One Simple Way to Improve Participation

One Simple Way to Improve Participation

Do you struggle to get children to participate in certain activities?  Do you find it hard to engage children in non-preferred or difficult tasks?  Perhaps the children do not follow your directions or do not remain on task. This makes it difficult for children to learn new skills to participate in activities of daily living, academic tasks or social interactions.  Many times, positive reinforcement is used and children are rewarded after they complete the task appropriately.

Have you ever considered trying to avoid these behaviors before they even start?  One simple way to improve participation is to offer children choices to prevent non-compliance.  This helps to avoid the behaviors before they occur.  Research indicates that by offering interventions before the behaviors occur may help to limit avoidance of tasks and interfering behaviors.  In addition, it helps to promote an environment where children are ready to learn.

Offering children choices before the task has been shown to reduce disruptive behaviors, increase task engagement and decrease the amount of time to complete the task.  Although there is a risk that children may avoid less-preferred tasks.  Recent research in the Journal of Special Education evaluated the effects of choice of a less preferred task sequence (i.e. wash dishes, communicate with classmate, complete puzzle, etc) on noncompliance, task engagement, and duration to complete activities across two individuals with autism spectrum disorder and one participant with a speech and language impairment. The results indicated the following:

• choice of task sequence effectively reduced noncompliance in two participants.
• choice was initially effective although treatment effects failed to replicate in the third participant.
• task engagement was greater during choice than the no-choice condition for only one participant.
• there were no changes in duration to complete tasks.

The researchers concluded that providing choice before a low-preferred task sequence was effective at reducing noncompliant behavior.

Reference:  Kautz, M. E., DeBar, R. M., Vladescu, J. C., & Graff, R. B. (2017). A Further Evaluation of Choice of Task Sequence. The Journal of Special Education, 0022466917735655.

Are you looking for other strategies besides providing choices to help improve compliance in the classroom?  Typical Classroom Sensory-Based Problem Behaviors & Suggested Therapeutic Interventions offers many suggestions for therapeutic interventions for 12 different problem behavior categories.

The classroom sensory based problem behaviors include the following:

1. Sitting/Poor Work Tolerance
2. Vision/Attention Related
3. Oral/Facial Related
4. Visual Sensitivities
5. Tactile/Proprioceptive/Personal Space Issues
6. Self-Injurious Behaviors
7. Gut Reactions Due to Perceived Stress/Anxiety
8. Difficulty Staying with the Group
9. Delayed Immature/Inefficient Grasp Pattern
10. Visual/Proprioceptive Sensory Seeking Wrist/ Hands
11. Difficulty with Positioning/ Lower Extremity Awareness
12. Oral Motor/ Self-Feeding Issues

Under each problem behavior category the book lists:

• what the child may be displaying
• possible underlying causes
• sensory strategy solutions

Find out more information about the Typical Classroom Sensory-Based Problem Behaviors & Suggested Therapeutic Interventions ebook.

The post One Simple Way to Improve Participation appeared first on Your Therapy Source.

5 Simple Tips to Help Children Reach Their Goals

Do you ever feel like a child you are working with is in a rut or having trouble reaching their goals?  Maybe you just want to give them an extra push to accomplish a task.  Here are 5 simple tips  to help encourage children:

1.  Change up the tools, toys or activities that you are doing.  It may be just as simple as approaching the skill using a different tool or material.

2.  Change the environment.  Perhaps trying accomplishing the skill outdoors, in a quiet room or with a peer.

3.  Be positive.  If you assure the student that they have the ability to accomplish the goal you will provide them with the ability to believe in themselves.  The power of positive feelings can go a long way.  Check out Positive Affirmation Posters and Cards to provide your students with a visual reminder.

4.  Change your teaching style.  If you are only providing verbal directions, perhaps offer a demonstration or a visual picture of what the student needs to accomplish.  If you are always offering verbal feedback, perhaps try diminishing how often you provide feedback to see if that makes a difference.

5.  Offer rewards.  Some students respond very well to a reward system.  You can read more on rewards and motivation in previous blog posts:

•  Using Activities of Daily Living for Positive Reinforcement
• 5 Free Positive Reinforcement Ideas for Therapy

Encourage students to track their own progress with My Goal Tracker.

Title: My Goal Tracker: This is an electronic book of data collection forms for students to track their own progress. The student can track his/her goals over time, by monitoring the skills over the course of a day, week, month or quarter. This allows the student to get a visual picture of improvement, decline or maintenance of different skills.

Included in this download is the following: samples of completed forms, goals setting worksheet, improvement ideas worksheet, goal tracking cards (for trials or percentage) and graphs to complete for daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly progress (number of trials out of 10, percentage or minutes). There is also one blank form for you to label if you are monitoring goals in a different manner. Complete the goal worksheet, print the necessary forms and place in a binder. The student can then graph his/her progress accordingly.
By having the students track their own goals they will take ownership of their progress. It doesn’t get any easier than this to track progress. Find out more.

 

 

The post 5 Simple Tips to Help Children Reach Their Goals appeared first on Your Therapy Source.

Be Inspired – Motivational Tools for Pediatric Therapists

During this age of social media, we are bombarded with inspirational messages of which some hit home more than others.  I think this quote is perfect for pediatric therapists.  As a profession, I think we live and breathe this everyday for the children and their families.  When children want to achieve a certain skill (no matter how big or small) it is our job to teach and motivate them to reach their goals.  Part of that job is encouraging children to believe in themselves and for us as therapists, teachers and parents to believe in their own abilities as well.  To me this is the core of what we do – teach children to be just a little braver, stronger or smarter.

Think about it with some task analysis using some common therapy goals:

1.  Walk across the room independently – the child needs to take the risk that he/she will not fall and get hurt (bravery), strengthen the trunk and legs to physically make it across the room and make choices about what obstacles to avoid (smarter).
2. Tie your shoes – the child has tried hundreds of time to tie his/her shoes and needs to be brave and try one more time to face that fear of failure, strengthen the fingers and hands to be able to physically pull the laces tight and must be able to sequence the order of shoe tying.
3. Pump a swing – have the courage to try and face the fear of falling off the swing, strengthen the arms, trunk and legs to hold on, balance and pump your legs and understand when to lean back and when to extend your legs.

I could go on and on with task analysis of almost every therapeutic goal.  So remind the children that you work with of the wise words of Christopher Robin (aka A. A. Milne) – Always remember, you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think.

Check out some other motivational tools for pediatric therapists.

More of my favorite therapy quotes (click on the link to download a free poster) –

Life is like riding a bicycle.  To keep your balance you must keep moving. – Albert Einstein 

The most important thing to do as a therapist is to educate.

Move your body, grow your brain.

The best way to predict the future is to create it.

The greatest gifts you can give your children are the roots of responsibility and the wings of independence. – Denis Waitely

Do you have a favorite motivational quote you would like to see on a poster?  Let us know.

The post Be Inspired – Motivational Tools for Pediatric Therapists appeared first on YourTherapySource.com Blog.

6 Treasure Boxes to Add in Some Fine Motor Practice

If parents, teachers or therapists give children rewards when a goal is achieved here are 6 ideas to encourage fine motor practice when they reach into the “treasure” box:

• Button Bags – sew a felt bag that has a few button closures at the top. In order for the children to get the reward they must unbutton the bag to reveal the prize.
• Zippered Bags – hide the prizes inside pencil pouches and they have to unzip to reveal the prize
• Lock and Key – use a lock on a treasure box. To pick a prize you have to unlock the box.
• Unscrew the Lid – paint the inside of a jar to hide what is inside. The children have to unscrew the lids to get the reward.
• Shoe Untying – hide the prize inside a sneaker. The child must untie the shoe to get to the prize. Then let the child pick a prize to hide back in the shoe for the next child and tie the shoe back up.
• Envelope Cutting – hide the prize in an envelope and the child has to use scissors or a letter opener to cut the envelope open. Good one for small stickers.

Punch and Reward Cards:  Download of 40 punch cards and 10 reward cards for
motivation to complete pediatric therapy goals.   Find out more information here http://yourtherapysource.com/punchcards.html.

Create Your Future

Part of our job as pediatric therapists, teachers and parents is to encourage children to succeed. Whether it be a small accomplishment, a big dream or a lofty goal children need our support and help through motivating words.  This is especially true during therapy sessions when children are faced with many challenges.  You can print this motivational poster "The Best Way To Predict the Future is to Create It" here.  Check out the complete download of Motivational Posters and Cards here.    

What if school based therapists gave themselves reward stickers?

School based occupational, physical and speech therapists are frequently handing out stickers at the end of session for a job well done by a student.  What if one day we started giving stickers to each other for a reward.  What would yours say?  Share in the comments!

Need rewards for your students instead of stickers?  Check out Punch Cards and Rewards for only $2.99!

10 Ways to Encourage Intrinsic Motivation in Children

Intrinsic motivation is completing a skill or activity based on personal interest and enjoyment not for external rewards.  Many times young children need external motivation to complete activities during therapy sessions.  Therapists may use different reward systems such as Punch Cards and Reward Cards for Therapy to encourage children to participate in therapy sessions.  Intrinsic motivation can be harder to facilitate in children.  Here are a few tips to increase intrinsic motivation in children:

1.  Independent thinking:  Allow the student to work on a certain skill and report back to you how they have improved that skill.  They can improve or change it anyway that they think will help.

2.  Provide choices:  Children can be more intrinsically motivated if they have a say in how they are accomplishing a goal.  Try not to make any activity a requirement.

3.  Teach self direction:  Everyone feels a larger sense of accomplishment when you are able to do something all by yourself.

4.  Power of positive thinking:  Having an "I can" attitude can help tremendously and build up a student's confidence.  Check out Positive Affirmations Posters and Cards for ideas at http://yourtherapysource.com/positiveaffirmation.html

5.  Cooperative learning:  Students may feel more motivated when they can work with other students to help or teach them a skill

6.  Ask questions:  Encourage students to think for themselves rather than provide answers for them.  For example - what suggestions do you have to increase your handwriting speed?

7.  Keep it fun with some competition:  Most kids like to win and feel a sense of pride when they do .  Therapeutic activities can be intertwined with games.

8.  Shoot for your personal best:  Don't compare your abilities to others but rather that you improve each time.  Teach the student to track his/her own goals to visually represent improvements over time.  Check out My Goal Tracker at http://yourtherapysource.com/goaltracker.html for student generated data collection.

9.  Plan together:  Ask the student how they would like to reach a goal?  Explain what options are available (ie different types of strengthening or aerobic exercises) and plan together what may work best.

10.  Educate the student:  When you are working on a certain activity, explain to the student why you are doing that specific activity and how it will help him/her in their everyday life.

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Empower Children to Realize All of Their Talents

30 Free or Low Cost Rewards for Pediatric Therapy

Sometimes students need some extra motivation to help them reach their goals in therapy.  I am sure you can relate to spending extra money on stickers, candy and trinkets to keep on hand to help with behavior management and motivation.   Here is a list of mostly free and a few low cost rewards to use with students during pediatric therapy sessions.

This list is from a new download entitled Punch Cards and Reward Cards.  Check it out to help motivate students at   http://yourtherapysource.com/punchcards.html.

You can download the FREE list of 30 Free or Low Cost Rewards for Pediatric OT and PT at http://yourtherapysource.com/punchcardfreebie.html

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Free Reward Punch Cards

With the end of the school year, kids sometimes need a little motivation.  How about using these free reward punch cards.  After 10 punch holes for completing an activity or following the rules, the child wins a prize.  Download the free printables at http://yourtherapysource.com/freepunchcards.html

Need cheap prize ideas?  Check out this previous blog post at http://yourtherapysource.com/blog1/2010/09/03/positive-reinforcement/

Challenge of the Day - "Do This..." Instead of "No"

Are you up for the challenge of the day?  Can you go through an entire day of providing therapy only having a positive tone instead of a negative tone? How about as a parent?  Try spending all day avoiding the words "no", "stop" or the phrase "don't do that!"  Try replacing those phrases with positive alternatives always starting off by saying "do this" or "yes we can!"

Here are some suggestions to replace a negative tone:

Instead of saying "Do not walk on your toes."  Try "Walk with your heels down."  

Instead of saying "Do not start the Letter A at the bottom."  Try "Start the letter A at the top."

Instead of saying "Do not get distracted."  Try "Let's finish this first then we can do that."

Instead of saying "No, we can't do that."  Try "Yes, we can do that but we need to do this activity first."

Instead of saying "Stop tapping your pencil on the desk."  Try "Would you like a small fidget to hold on to for awhile?"

Can you accept this challenge, all day long????  I know it will be tough for me!

Positive Affirmation Cards and Posters

This is an electronic book of 25 positive affirmation posters (8.5" x 11") and smaller cards of the posters (4.25"  x 2.75"). Empower children to realize all of their talents. All too often, children with special needs are told what they are unable to do, how about teach them what they can do! Positive affirmations help children to believe in themselves. The posters include simple text, animal pictures that compliment the text and colorful backgrounds. Hang them up around the house, class or therapy room and provide the child with the small cards to carry around to reinforce the concept.

Find out more information.

5 Free Positive Reinforcements Ideas to Use for Therapy Sessions

As the school year progresses, it can be hard to motivate children to participate in therapy sessions or to complete in class or home exercise suggestions.  Here are 5 ways to use positive reinforcement during therapy sessions:

1.  Therapy Tickets:  Earn tickets for following rules, completing exercises, etc.  Place your tickets in a cup and see if you win the prize!  Download the free printable at http://yourtherapysource.com/freetherapytickets.html

2.  Reward Box:  When the box is full, the child earns a reward.  Print out the freebie and make the box with tickets at http://yourtherapysource.com/rewardbox.html

3.  Reward Punch Cards for OT/PT and Speech:  Give the child a punch card.  Determine what skill the child will have to accomplish to get a punch hole.  When the 10 holes are punched the child wins a reward.  Get the free punch cards at http://yourtherapysource.com/freepunchcards.html

4.  Therapy Bingo:  Print out the bingo page and fill in activities of your choice.  When child completes the activity or follows a rule, color in the box.  When the child achieves 4 items in a row, he/she wins a reward.  Another option is to complete the whole board to receive a reward.  Download the bingo board at http://yourtherapysource.com/therapybingofree.html

5.  Token Economy System for OT/PT/Speech:  The child completes certain tasks to earn "therapy money".  That therapy money is then exchanged for rewards.  Don't forget that you can get "fined" as well therefore losing money.  Great way to review money skills while rewarding appropriate behavior.  Print out the free printables at http://yourtherapysource.com/freetoken.html

Need ideas for cheap, therapeutic rewards?  Read some previous blog posts:

Positive Reinforcement Group Reward ideas at http://yourtherapysource.com/blog1/2010/09/03/positive-reinforcement/

Sneak in fine motor practice when distributing rewards at http://yourtherapysource.com/blog1/2011/10/23/fine-motor-rewards/

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5 Simple Tips to Help Student's Reach Their Goals

Do you ever feel like a student you are working with is in a rut or having trouble reaching their goals?  Maybe you just want to give them an extra push to accomplish a task.  Here are 5 simple tips  to help encourage students:

1.  Change up the tools, toys or activities that you are doing.  It may be just as simple as approaching the skill using a different tool or material. 

2.  Change the environment.  Perhaps trying accomplishing the skill outdoors, in a quiet room or with a peer.


3.  Be positive.  If you assure the student that they have the ability to accomplish the goal you will provide them with the ability to believe in themselves.  The power of positive feelings can go a long way.  Check out Positive Affirmation Posters and Cards to provide your students with a visual reminder.


4.  Change your teaching style.  If you are only providing verbal directions, perhaps offer a demonstration or a visual picture of what the student needs to accomplish.  If you are always offering verbal feedback, perhaps try diminishing how often you provide feedback to see if that makes a difference. 

5.  Offer rewards.  Some students respond very well to a reward system.  You can read more on rewards and motivation in previous blogposts - Positive Reinforcement, Fine Motor Rewards,  and Ways to Motivate Children in Therapy.

Focus on the Positive

Recent research was published on the benefits of focusing on the positive traits in children with autism. An alternating treatment design was used with parents of children with autism. One intervention stressed the negative aspects of a child's disability and the other intervention focused on a child's strengths. The results indicated that the intervention that highlighted the strengths of the child resulted in the following:
1. Improved parental affect
2. Increased positive statements from parents about their children
3. Increased physical affection from parent to child

Would love to see research on this topic with regards to motor skill development.

Reference: Amanda Mossman Steiner. A Strength-Based Approach to Parent Education for Children With Autism. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions July 2011 vol. 13 no. 3 178-190

Ready, Set, Go!

After reading the request for a blog carnival over at Therextras regarding readiness in children, I pondered the topic a bit. What does make a child ready to achieve motor milestones? Many parents and therapists follow the typical developmental sequence of rolling, sitting, crawling, standing, walking and off they run. The theory is that if you build each skill upon the previous skill the child will move along the progression. The problem is the theory doesn't hold true. There are many more factors besides muscle development and control that play a role in achieving motor milestones.

Motivation: In order to move on to the next skill, a child needs to be motivated. This is clearly seen in typical development. For example, a 6 month old baby usually needs assistance to get into a sitting position. The baby is motivated to stay in the supported sitting position and works hard at maintaining an upright posture. The degrees of freedom available to the arms and hands increases significantly compared to the prone or supine position.

Socialization: A child may choose to attempt to try a new skill in order to experience a new social perspective. Sitting and standing change the eye contact of a child compared to supine or prone. A recent study indicated that independently walking infants spent significantly more time interacting with toys and mothers, made more vocalizations and directed gestures than age matched, crawling peers in a baby walker (1).

Novelty: Children have short attention spans. A change in position can result in a renewed attention span. The forces of gravity on the hands, postural muscles and legs change significantly based on different positions. Toys can take on new properties when the hands are freed up to play with them.

For example, I once worked with a 5 year old girl with quadriplegia. She required adult assistance to propel her manual wheelchair. She only tolerated a standing frame for short periods of time. We decided to try a mobile stander. Once in the mobile stander, the girl could actually propel herself around the room in standing. She not only tolerated standing now, she loved it. Her motivational level was increased. Her socialization increased once she could achieve level eye contact with her peers. The novelty of the mobile stander also added to her increased motivation.

In addition, I worked with a 7 year old boy with athetosis. He was unable to sit unsupported for longer than a few seconds but he could walk throughout the entire school without an assistive device. This boy's motivational drive to achieve independent walking was amazing.

Or how about a 5 year old boy who had the motivational drive to negotiate playground equipment to socialize with his peers but he was unable to walk long distances without his rolling walker. This boy taught me never to assume that a skill can not be achieved. He was able to climb ladders, walk across moving bridges and go down slides!

Therefore, the question arises should you wait to try the next motor skill in the developmental progression until the one before it has been mastered? Absolutely not! By using adaptive equipment or external support, children can benefit from the socialization and novelty factor of new skills. If the child recognizes these benefits, the internal motivation to continue to practice will help to drive the achievement of the new motor skill.

Reference:
1. Melissa W. Clearfield Learning to walk changes infants’ social interactions. Infant Behavior and Development Volume 34, Issue 1, February 2011, Pages 15-25

Negative Stereotypes

A recent study from Indiana University revealed that women who were reminded of the negative stereotypes about math and visual processing for females did not display actual learning of the material presented to them. The researchers stated that the women who were under threat of the stereotype appeared to try too hard in a non focused and unproductive manner.

Now consider children with learning disabilities, developmental disabilities or any type of disability. Does the negative stereotypes of the labels effect their learning in addition to their self esteem? Unfortunately there are definitely teachers who never forget a child's label and it effects a child's ability to learn. Do children work too hard at times ultimately ignoring the strategies they were taught to learn in the first place? What differences do you notice when children are reminded of negative stereotypes?

As therapists, do we predict motor behaviors based on negative stereotypes? Here are several ways to avoid negativity:

1. Always be positive. Instead of stating this might be difficult of challenging, assure the child that they can complete the skill or task.

2. Create goals that are attainable. Make sure that during every therapy session a child achieves at least one goal.

3. Reinforce positive qualities. Capitalize on a child's strengths to achieve other goals.

4. Review simple learning strategies. If you notice a child is trying too hard, review the task in simple steps to reinforce that they know how to accomplish the task.





Positive Affirmation
Posters and Cards
for Children

Download: $8.99







Reference: Negative stereotypes shown to affect learning, not just performance. Retrieved from web on 8/10/2010 from http://www.physorg.com/news199370906.html

Right and Left Motivation?

An interesting study was published in Psychological Science regarding motivation in adults. Using a computer screen and subliminal images, the researchers determined that motivation can occur on only one side of the brain and body at a time. For example, the subjects were shown a subliminal image of a coin on one side of the computer screen. The subjects were instructed to squeeze a pressure sensing hand grip to get more of the coins. When the image appeared on the right side of the computer screen and the subject was squeezing with the right hand, then the subject would squeeze harder to get more coins. If the coin image appeared on the left side of the screen and the subject was squeezing on the right, the subject did not squeeze harder. The researchers concluded that motivation can occur on the right or left side of the brain therefore motivating only one side of the body as well.

This research raises some interesting questions for motivation in children. Children's behaviors can often be altered based on motivational levels. When individuals are strongly right or left side dominant does this consistently effect motivation levels? What about motivation levels in children with hemiplegia?

Reference: Physorg.com Is your left hand more motivated than your right hand? Retrieved from the web at http://www.physorg.com/news197039212.html on 7/10/10.




Positive Affirmation Posters and Cards for Children

Download of 25 positive affirmation posters and cards to motivate children.

List Price $8.99