Just Right State sessions are led with a selection of classes with our occupational therapist and assistant. These consist of the Ball Programme, a concept and finishes with a glimmer.

Ball Programme

The ball programme moves through ‘walk the ball’, ‘bounce to that tune’ and ‘squish’. 

Walk the ball is where tummies are on the ball and walk forwards and back on our hands. This works on shoulder stability, postural control and balance. We sometimes play a game in the middle as part of this, which then introduces planning and fine motor skills practice.  

Bounce to that tune is how it sounds. We sit on our ball and bounce to a tune whilst copying actions given by different members of the group. This works on planning and copying and often crossing over our midline, which helps the communication between both sides of our brain.  

Squish is where we offer deep pressure to the learners. This looks different for different people as everyone has their own preferences – we offer ‘roll the dough’ (rolling a ball over someone’s back/arms/legs), the rollers (a piece of equipment that the learners can take themselves through which squishes them at their own pressure and speed preference), beanbag pizzas (a learner would have beanbags stacked on them to give them all over deep pressure). Some learners choose to just sit against their ball and have a beanbag or a weighted blanket on their lap.  

Concept

There is always a focus on a concept. For example, on the hand model of the brain. Within this we explore what it feels like to feel regulated and able to focus, think and communicate and what happens when we ‘flip our lid’ and feel dysregulated and end up in a state of flight, fight or freeze. This includes teaching the group about the amygdala and how it senses danger (which looks different for everyone) and reacts in a different way depending on what that ‘danger’ is. We explore different strategies to be able to re-regulate, whether that is co-regulation or self-regulation. 

  

 

Glimmers

Glimmers are shared together at the end of the session. This is something that has brought us joy in our own lives (in school or out of school). This allows us to end on a positive note and encourage positivity within the group. It also allows the staff to understand the learners better and vice versa as we don't always get the opportunity to share these moments with each other.