How's Your Engine? — The Body-Speed Check

A quick, repeatable “body check,” borrowed from occupational therapists’ Alert Program (“How Does Your Engine Run?”), that teaches a 5-year-old to notice and name how fast their body is running — then pick a simple sensory action to change gears. The idea: your body is a bit like a car engine. Sometimes it runs high and too fast, sometimes low and too slow, and sometimes just right. “Just right” is the calm-alert state — awake enough to listen and play, not so revved up they can’t sit still, not so sluggish they’re flopping. This isn’t about being good or bad; it’s about body speed, and every speed is okay. It’s just information.

  1. Teach the three speeds with your own body first. Over a day or two, narrate your own engine out loud so the words sink in: “Ooh, my engine’s running high — I feel all buzzy,” “My engine’s low, I’m slow and yawny,” “Right now I’m just right — calm and ready.” Invite your child to guess yours, then their own.
  2. Make a speedometer (optional but loved). On a paper plate draw three zones — a slow tortoise, a “just right” smiley, and a fast race-car — and add a cardboard arrow on a split-pin so it spins. That’s their personal engine gauge.
  3. Do the check. A few times a day — before breakfast, after preschool, before a story — ask: “Let’s check your engine. High, low, or just right?” They point the arrow or show it with their body (jiggling = high, slumping = low, still-and-ready = just right). Accept whatever they report; there’s no wrong answer.
  4. Pick an “engine changer.” If they’re not just-right and want to shift, offer two or three sensory choices, not a long quiz: “Your engine’s high — want to do wall push-ups or chew a crunchy carrot to come down?”
  5. Re-check after a minute. “How’s your engine now?” Notice the change together: “You did ten frog jumps and now you’re just right — your body knew what it needed.” The win is the noticing, not perfection.

The five sensory tool-boxes to choose from (mix calmers and wake-ups): mouth — sip water through a straw, chew something crunchy, or suck a thick smoothie; move — rocking and bear-walks to calm, jumping and dancing to wake up; touch — a bear hug or squishing playdough to calm, a cool splash to wake up; look — dim the lights to calm, brighter light to wake up; listen — soft music to calm, an upbeat song to wake up.

Variation: swap engines for characters if that clicks — Eeyore (low), Pooh (just right), Tigger (high) — and ask “Who are you right now?” Or play “guess the engine” with picture-book characters and family photos, building the read-it-in-others skill that comes before reading it in yourself.

Requirements

  • Space: None special — works anywhere, from the kitchen to the car; a small clear spot if a chosen "move" tool involves jumping
  • Surface: Any; a rug is nice for floor-based movement choices but not required
  • Materials: Optional and cheap — a paper plate, a marker, and a split-pin for a homemade speedometer. The "engine changers" use things you already have (water bottle, crunchy snack, playdough, a song)
  • Participants: 1 adult + 1 child; scales easily to siblings or a small group, which nicely normalises that everyone runs at different speeds
  • Supervision: Light — stay present to model the language and offer choices; closer only if a chosen tool (a hard snack, vigorous jumping) needs it

Rationale & Objective

This game builds the metacognitive core of sensory modulation: the loop of noticing your own arousal level and deliberately choosing a sensory input to shift it toward the calm-alert “just right” state. Sensory modulation — the nervous system grading its responses so alertness matches the task — is foundational in Ayres’ Sensory Integration theory and is named as a distinct pattern in Miller and colleagues’ diagnostic nosology. Dunn’s model frames it as the meeting point of a child’s neurological threshold and their self-regulation strategy; the Alert Program turns that into child-friendly language — the “engine” metaphor plus a menu of strategies across five sensory channels (mouth, move, touch, look, listen). For a 5-year-old the developmental win is the vocabulary and the habit of self-monitoring: turning a vague, hard-to-control body state into something they can name, predict, and act on — the same self-regulation muscle Head Start’s framework targets under Approaches to Learning. Honest framing — the Alert Program’s measured evidence comes mainly from older (roughly 6–13) and clinical groups, and reviewers rate even that as weak-to-moderate and not well replicated; for a typical 5-year-old treat this as a low-risk, language-building awareness game, not a proven intervention.

Progress Indicators

  • Early: can’t yet label body states; relies on the adult to name the speed (“you look high”). May spin the speedometer arrow randomly without linking it to how they feel; enjoys the game more than the concept
  • Developing: names their engine speed when asked and prompted, usually accurately for the extremes (very wound-up or very floppy). Will try an “engine changer” the adult suggests but doesn’t generate one alone
  • Proficient: identifies high / low / just-right reliably with a simple prompt, and picks a sensory tool from a small offered menu; begins to notice the change afterward (“now I’m just right”)
  • Advanced: spontaneously checks and reports their own engine without being asked, sometimes mid-activity (“my engine’s getting too high — I need a squeeze”), chooses a fitting strategy alone, and can read others’ engines too

Safety Notes

  • Never shame or correct a reported state — “high” or “low” isn’t “bad,” it’s just data. If a child feels judged for being wiggly or sleepy, the self-monitoring habit backfires; stay curious, not corrective
  • Watch choking risk with “mouth” strategies: skip hard candies, gum, and nuts; favour a water bottle and straw, soft-but-firm fruit, or a thick smoothie, and stay within arm’s reach, following your usual allergy and food rules
  • For movement tools, clear furniture corners and keep vigorous options short so the child doesn’t ramp past just-right into over-arousal
  • This is an awareness game, not a treatment; if a child is frequently overwhelmed by everyday sounds, textures, or movement, mention it to a pediatrician or occupational therapist rather than relying on this game

Hints

  • Playfulness: use sound effects — a “vroom!” for a high engine, a sputtering “putt… putt…” for low. Let the child rev your engine up and down like a remote control; being in charge of an adult’s engine is a big draw
  • Sustain interest: rotate the framing so it stays fresh — engine speeds one week, Eeyore/Pooh/Tigger the next, a “weather report for my body” (stormy / sleepy / sunny) another. Let the child redesign their speedometer
  • Common mistake: turning the check into a test, or using it only to manage misbehaviour (“you’re too high, calm down NOW”) — that makes “high engine” feel like a telling-off. Do the check at neutral and happy moments too, and check your own engine out loud just as often
  • Limited materials: no speedometer needed — the whole game runs on words and your bodies. In the car or a waiting room, just ask “high, low, or just right?” and pick a tiny tool (a sip of water, a seatbelt squeeze, looking out the window)
  • Cross-domain: naming the body state grows emotional vocabulary; counting “ten frog jumps to get to just right” folds in numeracy; reading characters’ engines in a picture book supports theory-of-mind and perspective-taking
  • Progression: adult names all engines → child names extremes when prompted → child names just-right too → child picks a tool from a menu → child generates their own tool → child self-checks unprompted and reads others’ engines; later, link engines to settings (“library = just-right, playground = high is fine”)

Sources

  • Williams, M.S. & Shellenberger, S. (1996). How Does Your Engine Run? A Leader’s Guide to the Alert Program for Self-Regulation. TherapyWorks, Inc.
  • Ayres, A.J. (1972/2005). Sensory Integration and the Child (25th anniv. ed.). Western Psychological Services
  • Bundy, A.C. & Lane, S.J. (2020). Sensory Integration: Theory and Practice (3rd ed.). F.A. Davis
  • Miller, L.J., Anzalone, M.E., Lane, S.J., Cermak, S.A. & Osten, E.T. (2007). “Concept evolution in sensory integration: A proposed nosology for diagnosis.” American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 61(2), 135–140
  • Dunn, W. (2007). “Supporting children to participate successfully in everyday life by using sensory processing knowledge.” Infants & Young Children, 20(2), 84–101
  • Gill, K., Thompson-Hodgetts, S. & Rasmussen, C. (2018). “A critical review of research on the Alert Program.” Journal of Occupational Therapy, Schools, & Early Intervention, 11(2), 212–228
  • OT Practice Framework (OTPF-4) — performance skills: emotional regulation and arousal
  • Head Start ELOF — Approaches to Learning: Emotional & Behavioral Self-Regulation