Special Needs and Toddlers Throwing: Developmental Stages

Developmental Stages

Toddlers Go Through With Throwing





Cognitive age 12-36 months.

Early childhood forms a crucial stage when it comes to the growth of an individual. And when your little one is at the cognitive age of roughly 12 to 36 months, it is especially important because this phase is a transition from infancy to childhood.

Parenting an impaired child can be a tad challenging as the child is unable to express himself or herself coherently. Their actions and behavior often belie other emotions and are aimed at getting attention.

Occupational therapy works with the child to develop functional hand skills to help progress through this stage.

Therapy Activities and Tricks

 Therapy Activities and Tricks

Water beads

Water beads are a great toy that can be used in therapy. Water beads can be used for sensory play as well as fine motor activities. Below are some different ways that I utilized water beads in therapy.

http://youtu.be/25bmwtPQlQM
          -Putting water beads into a marble board game. 

http://youtu.be/lOao0LPbfuE
          -Putting water beads into a bowl using their hands/fingers.

http://youtu.be/DF1mEH7WPC4  
          -Playing and exploring in the water beads
http://youtu.be/aokszRf8Q7s 
          -Putting pegs in a peg board to place the water beads on.
http://youtu.be/IS0oPOVgdaI 

          -Putting water beads onto the pegs.

Whiteboard trick

Many people are under the assumption that permanent markers and whiteboards do not mix. However, using permanent markers on the whiteboard can be a useful trick for tracing on the whiteboard. When working on UE function and handwriting on a whiteboard I would write the child’s name on the whiteboard with a permanent marker then have him/her trace over top of it with a dry erase marker. Once the dry erase marker goes over the top of the permanent marker it works to erase the permanent marker off the whiteboard. Below is a video demonstrating how this works.

Or if you need to leave something on the whiteboard and you are worried about it being erased then you can use a permanent marker to ensure it stays up for as long as you need.

Here is a youtube link showing you how it works:

http://youtu.be/384lzG68udg

Sandpaper

When working on correct letter formation I used sandpaper letters. The idea of using sand paper letters and sensory feedback as a way to teach correct letter formation was derived from the handwriting without tears curriculum. When the kids were tracing letters I would have them either use the eraser side of a pencil, their finger or cinnamon sticks (targeting another sensory system and working on pencil grip). When making the sand paper letters I used a die cut machine replacing paper with sand paper.

Sand paper is also a great way to provide kids with feedback when they are coloring a picture. The sand paper can be placed underneath the picture providing the child with resistance and sensory feedback.

Reinforcing boundaries while coloring

Teaching kids with cognitive disabilities the concept of staying in the lines is difficult to do. A couple of methods that I found to work are putting glue on the picture boundaries then sprinkling glitter on top and gluing wiki sticks to the boundaries. Both of these methods provide the child with sensory feedback helping them to understand that they are supposed to stay within those lines. The raised line made from wiki sticks also provides a better visual line for the child.

Tennis ball woman

Feeding the tennis ball women is a fun interactive way for the children to work on bilateral integration. It also can target weak finger/hand strength, three jaw chuck, pincer grasp, problem solving skills (figuring out how to get the chips back out of the tennis ball women) and finger isolation (when getting the chips back out of the tennis ball women).

http://youtu.be/M0LIEImsVnk

http://youtu.be/LyRIO1QWvx8

Ping Pong Ball activity

This is a simple DIY activity that works on visual discrimination tasks, and left to right sequencing. The object of the activity is to have the kids move and rotate the pinball balls so that they are matched up with the picture above it. 

 

What I Learned

    
       During my 3 months at Blossomland, I learned many things.

Firstly, I learned a lot about equipment and positioning. Not only did I learn the names of different wheelchairs, strollers, standers, walkers, chairs, and their working parts, but I learned how to fix them too! I am now able to problem solve through equipment issues by finding the problem, the tools to fix it, and then executing the solution.

If I don't know how to fix an issue, I know who can and how to get a hold of them.  I learned what correct positioning looks like and how to adjust equipment to ensure that a child is adequately supported.

I learned how to advocate for children and how to complete the process of acquiring funding for adaptive equipment. I learned the in's and out's of medicaid and what they see as "medically necessary."

I learned new strategies for treating everything from handwriting issues to ADL deficits.

I learned new ways to play, how to see a toy through the eyes of a child, and how to use this new found ability to motivate the kids on my caseload.

I learned how to be consistent with the students and how to be firm yet supportive at the same time.

I learned how to push the kids while respecting when they had enough. I also perfected my "Dad voice" for when a child needed redirection or a behavior adjustment.

 I learned how to work with and alongside teachers. How to speak with parents and how to listen.

These are just a few of the many many lessons and skills that I learned while at Blossomland. I will forever be grateful for my experience and I hope to always remember what learned, but most importantly, the people I met.


Cheers,
        Jairus Sturgeon

Sensory Integration: How to Calm a Hyper Child without Wearing Yourself Out.

Calming a hyper child can wear you out, unless you wear them out first.

The child in this video is constantly in motion, it is very difficult to get him to focus on fine motor tasks and he is young so if the activity isn't fun, he isn't doing it.  This activity gives him deep pressure and heavy work and helps him to gain better body awareness and ends with him being calmer.

The tube this child is playing in is a length of knit cloth from a fabric store that comes in a 'tube'.  You can also purchase body socks made of neoprene from therapy catalogs that do the same thing.

If anyone else has suggestions please share.

Finding the Right Sensory Channel for Learning

This post is how to teach an 8 year-old student with moderate to severe cognitive delays.  Our student, we'll call her Ashbury besides having cognitive delays also exhibits symptoms of cortical blindness and is hypersensitive to vestibular stimulation.  Ashbury has difficulty learning new tasks.  Many learning approaches have been attempted with Ashbury, the issue seems to be finding the right sensory channel to teach Ashbury.  By sensory channel I mean figuring out how Ashbury learns about her environment and working with her through that channel.

Vision:
Ashbury is able to match colors and can see but does not appear to utilize her vision as her primary sense to interact with her environment.

• When Ashbury is putting objects in a container she does not visually search for the objects to put into the container, she uses her hand to feel around for the objects.  
• When stacking blocks Ashbury does not look at the blocks she is stacking she 'feels' the blocks and tries to stack based solely on tactile input.  

Tactile: 
Based on how Ashbury does visually, you'd think she would be a tactile learner.

• Ashbury is not able to feel simple objects (such as a ball) and then choose a similar object out of two objects (ball and spoon) presented based on tactile input (poor stereognosis.)
• Ashbury is not able to feel the outline of a slot and orient a disc to the slot.

Kinesthesia:

• Ashbury's movements are stiff and close to her body.  She exhibits gravitational insecurity and attempts to limit movement.

Auditory:

• Does not follow verbal directions well.
• Has very limited word phrases she utilizes.
• Does not seem to be hyper or hypo sensitive to sound.

Olfactory:

• Does not seem to react to scents.

Gustatory/Taste:

• Food preferences unknown.
• Tends to bite on things occasionally, more apt to bite on objects when frustrated.

The backpack:

Goal:  To put on backpack correctly independently every time. Ashbury continually has difficulty orienting the backpack correctly, it often is upside down or the straps are wrong.

Baseline:  Ashbury could put on backpack correctly independently 15%.

Progress: 

• If Ashbury grabs the backpack by the loop at the top of the backpack we have developed a motor pattern so that she is able to put the backpack on correctly 90%.
• Problem Ashbury is not able to identify or maybe understand where the loop at the top of the backpack.

Intervention:

• As mentioned before, Ashbury is able to put her backpack on correctly 90% of the time, if she grabs the top strap with her right hand. However, she doesn't always find the correct strap and usually ends up with her backpack on incorrectly.
  
•  In order to help Ashbury orient herself, we decided to connect a kush ball to the top loop. We thought that because she doesn't interact with her world primarily through her visual channel, that she could be compensating with her tactile senses. 
•  The kush ball was unsuccessful and she continued to struggle with finding the correct strap. At this point it was clear that Ashbury's primary sensory channel is neither visual nor tactile. At this point we found a shiny silver piece of material that crinkles together. We decided to tie it to the correct strap for her next session. 
•  The idea was that this material would be visually, tactily, and even auditorily stimulating. With this new material on her backpack, Ashbury is able to grab any strap and put it on correctly. I believe that Ashbury uses all of her senses when interacting with the world. When one sense fails her, she moves on to the next. She learns best when an activity engages at least three of her senses at once.

Special Needs: Cortical Vision Impairment and Education

by Hollen Partington

When my daughter Leah was two, her ophthalmologist told us that she might not be able to learn to read at a normal age.  He explained to us that children with nystagmus take longer to learn to read, if they read at all all, because it is so difficult for them to focus.  We hadn’t lost hope that day, but we gradually began to understand that her life was going to be forever affected by her plethora of diagnoses.  

Leah’s Vision Story

A 27-week preemie, born February 2004 and weighing 2lbs 8oz, Leah developed post-hemorrhagic hydrocephalus at three weeks old.  She was shunted at that time, and during the next several months went from one shunt in the right ventricle to another in the left and ultimately a third shunt in her fourth ventricle.

The operation on her fourth ventricle proved tricky; it’s a small space at the base of the brain just above the brain stem and visual cortex. The neurosurgeon, though fantastic, nicked her optic nerve during the surgery in July 2004.  This forced Leah’s eyes to cross. 

DD Special Needs: Role of Primitive Reflexes and Learning Disabilities

Special Needs Kids: Feeding Difficulties

Things to Remember During the Holiday Season from Mealtimes Partners Newsletter

As the holiday season rapidly approaches, Mealtime Partners, Inc. decided to provide a recap of some of the issues relating to safe eating and drinking, that have been presented in previous Newsletters. During this busy period of the year mealtimes can often be hurried and the issue of safety can sometimes be overlooked in the process of getting other things done as quickly as possible. We hope that these reminders will help keep everyone safe and happy for the holidays.

Special Needs Kids: Therapy/Early Intervention Strategies

 A recent study published in The American Journal of Occupational Therapy (AJOT), Identifying Strategies Early Intervention Occupational Therapists Use to Teach Caregivers, compared different occupational therapy strategies and outcomes.  The study focused on the vital role of the family as the teacher of the child and the role of the therapist as the family educator. 

The study compared Early Intervention service approaches of therapists with children requiring therapeutic intervention and the families most often the moms.  This study although conducted with Early Intervention service providers can be generalized to outpatient therapists, school therapists (teacher having caregiver role) and many other venues in which OT is practiced.

Grid Wheelchair Seat Back: Positioning for Kyphotic Special Needs Kids with Low Trunk Tone

What is a Grid Seat Back for a Wheelchair?

A grid seat back is a seat back for a wheelchair made of a grid of 2"x 2"x 2" squares of Sun memory foam that can be altered to accommodate for trunk deformities and to assist weight distribution on the seat back to prevent skin breakdown.

Grid wheelchair back without cover.  Foam was removed on sides to allow for laterals to be adjusted.

Why a Grid Seat Back for a Wheelchair?