Sensory Attachment Intervention

Sensory Attachment Intervention – The Just Right State Programme

The Just Right State Programme, developed by Eadaoin Bhreathnach, supports children learn how to self-regulate their emotional states and behaviour.​

​ Children's Programme

Delivered over 6 sessions, the Children’s Programme looks at the use of sensory activities and foods, to help children learn how to self- regulate their emotional states and behaviour. 

The programme uses cartoon characters called ‘The Scared Gang’ to represent the different survival patterns of behaviour. The different characters help children understand how each ‘scared’ character may react to different situations and shows children what each of the characters does to achieve their own ‘Just-Right’ state. The goal of the programme is to enable children become more emotionally aware of themselves and others, to give them simple tools to enable them to self-regulate and achieve the just right state, whether it is to engage in academic learning, interacting with their peers, or to be able to get a good night’s sleep. 

This program can be conducted with individual children and their parents, sibling groups and their parents, or in small groups of four to six children attending the same school or kinder. Sessions are held once a week and last for one hour and fifteen minutes.

Parents' Programme

Over six sessions, parents learn how to regulate their child from sensory and attachment perspectives. The aim of the programme is to enhance parents' awareness of their own engagement patterns and how this impacts on their child's emotional states. It also addresses the underlying reasons for behaviours. Parents first complete a sensory-attachment profile questionnaire that looks at the survival, sensory, and attachment behaviours of their child. They learn about; the different levels of self- regulation (physiological, sensory, emotional, and cognitive); the regulating effects of food and activities; and how to create an enriched environment that is tailor made both for them and their child's sensory-attachment needs.