1. EachPod

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

Author
Dr. Sarah Bren
Published
Thu 10 Apr 2025
Episode Link
https://drsarahbren.com/297-qa-is-my-3-year-olds-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!

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