exploring the neuroscience behind play

somatic play therapy candy smith, MS, LCPC, RPT-S, SEP

LEARNING OBJECTIVES❖ Understanding Play through a Somatic Lens

❖ Noticing how Flight, Fight and Freeze show up in Play and learning what to do to help your child find regulation and get the whole brain back online.

❖ understanding how attachment affects children’s resilience

❖ Learning about the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) and its branches and their role in play.

❖ Gaining skills to help our children regulate (ride waves instead of roller coasters)

❖ Learn more about Trauma and how it shows up in our bodies.

EXAMPLES OF CHILDHOOD TRAUMA❖ Physical, Sexual, Emotional Abuse and Neglect

❖ loss through death, separation, divorce, moving homes, suicide, freedom

❖ pre and perinatal birth trauma

❖ generational trauma (epigenetic)

❖ medical trauma

❖ adoption

❖ domestic violence

❖ bullying

❖ drug use and abuse

–PETER LEVINE

“TRAUMA IS IN THE NERVOUS SYSTEM NOT THE EVENT.”

definitions of trauma

❖ ANYTHING THAT IS TOO MUCH, TOO FAST, TOO SOON OR NOT ENOUGH FOR TOO LONG…

❖ IMMOBILITY, TRAPPED (Children are sometimes trapped in systems that are overwhelming to their nervous systems i.e Paisley telling me she was living in a nightmare)

❖ OVERWHELMING TO OUR NERVOUS SYSTEM

daniel Siegels

brain in the palm of your handWHEN WE GET OVERWHELMED WE LAND IN OUR REPTILE BRAIN WHERE OUR ONLY OPTIONS ARE FLIGHT, FIGHT AND FREEZE.

IT IS OUR JOB AS THERAPISTS, PARENTS TO HELP A KIDDO COMPLETE THEIR DEFENSIVE RESPONSES AND LAND IN A SAFE PLACE SO THEY CAN GET THEIR WHOLE BRAINS BACK ONLINE

THE ROAD TO A WHOLE BRAIN BEGINS WITH LOVE

❖ Our brain is a survival brain that has not evolved much since the time of the saber tooth tigers, our brain has two main functions, the first is to stay alive, the second is to match the outside with the inside.

❖ A child who is raised in a chaotic home will attempt to create chaos and stress even when in a loving and stable environment.

❖ It is our job as a somatic play therapist to help rewrite a child’s negative programming through play and relationship.

❖ We will encourage them to complete their defensive responses.

❖ If we can stay regulated with a dysregulated child and teach the parents to regulate their nervous systems we are helping to rewire a child’s neuro-circuitry.

neuroscience says

what fires together wires togetherJohn Bolby, the “father of attachment”, stated that the first 3 years our our lives establishes the blueprints for all of our future relationships.”

Brain science tells us the within the first 2 years of a child’s life, the brain experiences the most rapid rate of growth in a person’s entire lifespan.

neuro-plasticity tells us we have the ability to continually formulate new programs, new connections..

anna

❖DEPRESSED(her virtual name) 10 years old

❖covid, school, hybrid started, mom, bored, dad, brother is a jerk, sleepover, masks, 6 ft, can’t see grandparents, presidency sucks, i can’t vote, don’t think its safe out there, friendships

❖ 12-10-2 I say to Anna, Wow…you just told me 12 things, found 10 ways to not feel it and now2 people know it.

❖ Anna had no connection to her body as she quickly told me about her depression.

❖ As an Somatic Play Therapist I yelled “Anna you just did a 12=10-2. She giggled and got curious (we both were curious as I just made that up)

❖ I asked Anna to go into her body and fee one of her 12 things, she choose to feel “can’t go back to school because of covid.”

❖ I asked her “where do you feel that?” Anna answered “My MIND hurts, my HEART is MAD, my ARMS are DEPRESSED and my LEGS JUST WANT TO STAY IN BED

PAUSE AND LISTEN 3 TIMES

❖ Anna chose to LISTEN TO HER MAD HEART

❖ It said (1) KILL KILL KILL EVERYBODY NOW (2) also very sad (3)got silly

❖ TITRATION…..now i have to follow her here…she needs a break..it is getting too much…too real….

❖ She quickly puts a picture of her bed linens in a mess and I say whoa…that looks silly and she tells me about her dog maggie making a mess out of her covers (resourcing with her dog)

❖ I orient her to we are now taking a break, it is hard to feel the pain of the sadness and her body is wise and say “miss candy I need a break and I will listen to that…(bringing up the sadness again by talking about it)

❖ We have time so I nudge Anna back to her activation and ask her to pick another part of her body to play with

❖ She chooses her legs and I sense they are frozen so I ask her to move them in any way they want to move. She looks at me weirdly so I get more directive and ask her to push on something stable with her legs….She does this a few times and I watch. She seems to becoming more alive (she is giggling) and I think I heard something so I ask her to add a sound to it. She says back to me “I hear the sheets moving” That is a freeze response….so I nudge her to making a noise (agency, aliveness) and I show her (mirror neurons) me pushing my dresser and making a umphhhh noise…she giggles again and makes a waaaaa sound…and I go with it.

❖ She titrates us back to pictures of her dog on her screen…

TRAUMA VORTEX COUNTER VORTEX

AND

YES BUT

FLIGHT, FIGHT AND FREEZE LOVE AND SAFETY

FEAR

my goal in the playroom is to move through trauma vortex and counter vortex encouraging the child to complete their

defensive responses

questions???

Kids will get silly here or aggressive,

or change the subject or the play. I am bad… I did that wrong. they are

building their protective parts

flightfight

freeze

resourcespeople, place and

things that feel safe and loving

GO SLOWBE

CURIOUSCOMPLET

E DEFENSIV

E RESPONSE

S

BODY WILL SHAKE, CRY, GET HOT OR COLD, AND TAKE DEEP

BELLY BREATHS

the freeze response in the playroom❖ the play therapist listens for cues that the

child leads with freeze.

❖ we as the play therapist feel the energy of the room, of our bodies.

❖ we feel the shut down, the spacey qualities, the collapse

❖ we hear the “I’m bored, or I don’t feel like it” or “I’m tired.

❖ we watch as their bodies constrict (they literally get smaller, take up less space)

❖ there wont be alot of movement or curiosity

flight response in the playroom

❖ Our animal instincts are to run (escape danger) to safety, for mammals that is your parents (mamma and papa bear)

❖ We as the play therapist watch what a child does and who they go to when they are overwhelmed. (auto regulate or co regulate)

❖ We as the play therapist encourage the children to run to parents when they are activated.

the fight response in the playroom❖ The child will move toward their fight

response (we heard this in Anna’s story with the kill, kill, kill)

❖ The fight response is fast, and loud and big

❖ They will gravitate to the weapon area and gun fight, sword fight, put you in jail, etc.

❖ They tend to move towards activation and then titrate to rest and then come back again

❖ They play their story in a safe environment

exercise: what is your go to defensive response?

ANS (autonomic nervous system)

❖ SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT

❖ SYMPATHETIC

❖ PARASYMPATHETIC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVEDueyZ2C4

Window of Tolerance

STUCK ON ON FOR CHILDREN❖ ADHD

❖ JIGGLY, WIGGLY, SILLY

❖ CAN’T SIT STILL

❖ HITTING, KICKING, BITING

❖ BEING AGGRESSIVE

❖ ANGER ISSUES

❖ OCD, ODD

❖ ACTING OUT

❖ HURTING OTHERS

a stuck on on nervous system shows up in the playroom

❖ kids will wipe your toys off your shelves and stomp on them

❖ they will (without warning) hit you on the head with a spoon when they are playing in the kitchen

❖ they will ask if they can swear❖ they will gravitate to the guns, swords, ropes,

handcuffs and kill, maim, injure you.❖ they will shoot parent❖ hit baby dolls❖ BE SILLY

STUCK ON OFF FOR CHILDREN❖ DEPRESSED

❖ SELF HARM

❖ QUIET

❖ GOOD

❖ NOT MOTIVATED

❖ NOT DOING WELL IN SCHOOL

❖ DISCOURAGED

❖ LOST

❖ DAYDREAMERS

how stuck on off shows up in the playroom

❖ these kids are quieter

❖ don’t want to play

❖ don’t have much energy

❖ say “I’m tired” or “I’m bored”

❖ Not oriented to space or move about

❖ Don’t explore

❖ Don’t talk much

❖ Keep eyes down and body small

stress——emotion—-behavior

there are only two primary emotions, love and fearwhen afraid a child goes into flight, fight or freeze.

the child will perceive the world as a not safe place and their internal survival mechanisms become activated.

they will operate in fear and that child’s behaviors will not make logical, reasonable, relational sense

the child’s ability to regulate will be seriously compromised.

–Richard Davidson University of Wisconsin

“All emotions are social - you can’t separate the cause of an emotion from the world of relationships - our social interactions are what

drive our emotion.

connection is a biological and physiological need

❖ CHILDREN NEED TO CONNECT TO PARENTS (CAREGIVERS) TO BE ABLE TO LEARN HOW TO REGULATE THEIR EMOTIONAL STATES.

5-4-3-2-1 COPING TECHNIQUE FOR ANXIETY

somatic = body

Children Live in their bodies. They experience the world through their senses. What they see, hear, smell, taste and felt sense.

A FUN EXERCISE TO HELP KIDS REGULATE IS 5 THINGS YOU SEE4 THINGS YOU HEAR3 THINGS YOU SMELL2 THINGS YOU TASTE (I had a kid once say “defeat”)1 THING YOU FEEL IN YOUR BODY

List of Sensation Words

x Calm x Energized x Smooth x Streaming x Warm x Cool x Relaxed x Open x Light x Spacious x Airy x Releasing x Expanded x Expansive x Flowing x Floating x Fluid x Draining x Tense x Tight x Constricted x Clenched x Knotted x Hot x Full

x Sweaty x Wooden x Congested x Dull x Dense x Frozen x Icy x Disconnected x Thick x Blocked x Contracted x Heavy x Suffocated x Cold x Numb x Closed x Dark x Hollow x Empty x Tender x Sensitive x Bruised x Achy x Sore x Tense

x Tight x Nauseous x Shaky x Trembly x Throbbing x Pounding x Fluttery x Shivery x Queasy x Wobbly x Bubbly x Dizzy x Spacey x Breathless x Prickly x Electric x Tingling x Nervy x Twitchy x Burning x Radiating x Referring x Buzzy x Itchy

❖ STARTLE❖ ORIENT❖ SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT❖ FLIGHT❖ FIGHT ❖ FREEZE

SIBAM

❖ SENSATION

❖ IMAGE

❖ BEHAVIOR

❖ AFFECT

❖ MEANING

ACE STUDY

❖ Adverse Childhood Experiences CDC Kaiser Permanente Study

https://stopabusecampaign.org/what-are-adverse-childhood-experiences/what-is-your-ace-score/