Light Box Insertion Activity

 These light boxes are great. The handle can be adjusted to make the light surface flat or various angles. Unfortunately, the nurses told me not to use them because the  bright lights might cause a seizure.

I made this insertion activity hoping that the light would not be too bright but bright enough to be fun and attract attention to the box opening during a simple insertion task.  

The nurses approved!! Hooray !!

The top photo shows how I covered a box with sticky back felt and used velcro to attach to the light box.

The other photos show a white box that still needs to be covered with felt to create some color contrast. But you can see the inside light is covered with some translucent stickers. I cut openings on the bottom and top of the box so that the light shows through.   

The man in the video is legally blind but he turns his head toward light so I think that this adaptation helps him to  find the box opening.

Enlarging Handle for person with Spasiticity

I recently adapted this cup holder for an elderly lady with spasticity. She was unable to open her hand enough to grasp the cup and was gripping it by the rim instead.  So I am sharing a simple adaptation that involves attaching a handle cut from a detergent bottle to a  cup-like plastic container that the drinking cup is inserted inside. The client drinks out of the regular red drinking cup. The white cup that holds it is a bottle used for contact lens solution. I have no idea whether that white plastic container is safe for consumable liquids but the white cup holder never touches her lips.

I also show a sponge holder that I made years ago so that people with spasticity can grasp the handle to paint.

I cut into the green handle to make the cup holder- in the same way I cut the tab shown in the yellow handle below. I cut a notch into the white bottle (holding the red cup) and pushed the green tab through it and secured with the gray duct tape. It works quite nicely and nothing wiggles while she drinks.


The tab of the sponge holder is pushed through 2 notches in the sponge.

The last picture shows another way to attach a handle to a plastic container like the green coffee one. I cut long notches to insert the handle flaps into and secure inside with tape. I use these in a variety of ways for insertion tasks with very young children and all ages of adults with developmental disabilities.
I use a variety of lids with different types of openings to create shape sorters.

Source: How to Make an Adapted Handle for Sponge Painting by RecyclingOT on Rumble

Sensory Play with Light Box

I recently received these wonderful light boxes to use at work but the nurse said that I should not use the lights because they can cause seizures. First she said that I should just not use it with people who have a seizure disorder but then decided it was too risky because even if a person without a disorder used it someone else can walk over and look at it.

So I am looking at ways to use it without any batteries, electricity or lights.... I like how the carrying handle moves to change the viewing angle. The light box cover is this white plastic and pretty bright even though not lit up. It looks cool when I put the striped plastic sheet over it.

 I  cut the plastic fruits to have an extended piece on the bottom that can be pushed into slits cut into the striped plastic. I am still experimenting with how I will use this.


But the fun news is that I was in a program room all set up for a 
Holloween sensory activity with cute  skeletons and pumpkins and other things to touch and look at, including  a container of goopy stuff (looks like blood)..... Nobody wanted to touch it until I put clumps on the light box screen. The video shows one of the individuals enjoying using it in a fine motor task of removing it to put in the container. He needed the structured way of manipulating it rather than just holding it in his hand to feel.

Bilateral Bean Bag Activity

 I have been working with a young man who avoids using his right hand. He has limited hand skills and attention and he typically transfers objects to his left hand to insert into a container. He has been working on this for a long time.

I decided that since he is relatively successful at grasping and moving bean bags I would make something similar that would require using both hands because it is too long, awkward and heavy to lift with only his left hand. I filled an old long socks with a plastic bag in the center and  small bags of sand inside each end of the long sock.

Then I sewed the smaller socks onto each end to create some color contrast. As you see in the video I am trying to have him grasp the 2 small sock ends one in each hand. The video is choppy because I edited out his face. I am also talking constantly int he video because I don't want the voices of other clients heard, to protect their privacy. You do hear one other staff person directing him to do the task. He did really well and its exciting to find a new skill we can develop that  is within his potential given the cognitive limitations.

Making an Adapted Spoon

I have been thinking for a while that I should be able to make enlarged spoon handles using the handles from detergent bottles. The ones that are sold in therapy catalogs get lost- often.

I have been working with a young man who is able to grasp the handle and bring the spoon to his mouth but he often drops or throws it and then tries to eat with his hands. I also want him to learn to scoop.  I  had purchased a spoon for $25.00 (can't remember the name of it) but it had a very long and flexible handle that wrapped around the arm. I thought that I could grasp that long handle while he ate to encourage him to bring his hand down to the plate to scoop.
That spoon broke while figuring out how to use it!!

So here are photos and a video of some attempts to make built up handles. The maroon spoon fit inside the foam but all got quite soggy during the meal . I think that the green handle over the foam feels better.

I found the long blue tube on the beach. It looks like it might have been part of a tent pole. I ran it through the dish washer and it survived nicely!  


I discovered during this process that a heat gun makes the plastic soft enough to squeeze with pliers. If you can't get the end to clamp tightly onto the inserted spoon you can use duct tape to make it more secure.   

My favorite photo is on the bottom showing my client eating. He has learned not to throw the spoon and getting the kinesthetic  experience of grasping and scooping while the staff guides the movements.

Adapting Sensory Items on Frame

 I am working with a severely developmentally delayed woman who has low vision and is very tactile defensive. She does not want to be touched and had made this known over the past 40 plus years after numerous sensory-based OT programs.

She actually finds it calming to pull on soft objects suspended from a frame that is attached to her wheelchair. She had an objective to knock objects off a board attached to a wall. The objects were attached with Velcro. She has met that goal so I have been working hard to think of a new skill to teach her.
She does not grasp objects unless physically assisted and then she clearly does not enjoy either the physical assistance nor the grasping.

The top picture shows the 3 stuffed animal toys that I originally found attached to the frame with string. The first thing I did was reattach the objects with some stretchy material so that there is give when it is pulled.

My client already has the skill to pull on these objects, so I decided to up the challenge so that she needs to pull them out of containers and her reward will be that the containers will fall away and she can engage in her preferred activity of pulling

I found enough clear plastic containers that the tennis balls come in and I also used a vitamin bottle and bottle for contact lens solution. Shampoo bottles would also work well. I cut around the top and added the red duct tape to create color contrast. However, she really didn't look toward the objects, so this didn't particularly matter when using with her.


The stuffed bear shown on the left is too large to fit inside any container so I just left it in place and it can easily be pushed off the frame out of view.

I suspended a long red microfiber sock filled with supermarket bags and sewn closed. It feels really good.

The photo above shows a sock filled with sand attached to the cord. I put an extra blue sock over it so that it can be washed.

You also see the Brainy Baby toy.  When pulled it vibrates and she seems to like it. There was a rabbit that can be pulled to activate music (shown in the first picture) and I left it on the frame but it is too large to fit inside any of my bottles.   However, I love the idea of using the toys that can be pulled to activate music or vibration.

 The last 3 photos show my client pulling trying to get rid of the bottles. I realize that  I should start out having her work at this for only about 5 seconds and then remove the bottle myself so that she does not get mad. I am hoping that over time she will connect the idea that removing the bottles will enable her to get to the fun part of grasping the soft materials. As you can see she prefers using her left hand and avoids the right hand, so part of my goal is that she use both hands either together (preferably or alternate).

I include my affiliate Amazon link, so if you start out shopping from the page below, I earn a few pennies.... how nice !

Straws for Motor Planning

I found 6  crazy straws in a package at a dollar store and knew that I would put them to good use....

 It was very easy to make these motor planning ring stacks. I stuffed an oatmeal container with a bottle of water and fabric scraps. One can use anything, sand, gravel etc. just so that the container is full . Then when you poke the straw through the lid it will press against something and not need to go down. Next, decorate with contact paper and secure with duct tape.

I cut the little circles out of detergent bottles and punched holes in the center.

The  lady in the top photo is completely blind and I like how she had to pay close attention to feel as she moved the rings downward. I originally gave her the container with 2 straws but then decided since she is blind I would make one for her with only one straw.

The lady in lower photo and video is using the single straw ring stack and I realized that she would have enjoyed some color matching. So you can adapt this to meet your client's needs....so that they can color matching as part of the process of motor planning the movements of circles downward.

I think that this can function somewhat as a fidget tool. The straw feels nice and smooth as one moves the pieces upward or downward....