Fight or Flight Article and information

This is an excellent resource on Fight or Flight- by Angie Voss, OTR at A Sensory Life. Picture Fight or Flight Information Source: Your Essential Guide to Understanding Sensory Processing Disorder ~Angie Voss, OTR Understanding what fight or flight looks like with a child is CRUCIAL in determining how to respond. The primitive and actual purpose of fight or flight is to divert blood from the brain to the muscles in order to respond quickly and with great strength as needed. For instance, you hear stories about the mom who lifted the car or tree off of her child...the mom was obviously in fight or flight to protect her child and the brain and nervous system responded accordingly. When the blood is diverted to the muscles instead of the brain, the brain is no longer in a cortical level of thinking or using executive functioning...it is simply in protective mode. This may sound a little scary, but somewhat like a wolf in the wild. They react and respond on instinct and survival...you can not rationalize with a wolf and ask it to sit for a treat, or to choose the raw steak over your arm. Ok, ok...I am getting a little graphic here, but my point is...this is the same type reaction our sensory kiddos have, but unfortunately their little nervous systems switch over to fight flight regularly, sometimes even daily. There has even been research done on this specific issue...the correlation between fight or flight and SPD. Here are some more examples of what "fight or flight" might look like for a child.... Kicking, screaming, biting, spitting, throwing things, etc A child may try finding any place possible where visual and auditory input are decreased, as well as it being somewhere that they will not be touched or are required to make eye contact. They may try to find a cozy and tight space where their body will receive much needed proprioception and deep pressure touch. Possibly under a table or bed, buried in your arms, or retreating to the corner of a room. They may cover their ears, close their eyes, and tuck their arms and legs in as much as possible They may run and try to escape from the situation at hand...without any regard to safety The child may lash out...keep in mind this is not the child being aggressive or intending to hurt someone, their nervous system is doing the talking. They child may scream, talk back, call names, cry uncontrollably (also the nervous system) It may also present in a much more subtle way, such as "checking out" or zoning out. You may also observe a quick change in facial expression and quick shift of mood and emotion...possibly to irritability, frustration, anger, or crying and panic.