Proprioceptive Activities for the Classroom

As pediatric therapists, we all know how beneficial proprioceptive activities are for children.  These heavy work exercises help provide students with sensory information about body awareness and positions.  They help to calm and regulate a student.  Proprioceptive activities can also help to wake up the muscles getting our bodies in an alert state to be ready to learn.

Some of the best proprioceptive exercises for children are monkey bars, jungle gyms and trampolines.  Obviously, those are not available throughout the school day so here are 10 proprioceptive activities for the classroom that students can do independently:

1. Chair Push Ups:  Sitting with upright posture in a classroom chair, the child put his/her hands on the side of the seat.  The child lifts and holds his/her bottom up off the seat for 3-5 seconds and then slowly lowers back down into the chair.
2. Wall Push Ups:  Put both hands on the wall with the feet a little farther than arm’s length back from the wall.   Lean your body towards the wall and back out.  Another option is to just push both hands against the wall for 5-10 seconds with arms extended.
3. Desk Push Ups:  Place both forearms on the desk, palms facing down and flat.  Lean your body weight over your forearms lifting your bottom off the chair.  Return to a seated position.  Repeat several times.
4. Bear Hugs:  Wrap your arms around your chest or knees and give yourself a big, firm hug.
5. Arm Squeezes:  Use your right hand to give firm arm squeezes up your left arm starting at the wrist.  Repeat with the left hand squeezing the right arm
6. Carry Heavy Books:  Give the child a job to organize or hand out heavy books.
7. Wash the desks or boards:  The child can apply pressure when wiping the desks.
8. Stack or unstack classroom chairs:   Classroom chairs are heavy therefore this is “heavy work”.
9. Use a hand held pencil sharpener:  The act of holding and turning the pencil with one hand and holding the pencil sharpener tight with the other hand provides proprioceptive input the hands and fingers.
10. Jumping in place:  Jumping in place, jumping jacks or marching in place helps to wake up the leg muscles and provide sensory input. This is a great activity to do before activities that require body awareness such as sitting during circle time and walking in a classroom line.

You could create a proprioception station in the classroom.  Students could perform heavy work activities prior to school work. Proprioceptive Poems can help jump start that station into action.  This digital document includes the Push Poem and Jump Poem. The poems encourage proprioceptive input with visual cues for the child to follow. Each poem comes with 5 pictures for visual cues along with a poster. The sing song text of the poem is easy for the child to remember. This is a great starter activity prior to table top tasks, fine motor skills and tactile input.  FIND OUT MORE INFORMATION.

Read more about proprioception and handwriting.

 

The post Proprioceptive Activities for the Classroom appeared first on Your Therapy Source.

Body Awareness Continues to Mature Until 10 Years of Age

The Journal of Experimental Child Psychology published research on the development of multisensory body representation and awareness in older children (10-13 years old) using the "the rubber hand illusion".   Previous research indicated that younger children (ages 4-9 years old) represent the position of their own hand in external space by relying more on looking at the hand, and less on proprioceptive input when compared to adults. The current study used the rubber hand illusion to determine if 10-13 year olds balance visual and proprioceptive inputs at an adult maturity level. 
Following the illusion, the participants had to point, with eyes closed, to the perceived position of their hand. 

The results indicated the following:
1.  pointing responses reached adult levels at 10 to 11 years indicating that at this age children perceive hand location using an adult-like balance of sensory cues. 

The researchers concluded that the multisensory foundations of the bodily self develop throughout early and mid-childhood, reaching an adult state by 10 to 11 years.

Reference:  Cowie, D et al.  The development of multisensory body representation and awareness continues to 10 years of age: Evidence from the rubber hand illusion. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology.  Volume 142, February 2016, Pages 230–238.

Personal Space Journey

By:  Your Therapy Source Inc

Summary: Collection of activities to teach children about personal space 

including many body awareness exercises and a social story on personal 

space.  Find out more at http://yourtherapysource.com/personalspacejourney.html

Proprioceptive Training and Working Memory

A pilot study published in Perceptual and Motor Skills examined whether regular classroom instruction, yoga or proprioceptive training improved working memory in individuals 18-59 years old.  The experimental group participated in proprioceptive activities along with one other factor ie locomotion or navigation.  Some of the tasks were climbing trees, walking on a balance beam, carrying awkwardly weighted objects, running barefoot, etc.  The two control groups were regular classroom lectures and static yoga postures.  After two hours, working memory was tested again and the following results were recorded:

• the proprioceptive group increased their working memory by 50%
• neither control group exhibited increases in working memory

The researchers hypothesized that the increase in working memory may have been related to the fact that the proprioceptively dynamic training for the experimental group required various brain functions (thinking while moving).

Reference:  Ross G. Alloway and Tracy Packiam Alloway THE WORKING MEMORY BENEFITS OF PROPRIOCEPTIVELY DEMANDING TRAINING: A PILOT STUDY.  Perceptual and Motor Skills 2015 120:3 , 766-775

Bergland, C. Want to Improve Your Cognitive Abilities? Go Climb a Tree!  Retreived from Psychology Today on 9/1/2015 at https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-athletes-way/201507/want-improve-your-cognitive-abilities-go-climb-tree

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Title:  Proprioceptive PoemsBy:  Your Therapy Source

Summary:  Download of electronic book of 2 movement poems with follow along
posters to encourage proprioceptive input.

FIND OUT MORE at http://www.yourtherapysource.com/proprioceptivepoems.html

Gum Chewing and Headaches

Gum chewing is occasionally recommended for children as part of a sensory diet therefore I thought this research regarding gum chewing and headaches was important to mention.  Pediatric Neurology will be publishing research on 30 patients between 6-19 years old who had chronic or migraine headaches and chewed gum daily.  The medical doctor, Dr. Watemburg, requested that the patients stop chewing gum for one month.  The following results were recorded:

• 19 of the 30 patients reported that the headaches went away entirely
• 7 of the 30 patients reported a decrease in frequency and intensity of headaches

To further test the results, 26 of the 30 patients resumed gum chewing for two weeks and all of them reported a return of their symptoms within days.

The researcher concluded that gum chewing causes an overuse of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) resulting in headaches. 

Now, this is a very small study but interesting.  I happen to be a gum chewer and never experience headaches from it.  But, I only chew gum for short periods of time several times per day.  In addition, when I have recommended gum chewing for children on a sensory diet or to improve focus, I have never had reports of headaches.  

Just some information to keep in the back of your mind after you recommend gum chewing for a child on a sensory diet.  Perhaps inform the parents that headaches may be a side effect of excessive gum chewing. 

How about you?  Do you find that children occasionally get headaches from chewing gum?

Reference: American Friends of Tel Aviv University (2013, December 19). Chewing gum is often culprit for migraine headaches in teens. ScienceDaily. Retrieved December 20, 2013, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2013/12/131219130937.htm  

Must See New Therapy Toy - Squigz

Occasionally, a new toy comes along that really excites me as a pediatric physical therapist.  I received an email from Fat Brain toys recently about their new product Squigz.  I ordered it right away.  This is a great toy to add to your therapy tool box.  It is basically a bunch of two or three sided suction cups in different shapes that you can push together or pull apart.  

Here are some ideas to do with the Squigz:

• You can build towers and various shapes by sticking them together.  
• Pulling them apart takes some strength, bilateral coordination and eye hand coordination.  This toy is loaded with pushing and pulling (aka proprioceptive input).  I do have to add that it is not easy so if a child has a significant decrease in muscle strength he/she may not be able to pull them apart. 
• Not only great for playing on a table or floor for OTs but also wonderful to incorporate in gross motor activities.  
• Nice adaptive tool - place on a table top for a small child to help stabilize that hand while the other hand is busy working.   If a child has a significant amount of increased muscle tone they will pull the suction cup off the table.  But for an extra cue, for example to keep one hand down while using the other hand for feeding, this might do the trick.
• Draw dots on a white board in a horizontal or vertical plane.  Make sure your white board is mounted very well on the wall.  The child can stick and un-stick the squigz on each dot.  For the horizontal plane, you add in crossing midline.  For the vertical plane, you sneak in some shoulder strengthening.  Draw parallel lines with circles.  Can the child place the suction cups on each circle up the lines?  See picture above.
• They stick on the wall or floor so you can add them to obstacle courses.  
• Scotter board around the squigz that are stuck on the floor and gather each one as you go.  
• Put them on a white board or chalk board and draw lines connecting them all.    
• Give the child a bucket.  Stick them all over a floor and time how long it takes the child to remove all of them and put them in the bucket. 

As far as I know, only Fat Brain toys is selling these right now.  You can find them at Fat Brain toys.  
Watch the video below to get a better idea of how they work. 

PS - I was not financially compensated for this review, nor did I receive the product for free and I don't have an affiliate link in this post.  I just liked this toy! 

Toothpick Pincer Grasp Activity

Here is a super simple and super economical activity to encourage the pincer grasp.  Recycle and clean a Styrofoam tray.  Draw some simple shapes, letters, numbers or just let the child make a free form sculpture.  Put the toothpicks next to the tray in a container.  Poke the toothpicks into the tray around the shapes as pictured or anywhere.

Try using other objects to poke the tray like a dull pencil or the back of a paint brush.

This would make a nice sensory break as well that incorporates fine motor skills, proprioception and visual perceptual skills.

Want to add another element to your sculpture?  Put colored straws next to the tray.  The child can place the colored straws over the toothpicks to make the sculpture taller and colorful.  Be careful not to knock over the toothpicks as you put the straws on - takes a lot of graded muscle control. 

Proprioception and Autism Spectrum Disorders

The American Journal of Occupational Therapy published research on proprioceptive processing difficulties among children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and developmental disabilities. A total of 86 children (32 with ASD, 26 children with development disabilities but not ASD and 28 neurotypical children) were scored on the Comprehensive Observations of Proprioception (COP). The COP observes 18 items of motor and behavior regulation of proprioception. The results indicated that all three groups scored significantly different on each of the 18 items. The ASD and DD were significantly different on the four following items: feedback-related motor planning; tiptoeing; pushing others or objects; and crashing, falling, and running.

The researchers discuss how children with ASD may exhibit patterns of proprioception deficits that include feedback-related motor planning skills; tiptoeing; pushing others or objects; and crashing, falling, and running. These deficits may contribute to motor planning problems, decreased postural control and disruptive behaviors.

You can read the full article at AJOT.

Reference: Erna Imperatore Blanche,Gustavo Reinoso,Megan C. Chang,and Stefanie Bodison. Proprioceptive Processing Difficulties Among Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders and Developmental Disabilities Am J Occup Ther September 2012 66:621-624; doi:10.5014/ajot.2012.004234

Proprioceptive Poems- 2 movement poems with posters to encourage proprioceptive input

Find out more.

Animal Detectives Activity - Freebie

Print this free activity to encourage visual perceptual skills, proprioceptive input and physical activity.  You can download it at YourTherapySource.com.

Autism, Motor Skills and Vision

Recently, there have been more studies on autism and motor skill development. Many children with autism exhibit delays in motor skill acquisition. Some research has shown deficits in the following areas:

1. dynamic balance and diadochokinesis (rapid pronation/supination of forearms)
2. fine motor skills with regards to timed movements
3. increased variability to perform simple movements
4. performing timed tasks
5. slower initiation of movements.

In addition, research has shown a correlation between the degree of motor deficit and the degree of social withdrawal and severity of autism. There is limited research on eye hand coordination and autism.

In a recent study, 13 young people with autism were compared to 15 young people without autism in tasks that used vision and proprioception to land on one of two targets. In this study, young people with autism exhibited longer planning and execution of the manual reaching movements. There was great variability of the eye hand movements in the young people with autism. If the task required greater visual proprioceptive integration the amount of time required to perform the movement was increased.

Do you find these trends to hold true in your daily practice of therapy? For example, do you find variability in the day to day execution of motor skills in children with autism? What about the correlation between the degree of motor deficit and the severity of autism? How do you take these factors into account when setting goals?

More information on autism and proprioception.

Reference: Glazebrook, C, Gonzalez, D. Hansen, S., Elliott, D. (2009) The Role of Vision for Online Control of Manual Aiming Movements in Persons with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Autism 13 (4): 411-433.