Five Easy Strategies for Self Regulation
Published: 1 Aug 2025
We shared previously the challenges that children might face when it comes to navigating their emotions and behavior in the first two blogs of this series. In this article, we go deeper into the strategies that parents and caregivers can employ to help children increase their self regulation skills.
One of the best ways for children to develop better self regulation is by working on all the sensory systems.
What is the purpose of sensory systems?
The 8 sensory systems help us make brain and body connections. They allow us humans to receive and process information from the environment around us. These 8 systems are the: visual, auditory, touch, taste, smell, vestibular, proprioception and interoception.
We respond to and interact with the environment based on our perception of the sensory input. These systems feed information to our brain which translates to a bodily response. How regulated or dis-regulated we are can affect our perception of the sensory input, thus affecting our emotions and behaviour.
For example, interoception is the sense through which we might feel hungry or thirsty. Children with weak interoception may appear to never be hungry and may be lethargic or slow to be “activated” or slow to wake up after overnight sleep. Another example is how when the visual system functions well, we notice an obstacle in our path and navigate around it rather than walking into it. Children with poor visual processing may see the obstacle but have inaccuracies with the depth perception or may miss seeing the obstacle altogether!
Efficient functioning of the sensory systems is essential for maintaining self-regulation because it helps us process the input that we get from the environment, and allows us to interact with the world around us with more ease.
In the MNRI treatments that we offer at Neural Connections, we use techniques that engage multiple sensory systems simultaneously. In addition to the vestibular (movement) system, we focus strongly on the visual and proprioceptive systems as well. Here are some easy strategies for parents to incorporate into the daily routine to help with your child’s self-regulation:
Easy and Practical Strategies For Engaging the Sensory Systems
Movement breaks: Movement breaks like jumping, crawling, gentle spinning or animal walks can help reset the nervous system. This helps engage the vestibular system, paving the way for us to be better able to process sensory information from other systems. Movement breaks are also especially helpful if they are in the outdoors, allowing for kids to be out in the sun and getting that much needed Vitamin D and resetting their circadian rhythms for better sleep.
Heavy work/rough play: Activities like pushing, pulling, carrying objects or climbing help with increased proprioceptive input. For kids who are sensory seeking, having increased pressure through rough/heavy play can be soothing for the nervous system.
Oral input: Chewy necklaces, straws or crunchy snacks engage the sense of taste in addition to providing proprioceptive feedback to the jaw. This can help children self-soothe and promote oral-motor development.
Visual schedules: Visual schedules like a daily timetable to denote timings for school, naptime, lunch and so on can help reduce anxiety and increase independence. It also helps give children a sense of control over their day.
Transition cues: Using songs or fun buzzer sounds to transition to the next activity can help prepare children for change. These can help provide safety and signal to the brain that it is time to move on to the following activity, reducing their anxiety around change and transitions.
The main objective of these strategies is to help a nervous system in overwhelm. Having predictability and routines around the kinds of strategies being used can help children feel safe and in control, which contributes to their overall emotional regulation. Giving them the time and space to self-regulate or offering children a choice of self-regulation activity can often be empowering for them.
Whichever of these strategies that you pick, it’s good to match them to the needs of your child. A nervous system that is already stressed might sometimes benefit from having less sensory input, such as noise. It’s important to be discerning when prioritising which strategy might work best for your child.
Most importantly, modelling and practicing these regulation skills ourselves as parents and caregivers are key in helping children practice and incorporate these new habits. The brain learns by repetition and by mirroring, so the more times that we model these practices for children, the easier they would be able to pick up these new patterns of behaviour. It takes time for new habits to form, and while it might be challenging in the beginning, this can help set them up for success in the long term.
At Neural Connections, we focus on offering treatment and protocols to help children regulate their emotions and behaviour better. Schedule a Discovery Call with us today to see if we can help.
