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difficulties

Useful Equipment

Jun 30th, 2011
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Therapy Balls
Therapy Balls are really useful for balance and strengthening shoulders. They can be used for rolling over and doing push ups, also for being squished. To get the right measurement for your child measure from arm pit to wrist and this should be correct. Many children improve with their handwriting by playing on the balls.




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Weighted blankets
Weighted blankets can be perfect for helping children sleep through the night, they provide extra deep pressure which is comforting and stimulates proprioception. Many children will use them as a comfort wrapped them when watching tv and relaxing. They can help calm an overanxious child. Some parents say it is the first good night’s sleep they have had ever!!!(both child and parent)




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Price: £199.99
“Cosy weighted blanket” by Carol Stock Kranowitz

Imagine the warmest coziest robe or towel you have ever felt, combined with the soothing hug of a loved one. This weighted blanket provides the input for a child who has poor sleep patterns and who crave and seek proprioception input.





 


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Price: £22.32

mov’n sit cushion
These fidget cushions are fantastic for children who cannot sit still in class or assembly. They can use them sitting on a chair or the floor. It enables the child to move and satisfy their vestibular sense. Especially good for hyperactive children. Some parents have noted how long their active child sits during assessment when using one. Can also be used at home for mealtimes. Allowing the child to move frees up their ability to concentrate better otherwise they have to work hard at not fidgeting.




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Price: £29.99

Lycra resistance band
Resistance bands can be a fantastic way to calm down. Tying them around table or desk legs to pull against while sitting and listening can help. Pulling (tug of war) type games can also be fun. Be careful not to let them spring back in your face though.




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Price: £59.99

sensory seekers combo kit
Quick easy ready made sensory box to meet your child’s oral and tactile needs. A brilliant resource to have in all households and classrooms will benefit sensory seeking children. Teachers may sometimes think this may be distracting but infact will have more focused alert pupils.




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looped scissors
Easy to use looped scissors for children who find accuracy with normal scissors too difficult. Children achieve success and neatness with these. A must for those who struggle.




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Price: £4.50

looped scissors
Great pencil grips for children who grip their pencils too hard and get sore hands from writing. These allow the child to place fingers in the correct position. Excellent.




Chew’lery from Special.direct.com
Chew’lery is a great way to keep kids from chewing on their clothes, while letting them work through their chewing tendencies.

It’s also great for oral-motor stimulating activities.

Use with adult supervision. Non-toxic, colourful, plastic jewellery that ‘stretches’.

Handwriting Without Tears. HWT.com
Go onto this site for some useful downloads about handwriting and information for parents, teachers, therapists. An excellent resource.

Vestibular sensory system

Jun 20th, 2011
by lindap.
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THE VESTIBULAR SYSTEM

Definition:

¨       The vestibular system is the most sensitive and one of the most important sense organs. It is stimulated by movement of fluid in the structures of the inner ear, in response to movement by the head.

¨       The vestibular system provides us with information about where our body is in space and whether the movement is up, down, fast, slow or angular.

¨       Even when our eyes are closed we know the position of our head. The vestibular system also allows us to keep our balance with our eyes closed.

 

Why is the processing of vestibular information important?

¨       Input to the vestibular system is important for regulating muscle tone, joint stability, bilateral integration, spatial awareness, eye movements and balance and equilibrium mechanisms. These all affect our ability to maintain good sitting posture i.e. at a desk.

¨       Good postural stability serves as a basis for fine motor control (i.e. handwriting).

¨       The vestibular system sends information to the part of the brain that regulates attention and arousal levels. It also provides a calming effect (i.e. gentle rocking)

¨       The vestibular system ‘talks’ to every other system and is closely linked to the proprioceptive system.

 

Functional Implications:

Over-responsive vestibular system: (i.e. The child who perceives too much movement information)

¨       Gravitational insecurity: excessive fear of falling / of heights / and of feet leaving the ground

¨       Overly frightened by movement / dislikes playground activities

¨       Difficulty mastering environmental obstacles such as stairs or uneven terrain

¨       Intolerance or adverse reactions to movement, motion sickness, nausea, giddiness

Under-responsive vestibular system: (i.e. The child who is not processing enough movement information)

¨       Craves movement, swinging, rocking

¨       Moves excessively, using momentum to compensate for poor balance reactions

¨       Does not get dizzy until they have had an enormous amount of movement

¨       Poor bilateral integration and co-ordination

 

Activity suggestions to Help Improve Vestibular Processing:

1.     Swinging / rolling / rocking / swaying (the best effects are gained when these activities are self activated, i.e. let the child swing / spin him/herself)

2.     Jumping on a trampoline (with supervision)

3.     Balancing on a balance beam or line on the ground

4.     Rolling across the floor, over a variety of textures and objects / in a blanket or towel. Then try with eyes closed

5.     Sledding or rolling down a hill

6.     Spinning around a post / in a chair

7.     Sit ‘n’ spin / pogo stick

8.     Playground activities: see saws, swings, slides, merry go rounds

9.     Bilateral activities: jump rope, swimming, skipping, riding a bike, star jumps, stilts etc.

10.   Movement activities: e.g. Exercises, keep fit, martial arts, dancing

11.   Walking over uneven surfaces

 

WARNING: Encourage the child to choose spinning activities to do independently. Too much swinging / spinning can have a negative effect on the child. Watch carefully for signs of dizziness, nausea, changes in breathing etc. Stop when the child asks to stop the activity. Never swing / spin the child excessively.

 

Reactive Attachment Disorder

May 18th, 2011
by admin.
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Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) arises from a failure to form normal attachments to primary caregivers in early childhood. Such a failure could result from severe early experiences of neglect, abuse, abrupt separation from caregivers between the ages of six months and three years, frequent change of caregivers, or a lack of caregiver responsiveness to a child’s communicative efforts.

Not all, or even a majority of such experiences, result in this disorder.

Attachment disorders can be treated using an innovative new type of working with children and their carers called Sensory Attachment Intervention “SAI”. I have had specialist training with the founder of this whole practice called Eadiaone Breathnach who is truly inspiring and has given me a different way of approaching difficulties.

I am able to offer Sensory attachment intervention for children and parents and the usual course would be anything from 6 weeks to 12 weeks. Working with the child from a sensory perspective is fascinating and can help address many difficult behaviours through sensory strategies applied at home.

Please call for more information if you are a parent, adoptive parent, foster parent and require support in this matter.

 

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Sensory Processing Disorder

Mar 23rd, 2011
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Sensory processing disorder or SPD is a neurological disorder causing difficulties with taking in, processing and responding to sensory information about the environment and from within the own body (visual, auditory, tactile, olfaction, gustatory, vestibular and proprioception).

For those with SPD, sensory information may be sensed and perceived in a way that is different from most other people. Unlike blindness or deafness, sensory information can be received by people with SPD, the difference is that information is often registered, interpreted and processed differently by the brain. The result can be unusual ways of responding or behaving and finding things harder to do.

Difficulties may typically present as difficulties planning and organising, problems with doing the activities of everyday life (self care, work and leisure activities including work and play), and for some with extreme sensitivity to sensory input, sensory input may result in extreme avoidance of activities, agitation, distress, fear or confusion.

Difficulty taking in or interpreting this input can lead to devastating consequences in:

daily functioning
social and family relationships
behavioral challenges
regulating emotions
self-esteem
learning

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ADHD

Mar 23rd, 2011
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Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a group of behavioural symptoms that include inattentiveness, hyperactivity and impulsiveness.

Attention deficit disorder (ADD) is a type of ADHD.

Common symptoms of ADHD include: a short attention span, restlessness, being easily distracted and constant fidgeting. Many people with ADHD also have additional problems, such as sleep disorders or learning difficulties. However, ADHD has no effect on intelligence.They often have sensory processing problems and modulation difficulties (hence behaviour can be out of control).

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Asperger Syndrome

Mar 23rd, 2011
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Children with Asperger syndrome have milder symptoms that affect social interaction and behaviour. Their language development is usually unaffected, although they often have problems in certain areas of language. For example, understanding humour or figures of speech, such as ’she’s got a chip on her shoulder’ or ‘it’s raining cats and dogs.’

Children with Asperger syndrome usually have above-average intelligence. Some children are skilled in fields requiring logic, memory and creativity, such as maths, computer science and music. (But only 1 in 200 children are exceptionally skilled, so-called ‘autistic savants.’)

Children with AS are often severely affected by sensory processing and this is often overlooked during typical health assessments. Behaviour therefore is a big problem for these children who fear change and are often oversensitive by nature.

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Autistic Spectrum Disorders

Mar 23rd, 2011
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Autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) are a range of related developmental disorders that begin in childhood and persist throughout adulthood. ASD can cause a wide range of symptoms, which are grouped into three broad categories:

Problems and difficulties with social interaction such as a lack of understanding and awareness of other people’s emotions and feelings.

Impaired language and communication skills such as delayed language development and an inability to start conversations or take part in them properly.

Unusual patterns of thought and physical behaviour. This includes making repetitive physical movements, such as hand tapping or twisting. The child develops set routines of behaviour, which can upset the child if the routines are broken.

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Dyslexia

Mar 23rd, 2011
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Dyslexia is a common type of learning difficulty that primarily affects the skills involved in the reading and spelling of words. Dyslexia should be recognised as a spectrum disorder, with symptoms ranging from very mild to very severe. In particular, people with dyslexia have difficulties with: phonological awareness, verbal memory, verbal processing speed.

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Dyspraxia

Mar 23rd, 2011
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Dyspraxia, also known as DCD (developmental co-ordination disorder), is a disability that affects movement and co-ordination. It is thought to be caused by a disruption in the way messages from the brain are transmitted to the body.

Dyspraxia is characterised by difficulty in planning smooth, co-ordinated movements. This leads to:clumsiness, lack of co-ordination, problems with language, perception and thought. Symptoms are normally noticeable from an early age and often have difficulties with fine motor control with handwriting, fastenings and scissors causing problems.

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Assessment of your child

Mar 1st, 2011
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Usually following a referral to Therapy Space I am able to provide a full, detailed assessment followed up with a report and it may be clear they have one or a number of the following conditions.(see list below). As an OT I am able to identify and provide potential diagnoses of Dyspraxia, DCD and Sensory Processing Disorder. It is recommended that this is backed up by another member of a medical team. I am also able to pick up on many of the other conditions listed and can steer you in the right direction for getting support. Understanding your child’s problems helps parents move forward in gaining support for their child who is often struggling in mainstream school.

Full Assessment

Duration – 3 hours

Parents and school staff are asked to complete a number of questionnaires prior to visit. Assessment will look at and consists of clinical observations, handwriting, fine and gross motor skills, sensory processing assessment. The child usually enjoys the session as there is fun equipment available to use alongside a structured task orientated session. Observation is key to understanding behaviour. During assessment I often pick up on behavioural problems and ask parents to complete questionnaires prior to visits to enable less questioning during session. Liaison with school is helpful and schools are asked to complete questionnaires prior to assessment. I also find it useful to read copies of other professionals reports prior to visit especially Educational Psychologists, OT etc.

Mini observational assessment

Duration – 1.5 hours

Parents will be asked to complete questionnaires and an informal assessment will consist of clinical observations and play in sensory integration environment. Verbal feedback is given so parents are asked to bring a pad and paper to make notes. This is often a quick and useful way to get a quick basic breakdown of strengths and difficulties but I do recommend full assessments as can cover everything in much more detail.

Reports

A report is completed ideally within a 2-4 week period and sent directly to referrer which is often the parent. Parents are then free to distribute to who they would like. Sharing information is essential if attending other health professional clinics. E.g. If any child is being seen by NHS OT services the staff should be aware of each other’s involvement and this is primarily the reponsibilty of parent to share. N.B. I am able to offer legal reports required for tribunals and have qualifications to do this.

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