Tag: LIFESMART Tools
Categories
Parenting as Theater
Today, I want to start the discussion of parenting as theater. This week, I will present a webinar introducing the tools of theater. The Theater Arts for Holistic Development (TAHD) approach views theater in terms of the following components:
- Dance
- Drama
- Music
- Arts and crafts
- Storytelling
I invite parents to consider how these five tools can be used by parents to support their child’s development.
Join us for the webinar on 9th November to explore this topic!
The TAHD is the latest step in my use of theater arts tools. It has given me a framework to think about the use of theaters arts as a parenting tool. However, I have experimented with many elements of theater through various therapeutic and educational approaches. During this session, I will discuss the use of theater arts tools in relation to these approaches. I have listed the website for each approach and included a brief overview from the website. Listen to the webinar and check out the resources that interest you!
- Relationship Development Intervention (RDI)
RDI® programs teach parents how to guide their child to seek out and succeed in truly reciprocal relationships, while addressing key core issues such as motivation, communication, emotional regulation, episodic memory, rapid attention-shifting, self-awareness, appraisal, executive functioning, flexible thinking and creative problem solving.
2. Waldorf Education
Waldorf schools offer a developmentally appropriate, experiential, and academically rigorous approach to education. They integrate the arts in all academic disciplines for children from preschool through twelfth grade to enhance and enrich learning. Waldorf education aims to inspire life-long learning in all students and to enable them to fully develop their unique capacities.
https://www.waldorfeducation.org/waldorf-education
3. Enki Education
Enki Education offers a unique and innovative way to approach living and learning, parenting and educating. At all grade levels, whether in classroom or homeschooling programs, all academics are taught using a three fold process. This process begins with the arts and, through a series of steps, opens to full mastery of skills and concepts. In this way, we nurture the whole child, weaving together a coherent program including academics, arts, story, activities, movement, and exploration, to bring about deep learning and growth.
4. Bharatanatyam and Natyashastra
The Natya Shastra is considered the sacred text for all performing art forms. One of the major aspects of Natya Shastra, the Abhinaya (ways in which an actor communicates or expresses) has been mentioned in great detail in this text. Other aspects such as the graceful body movements and postures, the mudras (hand gestures) and rasas (aesthetic experience) used in dance, drama and other performing arts have also been documented extensively.
https://indianculture.gov.in/stories/sadir-attam-bharatanatyam
5. Theater Arts for Holistic Development
RASA – Ramana Sunritya Aalaya was founded in 1989 by Dr. Ambika Kameshwar with the vision to empower one and all, through the Theatre Arts experience. Today, RASA stands as a 32 year old organisation with a multi-pronged approach to inclusion and transformation.
One of the biggest challenges I faced as a parent of neurodivergent child was taking systematic, consistent action. There are numerous resources on every topic and every challenge parents of neurodivergent child face. However, there is no clear guidance on what is worth doing at any given time. Hence, parents are likely to try different ideas and approaches and not practice any techniques consistently. The 100-Day project was created to address this challenge. The goal of the 100-Day project is sustained, consistent action.
In the last few articles, I have suggested that targeting co-regulation is a useful step for parents of neurodivergent children. Co-regulation is the foundation for learning. Based on my suggestions and discussions in the LIFESMART Parenting groups, several parts started addressing co-regulation. As described in her blog post, Shinjita Joshi-Pant started implementing a 100 Days of Co-regulation project. Other parents are also considering or starting 100-Days of Co-regulation.
We invite to join the LIFESMART 100-Day Parent Lab and start a 100-Days of Co-regulation project. If you are interested, please email me at lifesmartlabs@gmail.com
The LIFESMART Canvas
The LIFESMART canvas is a visual summary of the LIFESMART process.
Each parent’s journey can be viewed in terms of the five Ps.
- The parent sees possibilities.
- The parent clarifies priorities.
- The parent chooses a path forward.
- The parent practices selected skills.
- The parent monitors progress and reviews the transformation of parent interactions, child engagement, and the system over time.
Communities such as SpecialSaathi can influence all the Ps. In this example, I am suggesting a specific path forward:
Do a 100 Days of Co-regulation project.
Co-regulation and Daily Learning
Read about co-regulation here.
According to this article, “The supportive process between caring adults and children, youth or young adults that fosters self-regulation development is called “co-regulation.”
Role of parents/caregivers
- Provide a warm, responsive relationship
- displaying care and affection;
- recognize and respond to cues that signal needs and wants
- provide caring support in times of stress
- Create an environment that is physically and emotionally safe for children, youth, and young adults to
explore and learn at their level of development .- Develop consistent, predictable routines and expectations
- Provide clear goals for behavior regulation
- Provide well-defined logical consequences for negative behaviors.
- Teach self-regulation skills
I will be discussing tips and techniques to guide parents in this project. Other parents such as Shinjita will also share their experiences and insights.
Coregulation is a mindset as much as an action. If parents commit to developing coregulation to support self regulation in the child, they will be on a different path. They will be more focused on creating a safe, stress free environment. They will not send their child to therapists and schools that don’t accept and include them and put pressure on them. Every decision will be influenced by the coregulation idea. However, mindsets are not easy to change! So start a 100 Days of Coregulation project and take small steps to coregulation.
In this blog post, I want to clarify how to use the four LIFE pillars to think about your choices.
LIFESMART Tip: Enrich parent-child interactions (F: Family interactions) to set the stage for daily Learning (L).
Last week, I introduced three key techniques:
1) Regulation-Challenge-Reorganization (RCR),
2) Just Noticeable Differences (JNDS).
3) four patterns of interaction,
When a parent practices the three techniques consistently, parent-child interactions (F: Family interactions) improve setting the stage for daily Learning (L).
In this article, I will discuss the first technique, RCR practice by parents and daily Learning. I will also introduce the notion of co-regulation and explain how RCR is a key tool for practicing co-regulation.
Choosing your Path
If you are a parent of a young child and are wondering where to begin, I invite you to consider the idea of co-regulation. Co-regulation is the foundation of learning. Yet, it does not seem to be identified as a good starting point for parents of neurodivergent children! We were fortunate to discover co-regulation through Relationship Development Intervention (RDI).
The Journey Begins
Initially, we focused on L (Learning daily) and F (Family interactions).
In the early stages, Relationship Development Intervention (RDI) emphasizes the interplay of these two elements. Under typical development, parent-child interactions are the foundation for learning. At this stage, we did not address I (Interests) or E (Engagement with community) explicitly.
The key point is that while all LIFE components are equally important, we may focus more on different elements at different times.
The focus of RDI was the guided participation relationship between the parent and child. Restore the Family interactions (F) to build the foundations of guided participation which is the base for Learning daily (L).
The focus of Family interactions in the early years is developing parent and child interactions. Neurotypical development also begins here. Dr. Gutstein used to say that neurotypical children have thousands of hours or co-regulation practice with parents before they start peer interactions. If co-regulation with parent is disrupted, that needs to be restored before trying to get peer interactions.
Co-regulation and Daily Learning
Read about co-regulation here.
According to this article, “The supportive process between caring adults and children, youth or young adults that fosters self-regulation development is called “co-regulation.”
Role of parents/caregivers
- Provide a warm, responsive relationship
- displaying care and affection;
- recognize and respond to cues that signal needs and wants
- provide caring support in times of stress
- Create an environment that is physically and emotionally safe for children, youth, and young adults to
explore and learn at their level of development .- Develop consistent, predictable routines and expectations
- Provide clear goals for behavior regulation
- Provide well-defined logical consequences for negative behaviors.
- Teach self-regulation skills
How does Regulation, Challenge, Reorganization (RCR) enhance co-regulation and daily learning?
The four patterns of activities discussed below are based on RCR (Regulation, Challenge, Reorganization) is one of the most valuable parenting concepts that I learned from Relationship Development Intervention (RDI). The parent sets up a pattern of interaction with competent roles for parent and child. The key is to set up a predictable pattern the child can recognize so that the child is regulated in the activity. Once the child is familiar with the pattern, introduce variations or challenges. Add the variations gradually to enable the child to accept the variations and reorganize the initial pattern of interaction. Practice the basic pattern for many days before introducing variations. This article describes four simple patterns of interactions that parents can use to implement RCR in daily life activities.
RCR reduces stress and enhances engagement by providing predictability, incremental development, and consistency.
RCR is a technique for creating consistent, predictable interactions while introducing variations and novelty. RCR is a technique for practicing co-regulation.
Learn more about RDI here.
Watch the video below for a description of how RDI changed our path:
