Nathan is a smart, spunky kindergartener who loves learning about animals and the environment. Nathan was getting into trouble at school for not keeping his hands to himself, interrupting the teacher and having difficulty remaining on task and staying seated. He began receiving occupational therapy about a year ago at TherapyWorks. While he had made some progress, his therapist recently implemented the How Does Your Engine Run?© Alert Program© to help improve self-regulation in order to decrease hyperactivity.
The Alert Program© was developed by occupational therapists Mary Sue Williams and Sherry Shellenberger in 1991, in order to create a shared language for students, parents, teachers, therapists and other professionals to use when improving self regulation and attention. According to their website, www.alertprogram.com, their mission is, “developing practical ways to teach people of all ages how to incorporate sensory integration theory into everyday living… and how understanding self-regulation can enrich the lives of children.”
The Alert Program© uses the analogy that your body is like a car engine; it can run too fast, too slow, or just right. For example, your engine is automatically running too fast if you are angry or are overly excited during recess.
Now that Nathan can accurately identify the engine level in himself and others, he has begun to learn different tools to use in order to change his engine speed. It is often a challenge to choose an appropriate activity to slow his engine and not simply pick a favorite activity!
Nathan is currently experimenting with changing his engine speed. He has learned body movement tools such as swinging, jumping, crashing, and climbing, used within a sensory diet for home and school, in order to calm and organize his engine to
the “just right” level. Next, he learned mouth tools such as resistive sucking through a straw (i.e. pudding or applesauce). Finally, hand tools, such as using a fidget toy or fabric fastener under the desk, keep his hands busy and his mind focused while learning.
His mother, Kimberly, has been very pleased with his progress in OT and using the Alert Program©. She explains, “In the past year, since beginning at TherapyWorks, Nathan has improved in so many areas, including self-regulation, social skills, attention and listening, behavior, coping skills, and so much more. He is now attending full days at school, whereas last year he was limited to half days. Nathan has always been an amazing, bright little boy, but he seems much happier and more confident now than when we first started at TherapyWorks. As a family we are so much better able to be successful and enjoy
each other. We are truly grateful to all of the amazing staff at TherapyWorks.”
How Does Your Engine Run?® and Alert Program® are registered trademarks of TherapyWorks, Inc.
Phone: (877) 897-3478; Fax: (505) 899-4071 Email: manager@AlertProgram.com Website: www.AlertProgram.com