The Many Uses of Sensory Pull Handles

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

This is one of the easiest therapy tools I have ever designed and made and I love it because i can use it in numerous ways.  Its also small,  light and quick to make out of detergent bottle handles and a strip of fabric.  Simply cut the handles as shown int he photos. Thread the fabric through the center handle (white in the photo) and tie ends to the other two bottles (green and red in the photo) .

If your goal is to develop a palmar grasp present the handle to the person and help him to gasp and pull while you  hold the white center handle. The person will experience the immediate success of pulling so that the fabric moves a short distance. This works very well in a small group activity where you take turns moving from one individual to the next. The children (or adults) have minimal demands placed on them since their turn is brief and they get to watch others have their turns.

I have used this activity while children are sitting on a horse facingforwards, sideways or backwards and while kneeling and standing on top of the horse. I have incorporated pulling the handles while they do sit-ups and while prone-moving into prone extension. You can do similar reaching activities that challenge the person's postural control using a swing or bolster.

Pulling hard on anything provides proprioceptive stimulation to muscles and joints. I discovered that some individuals are quite strong and can pull to the point of ripping the fabric. So I have used extra wide and strong materials to use this in an activity between older individuals who benefit from pulling hard while at the same time following my directions to let go of their handle (i.e. red) while the other person takes a turn pulling (i.e. green handle). This set-up promotes social skills ! 

One of the videos shows a client swinging on a hammock in a sensory room. He learned to maintain his grasp while I pulled hard enough to move the swing.

I also reinforce directionality concepts when I tell clients to pull upward or downward, left or right, even diagonally. Then I position the handle so that they don't have an option other than to follow my directions.

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Motor Planning to remove shapes from long flat strips

I love this activity because it develops many skills and can be used in different ways according to the child or adults abilities. I cut the long white strip from a large bleach bottle by cutting in a spiral direction and then cutting again to even it out and make smooth. The shapes can vary in size and have 1 or 2 notches.  They are inserted onto the plastic strip in much the same way as one would string beads. But the flat shapes are easier to grasp and manipulate and do not roll away. The notches can be extra large if you need to make this easier. The notches can also be small and snug so that the person has to use force to pull them off- nice proprioceptive sensory stimulation....Very young children or older individuals with developmental delays can simply remove the shapes to insert into a container with a slotted lid. This works on skills to use the hands together and develops eye-hand coordination needed to insert the shapes into the slot. It also works on motor planning since as you can see in the video it can be challenging to plan how to move the shape closest to the end where it will be removed. Attaching the shapes that have 2 notches is a bit like weaving, only easier because there are only 2 notches to weave through. Some individuals will be able to create a color or shape pattern as they weave the shapes in a sequence. One woman who has higher level skills enjoyed weaving them on so that a gentleman sitting next to her could pull them off to insert into a container.  She enjoys having the helper role, so this worked well for her. The gentleman loves to insert pennies into a bottle slot and does that every day. This new activity is similar and familiar enough to give him comfort but it is more cognitively challenging, more interesting since he has to sequence removing each shape before inserting them. this is a perfect example of creating slight variation to a familiar task.   

 

You can also see how removing shapes from my "Weavable Toys" shapes worked on similar skills.

This is also a great activity to promote upper extremity reaching and exercise for people who spend a lot of time sitting.  

The History of Weavable Toys

Using Pool Noodles to Adapt Ring Stacks

I have been making a variety of different ring stacks over the years. I also use swimming noodles a lot when creating activities. The PT at work recently brought in some very nice old noodles while cleaning out her basement and I ended up making some rings to stack out of them.

They also work well when stringing them onto thick cord. I happened to have this plastic cane left over from some other activity. I wedged it inside the oatmeal container. The cane is very long and extends all the way to the bottom. Inside the container the cane is wedged inside a section of noodle that is wrapped up in a bag of sand. So this is now heavy enough to not easily topple over. I also added a bit of the red duct tape to make the tip of the candy cane softer.  

Below is a photo of a very simple noodle ring stack, obviously made by wedging the noodle inside a box. The rings can be cut out of various round cardboard containers such as the oatmeal box or  use round plastic cut out of detergent bottles or coffee can lids. 

One wonderful thing about these noodles is that you can push a motor from a pen or toothbrush inside it.Here is a picture of a vibrating ring stack with the blue noodle wedged inside an OJ bottle.  I had this pink spiral shaped object hanging around in the attic for years. It was originally part of a toy helicopter that involved pulling and shooting something into the sky.  There must be a lot of little toys like that around with such a spiral shape to use in a spiral ring stack like the one shown below. I wedged  and taped the pink spiral into a tube I had and then wedged that inside the noodle. Add tape to secure all in place and you can certainly adapt to the height and size that you need. 

Weighted Bottle Activities

I was very impressed to see the how the staff at my new adult day services program integrates movement and proprioceptive input into the day using plastic containers filled with sand.


Unfortunately , you will need to turn your head if on a computer or turn your tablet or phone to see the photo correctly. But as you can hopefully see, they used a lot of plastic coffee containers and some detergent bottles (not show in the photo).

The containers are lined up on the floor against the wall and the individuals pick them up to place onto the cart. Sometimes they walk across the room to do this. I have also put bands around the containers that they need to stretch to remove. These activities not only give sensory feedback, helps with sensory modulation and decreasing problematic behaviors, they also strengthen and increase physical endurance overall. 

The "LIKE" Box

Here is an activity designed to develop motor planning skills since the person needs to move the shapes first horizontally and then vertically to make them go down. Some of my clients were able to color match.

One young  lady named this activity the "Like box" because she liked it. She has cerebral palsy and uses her left hand to stabilize materials. This activity also benefited another client who avoids using his hands together- he did this well to stabilize the plastic strip while inserting the shape. I think that some of my blind clients will like this, too. Some will add the shapes-other will remove them to insert into a container.

I cut the strips from large bottles so that there is an L shape on one end and a flat base on the other. After I cut a notch into the top of the box, I inserted the tip of the L shapes and the larger base of the strip  presses against the bottom of the box. I taped the bottoms in place from inside the box. After all the color strips are attached I crammed pieces of cardboard so that all is snug inside and also this added weight to the box to prevent sliding on the table. Then I covered all sides with the black contact paper.

Placing Swirly Bottles into Box Sections

 I knew that the little plastic pieces that are punched out during production of my Weavable Toys would come in handy. I asked my friend the designer/manufacturer to save them. You can see the process in the first photo. then I inserted some inside a water bottle filled about halfway with tap water (after I drank the spring water up). I secured the cap in place with duct tape. My clients have been enjoying shake, swirl and then placing them inside the box sections. These boxes are readily available at liquor stores, so  if they are destroyed they can be easily replaced.