OT to the rescue

27/08/2023

25/08/2023

A child's vestibular sense provides information about how the world is moving around him and about how he is moving within the world. Housed in the inner ear, it tells kids whether they are balanced or about to fall, what direction they are moving, and what speed they are traveling. The vestibular sense helps them to right themselves and hold their heads and bodies steady.

To promote balance and coordination, a child must experience vestibular movement. Opportunities for just-right vestibular movement depends on a child's abilities and comfort and are important for all kids. It is a natural drive for children to crave vestibular movement many times during the day.

There are plenty of ways to experience vestibular movement on a playground, but what about at home? Try these fun activities with kids of all ages to promote their skill development and comfort and confidence in the world!

08/06/2023

Before you do anything hit like and save this as a reminder when you are observing your child!
My previous reel focused on observing your child to identify their sensory preferences. Since the vestibular system is such a power house I wanted to give you examples of what you may observe.

The vestibular system is activated with a change in head position whether up, down or side to side; it gives your body information of how to move your body in space.

Not all vestibular input is created the same, depending upon the intensity, speed, and direction of your head it can be alerting or calming.

Everyone has sensory seeking behaviors based on their sensory preferences. Even a child with vestibular sensitivity will most likely seek out some sort of vestibular input that feels good to them.

When you are observing your child pay attention to what kind of vestibular input they are seeking. Then watch how they respond; do they seem more excited after, more alert, more focused, more tired, more relaxed, etc. It will differ for everyone.

This will give you insight into what type of vestibular input and activities are most regulating for them and will be very helpful for co-regulation.

Think for a second, what type of vestibular input do you seek out? , , , , ,

08/06/2023

04/06/2023

04/06/2023

Visual perceptual skills allow children to make sense of visual information in their environments and to successfully complete academic tasks.

Evidence shows that poor readers in first and second grade perform more errors on visual search and spatial-cuing tasks than strong readers (Franceschini et al., 2012). Also, many children with dyslexia show a visual processing deficit (Valdois et al., 2011). Yet, teaching and practicing visual perception is not formally addressed in school. And the link between visual perceptual skills and reading is rarely studied (Bellocchi et al., 2017).

To promote children's overall development, try to incorporate these FUN visual perception activities into kids' days! What are your favorite visual perceptual activities? Share in the comments!

03/06/2023

The many, many, many benefits of tree climbing:
🌳 muscle strength
🌳 endurance
🌳 gross motor skills such as balance and core strength
🌳 spatial awareness
🌳 tactile, vestibular, proprioceptive input
🌳 critical thinking skills
🌳 executive functioning skills
🌳 decision-making and problem-solving skills
🌳 motor planning
🌳 emotional strength and resilience
🌳 sense of accomplishment
🌳 self-confidence
🌳 imaginative and creative play
Most importantly...having fun!

More on the benefits of nature play: https://www.theottoolbox.com/research-outdoor-sensory-play/

27/10/2022

YES! Games are a powerful way to build essential higher-level cognitive skills. Here are two resources on this topic and game suggestions for various EF skills:
1️⃣ https://www.theottoolbox.com/games-to-help-kids-improve-executive/
2️⃣ https://www.theottoolbox.com/games-for-executive-function/

Image from Sensing Greatness

23/09/2022

Crawling..
One of the most important motor developments. If a child doesn’t crawl it can impact future feeding challenges, weak core, poor upper body strength, poor posture, difficulty with bilateral coordination and so much more. If your child skipped crawling it’s not too late. Encourage them to crawl today but for older children make them work harder. For example get them crawling on different surfaces of different textures, over different heights, encourage climbing, obstacle courses, animal walks etc.
This picture was created by

16/09/2022

Bilateral coordination skills drive function.
Did you know there is a developmental sequence to using both hands in a coordinated manner that enable the three components of B Coordination (symmetrical movements, alternating movements, and dominant hand/supporting hand movements)?

Read about this developmental sequence here: https://www.theottoolbox.com/development-of-bilateral-coordination-feeding-skills/

And check out bilateral coordination activities and tools here:
https://www.theottoolbox.com/development-of-bilateral-coordination-feeding-skills/