Author: kaleidoscopeot

PRO-TIPS: NAVIGATING THE HOLIDAYS

by kaleidoscopeot

While the holiday season brings excitement with lights, music, parties, family gatherings, and festive foods, it can be overwhelming for children with developmental delay or sensory processing challenges. These activities can disrupt routines, and many kids thrive on a predictable schedule.

Want to know how to help your child navigate the upcoming holiday season with ease? 

Create a routine: Keep a consistent schedule even during the holiday breaks. This can help your child feel secure and reduce anxiety.

Prepare for holiday events: Before an event, tell your child what they can expect (i.e. who will be there, what will they be doing, how long will they be there, what to do if they need to take a break).

Sensory friendly activities: The holidays often involve loud music, crowds, and bright lights. Offer sensory breaks in quiet spaces and have noise-canceling headphones or calming toys on hand.

Mindful eating: For children who are picky eaters, holiday meals can be a challenge. Encourage them to put new foods on their plate but always have familiar and liked foods as well.

Movement breaks: With the colder weather, it is more likely that kids play less outside so consider ways to keep them moving inside. This may include dancing, creating obstacle courses, or finding some fun brain break activities on Youtube.

PRO-TIPS FOR PICKY EATERS

by kaleidoscopeot

WHY IS MY CHILD A PICKY EATER?

Picky eating can be caused by a variety of reasons from sensory issues, oral motor difficulties, physical issues, and a history of negative food experiences. These factors often snowball together creating a picky eater.

HOW CAN I SUPPORT MY CHILD IN EXPLORING NEW FOODS? 

Create a positive mealtime environment. Don’t force your child to eat a food that they don’t want to. This will cause stress. Always offer at least one preferred food at mealtimes.

Gradual exposure: Encourage food play outside of mealtimes.

Positive reinforcement: Praise them for any time they interact with a new food (i.e. touching, smelling, licking, etc).

Offer choices: Give your child options within a meal, such as offering two different vegetables with different textures. This will give them control by making a choice and increases the likelihood they’ll try something new.

Model: Eat the same foods as your child and discuss your observations (smell, color, taste, texture, etc.)

Be consistent and patient! 

PRO-TIP: BOOST ATTENTION WITH HEAVY WORK BREAKS

by kaleidoscopeot

WHAT IS PROPRIOCEPTION?

Proprioception – known as the body’s “internal GPS” – helps the brain understand where the body is in relation to itself and the environment from sensory receptors in the muscles, joints, and ligaments. It helps us know where our limbs are without looking at them, maintain balance, and determine how much force to apply for various activities (i.e. to write vs. to throw a ball). 

SIGNS OF POOR PROPRIOCEPTIVE PROCESSING:

Clumsy (trips, walks into things, frequent falls)

Difficulty applying an appropriate amount of force for a given task (i.e. breaking pencil tips constantly or writing so softly that letters are difficult to see/read)

Constantly seeks movement (jumps/crashes on furniture, hugs too tightly, “ants in the pants,” constantly fidgeting.)

Challenges with fine motor tasks (i.e. handwriting, manipulating small objects) Difficulty staying focused. 

WHY HEAVY WORK?

It helps to regulate the sensory system through proprioceptive input.


HEAVY WORK ACTIVITY IDEAS FOR HOME AND/OR SCHOOL:

Chair/Wall Push-ups

Raking Carrying items (i.e. taking stack of library books to librarian or carrying laundry up/Down the stairs)

Washing windows

Sweeping

Vacuuming

Stretching/Yoga

Jumping Jacks

Animal Walks

Pushing, pulling, squeezing activities 

PRO-TIPS IN HANDWRITING

by kaleidoscopeot

Force Modulation

WHAT IS FORCE MODULATION? The ability of our body to know and control how much force to exert for any given task. 


DOES YOUR CHILD EXHIBIT ANY OF THE FOLLOWING?

Illegible Handwriting

Pencils constantly breaking

Hand fatigue/cramps

Withdraws from activities such as writing/drawing

Rip paper with pencils

Write so lightly that their letters are barely seen

Poor letter formation

Write extremely slow

Rushes through writing/drawing 


ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE FORCE MODULATION:

Play with Theraputty/play-doh (pull, pinch, squeeze, squash)

Use Mechanical Pencils

Pop Bubble wrap

Pick up items with Tweezers/Clothes Pins

Practice writing/drawing with tracing paper, tissue paper, sandpaper, and/or chalk boards 

MAKE IT FUN

Play-doh Pictionary – Using a toothpick take turns drawing into playdoh while the other person guesses your drawing

Worm Farm – Cut up small slips of paper, rubber bands, or pipe cleaners (they are the worms). Grab the most and put them in your “Worm Farm Jar/Cup.” How many you can collect in 30 seconds?

Tissue Tear – Draw or write on tissue paper. The person who goes the longest without tearing their paper wins! 

STOP THE SUMMER SLUMP

by kaleidoscopeot

Looking for a few fun ways to work on academics over the summer? We’ve got you covered!

Small Children: Make or buy a sensory bin

Hide items in the bin for them to search for. This could include beads of different shapes/colors, upper/lower case letters, or numbers, etc. With this they can count, sort, and match upper to lower case letters etc. As they find the number or match the letters have them trace it with their finger in the sensory filling (i.e. beans, rice, kinetic sand etc). Then have them write it on paper with a writing utensil of their choice.

Anagrams

Have your child come up with a list of words (any words) and see how many words they can create with those words. Have them write these in BIG letters with sidewalk chalk. The big movements with the sensory feedback from the chalk on pavement will help retain the information.


Bake

Have your child choose a yummy recipe and use their math skills to figure out the correct measurements. Baking is also a great way to work on shoulder and hand strengthening that has an effect on their handwriting! 

Does your child’s hand hurt after writing?

Do they exert too much force when writing? Have them practice writing on tissue paper without tearing it!