Dr Darsh*ta Gala

26/11/2025

Floating away all negative thoughts

19/11/2025

Group therapy combined with structured motor activities is extremely beneficial for children with ADHD and Learning Disabilities (LD) because it works on multiple developmental areas at the same time—social, emotional, motor, and cognitive.

1. Improves Attention & Focus

This enhances visual attention, sustained focus, and reaction control.
Practicing in a group setting motivates the child to stay attentive because peers are involved.

2. Enhances Motor Planning & Coordination
Children with ADHD/LD often struggle with:
Body awareness
Timing
Hand–eye coordination
Catch–throw games and hitting targets help build
Gross motor coordination
Motor sequencing
Timing and rhythm
Bilateral integration (using both hands together)
These skills support classroom learning such as handwriting, spacing, reading tracking, and sports participation.

3. Builds Social Skills
Group therapy naturally teaches:
Turn-taking
Waiting patiently
Sharing
Understanding team rules
Problem-solving with peers
These are especially helpful for ADHD children who often struggle with impulsivity or interrupting.

4. Reduces Impulsivity
Games with clear rules (e.g., wait for your turn before throwing) help children practice:
Impulse control
Following step-by-step instructions
Self-monitoring and self-regulation
This directly improves classroom behavior.

5. Improves Confidence & Self-Esteem
Success in physical activities gives children a sense of:
Achievement
Belonging
“I can do it” attitude
For children who often face academic challenges, this is emotionally therapeutic.

6. Supports Sensory Integration
These activities help regulate:
Vestibular input (movement; improves balance and attention)
Proprioceptive input (muscle/joint pressure; calming and organizing for ADHD)
This makes children more ready to learn and reduces hyperactivity.

7. Encourages Peer Learning
Children observe each other and automatically learn:
How to improve their throw
How others follow instructions
How to correct mistakes
Peer modeling is powerful, especially for children with learning difficulties.

01/10/2025

Potential Benefits of Straddle (Split) Sitting

✅ Hip Mobility – Encourages flexibility in the inner thigh (adductors) and hip muscles.
✅ Core Strength – When children have to reach forward or sideways while in this position, they activate trunk muscles for balance.
✅ Pelvic Alignment Practice – Helps children understand hip and pelvic movements, beneficial for activities like dance, gymnastics, martial arts, and yoga.
✅ Improves Postural Control – When done actively (not slouched), it encourages upright sitting and better posture

23/09/2025

✨ Occupational Therapy Benefits of Sand Activities

1. Sensory Integration
Provides tactile input (grainy, soft, rough, warm, or cool sensations).
Helps children with sensory processing difficulties explore and tolerate different textures.
Can be calming for children who need sensory regulation.

2. Fine Motor Development
Scooping, pouring, sifting, pinching, and molding sand strengthen hand and finger muscles.
Improves dexterity, grasp patterns, and hand–eye coordination.

3. Gross Motor Skills
Digging, carrying buckets, or patting down sand supports upper body strength, posture, and bilateral coordination.

4. Cognitive & Problem-Solving
Building structures encourages planning, sequencing, and creativity.
Children learn about cause and effect (e.g., dry vs. wet sand).

5. Social & Communication Skills
Promotes cooperative play (sharing tools, building together).
Supports language development as kids describe textures, actions, or imaginative scenarios.

6. Emotional & Behavioral Benefits
Acts as a sensory calming tool, reducing anxiety and stress.
Provides an outlet for expressing emotions through play.

7. Pre-writing & Academic Readiness
Tracing letters, shapes, or numbers in sand strengthens visual-motor skills.
Encourages focus, attention, and early literacy concepts.

19/09/2025

✨ Benefits of Sensory Shaving Foam for ADHD

1. Calming Effect

The soft, squishy texture and repetitive motions of spreading, squishing, or swirling foam can help regulate overstimulated brains and bodies.

Sensory play can lower anxiety and promote relaxation.

2. Improves Focus & Attention

Sensory activities like foam play require hands-on engagement, which can anchor a child’s attention in the present moment.

The novelty and messiness often hold their interest longer than paper-pencil tasks.

3. Supports Emotional Regulation

Squishing or smearing foam can act as a safe outlet for frustration or restlessness.

The playful aspect promotes positive mood and reduces irritability.

4. Enhances Fine Motor & Hand Strength

Finger painting, drawing letters, or hiding/retrieving small objects in the foam builds finger dexterity and hand muscles.

Improves pre-writing skills in younger children.

5. Boosts Creativity & Imagination

Children can make shapes, drawings, or role-play with foam, allowing free expression.

Helps them practice flexible thinking and problem-solving.

6. Improves Sensory Processing

Many kids with ADHD also show sensory processing differences.

Shaving foam provides rich tactile input, helping them tolerate messy play and improve sensory integration.

7. Promotes Social Skills

Foam play can be shared in small groups—taking turns, role-playing, or collaborating on designs.

Encourages communication and cooperation.
Contact Dr darsh*ta gala( occupational therapist) - 9920853263

02/09/2025

23/08/2025

A Pop Tube Bubble Blowing Activity is a fun, engaging way to work on oral motor skills, breath control, sensory play, and attention. Here’s how you can do it:

Materials:

Pop tubes (the colorful, extendable tubes that make a “pop” sound when pulled or pushed)

Dish soap and water (bubble solution) or a ready-made bubble mix

A shallow container for dipping

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Steps:

1. Prepare the bubbles

Pour bubble solution into a shallow dish.

2. Turn the pop tube into a bubble blower

Extend one end of the pop tube and dip it into the bubble solution.

3. Blow through the other end

Encourage the child to blow gently through the tube.

Bubbles will form at the dipped end.

4. Play variations

Count how many bubbles they can make.

Try blowing slow vs. fast and notice the difference in bubble size.

Use different lengths of the pop tube to see how it changes the blowing effort.

Turn it into a game: “Who can make the biggest bubble?” or “Can you blow 5 bubbles?”

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Benefits:

Oral motor strengthening – improves lip closure and breath control.

Speech & language support – great warm-up for speech therapy.

Sensory regulation – fun, tactile activity with visual feedback.

Fine motor skills – dipping, holding, and extending the pop tube.

01/05/2025

Crawling over monkey bars can help children on the autism spectrum in several beneficial ways, especially in the areas of sensory integration, motor skills, and emotional regulation:

1. Sensory Integration: Many children on the spectrum have sensory processing challenges. Monkey bars provide proprioceptive (body awareness) and vestibular (balance and movement) input, which can help regulate their nervous system and improve sensory processing.

2. Gross Motor Skills: Crawling over monkey bars strengthens core muscles, coordination, and bilateral integration (using both sides of the body together), which are often areas of delay in autistic children.

3. Crossing the Midline: Moving hands and legs across the center of the body supports brain development and neural communication between hemispheres, enhancing tasks like reading, writing, and speech.

4. Body Awareness and Planning: Activities like crawling on monkey bars require motor planning (deciding how to move), which supports spatial awareness and executive function skills.

5. Confidence and Emotional Regulation: Physical challenges like monkey bars can build self-esteem and serve as a calming activity that releases excess energy and anxiety.