One of the biggest benefits of Braindrops is also one of its biggest challenge: By allowing children to explore regulation and dysregulation, we know that there will be dysregulation and discomfort. Dysregulation is a necessary part of this learning process, and young children that are just developing this skill will make mistakes. The adults must be prepared for this dysregulation to occur and see it as a learning opportunity.
One of the biggest challenges of Learning Tools and somatosensory regulation is that if the learning tools are just handed to children there is a high likelihood that they will not use them appropriately (and it will become a distraction and the teacher will feel that they are not effective). As a result, it is very important for the educator to provide explicit instruction in the use of the tools.
Another benefit and challenge of Learning Tools is differentiation (different tools will work better for different individuals)- the benefit is that this stimulates connection to self and self knowledge (children can experiment with what works for them); the challenge is finding the right tool (which is a process, which will require time to practice, the availability of different tools, and a friendly attitude toward mistakes).
