297. Q&A: Is my 3-year-old’s hitting a sign of aggression or sensory seeking?

Beyond the Sessions is answering YOUR parenting questions! In this episode, Dr. Emily Upshur and I talk about...   - What are sensory seeking and sensory inhibiting behaviors and drives?   - How you can determine whether your child’s "aggressive behaviors” are actually sensory seeking - and how this changes the interventions you use.   - Are these behaviors volitional? Our answer might surprise you!   - What to do if your child’s aggressive behaviors don’t seem to be fueled by a reaction to anything in the environment (aka, they hit the kid next to them seemingly out of nowhere.)   - The occupational therapy strategies that parents can use with your kids to activate their sensory input systems.   - Why helping kids understand themselves opens the door to allowing them to build their regulation toolkit.     ADDITIONAL PODCAST EPISODES YOU MAY LIKE:   🎧 Listen to my podcast episode about sensory processing with occupational therapist Laura Petix   🎧 Listen to my podcast episode about getting your toddler to stop yelling when she is upset   🎧 Listen to my podcast episode about whether some common parenting interventions might be making your child act more aggressively     WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU:   Go to https://drsarahbren.com/question to send us a question or a topic you want to hear us answer on Securely Attached - Beyond the Sessions!