Do you have that child who escalates and cannot come back?
No matter what technique you have tried to help calm them and help them regulate, they just keep escalating.
This week lets explore a nonconventional mindfulness to interrupt the brain, de-escalate, and help regulate our students (and maybe even ourselves).
Mindfulness is about paying attention on purpose. We can do this with listening, touching, seeing, and even eating. In the past we have explored mindful eating, reminding ourselves to slowdown and fully experience our food. This time we are going to talk about how food could disrupt our brain and create a new focus and (hopefully) leading to calm.
Cold or Sour pick one or both, but try them out.
Have you ever head about a cold plunge?
This is where you submerge your body into ice cold water and stay for an extended period of time.
It is believed that a cold plunge can help increase neurotransmitters related to dopamine.
Well you might not want to cold plunge your child you can get their brain to calm down by introducing cold.
Giving a student a piece of ice to hold in their mouth can distract the brain from the escalation just enough to help them regulate. The shock to in the mouth has the brain trying to figure out what is going on.
Small studies have seen a cold stimuli such as ice to have a positive effect on mood, mental clarity, and provide a boost in alertness.
This week I have taken a few opportunities to engage in some ice tests. I observed a student who would not move or talk to take some ice, hold it in their mouth, and then be willing to walk and talk. Whether it was the cold changing the brain or just a distraction that diverted attention; it worked!
It is not only cold we can use to alert and redirect the brain.
Some studies show that sour is a taste that can cause a rush of dopamine to flood the brain. We can help alter a mood to become happy with a quick sour taste.
When studying sour it has been observed that sour increases serotonin and other neurotransmitters such as dopamine, which play a role in elevating mood and promote wakefulness.
Over the weekend I saw a video which led me down the path of researching cold, sour, and the brain. The teacher in the video shared that she makes Juice Cubes to give to students who need to de-escalate and regulate their behavior. She shared that she uses the school juices, which tend to be sour, and freezes them into cubes. She also shared that the students are also distracted by having to guess the flavor of the cube.
I think I may try some juice cube soon with some friends.
The juice cube guessing game can also be a good mindfulness for a whole class. Taking time to savor and experience the cold and flavor of a cube in a calm way.
