Activities and Skills that Pediatric Occupational Therapists Work on with Children

Here is the second is a new series of motivational posters.  This one obviously focuses on many of the activities and skills that occupational therapists work on with children.  You can get more information about the poster here http://yourtherapysource.com/posterOTcollage.html to purchase the high quality, full color 11″x17″ Occupational Therapy Collage poster for $5 plus $3 shipping.  Only available in the United States.

Motor Skills, ADHD and Medication

Research in Developmental Disabilities published a review of 45 research articles analyzing the motor skills of of children (between 6-16 years old) with ADHD  and the influence of medication on their motor skills.

The results indicated the following:

1.  more than half of the children with ADHD have difficulties with gross and fine motor skills.

2.  children with ADHD inattentive subtype presented with more impairment of fine motor skills, slow reaction time, and online motor control during complex tasks.

3.  the percentage of children with ADHD who improved their motor skills to the normal range by using medication varied from 28% to 67% between studies.  The children who still show motor deficit while on medication might meet the diagnostic criteria of developmental coordination disorder (DCD).

The researchers recommend that assessment of motor skills is needed among children with ADHD because of the risk of reduced participation in activities of daily living that require motor coordination and attention.

Reference:  M.-L. Kaisera,Schoemakerb, J.-M. Albaretc , R.H. Geuzea. What is the evidence of impaired motor skills and motor control among children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)? Systematic review of the literature. Research in Developmental Disabilities
Volume 36, January 2015, Pages 338–357.

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Fantastic Fingers® Fine Motor Program
By: Ingrid C. King OT

Summary: The fine motor program includes ebook, music and instructional videos
which are user-friendly, economical and research based. It helps to improve the
development of children's fine motor skills, pencil grip and posture.

FIND OUT MORE AT http://yourtherapysource.com/fantasticfingers.html

Color By Copy - Visual Motor and Visual Spatial Activity

Download these free visual motor and visual spatial activities.  Simply color the picture on the right exactly like the picture on the left.  You can download color by copy freebie here http://yourtherapysource.com/freecolorbycopy

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Title: Color Coding
By: Your Therapy Source

Summary: 40+ pages to encourage visual discrimination and visual motor skills with color coding activities.  Find out more at http://yourtherapysource.com/colorcoding.html

 

Strengthening Versus Balance Exercises for Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis

The American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation published research on 30 children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) comparing the effects of muscle strengthening exercises versus proprioceptive-balance exercises on lower extremity function.

Each child was evaluated for pain, passive range of motion, muscle strength, balance, and functional abilities using the Numeric Rating Scale, goniometer, handheld dynamometer, Flamingo Balance Test, Functional Reach Test, 10-meter walking test, 10-stair climbing test, and Childhood Health Assessment Questionnaire. The participants were randomly assigned to the strengthening exercise group or the proprioceptive-balance exercise group.

The results indicated the following:

1.  statistically significant improvements in all outcome measures were recorded except muscle strength in the hip and ankle after strengthening exercises.

2.  statistically significant improvements were found in all outcome measures after the proprioceptive-balance exercises.

3.  Intergroup analysis showed statistically significant improvement in all outcome measures in the proprioceptive-balance exercise group except for the Numeric Rating Scale, Childhood Health Assessment Questionnaire, and passive range of motion scores and hip extension and knee flexion muscle strengths.

The researchers concluded that exercise treatment significantly improves musculoskeletal symptoms in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Balance-proprioceptive exercises were shown to be more effective than strengthening exercises for improving lower extremity function such as walking, climbing stairs, and balance in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis.

Reference:  Baydogan, Saime Nilay MSc, PT; Tarakci, Ela PhD, PT; Kasapcopur, Ozgur MD.  Effect of Strengthening Versus Balance-Proprioceptive Exercises on Lower Extremity Function in Patients with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis: A Randomized, Single-Blind Clinical Trial. American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation.  Published ahead on print on 3/24/15. doi: 10.1097/PHM.0000000000000279

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Cross the Beam Game
By: Your Therapy Source

Summary: Download of game that encourages balance skills and
visual perceptual skills.  Find out more at http://yourtherapysource.com/beam.html

Brain Breaks for Spring $0.99 Until Tomorrow

Just finished the Brain Breaks for Spring and they are only $0.99 until 3/12/15.  I usually don't put the seasonal brain breaks on sale but due to Spring fever here I figured I would lower it to only $0.99 to help get kids moving!  Get more information at http://www.yourtherapysource.com/brainbreaksspring.html

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Clothes Pin Silly Faces

Here are some FREE printables to make these fun clothes pin silly faces.  Print the download from http://yourtherapysource.com/freeclothespinfaces.html .  Add some clothes pins and let the children create their own silly hair.  It would be even more fun if you had some hair extension clips that you could add.  They encourage strengthening of the fingers and hands and eye hand coordination.  Plus, they are just plain cute!

Get the freebie here http://yourtherapysource.com/freeclothespinfaces.html

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8 Simple Tips to Empower Students to Reach Their Goals

Here are 8 simple tips to help students reach their goals:

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 at http://yourtherapysource.com/positiveaffirmation.html.

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. Check out free positive reinforcement ideas to use during therapy sessions at http://yourtherapysource.com/blog1/2014/03/29/5-free-positive-reinforcements-ideas-to-use-for-therapy-sessions/.  Try using Punch Cards and Reward Cards for therapy.  Find out more here http://www.yourtherapysource.com/punchcards.html

6.  Set goals each session.  Work with the child to set mini goals each session.  This will empower the student experience small successes will help you reach the larger goals.

7.  Teach the child to focus on their strengths.  By educating the child on what they do best you can help them use different strategies to reach their goals.  The typical way to achieve a skill may not be the best way for each child.  Start off my keeping track of what the child can do.  Check out these free "I Can" cards to keep track off all of his/her accomplishments.  Get them at http://www.yourtherapysource.com/freeicancards.html.

8.  Teach the child to track their own goals.  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.  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.  Check out My Goal Tracker to get started.  More info at http://www.yourtherapysource.com/goaltracker.html.

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Title: My Goal Tracker
By: Your Therapy Source Inc

Summary: Download of materials to create a binder for student generated data collection on his/her goals. Two versions - Handwriting with Tears® and Zaner-Bloser® Style.

Find out more at http://www.yourtherapysource.com/goaltracker.html

 

 

5 Key Themes that Parents View as Important in OT Assessments

The British Journal Of Occupational Therapy published research to determine what parents view as important, relevant, and understandable in occupational therapy assessment reports, and to explore evidence for best clinical report-writing practices in pediatrics.

This study comprised of only 10 parents but in-depth interviews were carried out to determine parent perspectives on reports written for their children.

The results identified 5 key themes that parents view as important:

1. generating an accurate record of assessment.


2. answering referral questions.


3. understanding the language and terms in the reports.


4. using the report for information sharing and partnership building.


5. being prompted to take action with recommendations that parents can implement during everyday activities.

Reference: Makepeace, E. and Zwicker, J. Parent Perspectives on Occupational Therapy Assessment Reports. The British Journal of Occupational Therapy November 2014 vol. 77 no. 11 538-545. doi: 10.4276/030802214X14151078348396

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Title: Therapeutic Activities for Home and School

by: Your Therapy Source

Summary: Therapeutic Activities for Home and School provides pediatric therapists with
over forty, uncomplicated, reproducible activity sheets and tips that can be given to parents
and teachers. Each activity sheet is written in a simple format with no medical terminology.
The therapist is able to simply mark the recommended activities for each child. By
providing parents and teachers with these handy check lists, therapists will be
encouraging therapeutic activities throughout the entire day rather than time set aside for
traditional home exercise programs. This book is a essential tool for all school based
therapists to facilitate carry over of therapeutic activities in the home and classroom.

Find out more at http://yourtherapysource.com/therexbook.html

Educate! Educate! Educate!

As pediatric occupational and physical therapists we always need to remember that one of the most important, if not the MOST important, aspect of our job is to educate.  We need to let students, teachers, school staff and parents know what we do and why we do it.  Without buy in from all team members goals can not be reached.  In addition, in order for therapeutic activities to be carried out all day long we need to educate people how to make that happen.  A 30 minute pull out therapy session may be beneficial but even better is to train someone else who is with that child all day, every day, on how to do what you do during a therapy session.

Hang up this sign in your therapy room or toss it into your folder to remind you to educate!  You can download it at http://yourtherapysource.com/freeeducate.html

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5 Tips on Including All Kids at School

In the classroom, on the playground and during recess all children should feel included. Many times pediatric therapists focus on environmental modifications. Don’t forget other types of modifications as well. Each child can bring their own unique abilities to a classroom setting. Here are several ideas to ensure that all kids are included during the school day:

1. Accept each child for who they are – don’t try to change a child, realize that each child has their own unique traits.

2. Encourage group participation – many parts make up a whole. We all benefit when we work together.

3. Acknowledge all efforts – make sure each child knows that their opinions and actions are valid and appreciated.

4. Promote group decision making – let all voices be heard to make a decision

5. Break up big, group projects into smaller parts – assign each child a small part that they can accomplish.

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Needs ideas on environmental modifications?  Check out Modifications and Interventions for School - Reporting Forms.    Find out more information at http://yourtherapysource.com/modsdownload.html

Whooooo's There? Visual Motor Freebie

Download this visual motor and visual discrimination freebie at http://yourtherapysource.com/freethanksgivingowls2.html

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Turkey Tinting for Pencil Pressure

Practice grading of pencil pressure with this free printable.  You can download it at http://www.YourTherapySource.com/freeturkey

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Homemade Painting Tools

Create these homemade painting tools with cardboard, scissors and clothes pins.  Children will practice cutting skills, hand strengthening and visual motor skills with this painting activity.  Watch the video at http://yourtherapysource.com/videopaintingtools.html

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Mental Practice versus Physical Practice for Finger Opposition Skills in Children

Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport published research on the effects of mental practice (MP) and physical practice (PP) on a finger opposition task among 36, nine to ten years old, children. The children were randomly assigned to either a MP group, PP group or no practice (NP) group. The MP and PP groups participated in a single session of training with the dominant trained hand. The MP group was trained by mentally rehearsing the movements, the PP group was trained by executing the movements, and the NP group had no training. The performance of three groups was evaluated under identical conditions before training, after 5 min, and at 4 days, 7 days, and 28 days after training.

The results indicated the following:
1. both trained groups (MP and PP) showed statistically significant improvement in the trained sequence using the trained hand at all assessment points after the training
2. only MP participants were able to transfer the performance gains from the trained sequence to the untrained reverse sequence and from the trained hand to the untrained opposite hand.

The researchers concluded that children were able to learn the finger to thumb opposition sequence task through MP or PP with a similar level of performance. Although, MP allowed for the transfer of untrained reverse sequence performance gain and transfer to the opposite hand, suggesting that the internal representations developed by MP were effector-independent.

Reference: Sabrina Kyoko de Paula Asa, Mara Cristina Santos Melo and Maria Elisa Pimentel Piemonte. Effects of Mental and Physical Practice on a Finger Opposition Task Among Children. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport. Volume 85, Issue 3, 2014, pages 308- 315
Published online: 20 Aug 2014. DOI: 10.1080/02701367.2014.931557

Imagination Action Journeys are 10 fun filled stories that encourage literacy, physical activity, imagination and creativity. Children will enjoy reading and acting out the stories. These can be completed indoors or outdoors with one child or a group of children. What a great way to promote literacy and physical activity!  Find out more at http://yourtherapysource.com/imagine.html

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Farm Animal Detectives - Visual and Sensory Motor Freebie

Print and play this fun visual perceptual and sensory motor activity for children to guess and move like the animal.  Print your free copy at http://www.YourTherapySource.com/freefarmanimals

3 Fine Motor Activities with Buttons - Video

Here are three fine motor activities to do with buttons - button "geoboard", button snake and button matching snake.  Watch the video for how to make these items at http://yourtherapysource.com/videobutton.html

Free Self Calming Deep Breathing Activity

Here is a free self calming deep breathing activity.  Print and cut out the deep breathing cards.  The child can take 4 deep breaths trying to breath in through the nose (smelling the flowers) and out through the mouth (blowing out the candles).  You can print the activity at http://yourtherapysource.com/freecalmbreath.html

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Lots of New "Stuff"

There are lots of new resources on the website:

1.  The September edition of the digital magazine has been posted.  Catch up on research articles, read tips on staying organized this school year, get free printables (including schedule cards) and more.  You can view it at  http://yourtherapysource.com/magazine.html



2.  Check out the latest ebook - Data Tracking for School Based OTs and PTs.  This is a nice resource to track progress towards IEP or other goals.  It is in Excel (which you can edit) or in PDF format.  Enter the data in Excel and a graph will generate automatically to provide a nice visual for school staff, students and parents.  Find out more information at http://yourtherapysource.com/datatracking.html



3.  Another new ebook, Cooperative Activities for Kids: 12 Playful Activities to Get Kids Working and Moving Together, has been added.  This ebook is written by pediatric therapists who are also mothers, so you are getting some tried and true activity ideas in this book.  Get more information at http://yourtherapysource.com/treehouse1.html



4.  We recently added a whole new collection of video and activity cards for children from Move-With-Me.  Check out all the titles that combine stories, creative movement, yoga and Brain Gym®.  All the videos and activity cards are instant downloads ready to use in your next therapy session.

If you want to keep up on all our new products and receive notification when items go on sale, be sure to subscribe for our email newsletter here http://yourtherapysource.com/index.html.

If you want to subscribe to get email notification for each blog post sign up below.

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New School Year, New Students - Starts with Observation of Play Skills

Play for young children is crucial to healthy development. Pediatric therapists who work in early childhood education know the importance of play and how to use it to reach IEP goals that are set for specific children. When a child is evaluated for therapy services, the therapist observes the child in the classroom setting. Therapists will then often consult with teachers and school staff on using different toys, activities and centers to encourage practice of motor skills and sensory development. Here are several tips to fine tune your observation skills and to guide children’s play in the classroom.

1. Observe the environment.
Can the child access all the toys and activities? Are activities practiced in different environments to encourage generalization of skills?

2. Observe what the child does during free play.
What toys does the child like to play with the most? During free play what centers does the child spend the most time in?

3. Observe what toys or activities the child prefers.
Just like learning styles in older children, you can assess learning styles in little ones by what toys they prefer. Does a child prefer visual, auditory, tactile or kinesthetic activities?

Once these questions are answered use the gathered information to create a plan of action. Make sure that if possible all of the toys are accessible for the children. Provide the classroom staff with specific ways to generalize skills across different centers. After determining a child’s toy preferences use that knowledge to make suggestions regarding toy placement. If a child dislikes a certain center, try adding favorite toys into that center to initially engage the child. After these ideas have been tried and a child is still not engaging in certain centers, provide prompting by adults in the classroom. Make sure that the adults provide the least amount of prompting that is necessary. Prompting can be done along a continuum such as:
1. Present the activity to the child
2. Provide a verbal request to play.
3. The adult can model how to play.
4. The adult uses hand over hand to assist with play.
At each stage of prompting the adult should wait several seconds for the child to interact following the prompt before moving on the the next level of prompting.

Each time that you observe a child in a natural setting, remember to observe closely to ensure that the environment is suitable for developmentally appropriate play. What do you find works best to engage children in play? Do you have any other observation tips? Would love to hear what works for you…

Reference: DiCarlo, C., Vagianos, L. (2009) Using Child Preferences to Increase Play Across Interest Centers in Inclusive Early Childhood Classrooms. Young Exceptional Children 12:4 (31-39).

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Free Scheduling Cards for OT and PT

These are ready just in time for the start of the school year (or use them anytime you change your schedule to update everyone).  These scheduling cards are the size of business cards.  Use them to inform teachers, students and parents what day and time a student has therapy and to provide your contact information.

You can even type right on them and then print them out (you only have to type in one card and it will repeat on all 10 on the page).  Then manually fill in student's name, day and time when ready to hand out the card.  Or you can just print them and hand write each card.

You can download the scheduling cards for school based occupational and physical therapy at http://www.yourtherapysource.com/freeschedulecards