Age group(s) for which this technique is helpful:
Preschool and Younger
Elementary School

Primarily used to improve behavior:
At Home

Instructions for using this technique:
At night, my son was having a hard time winding down. He would talk continually and toss and turn. I learned as an adult that I have ADHD as well. As a child, I too had a problem going to sleep. I taught myself to relax by making up a story and concentrating on it. I have tried a similar technique with my 6 year old that is working wonderfully so far. I tell him to lie with his arms to the side. I ask him to stretch his toes as far as he can. Then, I tell him to take several slow, deep breaths. Then, I ask him to close his eyes. We always see a red box. And then continue from there. I tell him the box has his name on it and a lid. I tell him to walk to the box and remove the lid. Then I tell him there is something small or green or yellow, etc. He then describes it to me. You'd be amazed at some of the things he can come up with! then, after describing it, we take it out of the box and we do something with it. For example, for yellow, he saw a duck. He put it in a pool and swam with it. After the imagery, we put the duck back in the box. We put the lid back on and stretch and breathe and he usually drifts off to sleep in a matter of minutes.

Other information parents should consider before using this technique:
The whole exercise takes anywhere from 5-10 minutes.