Notes from the Child's Play Crew

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Khalfani Green Khalfani Green

Creating Meaning in Everyday Life, By Larissa Geleris, MS, OTR/L

When the main goal for therapy is participation in life, then why wouldn’t we use everyday activities?

Everything is different now. The way we work, the way we interact, the way we school our children, the way we deliver and receive health care services…it’s all changing. And these changes are not easy. So much on the internet is telling us, it’s a blessing! Slow down and enjoy! But what about our responsibilities? We can’t just drop those because the world told us we can’t go outside. We still need to pay our mortgages, we still need to buy groceries, our children still need to learn, and some children still have therapy goals. I’ve talked to many parents right now who are trying not to panic, but are worried about progress. You’ve been working so hard for so many years, spent so much time and money, and now it all comes to a screeching halt. 
But did it? Yes, clinics and schools are closed. Therapy services are delivered through video instead of hands-on treatment. But really, what are our therapy goals? Sure, some children have postural goals, some children have handwriting goals, some children have social-emotional goals, some children have sensory integration goals. However, when we zoom out and look at all those goals, they have one major thing in common. It’s “allow my child to participate in their roles in a way that is joyful and engaging.”
And what is a child’s role? It’s the role of a son or daughter, the role of a brother or sister, the role of a student, the role of a friend. So maybe, this time gives us a chance to support our child’s roles in a way that we didn’t have before. 
    Talk to your child’s OT to make sure you understand the underlying foundational skills that your child struggles with, so you can allow your child to participate in your family life in a way that supports their goals and gives them a purposeful role. Keep those telehealth appointments, and use that time to really feel empowered. 
Does that sound overwhelming? It might, but it should also feel freeing. Take a deep breath and know you can do this. Set yourself up for success. Be well fed and hydrated yourself, and expect that things will be different. But with no extra-curricular activities to get to, does it really matter if something takes a little longer? I’m going to say no. 

Use Everyday Activities
We can use everyday activities to support their goals. When the main goal for therapy is participation in life, then why wouldn’t we use everyday activities? We can use these activities to target underlying skill deficits. But we need to be mindful about how hard some of these tasks can be! If you know what’s hard for your child, you can help support your child in doing them.  
If your child has trouble with visual scanning, guide them to look across the entire room when cleaning her toys. If your child has postural instability, get on the floor with them and help them shift their weight while he’s Swiffering. If your child has sequencing challenges, break down a cooking task to two or three steps at a time. If your child struggles with fine motor skills, let her peel her own banana or orange.
This is where a conversation with your OT comes in. We can help guide you in how to help your child so that they can participate. Use telehealth sessions to learn how to support your child. 
Let’s break down a few common household activities that can’t be put on hold just because everything else in the world stopped. Speaking as a parent, the hardest part about this is recognizing that things will be a little different. It will take longer. It will make a bigger mess. It will not be the way we usually do it. But take a deep breath in, and a long exhale out. Realize that the end goal of each activity is not to complete the activity perfectly. The goal is to allow your child to participate in the family in a way that is meaningful to them. 

  • Cooking (I definitely recommend trying lunch first, that is usually less stressful than trying to have “help” with dinner!)

    • Executive functioning

    • Sequencing

    • Attention

    • Bilateral coordination

    • Tactile discrimination

  • Laundry

    • Sorting

    • Executive functioning

    • Heavy work (pushing laundry bin, transferring wet laundry to dryer)

    • Postural stability (pushing laundry bin, transferring wet laundry to dryer)

  • Fixing the bed (Your bed is likely bigger, so it provides more opportunity to work on these skills)

    • Heavy work (pulling comforters and pillows)

    • Postural stability (pulling comforters and pillows)

    • Weight shifting

    • Visual scanning

    • Sequencing

  • Washing windows and mirrors

    • Postural stability

    • Weight shifting

    • Scapular and upper extremity strengthening

    • Wrist extension

    • Crossing midline

    • Visual scanning

  • Swiffering the floor

    • Visual scanning

    • Balance

    • Weight shifting

    • Postural stability

    • Heavy work

  • Washing dishes

    • Bilateral coordination

    • Crossing midline

    • Tactile processing

    • Postural stability

    • Weight shifting


Now is the time to really think about your child within the context of the family. It’s time to slow down, and participate in daily life with them. It’s time to observe them without being dictated by busy schedules. Allow them to participate, and be mindful about how they participate. Know their struggles, but identify their strengths. Recognize and verbalize their value within your family dynamic. And let’s use this time to support their goal:  the bigger, overarching goal of creating meaning in everyday life, so that when this is all over, they can go out into the world and flourish. 

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Khalfani Green Khalfani Green

Home resources from Dalya!

We are working on compiling a place for resources to help support you and your families through these unprecedented times which we will attempt to update periodically.

We are working on compiling  a place for resources to help support you and your families through these unprecedented times which we will attempt to update periodically.  However, these are merely just suggestions. We in no way want this to overwhelm. At a time like this the most important thing is to practice self-care, hugs, connect with your kids, play, go outside,  and remember to breathe!

  1. Examples of Daily Schedules

  2. Sensory Strategies

  3. Gross motor/ Play Ideas

  4. Calming/ Stress Relief for the Caregiver

  5. Academic or Other Resources


A. Examples of Daily Schedules:
1. OT Specific Activities:
https://creativehealthllc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/COVID-Calendar-OT-Activities.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0BGngvdLXuTvWsfUYagbZejLpIZB89BpCItUgQHCJC339CherCc6eoBI 
2. https://mommyhood101.com/daily-schedule-for-kids

B. Sensory Strategies
    1. https://www.spdstar.org/node/1485

C. Gross Motor/Play Ideas:
1. Movement break for Kids https://family.gonoodle.com/
2. Cosmic Kids Yoga https://www.youtube.com/user/CosmicKidsYoga
3. 87 Energy Busting Games and Activities for Kids (Because Cabin Fever is No Joke) https://whatmomslove.com/kids/active-indoor-games-activities-for-kids-to-burn-energy/

  1. Indoor Activity Ideas: https://www.thebestideasforkids.com/indoor-activities-for-kids/?fbclid=IwAR3QXyw0quYi4JQ5kV5Txf8IOIuJq3qbfod7DlkegV36R4hhHlVQg-RS4x8

  2. https://www.whatdowedoallday.com/indoor-activities-for-kids/



D. Calming/ Stress Relief for the Caregiver:
    1. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prepare/managing-stress-anxiety.html
    2. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/18/parenting/parents-need-stress-relief-too.html

E. Academic or Other Resources:

  1. Virtual Zoo Tours

  1. Smithsonian National Zoo Live webcams (Lion, Panda, & elephant) https://nationalzoo.si.edu/webcams

    1. Houston Zoo Webcam ( Giraffe, Gorilla, elephant, leaf cutter ants, Rhino, Chimps) https://www.houstonzoo.org/explore/webcams/

    2. Maryland Zoo ( Penguins, Giraffe, Flamingo, Goat)

           https://www.marylandzoo.org/animals/live-cams-feeds/

           https://www.marylandzoo.org/animals/live-cams-feeds/


  1. Virtual Museum Tours


  1. Educational APPS:


  1. Celebrities Reading Story Books 


  1. COVID-19 Resources for KIDS


Credit:
1. Brij, Maliya OTD, OT

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Khalfani Green Khalfani Green

Raising an Extraordinary Person!

From Sarah Guy, COTA!

From Sarah Guy, COTA!!

Here are two great little routines that I found from Raising an Extraordinary Person. Roxy who is 8) and I had so much fun doing them today! For some kids 45 seconds might be a bit long for some of the activities so you can adjust accordingly. It’s a good idea to do movement activities such as these at least twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon.

https://hes-extraordinary.com/morning-workout-for-kids 

Here is another good one.

https://hes-extraordinary.com/improve-emotional-regulation-just-7-minutes-per-day

For kids who are sensory seekers (kids who are on the move all the time) intuitively we typically try to calm them down. However, it’s important to remember that these kids need more activity, not less, to satisfy their sensory needs. Activities should include a lot of vestibular and proprioceptive input. 

Here are some ideas:
*Note: it is a good idea to include ways to engage their brain while doing these activities below and provide lots of changes to head position and stops and starts. Simply jumping on a trampoline may actually wind them up rather than regulate them. So for example, you could have your kiddo jump on the trampoline while counting by 2s until 30, then crash onto couch cushions or a mattress on the floor, then bear walk to grab a stuffed animal, and then back to the trampoline for more jumping (this time counting by 5s). 

Vestibular input for fast, intense, arrhythmic swinging, jumping, bouncing, or rolling such as:

Swinging on a swing from a single point
Log rolling
Forward rolls
Trampoline jumps
Bouncing on a therapy ball
Upside down bowling (with head down and rolling ball between legs to target)
Sliding down the slide head first
Scooter rides
Yoga moves that get the head upside down.

Proprioceptive input of pushing, pulling, climbing etc. 

Get and give blanket rides pulling each other around the room on a blanket
Carry books, groceries, or the like
Climb up the slide
Tug of war
Wall pushes
Yoga
Push ups
Sit ups
Jumping Jacks
Crawl or run over couch cushions on the the ground
Jump and crash onto the couch cushions
Jumping on a trampoline
Mopping the floor
Washing windows
Scrubbing...well anything!
Dusting
The chores idea is limitless!

After doing some of the above then you can give your kiddo some calming deep pressure input such as:

A massage
Rolling a therapy ball over them
Squish them between couch cushions
Pillow fight
Brushing with joint compressions

For kiddos that are more on the over-responsive type or anxious about movement activities it is best to start with deep pressure input such as mentioned above. Also it is important to keep vestibular activity slower, linear (back and forth), rhythmic, and predictable such as swinging on a swing from 2 points or rocking on a rocking chair. After that some proprioceptive activity is a good idea. 

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