34. Halloween Through a Sensory Emotional Lens

Believe it or not, Halloween can sometimes seem more of a trick than a treat for our sensory emotional kids.  On the surface we can see or sense the different sensory experiences that Halloween brings - lights and sounds of decorations, smells of candy and even decorations sometimes, and costumes of unfamiliar fabrics and textures.   When we consider movement experiences, we can anticipate navigation through crowds and navigating places in the dark with lots of people and lots of different uneven surfaces, not to mention needing to navigate around and over decorations.   Halloween – and particularly the culminating event of trick or treating – challenges every single sensory system to process novel experiences and, therefore, can bring every single emotional experience  - and today, we’re going to talk about it.  In this episode, you'll discover: Ways to anticipate and understand  the emotional and social experiences your child may have on Halloween Halloween costume choices that will support emotion regulation during Halloween Ways to act and interact with your child, based on their Sensory Emotion Personalities during novel situations, to support emotion regulation and sensory-motor capacities during Halloween.  For more information on Halloween, please check out our Halloween blog: https://greatkidsplace.com/preparing-our-sensory-kids-for-halloween/ Join our community! Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesensoryemotional_ot/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/greatkidsplace/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GreatKidsPlace/ Want more resources? Please visit our blog: https://greatkidsplace.com/category/blog/ and https://sensoryemotional.org/   About Michele Parkins MS, OTR/L IMH-E® Founder & Director, Great Kids Place  Founder, Sensory Emotional Engagement Model™ Michele is an Occupational Therapist endorsed as an Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Specialist. She specializes in working with children and families with Sensory Processing and Integration Disorders and challenges in social-emotional development. She is also a parent of two sensory kids. She works and lives sensational kids! Michele is a fellow of Dr. Lucy Jane Miller, OTR.   Michele is passionate about working with families and other therapists and continues to do so as a clinician and educator. She educates therapists from all over the country and world and continues to provide consultation to schools on treatment for sensory processing disorder. Michele has co-authored a chapter in the 3rd edition of Sensory Integration: Theory and Practice, the textbook for sensory evaluation and treatment, alongside world-renowned pioneers in the field, and is currently writing a parenting book and children’s books.  She hopes to help everyone - children and adults- understand their Sensory Emotional Personality™ style and ways to find strength and joy within them.