Wait for It… (Developing Better Impulse Control)

Impulse control is one of those abilities that often goes unnoticed - until it’s missing. No one is born with it; everyone has to learn it, and sometimes relearn it under different circumstances throughout life. Children develop impulse control at different rates, and some of our learners need significant support in this area. Floreo’s immersive virtual reality lessons can help strengthen these foundational skills.

When lack of impulse control becomes a challenge, it can be difficult to know where to begin. A helpful starting point is understanding the underlying skills that support it. Some of the prerequisite skills for impulse control include: emotional regulation, sustained attention, working memory (both visual and auditory), flexibility, basic problem-solving, and the ability to delay gratification. The following Floreo lessons may be considered when working on these prerequisite skills.

A few lessons that can be used for skills related to impulse control at various levels:

• Reunite The Animals: In addition to matching big and small animals, this lesson includes the ability to recognize when you need help and ask for it
• Time Management: Multitasking This is a fun task completion lesson where the Learner needs to prepare the concession stand in the movie theater. The lesson does not progress until the Coach taps a button that verifies that the Learner has identified what the next task is and therefore requires basic sustained attention and working memory.
• Scan the Store Shelves to find items from a grocery list. This lesson asks the Learner to scan the store shelves systematically to find items.
• Spatial Concepts: Up & Down The Learner slows down long enough to activate the next event in the lesson.

Daily Living Safety Lessons that can support impulse control:

• Pool Party Safety: The Basics - The Learner explores the safety rules around a swimming pool, moving step-by-step through the experience.
• Crosswalk Button Challenge and Check for Cars Here, the Learner slows down long enough to activate the bell as they look left/right/left.
• Life Skills Academy: Food Storage and Safety Learners need to select a food and determine where the item would typically get stored.

This is certainly only a handful of Floreo lessons that can support impulse control. For emotional regulation, I will refer you to this blog post. And for more on this topic, you might consider the blog post: Waiting is the Hardest Art.