How Is Your Engine Running Today?

How is your engine running today?

We live and work in a culture that is  increasingly fast paced, high-tech, and more sedentary.  We are living in an area of the country where cold winters prevent many of us from getting outside and moving for months!  Our bodies and brains are not designed to sit for hours at computers, in meetings, or in classrooms.  

We have all experienced working diligently to meet a deadline or sitting for hours at a conference and encountering the moment when we “hit the wall”.  We need to move, take a walk, get a cold drink, get a crunchy snack, do something active to help us “power through” to the end.  

In Occupational Therapy and in many of our classrooms, we use terminology and concepts from the book “How does your engine run?”, the Alert Program for Self Regulation. Children are taught “if your body is like a car engine, sometimes it runs on high, sometimes it runs on low, and sometimes it runs just right”.  Through the comparison of our bodies to an engine, children and adults learn a variety of sensorimotor strategies for self regulation (methods to change our levels of alertness through what we see, hear, feel, taste, and how we move).

There is a range of alertness that can be considered optimal for learning.  In “optimal alertness”, children are attentive, they have a “sparkle” in their eye, their muscles are not droopy, and they can concentrate with little effort.  As educators and parents, we want to support children to find their “just right” range in which their brains and bodies function best for different tasks.

Using the concepts of the Alert Program, children and adults learn how to adjust their “engines” with “engine tune ups”.  Examples of tune ups we teach and use are yoga poses, breathing exercises, animal walks, seat push ups, sitting on a ball, rock or spin in an office chair, chew gum, crunchy or chewy snacks, fidget tools.  

It is helpful as adults to first identify our own strategies that we use for self regulation.  Once we understand what our own adult nervous systems need and use for self regulation, it is easier to consider how to support our children.  I invite you to explore the concepts of the Alert Program (www.alertprogram.com), examine your own self regulation strategies, and help your child discover their own favorite “tune ups”.

My favorite family winter tune ups:

• yoga
• twister
• Hullabaloo (commercial game by cranium)
• indoor obstacle courses (cushions, blanket tunnels)
• ice skating
• sledding
• building a snow fort
• swimming (*check out nearby YMCAs)
• rollerskating

Have fun, stay warm, and look forward to warmer weather, spring, and outdoor recess!!!!!

Ellen Sullivan, M.Ed., OTR/L

Occupational Therapist

Of skunks, and hawks, and second grade students...

Second graders were treated to a visit from some special guests recently. As part of our animal research, Drumlin Farm brought a striped skunk and a broad winged hawk. Second graders did some quiet observations noting how the animals moved and what they looked like. We discussed how animals have special features to survive in nature.   

Contributed by Lauren Grady 

Students Make A Difference

The Blanchard community is a generous one.  The students (and staff and parents) participate in food drives such as the Souper Bowl in which the food goes to the Acton Pantry or Loaves and Fishes, clothing drives such as Coats for Kids and Crates to Crayolas and the Mitten Tree, in which the hats and mittens collected are donated to the Acton Food Pantry.  Primarily, our charity drives focus on the Acton-Boxborough community.  However, when students at Blanchard are affected, we extend our reach.  Every year, a Blood drive is conducted in honor of a former student, Ashley Ge.  In the last few years, we have supported the Decibels Foundation that the Dunning family founded.  The Decibels Foundation provides services for Early Intervention programs and resources for parents and schools.  The primary fundraiser for the Decibels Foundation is Stink Week, in which students will wear the same T-Shirt for a week to raise awareness of hearing loss as well as to raise money.

This week, I'd like to call attention to the sixth grade students who are learning CPR.  They were an enthusiastic group, eager to take on the responsibility of learning how to save a life.

In addition, I want to recognize Wendy Barrett who donated all of her birthday toys to the Toys for Tots organization because she thought it was a good thing to do.  Below, she is shown delivering her toys to the organization.   We are all proud of you, Wendy!

I would also like to recognize Jack Dunning and Thomas Walsh who have coordinated all the activities in the school for Stink Week for the past two years.  In 2011, the Blanchard Memorial School community received the Classy Award, given to nonprofit organizations for outstanding contributions in fundraising.   Thomas is also involved with fundraising for ALS.  His family participates on a charity walk every year and he has raised money through other means, such as a lemonade stand.

It isn't surprising that elementary school students are so thoughtful and reflective about the world, but it is nice to recognize students for their efforts.   If you know of a Blanchard student who is doing  something that makes a difference, please let me know.

Sixth Grade Students Talking about CPR Training with Fox News

Thomas Walsh and Jack Dunning: Fundraisers for the Decibels Foundation

Wendy Barrett and Toys for Tots