Weighted lap bag Manipulation Activity

 

I know that my activities are motivating and beneficial when a client who struggles with motor planning and control seeks them out. this young man particularly likes the activities that vibrate. I am starting to add a new twist by attaching the activities to a weighted lap bag. In this photo you see a big bag of sand sewn inside a shopping bag with handles so that it is easier to carry around.  I think that some of my clients find the weight calming. The long white cord is cut from a plastic bottle and part of it is inside the bag. I cut a small hole in the bag for the cord to pop out of and sewed tightly around that hole. The electric toothbrush is duct taped to the end of the cord.

Many of my clients have behavioral problems- agitation, assaultive etc. but by giving them the sensory stimulation they need, a just right challenge, success and fun, the behavior problems are minimized. This young man has hemiplegia so he is doing a good job working on bilateral coordination, too.....

Insertion Tasks- Making them more Challenging!

 Now that this young man has learned to stabilize the bottle while inserting flat shapes, its time to up the challenge. I cut the white folded pieces from 2 sides of a square container. They easily fold on the crease but he needs to learn to keep them folded and to insert the open end into the slot.


There is a secret opening on the bottom of the bottle to remove the shapes since they are larger than the opening on top.....

 

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.