Parents Magazine Articles by Barbara Smith

My child development articles in Parents Magazine....


Does Your Child Need Early Intervention?  
http://www.parents.com/toddlers-preschoolers/development/problems/early-intervention/



Could Your Child Have a Learning Disability?
http://www.parents.com/kids/development/learning-disabilities/learning-disability/



What is Speech therapy?
http://www.parents.com/kids/development/learning-disabilities/speech-therapy/


What Is Occupational Therapy?  
http://www.parents.com/kids/development/learning-disabilities/occupational-therapy/


What Is Hippotherapy?
http://www.parents.com/kids/development/learning-disabilities/hippotherapy

Vibrating Activity Board

I love seeing how activities evolve....... First I decided to make a deep pressure sensory pillow out of a cat bed (never used with animals).  Its quite heavy because there is a bag of sand sewn to the bottom. Some people like to hold it on their laps, but the people pictured here did not, so it is on the tray or table. 

I sewed socks filled with sand and placed a massager and electric toothbrush inside the cat bed. I knew that some of my clients would enjoy shaking the socks and I was able to give brief deep pressure input by placing the socks over their arms or hands until they removed them. These are clients with severe tactile defensiveness and avoid touching and grasping in general. The person grasping the toothbrush typically has his hands in his mouth , so I was very pleased that he engaged in touching, grasping and having the socks placed on top of his hands for several minutes.

I work with another young lady who did not like the socks or anything touching her but she did like the vibration.  She typically has her arms flexed and pressed against her chest with hands fisted.  She has been working on pushing some soft cushiony objects shown above (they are yellow) off a board. They are attached with Velcro. The staff first did this activity holding the yellow tray at an angle and it was a bit awkward. I wanted my client to raise her arms reaching at eye level so I put Velcro on the cardboard and used that instead of the yellow tray. The picture shows how I made this with the black Velcro circles. I colored with green marker  to create a bit of color contrast with the yellow objects. 

It was pretty easy and fast to make the easel, but I ran out of contact paper so it doesn't look great. However, the exciting part is that I figured out that if I jam the electric toothbrush through the cardboard, the entire activity vibrates while removing the yellow cushions. My client loved it!!!! 

Motivational Activities.....



A big thank-you to the wonderful participants in Raleigh and Charlotte, North Carolina who attended my seminar.......

Motivational Activities Using Everyday Materials for Children with Special Needs..... 

and an extra thank-you to the lady who shared 2 boxes of donuts....(that was a first at one of my seminars, so very appreciated the thought...)   I have to say that although I loved the people, I didn't love the pollen, puffy eyes..... and vision that was so blurry, I could barely read the computer or power point screen.... However, I think that I still looked decent.... good thing, since the seminar was videotaped for future sales by these friendly techies....                        I realize that I have an obsession with making effective, therapeutic activities and also bringing them along to share on the show and tell tables. So there's all kinds of interesting sounds as materials are passed around and the therapists seem to enjoy themselves as much as my students and clients do!                               It was a lot of fun, even though travel is exhausting. So although nothing is scheduled at this time, I hope to do it again soon...



Pulling Resistive Shapes Apart.....

Connecting the 2 shapes together works on hand strengthening, sequencing and motor planning skills. But taking them apart is also great for individuals who need simple resistive activities that they find calming. A woman I work with loves to rip paper. Pulling the shapes apart and pushing into the container seemed to meet her sensory needs and were just easy enough for her to motor plan.

Finding other individuals with the motor skills to put them together is a bit more challenging and I have to make sure that the size openings match so that the shapes are interchangeable even though I am asking them to match colors. I don't want them to find this frustrating... this type of motor planning success seems to build self-esteem to try other challenging tasks such as tying knots and connecting zippers....
Source: Simple Weaving Shapes for Children with Autism by RecyclingOT




Source: Pull-Apart-Plastics Develop Fine-Motor Skills by RecyclingOT

Vertical Activity

 I am always thinking about ways to promote posture, reaching skills and visual attention with vertical activities. This sturdy board is sold by:  http://shop.aph.org/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Home_10001_11051

I love how the hooks are soft, pliable but strong enough to attach the shapes to for color, size and shape matching. It fit perfectly inside the file organizer I found in my office enabling the person to work in the vertical plane. It was also quite sturdy as he worked, not moving at all......

Sensory Toy without Batteries!

I had a wonderful time presenting at the Massachusetts Early Intervention Conference yesterday. I was exploring the vendor booths and mentioned that  I adapt many of my sensory activities with motors from pens and tooth brushes so that the materials vibrate, thus increasing sensory input and engagement. The company AllStarchild.com  showed me a toy that vibrates but has no batteries. It is actually a baby toy and designed to suspend from car seats with a clip or to be manipulated. I just love how it looks and feels and the fact that it does not require batteries. There is some type of spring action after pulled. This is a great way to develop coordination to stabilize with one hand while manipulating with the other.  I work with  an older individual I am going to give this to at work. She likes to reach with one hand and pull on stuffed animals that are suspended.  It seems made to order.....

This toy comes with cute little cards that parents can use to stimulate baby.....

Discriminating Coins and Stringing Donut Shapes

Some of my clients  are unable to discriminate coins from other round objects. So I decided to work on this basic visual discrimination skill by providing a container with a slot to push pennies through. I used the clear plastic container that tennis balls are sold in and put yellow tape around the opening to make it easier to see. The donut shapes cut out of detergent bottles are a bit larger and do not fit inside the slot opening.

I show the individual how to lace the donut shapes onto the cord. I designed these so that one needs to pull quite hard to get them on- so that they work on hand strengthening and receive sensory input at the same time.

If they try to string the penny through the cord, obviously it won't work and if they try to fit the donut shapes through the slot they won't fit. I provide verbal and/or point cues so that they don't get frustrated as they learn to stop and think about what to do so that the activities are successful.