Hippotherapy Activities that Help Build Hand Skills

Hippotherapy is a specialized treatment area used by occupational therapists, physical therapists, and speech and language pathologists.  It involves utilizing the sensory-motor aspects of horses to achieve therapeutic goals such as improving sensory processing to tolerate touch and motor plan sequential movements. Although the horse functions as a therapy tool, it is obviously much more exciting than a swing or therapy ball, offering opportunities to develop an emotional bond, communication and social skills.

Please continue reading my guest post on Therapro's blog....http://blog.therapro.com/hippotherapy-activities-help-build-hand-skills/

Related videos:

Source: Sensory Pull Activity for Children with Autism or Sensory Processing Disorders by RecyclingOT on Rumble


Source: Hippotherapy with Children with Autism or Sensory Processing Disorders by RecyclingOT on Rumble

 

 

 

 

 

For friends living in New England....

Join me at Therapro, Inc.  for a free CEU seminar on August 26, 2017 as I present: From Flapping to Function: How to Promote Hand Skills by Meeting a Child’s Sensory Needs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sensory Processing Disorders: Pushing Objects Through Elastics to Increase Sensory Stimulation, Finger Strength and Body Awareness

Pushing objects into openings between elastics or other stretchy materials is a fun way to provide resistance, proprioceptive stimulation to muscles and joints in the hands and develop eye-hand coordination. I like to create variations of familiar activities and love when I discover new ways to add sensory stimulation to the activity.

Consider placing a motorized pen or toothbrush into the container for even more sensory stimulation!

As usual, I used readily available materials- containers and fabric. You can link up potholder loops or hair elastics to make a long, long, strand of elastics to weave through holes cut around the opening. Another option is to cut thin strips of stretchy fabric and do the same.

First cut to remove one end of the container. Then punch or cut holes around the rim.




If you use thin elastics you can push them through holes made with a heavy duty hole puncher . If you use thicker elastics cut around the holes to make larger.



 A first I punched holes around the rim of a Thick-it  square container with screw cover (shown in the video) because they are readily available at work.  I was planning to cut a flap on the bottom to pull open and empty the contents...... then I realized that if I turn the container upside down and make the activity on the BOTTOM, it is easy to unscrew the cover to empty out the contents.



This photo shows a large clear cheese ball container with large holes cut around the rim. I wove strips of stretchy fabric through holes and over the other strips until all felt secure and tight.


This activity is easy to grade by
1) starting out with smaller or thinner objects and increasing their size so that more force is used to push through the stretchy bands.
2) Make the openings bigger or easier to squeeze objects through
3) Experiment with different types of stretchy materials, some are easier to squeeze objects through than others.......

This activity works on different skills such as:
1) using hands together
2)strengthening fingers
3)Eye-hand coordination and motor planning
4)promoting engagement/ visual attention
5) Identifying/naming a variety of objects, shapes, weights, colors, sizes etc. while inserting them.  Visually impaired clients might particularly enjoy identifying objects before inserting them.

Objects with greater meaning or words written on them may be used with clients who have higher level cognitive abilities.


This activity is suitable for toddlers or older individuals with developmental or other cognitive disabilities who put objects in their mouths,  if you closely monitor to avoid choking risks.



Source: Sensory Processing Activity: Pushing Objects between Elastics on Container by RecyclingOT on Rumble

This client is stabilizing her spastic right hand on a large detergent bottle handle while inserting objects in the container that is wedged into the blue bottle.

Source: Hemiplegia Adaptation: Making it Easy to Stabilize Materials by RecyclingOT


Amazon Affiliate links:
      

OT Training Videos: Hippotherapy Sensory Pull Bottle and Stretchy, Weighted Sock Activity

Check out my occupational therapy training videos at: https://rumble.com/user/RecyclingOT/

Source: Hippotherapy with Children with Autism or Sensory Processing Disorders by RecyclingOT on Rumble

Source: Sensory Pull Bottle Helps Children with Autism or sensory Processing Disorders by RecyclingOT on Rumble

Source: Stretchy, Weighted Sock Activity for Children with Sensory Processing Disorders by RecyclingOT on Rumble
Check out more videos on my RecyclingOT channel https://rumble.com/user/RecyclingOT/

The Recycling Occupational Therapist 's Therapy Activities Video Series

Here are a few of my-Make-Your-Own Therapy Activities videos for parents, teachers, therapists and others. Enjoy and please share!



Source: How to Make an Activity Book for Somebody with Alzheimer's Disease by RecyclingOT on Rumble



Source: Sensory Pull Activity for Children with Autism or Sensory Processing Disorders by RecyclingOT on Rumble



Source: Paint Roller Ring Stack for Children with Autism by RecyclingOT on Rumble
Source: Help children with autism build hand skills with slap bracelets by RecyclingOT on Rumble
Source: Creating Push and Squeeze Activities for students with Sensory Processing Disorders by RecyclingOT on Rumble
Source: Recycling Occupational Therapist demonstrates Fidget Spinner by RecyclingOT on Rumble

Sensory Stimulation and Building Hand Skills Using Buckles

I love to fill bags with sand and then stuff them into socks. If I want larger bags, I use sleeves from old sweaters and fleece works the best since it feels so great. The fastest way to do this is to cut the end of the sleeve and make a few knots. The bags shown in these photos have large buckles attached to the ends. You can attach the buckles by cutting into the sleeve and pushing part of the fabric through the buckle . Or you can cut a strip of fabric to push through the buckle and then tie onto the end of the sleeve. I put some pretty duct tape around the buckles to make them easier to grasp and see how to connect them.     This activity provides wonderful heavy pressure sensory stimulation while at the same time developing the functional fine-motor skill of opening and/or closing buckles.

These "buckle bags" can be used in many different ways with people with  different abilities and challenges:

 

1) Place the bags on a client's lap. She will enjoy the weight and be able to easily pick them up to place into a container positioned on the table or floor. 

2)   Make numerous sets of matching colors. In the photo you see that I used the sleeves from an old blue sweatshirt . Use sleeves or socks to make pairs to match. I  have placed one half of the sets along the walls so that my clients need to pick each one up to bring to a table to find its match and then buckle. My clients with autism and a lot of energy benefit from all the sensory input of moving heavy objects high and low and across the room. This can also be done in school or program hallways using a cart or backpack.

3)Some clients are only able to buckle the bags together. Buckling seems to be easier than unbuckling.

4) The man in the photo above  is easily agitated, so he is performing this task while rocking in his favorite chair in a quiet area of the room. He is staying in one spot, as he opens the buckles and then pushes them into the bucket opening. Pushing these in takes quite a bit of force. You can grade the amount of force required by making the opening smaller or larger .




5) Some individuals may want to carry these around, drape them around their shoulders or arms or just put them in containers without using the buckles, at all. As you can see these materials are very versatile!

The following video demonstrates an individual who is able to open the buckles. He is blind and enjoys the feeling of the weight on his body and using force to insert the bags.

  

I collected the buckles from old bags or clothing and also purchased a large quantity on amazon.



TIP!
If your clients have difficulty positioning the buckles correctly, try adding nail polish so that they can see where to squeeze and match up the buckles before pushing them together.

Check out my book From Flapping to Function: A Parent's Guide to Autism and Hand Skills for many other strategies that help children and adults with autism to engage in functional activities that meet their sensory needs.
Http://www.FromFlappingtofunction.com

 

Related blog Posts:
http://recyclingot.blogspot.com/2017/02/20-simple-ways-to-resist.html

http://recyclingot.blogspot.com/2017/03/developing-hand-skills-using-snap.html

http://recyclingot.blogspot.com/2017/02/sensory-adaptations.html

Recycling all the cute little objects

 Gather up your beads, buttons, bottle caps, spare change, Bingo Chips, Monopoly tokens, dice, Dominoes and other extra game pieces. Find your unmatched earrings and other glittery objects that you are sure your clients won't ingest and place in a big container.

Now find a large cardboard, plastic tube or PCV pipe  and wedge it inside a box.

This is a simple but effective way to work on fine motor skills, attention and eye-hand coordination. My clients enjoyed doing it together and its so easy they were successful right away.  

Introduction to - From Flapping to Function: A Parent's Guide to Autism and Hand Skills

When I hear the word autism the image that pops into my mind is 4-year-old Gary. He is lining up cars, end to end, while children around him make their cars roll, beep, and drive over paper roads. Gary doesn’t seem to notice what they are doing, even as he crawls over another child’s leg to reach the bucket of toys.

Gary glances at a toy just long enough to reach for it before looking away. He sits with his knees bent and feet outside his hips, in a position called W- sitting because his legs form a “W” shape (see photograph 1). While picking up cars with his left hand Gary shifts his weight to his right side. His wrist is loose and floppy. He grasps the cars with his fingertips, as though they were slimy fish he was keeping from touching his palms. When another child jostles the perfectly aligned cars, Gary grunts and, without missing a beat, adjusts them. Then he stands up and flaps his hands while walking around in circles.

 

(photograph 1 Boy playing in W-sitting position)

You may have imagined a similar child—a child who does not play with toys the way most children do (or spends more time flapping hands than using them to play). A multidisciplinary team observing Gary would all contribute important findings. An occupational therapist (OT) would note that although his eye-hand coordination seems fairly normal, Gary does not look directly at objects, he avoids using his palms when grasping and seems unaware when his body moves into a space occupied by another child, signs of a sensory processing disorder (SPD). A physical therapist (PT) would note hypotonia (low muscle tone) and poor postural control, meaning his muscles seem weak and floppy and he leans on his hands to help hold himself up. A speech-language pathologist (SLP) would note his lack of social awareness—he doesn’t even protest when another child bumps his cars. He doesn’t use toys functionally or vocalize while playing, the way the other children are making their pretend cars drive and crash while saying “beep, beep.” Gary’s lack of eye contact with other children and the way he repetitively lines up his cars would draw a child psychologist’s attention. Gary’s preschool teacher would be concerned that he cannot name the colors of the cars or engage in pretend play, such as forming an imaginary steering wheel with his hands and pretending to drive.

As the team discusses their observations, the picture of Gary that emerges is typical of children on the autism spectrum. The way he grasps, manipulates, and uses the cars while ignoring his peers demonstrates difficulties with

·        Postural control: his body and hands seem to be floppy and weak.

·        Visual skills: he avoids looking directly at the objects in his hands.

·        Play skills: he lines up the cars rather than using them in pretend play.

·        Communication and social skills: he does not imitate other children or share the play experience with them.

·        Sensory processing: he has difficulty interpreting and responding to touch and other stimuli.

Challenges in all of these developmental areas contribute to Gary’s difficulty using his hands, which is my particular interest as an occupational therapist. This book explains how atypical development affects the way children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) use their hands. It also offers intervention strategies aimed at helping children to experience success and be as independent as possible in performing everyday tasks such as dressing, cutting paper, or writing their names.  In chapter I you will be introduced to how children use their vision, think, process sensory information and behave influence hand skill development and learning in general. 

The technical term for hand skills is fine-motor skills, because grasping and manipulating objects uses the small, or “fine,” muscles of the hands in delicate movements. Traditional examples of fine motor skills would be stringing small beads or stacking blocks. Effective hand use, however, requires much more than good motor control. In this book I take a comprehensive look at how children diagnosed with ASD typically use their hands, what challenges they face, and what strategies will help them reach their potential. I stress “reach their potential,” because there is currently no cure for autism or its associated challenges. There are, however, many effective and fun strategies that parents can implement.  

Who This Book Is For

I wrote this book first and foremost for parents. When I worked in early intervention and Head Start programs I saw how family education enabled caregivers to carry over OT strategies throughout the young child’s day and night, seven days a week, whether at home, in the community, or on vacation. Many of these strategies are easily integrated into everyday routines and continue to be useful as the young child grows to adulthood.

As an example, four-year-old Abdul preferred to line up objects rather than drop them into a container with a small opening. Inserting objects is an early skill that develops the eye-hand coordination to use shape sorters and push coins into a piggy bank. Abdul was motivated to insert magnets into the can shown in photograph 2 when an electric toothbrush was placed inside.

Caution: Use larger objects if there is a choking risk. Magnets are dangerous if swallowed.

photo 2 Vibrating container adaptation

The toothbrush created vibration and motor sounds that interested Abdul and made him want to hold the container. He had to use both hands together-an important skill that will be discussed later, in order to separate the magnets. Pulling magnets apart is an enticing activity by itself, but inserting them into a vibrating container is irresistible. This is one of my oh-so-simple, yet oh-so-effective strategies to help children to build hand skills. 

This activity is also suitable for older children or adults who are developmentally ready to learn insertion skills. Many of the strategies described in this book can help individuals with cognitive and/or motor delays to develop hand skills typically mastered at a younger age. However, it is important that the materials be age appropriate and the person have the prerequisite skills to learn them. For example, six-year-old Bonnie refused to touch gooey substances such as paint or glue and she had difficulty learning how to form letters. Her mother filled a sturdy zip locked bag with paint, and Bonnie imitated her mother using her index finger to  form lines and shapes by pressing. Bonnie had the prerequisite skills to use her index finger as a writing tool, visually attend and imitate the movements. Bonnie liked this activity because she didn’t have to struggle with controlling a pencil, it was fun to feel the paint move through the plastic and she felt like an artist. 

This adaptation is just one of many strategies provided that may be beneficial to children with or without an autism diagnosis. Many strategies may also help very young children who do  not yet have a diagnosis but perhaps the parents sense that they should be concerned.   Although children with ASD are typically not diagnosed until toddlerhood or older, some parents may notice developmental differences in their babies. Therefore, I include red flags and strategies relevant to babies. These may be especially important if the baby has older siblings diagnosed with ASD. If the descriptions in this book “resonate” with your child, speak to your pediatrician or local child development center to get further information specific to your child’s needs. 

Much of the current literature on autism focuses on the social, communication and behavioral aspects of the disorder. I have written From Flapping to Function: A Parent’s Guide to Autism and Hand Skills for the early childhood professionals, educators, counselors, therapists, and other professionals working in school, residential, community, or institutional settings who seek a comprehensive, one-stop resource that focuses on how developmental challenges impact building hand skills and the strategies that will enable children to reach their potential.