Gel Pad and Sensory Stimulation

My company recently received gel pads that I placed on a light table. The young man in the photos has Down Syndrome and in general does not like to touch anything or use his hands. He pushes objects off his table and spends a lot of time with his hands in his mouth. So it was really incredible that when I brought out the gel pad he pressed it with one or both hands and brought his face close to get a good look.

There were 2 pads, one on top of another and he removed the orange one to get a better look at the yellow one. I think that he enjoyed the sensory input of pressing down into it and obviously it was very visually pleasing to him....

Winter Weavable Snowman.

This snow man is made of 3 circular pieces- a small one, medium sized and large one so that the child needs to match the corresponding sized circle to the correct snow ball. The snow man was cut out of an orange juice bottle and the weaving shapes can be cut out of detergent, dishwasher soap bottles or container lids.


The snowman is just one of the many activities described in my Kindle book: "The Almost Complete Plastic Bottle Activity Book" available on Amazon.

Medicine Balls and Mini Trampolines for Heavy Duty Sensory Input

 I love this idea from Alex sensory for super proprioceptive  input. Now I need to find an old trampoline to turn on its side. We have lots of heavy medicine balls at work and this would be a great way to use them with my developmentally disabled clients who need a lot of heavy duty sensory input....





These are affiliate links, which means that I make a little bit of $ when you shop on Amazon starting from my links...

Book and Weavable Toys Bundle Discounts....

The Recycling Occupational Therapist and Weavable Toys are now bundled for $40.00 with free shipping using Paypal.

From Flapping to Function: A Parent's guide to Autism and Hand Skills and Weavable Toys are now bundled for $35.00 with free shipping using Paypal.

Source: Weavable Toys Develop Fine-Motor Skills for autistic children by RecyclingOT on Rumble

Stabilizing to remove Rings

When I first starting to work with this young lady about a year ago she avoided using her left hand to stabilize materials and kept it on her lap while using her right hand to do puzzles and other activities she could perform using one hand.

 She learned how to stabilize a Velcro bottle on her lap and then on the table, gradually tolerating working on using the table surface.  Now she automatically stabilizes materials with her left hand, often while working with materials on the table. She has developed the motor control to stabilize the handle shown in this video without using the table or lap surface for support. This is very good progress. She prefers to remove objects rather than attach which is fine with me. (The cord is simple a long strip of fabric attached to holes in the handle. I added duct tape for the strining end). 

Sometimes she tries to remove rings in the middle of the cord rather than from the end, so I am hoping to teach her the cognitive concept of pulling the donut shape closest to the removal end first.  Also because one end has a handle on it to grasp, it is more obvious which end to grasp. If she were given a cord with just a knot on one end, she would try to remove the rings from that end. 

Hippity Hop Scanning, Sensory, Fine-Motor Activity

I may have to buy some of these. They look very fun and therapeutic as shown in the video !!!

Getting Heavy.....

 Here is the result of team effort at work. One person donated her old socks which are rather pretty (middle picture). I managed to shovel some beach sand into plastic bags before the bad weather began last year and someone else made this extra large, tall ring stack on a wooden base (bottom picture).

The gentleman sitting loves the feel of the weighted bags inside the socks. He has learned to pick up the socks to insert into a large container and also to stand up and bring each one into a container in the middle of the room during a sensory motor group. This is a perfect activity for someone who enjoys deep pressure but does not tolerate wearing a weighted vest or blanket. He typically sits with arms folded against his chest avoiding hand use.

I used the same socks with a different individual by placing them in the hallway, so that he could walk, pick each up to insert into a shopping back. So he received sensory input from moving high/low as well as picking up the weighted socks. He seemed to enjoy this a lot. He avoids using hands together so placing each in the bag worked on that skill.

I noticed that this same person used only one hand when putting the rope rings on the stack shown below. But he had better motor control and used both hands when placing the adapted heavy sock ring over the stack.