How Full is Your Bucket?

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How Full is Your Bucket?

• CHEO Mental Health Information Committee

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THIS IS ONLY A DRAFT!

• Send feedback via contact form on www.drcheng.ca

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Goldilocks and the Three Bears

• Once upon a time, there was a girl named
  Goldilocks

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• She went for a walk in the forest, and came upon
  a house.

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She went into the kitchen, and there were three
bowls of porridge
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The first porridge she tried was ___?
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The first porridge she tried was TOO HOT
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The second porridge she tried was _____?
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The second porridge she tried was TOO COLD!
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The last porridge she tried was ____ ?
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The last porridge she tried was JUST RIGHT!
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Goldilocks and the Three Bears

• The last porridge is JUST RIGHT!

Image from http//www.public.asu.edu/atbrl/goldib
owls.gif
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Just right

• Just like Goldilocks, there are times when you
  feel Just right

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• In order to properly
• Learn
• Work
• Play
• You need to be just right

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You Have a Bucket!

• To feel just right, you have to have just
  enough going inside your Bucket!

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What do you mean, a bucket?

• Our bucket holds all our sensory
  stimulation/input as well as the stresses,
  frustrations, worries, and basically everything
  that we have to deal with each day

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Some people have large buckets others small.
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Different Things Fill Our Buckets

• What fills your bucket might not fill another
  persons bucket

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Different Things Empty Our Buckets

• What empties your bucket might not empty another
  persons bucket

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Getting just right is about getting just enough
senses in your bucket

• Touching
• Hearing
• Seeing
• Taste
• Smells
• Movement

sensory input, sensory stimulation, etc
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Getting Just Right is also about Life being
Balanced
Demands / Expectations / Stresses
Coping Ability
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Typical demands/expectations

• Physical
• All the physical expectations that our body has
  to cope with to get by every day
• Medical, psychiatric and developmental conditions
  (e.g. sensory processing disorders) can all make
  it tougher on our bodies
• School/work
• Teachers / schoolwork
• Other students, bullying, peer pressure, etc.

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Typical demands/expectations

• Friends
• Friends
• Boyfriends/girlfriends
• Drug Use
• Peer pressure
• Home
• Parents
• Separation/divorce
• Brothers / sisters

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Q. What happens when demands/stresses gtgt coping?
Demands / Expectations / Stresses
Coping Ability
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When overwhelmed, people may have problems with

• How they feel physically
• Their emotions
• Fight (e.g. anger)
• Flight (e.g. anxiety)
• Freeze
• Sadness
• Etc
• Their behaviours
• Withdrawal
• Aggression
• Controlling
• ETc

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There are two solutions to restore the balance...
? Demands / Expectations / Stresses
? Coping Ability
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Q. What happens when coping gtgt demands/stresses?
Demands / Expectations / Stresses
Coping Ability
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The underwhelmed individual may have

• Complaints of boredom and even
• Depression / anxiety / anger, etc..
• Do things to stimulate him/herself to keep from
  being bored!

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Life is like Weightlifting
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Life is like Weightlifting
Life is best when you can lift what life gives
you, i.e. when your lifting ability matches the
weight you have to lift
50 kg
50 kg
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Life is like weightlifting
Childs Coping Ability what the child can lift
Demands what we are asking the child to lift
5 kg
100 kg
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Question
What would happen if you could only lift 5 kg,
but someone forced you to lift 100 kg?
5 kg
100 kg
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Answer
Youd get hurt, injured, bruised, and be
extremely stressed! And your nervous system would
get angry fight or scared, anxious
flight, etc
5 kg
100 kg
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Q. So what is the solution?
5 kg
100 kg
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Answer
1. Reduce expectations lower and lower until
child is successful 2. Once child is successful,
then gradually increase expectations again over
time
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Answer
1. Reduce expectations lower and lower until
child is successful 2. Once child is successful,
then gradually increase expectations again over
time
7 kg
6 kg
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Q. When are you feeling Just Right ?

• (Usually its doing the things you like to do,
  like a favourite subject/class, activity, having
  fun with family/friends)
• 1. _____________________
• 2. _____________________
• 3. _____________________
• 4. _____________________
• 5. _____________________

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Our Bucket Can Be Empty, Just Right, or Too Full!


Bucket Empty! Bored Underwhelmed, understimulated, too little stimulation Just Right Just right or just enough stimulation Bucket Full! Frustrated, mad, angry, upset Overwhelmed, overstimulated, too much stimulation
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When our Bucket is Full, We Can Feel

• Frustrated
• Sad
• Worried / Nervous (Flight response)
• Irritable / Angry (Fight response), etc

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Its easier to empty our bucket if we can do it
BEFORE it gets completely full
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What fills your bucket is different for each
person, and includes sensory things

• Touching, some people dont like touch
• Hearing, some people dont like sound
• Seeing, some people dont like bright light
• Taste, some people are sensitive to tastes
• Smells, some people are sensitive to tastes
• Movement, some people are sensitive to movement

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Q. What Fills Up Your Bucket?

• (Usually its times when youre mad, sad, scared,
  stressed, frustrated)
• 1. _____________________
• 2. _____________________
• 3. _____________________
• 4. _____________________
• 5. _____________________

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Q. What Fills Up Your Bucket?

• For those with sensory issues, it might include
• 1. Sensory such as too little/muchSounds
• Touch
• Movement
• Smells
• Light
• 2. Motor issues, e.g. fine motor such as
  handwriting, gross motor such as gym

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Q. What Fills Up Your Bucket?

• It might include
• Even the slightest changes / transitions
• School (teachers, schoolwork, students)
• Home (parents, sisters/brothers)
• Friends and relationships, etc

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Q. What empties your Bucket?

• (It might be the things you like to do, but
  includes soothing and self-regulation
  strategies)
• 1. _____________________
• 2. _____________________
• 3. _____________________
• 4. _____________________
• 5. _____________________

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Q. Things which Empty Everyones Bucket Are
Usually

• (So-called soothing or modulating strategies)
• Telling someone else!
• Time outs when stressed/upset
• Sleep
• Proper nutrition
• Sensory things (e.g. deep pressure, rocking,
  soothing smells, soothing music, etc)

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Other Ways of Talking About the Same Thing
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Ross Greenes Collaborative Problem-Solving
Approach

• Using the baskets is about reducing excessive
  demands/expectations, and reducing them to a
  level where the child can cope

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How is your Engine Running?
Just right
Too High / Overwhelmed
Too Low / Underwhelmed
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Using your thumb!

• You can ask your child to put his/her thumb in 3
  positions
• Thumb up just right
• Thumb down
• Thumb horizontal
• NEED TO FINE TUNE THIS ONE!

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How Full is Your Bucket?
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Our Bucket Can Be Empty, Just Right, or Too Full!


Bucket Empty! Bored Underwhelmed, understimulated, too little stimulation Just Right Just right or just enough stimulation Bucket Full! Frustrated, mad, angry, upset Overwhelmed, overstimulated, too much stimulation
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When our Bucket is Full, We Can Feel

• Frustrated
• Sad
• Worried / Nervous (Flight response)
• Irritable / Angry (Fight response), etc

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Its easier to empty our bucket if we can do it
BEFORE it gets completely full
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Extra Pictures
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Our Bucket Can Be Empty, Just Right, or Too Full!


Bucket Empty! Bored Underwhelmed, understimulated, too little stimulation Just Right Just right or just enough stimulation Bucket Full! Frustrated, mad, angry, upset Overwhelmed, overstimulated, too much stimulation
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When our Bucket is Full, We Can Feel

• Frustrated
• Sad
• Worried / Nervous (Flight response)
• Irritable / Angry (Fight response), etc

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Its easier to empty our bucket if we can do it
BEFORE it gets completely full
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Bucket Empty
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Bucket Just Right
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Getting Full
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Bucket Full!
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In summary

• Everyone has a bucket
• Our bucket holds all our stress and what we have
  to deal with every day
• Our buckets can be empty, full, but its best when
  its just right or just full enough
• We can do many things to 1) keep our bucket from
  filling or 2) empty our bucket!

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Take good care of your Bucket, and it will take
care of you!
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Thank you!
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Acknowledgements and License

• Thanks to all the children, youth, families,
  educators, and fellow colleagues who have helped
  give feedback on the Bucket!
• You are free to share and distribute as long as
  1) these materials are not used commercially, and
  2) as long as materials are distributed in its
  entirety
• If you are a non-profit organization / health
  professional, feel free to contact use about
  adapting these for your own use
• Knowledge must be shared