cry harder, I rock and I hold them tighter. Well, that rocking is the vestibular feedback that gives them calming and the deep muscle calming when I hold them tighter. Now though, a child is older, I come to maybe kiss them and I give them a little feathery kiss and they yelp or they brush off my kiss because they don't know how to interpret the, the sense of that muscle. Um, I might come to my child as well and give them a hug and they might yelp, but when they give me a hug, they might crush my bones. Are they being bad? No, they're not processing that sense. They don't have the brain development to understand that sense. Um, and and the third internal sense is tactile. So most of your sense, your greatest sense organ in your body is touch, is your skin. The first sense it's available that's online in utero for every living creature that we know of is touch. So touch is hugely important, but think about a child who's not touched and cradled carefully. That child is going to be the child who'll have trouble when somebody touches them, knowing if they were hit or touched. That's again, the child who you give a feathery kiss to, and they don't know how to interpret that. And so they don't want your kiss. They rub it off. The senses, understanding the senses is dramatically important and we recommend that parents understand it. It is my earnest belief. You cannot serve in your home, in your school, in your church, in your nursery, in any environment. You cannot serve an at-risk child unless you understand the sensory processing. There are many fine resources. There's "Raising a Sensory Smart Child." Um, Lucy Miller has written several good books. I, I very often refer to Carol Kranowitz books, beginning with "The Out-of-Sync Child" and then going to "The Out-of-Sync Child Has Fun." Any of these will give you a primer. Uh, in, in Carol's book, she taught us to take a one week diary and to take all the bad behaviors all week and then to look for ways that you can identify if that was a behavior that was driven by sensory overload. What happens for our families is that they very, very quickly realize that much of behavior's being driven by these sensory deficits in our children. So in the, in Carol's book, "The Out-of-Sync Child," you can also, there's a screening instrument for elementary and preschool children, or you can just go through and see what is going on. Then you can do the, um, the journal for the cost of a, of about $15 or $16. You can get deeply into the waters. It's, it's only gonna be beginning and could it -- to get into the waters, but if you have a child who's come from hard places, prenatally or postnatally, you must understand sensory processing and how it's affecting your child. [music plays, video ends] [Katie] So she mentioned, um, a lot of resources for anybody who was trying to write them down. I have a handout that we'll put in the chat at the end where I list out all of, um, the resources she mentioned, as well as some additional ones. So don't worry about that. Um, so as Karyn talked about, um, trauma, especially early childhood trauma, puts brains at an increased risk for sensory challenges due to a couple of things. She talked about the, um, poor attachment. So, um, kids in abusive and neglectful environments don't have, um, that opportunity to develop a healthy primary attachment with their primary caregiver. So they're missing out on all of that early, important sensory input and regulation assistance from their caregiver, from their mom, dad, grandma, whoever, um, is their primary caregiver. And that, um, what that input is supposed to do is set their brains up to be able to handle more difficult sensory input on their own later on. So they're missing out on those important building blocks that comes through the attachment with their primary caregiver. The other thing she talked about was, um, brain development. So our brain develops from the bottom up, um, and it's in a sequential manner. So one step and then the next. Um, and those, uh, bottom developing areas down here, um, is where all of our sensory input comes in. For every person this sensory input comes in to these lower level areas of our brain, and that's where it begins to be stored, organized, and interpreted, and it sends it on to different parts of our brain for more. So all brain development is built on, um, one another. It's built on the areas that come before. So children with complex trauma history have holes in their development from those bottom areas, where the sensory information first comes in, all the way up to areas in the higher levels of their brain where the job is to, integrate different types of sensory information and process it. So they have these holes in their ability to interpret and process regular sensory input like Karyn talked about with the different reactions to hugs and kisses and being touched. But then also on top of that, every experience that we have initially comes in as sensation. So that's how our brain takes info in from our environment as sight and sound and smells and movements. And that includes traumatic experiences. So traumatic experiences that our children have, they're not encoded as words or as a story. Initially, they're encoded as feeling and sensations in their bodies. So our kiddos have sensory systems that are underdeveloped. They are wired to be overloaded, and then their traumas are mixed in there, encoded as regular sensory input that they run into on an everyday basis like the certain tone of someone's voice, a facial expression, a certain smell, et cetera. So when you look at all these things and put it together, you can see how, uh, how they can get dysregulated and overwhelmed with sensory input very easily. And when our sensory system is dysregulated, our emotion response and our behavior is dysregulated as well. So lastly, we're going to look at some clinical implications for this information. [Slide - Clinical Implications] Kiddos with complex trauma histories are at a higher risk for sensory challenges, which we have talked about. But it's important to note that sensory challenges can mimic the symptoms of other disorders. So one of the most common is ADHD. Kiddos with ADHD, right, they're often, they're constantly moving, they struggle with focus and they have poor control over their emotions. These are also true for sensory challenges, particularly sensory seeking. Another one, whoops, I went a little bit ahead of myself there. Um, again, RAD is also one that, um, can be misdiagnosed. So a lack of eye contact, a need for control and extreme or inappropriate reactions to things are, can all also be sensory challenges versus a true standalone RAD diagnosis. So it's important to be aware, um, of if you're seeing sensory challenges in a child because we always wanna get to the root cause of what's behind a behavior. Um, and so treatments for ADHD or for RAD aren't going to work as well if the child actually just has sensory challenges, than if they have true ADHD or true RAD. So as we talked about earlier today, it's normal for everyone to have different cup sizes for our varying senses. Um, but then we have some atypical sensory profiles where they have all small or all big, um, and that makes it really difficult for them to cope in their everyday life and in many environments. And this is when things cross over to what we call a sensory processing disorder. And this is when they might need some extra professional assistance. Um, again, that passive regulation profile that we also talked about, um, it would also classify as, um, needing extra assistance. So occupational therapists are the profession that is trained in all things sensory. And what they can do is work with, um, a specific child on different activities and tactics to work through these challenges. So they have more tools to be able to identify what's going on with a particular child and what is going to help them with their regulation and processing. To get this process started, you would just talk to your child's doctor, or if they have a psychiatrist, that's fine too about getting a sensory evaluation done and being referred to an occupational therapist. Last, um, we're gonna talk about Autism versus Sensory Processing Disorder. So, um, many people assume that kiddos who present with, um, sensory challenges are autistic, like ADHD, um, who typically looks like a sensory seeking kiddo, um, autism does include sensory challenges and many children who are diagnosed with autism also do meet the criteria for a sensory processing disorder. However, just because a kiddo has sensory challenges or meets criteria for a sensory processing disorder doesn't mean they are autistic, because autism also includes other specific challenges in the areas of nonverbal communication, social interactions, and being able to develop and maintain relationships. So it's really important to be aware that there's a difference between those two. Again, just like ADHD and, um, RAD, we need to be aware of what the root cause is behind the behavior in order to be able to treat it most effectively [Slide - Resources] So I'm gonna end with this last slide. This just lists out, um, some, all the resources that, uh, Karyn Purvis talked about in her video, plus a couple extra websites. Again, I'm gonna end my slideshow here real quick and I'm gonna drop a PDF file into the chat that has all of this information, um, [Slide - Oklahoma Human Services logo] as well as a, uh, sensory, um, checklist that you can use. [Bonni] Katie, I didn't know if you saw, back whenever you were going through how to upregulate and downregulate with all the different types of, of different senses. Mm-hmm. Um, I was wondering how do you know if you need regulating and which direction do you, how do you know which direction to go? [Katie] Yeah, that's a great question. Sorry, my zoom is being really funny, so I'm probably still sharing my screen. Uh, it disappeared all of my controls. I can't get to the chat, um, or anything, so I'm just gonna go with it. But, um, okay, so how do you know that you need regulating? That was the first part of your question, right? And then how do you know if it's up or down? Okay. Um, so knowing if you need regulating, again, a lot of this is going to start with, um, observing your child. Um, so they need regulation of some kind anytime they lose control over their behavior. Um, so if you think of a child that's, um, having a meltdown, they're dysregulated in some form or another. And, um, for older kids, it's important to talk to them about this too because they can start to [Attendees visible] recognize, um, as well as, as you, they can start to recognize how they're feeling in their own, um, body. Um, so it's really, I don't have a great answer for how to know, um, other than watching their behavior. Um, and so again, you'll start to learn, um, your kiddo. So for, I'll use my kid as an example. Um, I have two kids. One is a sensory avoider and one is a sensory seeker. So we have both ends of the spectrum in my house all the time. Um, and so for my son, he's my sensory avoider, and we actually started recognizing things when he was little. Um, and it looked like picky eating initially. That's what everyone told us. It's just a phase. Um, but it was persistent, so the behavior didn't change and he didn't respond to other things that we think of as typical, um, parenting tactics. So like, "Take one bite and then you don't have to eat it." Um, you know, that whole "Take a no thank you bite" thing that from him would elicit like a full blown meltdown. So it wasn't something that he was just, "I don't wanna do this." He physically and emotionally could not handle it. Um, and then similar things just, we called 'em like initially that we just thought they were like little quirks like, um, our smoke detector went off one time. Um, and from then on, like he couldn't walk down our hallway. He was so terrified of the loud sound of the smoke detector, um, that he couldn't handle that. So it was watching, um, watching for those little quirks initially and then seeing that, um, what we would call regular, I guess regular parenting tactics. So redirecting or, um, trying things like using incentives, None of that worked to change the behavior because it's not something that he had control over, conscious control. It was his body's very basic response. And then as far as upregulating and downregulating, again, that's gonna go along with, um, knowing your child. Um, so generally, um, a lot of times seekers tend to need upregulating, right? 'Cause they're seeking more input, they need more, more, more. And then avoiders tend to need downregulating tactics. They need, they need to be overwhelmed. But you can also, again, look at what's been going on in the environment. Um, 'cause just 'cause your kid is a seeker in most things, doesn't necessarily mean they're a seeker in every, they, they might not have big cups for everything, or they might have bigger cups for some senses like the moving senses, but slightly smaller cups, um, for, you know, sound or something like that. So it's really being aware of what's going on in the environment. So if my seeker, again, if she melts down and like I, I, she's eight, so I know she, you know, she knows these rules, she knows what our schedule is. And if she's really struggling to follow through on very typical things that she knows what the expectation is, then I need to look at what happened. Well, we just made her sit quietly for an hour while we were at someone's piano recital. Like, she can't, she can't focus right now because she's dysregulated. I'm gonna have her do something very active to help regulate her system, give her that input she needs, and then ask her to do whatever I had asked her to do before. I know that's kind of a muddy response, but does that touch on what you were asking about Bonni? [Bonni] Yeah, yeah. And I think, I think the key piece of what you were sharing about when do you know, um, is the knowing your child and having that observation over time where it's like you, like I can tell you for, for my oldest child, she's got, um, she's very defensive with auditory and visual because when she rides, she loves rides and rollercoasters. But uh, when we went to Space Mountain that was inside with all lighting everywhere, she came out sick, you know, and so, and just upset and emotional. So it wasn't just motion sickness, it was a sensory, it was, it was more pervasive than that. Which is kind of what I'm hearing you say too, that it's like this, it's a, it's an overwhelming thing where it's not, you can't logically step out of it. [Katie] Yes. [Bonni] It's, we need something else. It's something that's more raw almost than.. [Katie] Yeah. Yeah. So like we talk about with, um, with trauma, a lot of times, you know, we talk about when they're "triggered" from, uh, in their trauma that they can't think logically. And this is the same, which for this population, you know, it's based in how their brain developed from those traumatic experiences. So it's a very, again, it's just like everything else, it's a very base-level survival mechanism. It's not anything that they have logical or conscious control over. So, um, again, initially, uh, whether it's an older kid or a younger kid, they might not be able to even know, like they don't know themselves. You have to work through them being aware, like, my son is 10 now, so, and we've worked through a lot of his sensory defensiveness just by him being able to understand his own feeling and being able to communicate with us like, "I feel this way." Um, so it's really a process of, um, again, being self-aware. But when you see your child, um, when they don't seem to have any logic or any control, they're just, they're out of control. Um, that's your biggest sign that there is something going on, that the root is at those base levels of the brain, the survival tactics and the sensory input. [Bonni] Good. Are there any other questions for Katie? Well, Katie, I'm so grateful. This has been some excellent, excellent information, very clarifying, and I learned, um, about that, what is it, eighth sense? They need to go back and recreate the Sixth Sense movie. That's not accurate, is it? [laughs] Um, but it all makes sense whenever you, whenever you lay it out and, and explain all different pieces to the puzzle. Um, it's a part of being human. It's what, it's what we, what we experience every single day. So, um, thank, thank you so much, Katie. I really appreciate everything that you shared with us. [Katie] Definitely thank you guys. [Lacey] And I did want to just for a second, I noticed we had a few that hopped on, um, a little bit after our introduction. So I just wanted to remind you if you are a foster parent or, um, a professional and would like that certificate of attendance for today, please go ahead and put your email in the chat box. Um, and then there were a couple that mentioned they would like a certificate but didn't put their email. So if you could just double check that for me and we'll make sure to get those out this afternoon. [Katie] And I'm gonna add that, uh, PDF that I talked about 'cause I got distracted and forgot to add it to the chat, so, it's in there. Also, if you missed the first, um, portion, we have a YouTube channel, um, where this will be recorded and uploaded as well, um... [Bonni] Along with like how many more? Eight more now. Eight other... [Katie] Yes. [Bonni] Lunch & Learns that we have presented and recorded. So lots of good information. [Katie] Yes, Lacey, uh, put the YouTube, uh, link in our chat. So all of these are recorded and um, they're great info for you to go back and check out, or if you missed the first part of this. [Bonni] And also please feel free to, um, I'm gonna go ahead and put my email in the address, in the chat as well. Please feel free to email me if you are interested in, um, more information about not just our Lunch and Learns, but also other things like book clubs, support groups, um, other things that we've got going on or that we are willing to get started, um, if you are interested in, in being a part of something that is, uh, regular and ongoing. So please reach out to me. Um, uh, do we have Lacey or Katie, do we have the QR code for the, uh, website as well? We have a website under OKFosters where we are posting information about our upcoming events. Um, so future Lunch and Learns. And our next one is August 22nd and it's about medications. I believe we will have Dr. Sarah Coffey, um, a pediatric psychiatrist, join us. So please, uh, put that on your calendar. August 22nd, is that right? I think that's right. At, uh, at noon. Um, you could, thank you Lacey. There's the link in the chat if you would like to, uh, look at that and find that flyer with that information. We're excited about that. And please share with anybody that you think would be interested on coming, hopping on and, uh, listening to her presentation about medication management. All right. Thank you all so much. Have a wonderful day and stay cool.