Calm Minds, Ready to Learn: Empowering Children with Relaxation Training

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) encompasses a wide range of challenges, particularly in social communication, sensory integration, and self-regulation. Children with ASD struggle to regulate sensory input: sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, vestibular, and proprioceptive input. They also struggle to regulate their emotions and impulses and to manage social cues and expectations.⁹ These various challenges can be overwhelming. Coping mechanisms may include avoiding eye contact and social interaction, fixating on one source of input (e.g., flickering light), or self-stimulatory actions (e.g., repetitive rocking or hand-flapping). Additionally, some children with ASD frequently exhibit “meltdowns” that include behaviors of protest, withdrawal, and/or acting out.

What observers might interpret as social avoidance are actions to reduce exposure to triggers and/or to promote calm, safety, and self-control.⁹ However, such means of self-regulation limit opportunities to engage in learning and to build social-emotional skills. Understanding the dynamics underlying meltdowns is crucial to effective intervention to reduce these episodes and increase academic and social engagement.¹³

Reasoning versus Reactivity: Physiological Processes Affecting Self-Regulation

The processing difficulties and sensitivities that affect children with ASD are quite stressful, causing frequent activation of the sympathetic nervous system and the fight-flight response. The sympathetic and parasympathetic components of the autonomic nervous system achieve opposite effects. The parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) puts the body in a resting state. It slows heart rate, slows and deepens breathing, relaxes muscles, and conserves energy. The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) promotes body processes for handling stress and danger, such as increased heart rate, rapid breathing, muscle tension, and increased energy. The PNS optimizes the opportunity for thoughtful reasoning and rational choices of action. The SNS bypasses reasoning, instead facilitating quick reactions.

The prefrontal cortex (PFC) of the brain plays a critical role in self-regulation. It is responsible for higher-order cognitive functions such as planning, decision-making, and controlling emotions and behavior. For children, executive functions naturally are immature, as their brains are still developing. Children whose nervous systems are overly sensitive and easily overwhelmed face extra challenges in developing executive functions of self-regulation.

When stress causes the SNS to activate, input to the PFC is reduced. When stress is especially high, the brain perceives a threat, and the SNS activates the fight-flight response. The amygdala then signals the hypothalamus to initiate a cascade of stress hormones (adrenaline, cortisol). This survival mechanism, which enables the body to fight or flee, “hijacks” the PFC, impeding reasoning and social engagement.

Stress responses in children with ASD often reflect irregular functioning of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis,⁵ which coordinates the release of cortisol. Research has found children with ASD demonstrate inconsistent HPA axis responses to stressors—some showing high-stress responses and others showing blunted responses—both of which can impair the ability to manage stress, increasing the likelihood and severity of anxiety over time.⁵

Polyvagal Theory⁷ highlights the role of the vagus nerve in stress response. Connecting the brain and body through a multi-branch system, the vagus nerve supports adaptive behaviors, emotional expression, and social engagement.⁷ Through a “braking” mechanism, the vagus regulates the HPA axis by activating the PNS, thereby reducing cortisol release and arousal, slowing heart rate, and promoting calm. Dysfunction in this vagal system appears to be a factor for some children with ASD who struggle to regulate stress and emotions.^7,11 Children with higher vagal tone tend to self-soothe more effectively and show more flexible behavior. In contrast, reduced vagal control is associated with poor self-regulation and increased behavioral challenges.¹⁰

Improvement of academic and social engagement in children with ASD requires enhancing their self-regulation and executive functions. To accomplish this, it is essential to address the physiological factors underlying anxiety, overstimulation, and reactive (versus reasoned) behaviors. Such understanding is key to differentiating deliberately oppositional or disruptive behavior from stress-induced, reactive fight-flight emotional outbursts, impulsivity, eloping, aggression, and task refusal.

Teaching Self-Calming Skills

When a person is highly agitated, urging them to “Stop!” or “Calm down!” generally does not shift their behavior. Moreover, such directives assume that the individual has the capacity to self-soothe in a manner that supports learning and social engagement. As discussed earlier, many self-soothing behaviors (e.g., rocking and circling) exhibited by children with ASD may be instinctive ways to reduce cortisol,⁷ but may promote withdrawal, not engagement.

Mind-body therapies like yoga have been shown to support emotional regulation by integrating top-down processes (e.g., attention control) and bottom-up processes (e.g., breath and movement) to strengthen brain-body communication¹⁰ and reduce anxiety.^{11, 8} Teaching breathing techniques and mindful movements provide children with reliable tools to activate the brain’s calming centers, such as the vagus nerve.² Over time, yoga can improve vagal control, reduce anxiety, and support more adaptive responses to stress.¹⁰

For children with ASD, effective instruction of these techniques requires more than a generic yoga video or guided mindfulness meditation. These children require structured teaching and practice to build effective skills.

Classroom or Clinic Instruction: S.T.O.P. and Relax®

Enter S.T.O.P. and Relax® – a yoga-based curriculum to help children with ASD learn relaxation and self-regulation skills.³ Developed by experts in child psychology, ASD, special education, and yoga therapy, it incorporates an understanding of the neuropsychology of reasoning versus reactivity, the structured teaching principles from the Treatment and Education of Autistic and Communication Handicapped Children (TEACCH®) model, and yoga therapy principles. Initially designed for children with ASD, it has also proven beneficial for a variety of children and needs.³

Curriculum materials are designed to equip therapists, teachers, and school support staff (e.g., school psychologists, occupational therapists, speech-language therapists, and social workers) to effectively teach breathing techniques, calming postures, and exercises that activate the vagus system, help children become aware of their bodies and breath, and promote self-regulation.³

S.T.O.P. and Relax® can be implemented individually, in small group settings, in self-contained classrooms, or in general education classrooms that include children with ASD and other special needs. Instruction integrates cues to optimize engagement and responsiveness. Lessons included in the program range from 5 to 20 minutes and from simple to more advanced routines. Instructors can tailor lessons to the needs of the child or group and even design their own lessons. Materials for progress monitoring and strategies to support children with physical challenges are provided.³

“S.T.O.P.” is the program’s acronym for a four-step routine for self-calming. This routine involves softening muscles, taking deep breaths, opening the chest (for continuation of optimal breathing), and a posture check to facilitate physical stillness. The lessons hone the underlying skills and provide regular practice of movements that comprise the S.T.O.P. sequence. Therefore, the word “stop” becomes a meaningful, effective cue for impulse inhibition and self-calming. In school, having an entire class practice together contributes to an inclusive, supportive environment. Indeed, students practicing S.T.O.P. and Relax® in class have learned to cue each other.¹² For example, a student seeing a classmate in stress might say, “Do S.T.O.P.!” This provides evidence of improved social awareness and support among classmates.

In addition to incorporating TEACCH® principles (e.g., structured teaching, visual supports, frequent practice) to build skills gradually,⁶ S.T.O.P. and Relax® also draw from the yoga program Creative Relaxation®¹ to further support learning and emotional safety with the following:

• Create a safe space – Use a calm voice and gentle words to create a climate of safety and acceptance.
• Meet the students where THEY are – Get down on their level, make eye contact, and be playful. Observe what their behavior is communicating about the underlying emotion.
• Provide tools to promote success – Visual aids, props, and engaging routines make learning fun.
• Foster independence – As children learn helpful techniques, they begin to use them independently, building self-awareness and confidence.

Through regular practice, children develop skills including:

• Differentiating muscle tension from muscle relaxation
• Breathing from the diaphragm
• Responding to visual or verbal cues to “S.T.O.P. and Relax.”
• Cueing themselves or others

With practice, these skills can de-escalate agitation before the fight-flight reaction is triggered, as well as facilitate fight-flight reaction recovery.¹⁰ Qualitative and quantitative research has shown that children practicing S.T.O.P. and Relax® achieve physical relaxation, learn self-calming, decrease the frequency and intensity of meltdowns, and increase academic productivity.^3,4 Parent testimonials have shown students taking the initiative to implement their newfound relaxation skills in stressful situations such as visiting the dentist.¹²

Beyond the Classroom

Overall, teaching self-regulation is not just for improving classroom behavior; it’s about equipping children with lifelong skills to manage stress and engage positively with the world. Integrating relaxation training into the classroom creates a supportive environment where all students can thrive. To support all learners, especially those with ASD, we must consider:

• How can self-calming become a daily part of classroom practice?
• What additional supports do children with dysregulation need?
• How can we create spaces where every child feels seen, safe, and capable?

By embracing practices that help shift the brain out of fight-flight and into a space where connection, learning, and growth are possible, we help pave the way for academic success, emotional resilience, and social well-being.

Debra Krodman-Collins, PhD

Stephanie Kohlman, PsyD

Debra Krodman-Collins, PhD, is a Nationally Certified School Psychologist, a Florida Licensed Psychologist, and the Co-Author of S.T.O.P. and Relax®. Stephanie Kohlman, PsyD, is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and the Product Manager of the Psychological Testing Division at Stoelting Co.

For questions about S.T.O.P. and Relax® or to inquire about using the program in research, please contact Stephanie Kohlman, Psy.D., at stephanie@stoeltingco.com, (630) 860-9700, or visit www.stoeltingco.com/Psychological-Testing/.

Footnotes

1. Goldberg, L. (2004). Creative relaxation: A yoga-based program for regular and exceptional student education. The International Journal of Yoga Therapy, 14, 68–78.
2. Goldberg, L. (2013). Yoga therapy for children with autism and special needs. W. W. Norton & Company.
3. Goldberg, L., Miller, S., Krodman-Collins, D., & Morales, D. (2006, rev. 2020). S.T.O.P. and Relax: A visual curriculum of guided yoga-based movements and breathing exercises for students of varying abilities. Stoelting Co.
4. Krodman-Collins, D., & Syzdek, B. M. (2023). Therapeutic yoga-based curriculum for treatment of disruptive behavior in autism spectrum disorder: Mixed-methods single case study. International Journal of Indian Psychology, 11(2), 142–151. https://doi.org/10.25215/1102.011
5. Makris, G., Agorastos, A., Chrousos, G. P., & Pervanidou, P. (2022). Stress system activation in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 15, 756628. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2021.756628
6. Mesibov, G. B., & Shea, V. (2010). The TEACCH program in the era of evidence-based practice. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 40(5), 570–579. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-009-0901-6
7. Porges, S. W. (2005). The vagus: A mediator of behavioral and psychological features associated with autism. In M. Bauman & T. Kemper (Eds.), The neurobiology of autism (pp. 65–78). Johns Hopkins University Press.
8. Radhakrishna, S. (2010). Application of integrated yoga therapy to increase imitation skills in children with autism spectrum disorder. International Journal of Yoga, 3(1), 26–30. https://doi.org/10.4103/0973-6131.66774
9. Siegel, D. J. (2014, June 27). Mind, emotion, and the spectrum of autism. DrDanSiegel.com. https://drdansiegel.com/mind-emotion-and-the-spectrum-of-autism/
10. Sullivan, M. B., Erb, M., Schmalzl, L., Moonaz, S., Noggle Taylor, J., & Porges, S. W. (2018). Yoga therapy and polyvagal theory: The convergence of traditional wisdom and contemporary neuroscience for self-regulation and resilience. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 12, 67. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2018.00067
11. Vidyashree, H. M., Maheshkumar, K., Sundareswaran, L., Sakthivel, G., Partheeban, P. K., & Rajan, R. (2019). Effect of yoga intervention on short-term heart rate variability in children with autism spectrum disorder. International Journal of Yoga, 12(1), 73–77. https://doi.org/10.4103/ijoy.IJOY_68_18
12. Krodman-Collins, D. A. (2019). S.T.O.P. and Relax: A yoga curriculum for students with autism. In A. M. Hyde & J. D. Johnson (Eds.), Stories of school yoga: Narratives from the field (pp. 53–66). State University of New York Press.
13. Torquati, J. C. (2019, November). Playing well together: Executive functions and self-regulation in childhood [Keynote presentation]. PD for All Conference, Buffett Early Childhood Institute, Omaha, NE.

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