About the Alert Program ...."If your body is like a car engine, sometimes it runs on high, sometimes it runs on low, and sometimes it runs just right." When teachers, therapists, or parents use these simple words to begin the Alert Program, they enter an exciting adventure with children. The journey unfolds easily with the program's clearly defined steps for teaching self-regulation awareness. The book, How Does Your Engine Run? A Leader's Guide to the Alert Program for Self-Regulation (Williams & Shellenberger, 1996), describes an innovative program that supports children, teachers, parents, and therapists to choose appropriate strategies to change or maintain states of alertness. Students learn what they can do before a spelling test or homework time to attain an optimal state of alertness for their tasks. Teachers learn what they can do after lunch, when their adult nervous systems are in a low alert state and their students are in a high alert state. Parents learn what they can do to help their toddler's nervous system change from a high alert state to a more appropriate low state at bedtime. Leaders of the program not only learn what they can do to support self-regulation, but how to share the underlying theory so all can understand the basics of sensory integration. By reading the book or attending a conference, adults increase awareness of their own self-regulation thereby improving their ability to facilitate students' optimal functioning. The Sensory-Motor Preference Checklist (for Adults) is a tool used to support this learning process. For example by filling out the checklist, adults may discover that before work, they may drink coffee, take a brisk walk, or listen to jazzy music to get their engine up and going for the day. Or others may find that they drink hot chocolate, rock in a rocking chair, or watch the glow of a fireplace to get their engine slowed down after a busy day. Bringing to awareness what most people do automatically in their daily routines, fosters the understanding of how important self-regulation is for students' functioning. Although the Alert Program initially was intended for children with attention and learning difficulties, ages 8-12, it has been adapted for preschool through adult and for a variety of disabilities. If children are intellectually challenged or developmentally younger than the age of eight, the program's concepts can be utilized by staff to develop sensory diets (Wilbarger & Wilbarger, 1991) to enhance learning . Join the group of teachers, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, physical therapists, adapted physical educators, educational assistants, counselors, social workers, and parents who are enhancing children's lives using the Alert Program.

Alert Program®

Therapy Works Children's Program: How Does your engine run?®

 

American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA)
P.O. Box 31220
Bethesda, MD 20824-1220
Phone: 1-800-SAY-AOTA
Fax: 301-652-7711
Web: www.aota.org

Avanti Education Programs, Inc.
14541 Titus St., Ste 109
Panorama, CA 91402
Phone: 818-782-7366
Fax: 818-989-7826
Web: www.childdevelopmentmedia.com

Ball Dynamics International, Inc.
14215 Mead Street
Longmont, CO 80504
Phone: 1-800-752-2255
Fax: 877-223-2962
Web: www.balldynamics.com

Belle Curve Records, Inc.
C/O Future Horizons
721 W. Abram Street
Arlington, TX 76013
Phone: 1-800-489-0727
Fax: 817-277-2270
Web: www.futurehorizons-autism.com

Developmental Delay Resources (DDR)
5801 Beacon St
Pittsburgh, PA 15217
Phone: 1-800-497-0944
Fax: 412-422-1374
Web: www.devdelay.org

Learning Disabilities Association of America (LDA)
4156 Library Road
Pittsburgh, PA 15234
Phone: 412-341-1515
Fax: 412-344-0224
Web: www.ldaamerica.us

Oriental Trading Company
P.O. Box 2308
Omaha, NE 68103-2308
Phone: 1-800-228-2269
Fax: 1-800-327-8904
Web: www.orientaltrading.com

Pocket Full of Therapy
P.O. Box 174
Morganiville, NJ 07751
Phone: 1-800-PFOT-124
Fax: 732-441-1422
Web: www.pfot.com

Professional Development Programs (PDP)
1675 Greeley Street South, Suite 101
Stillwater, MN 55082
Phone: 651-439-8865
Fax: 651-439-0421
Web: www.pdppro.com

Sammons Preston
P.O. Box 5071
Bolingbrook, IL 60440-5071
Phone: 1-800-323-5547
Fax: 1-800-547-4333
Web: www.sammonspreston.com

Southpaw Enterprises, Inc.
P.O. Box 1047
Dayton, OH 45401-1047
Phone: 1-800-228-1698
Fax: 937-252-8502
Web: www.southpawenterprises.com

SPD Foundation
5655 S. Yosemite, Suite 305
Greenwood Village, CO 80111
Phone: 303-794-1182
Fax: 303-322-5550
Web: www.spdnetwork.org

Therapro
225 Arlington Street
Framingham, MA 01701-8723
Phone: 1-800-257-5376
Fax: 1-800-268-6624
Web: www.theraproducts.com

Harcourt Assessment, Inc.
19500 Bulverde Rd
San Antonio, TX 78259
Phone: 1-800-211-8378
Fax: 1-800-232-1223
Web: www.harcourtassessment.com

Vital Links
66313 Seybold Rd Suite E
Madison, WI 53719
Phone: 608-270-5424
Fax: 866-636-9720
Web: www.vitallinks.net

Weighted Wearables
1203 Ballentine Rd.
Menomonie, WI 54751
Phone: 715-505-3651
Fax: 715-309-2268
Web: www.weightedwearables.com

Western Psychological Services (WPS)
12031 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90025-1251
Phone: 1-800-648-8857
Fax: 310-478-7838
Web: www.wpspublish.com

Disclaimer:
Information provided on this web page does not necessarily reflect the position of TherapyWorks, Inc. or its staff or board of directors, nor does inclusion of links on this site constitute an endorsement of views, persons, methodology, or products. Information on this site should not be construed as medical or legal advice, and should never replace the advice of a trained professional. A variety of links are provided to the right. These links are provided for the benefit of our web visitors. We hope you will find some of them helpful. If you have other links you would like see added to this page, please contact us.
 
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