Sensory Diet Activities

When a proper sensory diet is put in place, it helps a child with sensory processing issues function better on a daily basis. Typically, I recommend that a child carry out two to three of the sensory activities below approximately every two hours throughout the day. Please consult with your child's occupational therapist for recommendations that are appropriate for your child's sensory needs.

-      Lying under a weighted blanket

-      Wearing a weighted vest (as recommended by an occupational therapist)

-      Jumping on a trampoline

-      Jumping on overstuffed pillows
-   Climbing through homemade obstacle courses

-      Carrying heavy objects- i.e. Helping put away heavy groceries

-      Wheelbarrow walking

-      Tug-of-war games

-      Popping bubble wrap

-      Rolling self up in a blanket like a burrito, then rolling back out

-      Sit-ups

-      Push-ups on the floor, or against a wall while standing

-      Spinning on a sit-n-spin

-      Stomping feet/clapping hands (have the child follow your pattern)

-      Tossing/rolling a weighted ball back and forth

-   Sitting on a therapy ball and bouncing

-   Tummy down on a therapy ball rocking forward and backward 
     
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Teaching Kids with Autism and Other Disabilities to Type

When teaching students with disabilities to type, I've found that it's best if I teach them to type words or phrases that are meaningful to the student. For example, I worked with a student this past school year who was not one bit interested in typing, but he absolutely loved theraputty. He had been practicing typing his name for several weeks, but I couldn't get him interested in the task. Solution: I taught him to type "I want putty."

I started by printing out the letters I- w-a-n-t -p-u-t-t-y on card stock. I cut out the individual letters and laminated them. Then I made the sentence using the letter squares and cut out a rectangular strip of poster board long enough to hold all of the letters. I used Velcro to individually attach each letter in order to the poster board.

I removed all of the letters and place the sentence strip just below the computer screen (see above).  While the student sat in front of the keyboard, I held each letter close to it's corresponding key and instructed him to press that key saying, "type I." Once the student correctly typed the letter, I placed that letter in the correct spot on the sentence strip, and then I praised him and pointed to the letter on the screen and said "Great job, you typed an I!"  I continued with the task until he had typed the full sentence. We then read the sentence aloud together. After that, he had an opportunity to play with the putty as a reward for a job well done!

My goal is that I can eventually place the sentence strip in front of the screen and the student will type the sentence independently. It may take some time, but he'll get there!

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Technology in Education recently shared a list of Best OT Blogs and Pediatric OT Tips was included! I'm thrilled to be included in this list of AMAZING blogs by fellow OTs. If you get a chance, check out the list @ http://www.techinspecialed.com/2013/05/29/best-occupational-therapy-ot-blogs/
and please for for Pediatric OT Tips while you're there!

Image from Technology in (SPL) Education Website.