Category Archives: sensory

Obstacle Courses for Motor Planning, Strengthening, and More

Easy Activities- Kids, sensory Leave a comment

Obstacle Courses

I love obstacle courses for kids, and the best part about them is that most kids love them as well!

So, why do I love obstacle courses? Not only are they a quick, cheap and easy activity get kids moving, but obstacle courses have many developmental benefits as well.

Let me break down some of the benefits associated with participation in completing obstacle courses:

First, obstacle courses provide a great opportunity to engage in and practice praxis and motor planning skills. Praxis is the term that includes the need to create, plan, and carry out a sequence of motor movements.  Obstacle courses often offer novel physical environments for children, challenging their praxis skills. This also provides opportunities for children to reflect and learn how their motor plan and movements succeeded (or didn’t quite succeed) leading to development and improvement of motor planning and praxis skills.

OBSTACLE COURSES FOR KIDS.png

While completing these motor movements, children are also engaging in weight-bearing and strengthening activities.  It’s fun to incorporate challenges such as climbing over or crawling under obstacles. These motions allow for weight-bearing on the arms which helps to strengthen hands, wrists, arms, shoulders, and core muscles.

It’s beneficial to strengthen all of these muscles as they provide important aspects of postural control as well as allow for precision movements for tasks such as handwriting and many other fine motor tasks. Having strong core and proximal (close to the body) muscles allows children to use their hands more easily for tasks requiring precision.

children-334528_1920.jpg

Obstacle courses also encourage body awareness and bilateral integration skills (using both sides of the body in an organized and coordinated manner).  While climbing through tunnels, up ladders, or under items, coordination between both right and left arms and legs must be coordinated to successfully complete the challenge.

Opportunities for tactile (touch) and proprioceptive sensory input are also present while completing obstacle courses and together these senses promote body awareness, or knowing where your body is in space. Proprioception allows us to know where our limbs are and how much force our muscles are using at any given moment. Participating in “heavy work” activities that provide substantial input to the proprioceptive system also allows for optimal regulation of arousal levels. Meaning, these activities can both calm or alert children, depending on the situation and needs of the child.

img_3859.jpg

While moving through obstacle courses, the vestibular sensory system is also activated. This important sensory system provides awareness of where your head is in space and of head movements. The vestibular system works closely with visual and proprioceptive systems to maintain balance.

An additional bonus of obstacle courses is that they can be great for preposition practice. A good obstacle course will have items to go under, over, near, around, next to, etc. It’s a great way to verbally label these actions to help reinforce children’s understanding of these difficult concepts in a fun context.

A Few Obstacle Course Ideas

Obstacle courses can be so EASY to create and there are ENDLESS possibilities when it comes to creating your own.

Using them indoors or outdoors, the glory of creating your own obstacle course is that you can use whatever materials you have on hand. With a little imagination, you can turn just about anything into part of the course.  Here are a few ideas that I’ve come up with…

Outdoor ideas:

  • Use chalk to outline or mark parts of your course.
  • Jump over sticks or logs and make trails of pebbles or leaves.
  • Make a path through the leaves, snow, or sand.

According to Wikipedia, swimming pool sanitation is the process of ensuring healthy conditions in swimming pools, hot tubs, plunge pools, and similar recreational water venues.

Indoor ideas:

  • Use couch cushions or pillows to climb over or step on to really challenge balance and encourage strengthening.
  • Use painter’s tape on the floor to run through, jump over, or spin around on.
  • Climb through tunnels or a homemade streamer curtain.

DIY Rainbow Streamer Craft

Even more ideas:

  • Make it silly and add animal walks.
  • Make it imaginative and stay out of the hot lava floor but jumping to couch cushions, mats, or even squares of paper.
  • With multiple kids, have a “leader” create a course as you go. (I did this with my nieces and part of our course was sitting on the snow and spinning around on our bottoms). Kids come ups with some great ideas!

 

Most importantly, make it fun! Don’t be surprised if the kids take the lead and come up with their own ideas. It’s great for encouraging imagination, and if there is more than one child involved, cooperation and social skills are at play as well.  Comment some of your ideas below!

 

*Disclaimer: The information presented in the blog is intended for information and entertainment purposes only. Please consult your physician with any medical concerns and/or for medical advice. The information presented is not intended to be used in place of individualized therapy services, please contact your health care team for skilled therapy if you think it is necessary. Please supervise your children (or friends, spouses, etc) if you decide to try any of the activities or ideas presented as the author or this blog does not claim liability for possible injury or negative consequences related to the activities and ideas presented here.

Advertisement

Fun & Easy Pumpkin Activities

Easy Activities- Kids, sensory 1 Comment

OT Mom says, “It’s pumpkin season!”

And in my house, everyone cheers (even Dr. Dad)!

Pumpkin activities

It’s fall and I am totally on the pumpkin bandwagon. What’s not to love about pumpkins? They’re colorful, tasty, and irrevocably associated with the fall. In my house, we are all about the pumpkin crafts and activities. Here are my favorites so far this year:

Pumpkin Washing Station

Pumpkin Washing Station

We used our sand and water table to make a pumpkin washing station. Baby bubble bath made this activity safe and super fun. We also used wash clothes, a cloth sponge, and a nail scrubber for variety. This was a big hit several days in a row.

Fall Sensory
DecorationPumpkin “Sensory Bin” Center Piece

To decorate for fall and have a hands-on pumpkin inspired activity, I made this pumpkin bowl for our coffee table. As a filler, I used 99 cent foam pumpkins, a few real gourds, and a couple other sturdy wooden pumpkin decorations. They all feel and bit different and are not so fragile that I don’t mind my 2-year-old playing with them. I do have to admit, Dr. Dad does sometimes move this off the coffee table and out of reach when he is tired of finding the pumpkins and gourds out of the basket and across the room. So far, all of the contents have remained in one piece!

Paint a Pumpkin this Fall

Pumpkin Painting

We love painting in my house, so why not paint pumpkins and gourds?!? Last year we picked a nice day to paint outside, and this year we did it at the kitchen table. This year we also used the tiny paints that are connected, as my son is into pouring or mixing all the paint together to make a beautiful brown any chance he gets… check out these other messy play hacks to make messy play a little more manageable.

It's Pumpkin Season!

Tissue Paper Pumpkins

This one is pretty simple too- tear or cut up tissue paper and glue on a pumpkin, as easy as that. We used regular school glue and glue sticks. I love the hidden motor skill practice this activity has. Tearing up the tissue paper involves hand strength and bilateral coordination skills and gluing takes a bit more precision than simply slathering the paint on a pumpkin. We didn’t use scissors with ours, but I bet cutting out shapes or even faces for older kids would be a ton of fun.  While the finished product in our house wasn’t quite what I had in mind, my son loved it, and that’s what counts!

Pumpkin Sensory Bottle
Pumpkin Sensory Bottles

We’ve had a sensory bottle laying around that I made almost a year ago that has and handlful of random small items, mostly beads and the like and rice as a filler. One of the small items is a jack-o-lantern earring, and it’s my kid’s absolute favorite thing to look for in the bottle. So this fall we also made this pumpkin sensory bottle filled with pumpkin decorating filler, Halloween sprinkles, and tri colored dried cous cous as a filler. My kids argued over who got to play with it first, so we used it as “sharing tool.”

Just Explore

I LOVE PILES AND PILES OF PUMPKINS… and so do kids. Visiting a pumpkin patch is an Autumn must if you ask me. The numerous sizes, shapes, and colors of pumpkins, squash and gourds allow for kids to explore these natural beauties. It’s fun to compare the different kinds and sneak in all kinds of vocabulary and concepts with kids, such a big/small, colors, counting, you name it!

Fall explore pumpkins

I’m also looking forward to carving some pumpkins this month as well, playing in the goopy guts, and roasting some seeds. I have a feeling some of the above activities will follow us through fall as we are looking for fun ways to spend the season.  As alway, enjoy & I’d love to hear your thoughts about these pumpkin activities and favorites of your own!

 

 

*Disclaimer: The information presented in the blog is intended for information purposes only. Please consult your physician with any medical concerns and/or for medical advice. The information presented is not intended to be used in place of individualized therapy services, please contact your health care team for skilled therapy if you think it is necessary. Please supervise your children (or friends, spouses, etc)  if you decide to try any of the activities or ideas presented as the author or this blog does not claim liability for possible injury or negative consequences related to the activities and ideas presented here.

Touch: A Multi-Sensational Feeling

sensory 2 Comments

OT mom says, “Don’t touch me, unless you’re going to hug me!”

Ok, maybe I’ve never said those exact words, but firm, deep pressure touch is definitely more calming than light touch, and obviously more comforting than any kind of painful touch. Our sense of touch, known as the tactile system, is essential for everyday functioning and is interestingly quite complex. TOUCH

As children, we learned about the sense of touch as one of our five main senses (although there are other senses as well, such as the proprioceptive and vestibular senses). When we think about the sense of touch, most of us will first think about what we might feel with our hands, how we use our hands to identify objects, and the different sensations we may feel on our skin. While all of this is true, there is so much more to the sense of touch.

The tactile system works closely with the proprioceptive system to make up what is known as the somatosensory system. This is important for developing body awareness, and this system sets the foundation for our ability to engage with our surroundings and navigate our environment. This system also includes sensory information about pain, temperature, and vibration.

Receptors for touch are found in our skin and there are multiple kinds of receptors that react to different types of touch sensations. For example, we have receptors known as Meissner’s corpuscles as well as Merkel discs and instead of boring you with an anatomy lesson, just know they are sensitive to different types of touch (light discriminative touch and vibration, and pressure for fine touch awareness, respectively… in case you were wondering). Tactile information is also relayed from receptors on hair roots and from free nerve endings in our skin.4

From all this information, not only are we are able to identify what we are feeling through our skin, we are able to use this information with our other sensory systems to complete complex motor control tasks such as writing, walking, and tying our shoes.

tactile functioning sets the stage for higher level skills

As I mentioned before, touch does even more for us. The sense of touch has a direct influence on our arousal level as well, meaning that it can influence how alert and focused or calm and relaxed we are at any given time.

For example, light touch tends to be alerting. Think about when a bug lands on your arm and displaces a hair or two. Those hair follicle receptors fire and alert you to the possible threat. How do you respond? Most of us automatically swat the area of skin or at least immediately look it over.

On the other hand, touch can be calming. Think about a nice massage- the firm, moderate to deep touch calms most people down, especially when it’s slow and linear.3 Another example I like to think about is the sensation of soft, warm, and heavy blankets when you climb into bed.

Let’s not forget about the emotional components of touch. Even before we are born, we are developing our sense of touch. From as early as five and a half weeks after conception, reflex avoidance reactions occur in response to touch. As soon as we are born, we begin to bond with our parents through touch. The research about kangaroo care (the practice of a parent holding their infant with skin to skin contact) demonstrates numerous benefits of this touch, both physiologic and behavioral, and for both the parent and baby. Benefits such as improved weight gain and growth, stable body temperatures and heart rates and better self-regulation have been seen for infants and parents may demonstrate more confidence in parenting and have decreased stress levels.1

emotional benefits of touch

As babies, we bond with through the sense of touch, then we learn and explore our environment and develop a body map that will allow for higher level functioning, such as moving through our environment and manipulating items.

As we grow up, the sense of touch continues to influence our emotional functioning. Studies have indicated that married couples that engage in more touch, such as through hugs and massage, have correlated decreases in cortisol levels and blood pressure, and increased oxytocin levels.2

Moderate touch through activities such as massage have been seen to decrease heart rate and change EEG patterns, so not only does it feel nice, it has systemic influence over the entire body.2

But wait!  The list continues…. benefits of specific types of touch, such as massage protocols, have also been correlated with decreased pain, increased immune function, reduction in depression, and increased attention.2

As with every sense, we are on a continuum of how sensitive we are to that particular sense stimuli. Some people are over-responsive to touch and others under, with most of us somewhere in-between.

Those who are hyper-responsive may react more strongly to touch than others. They may demonstrate extreme discomfort with certain fabrics or clothing, may dislike having their hands and/or mouth messy, and may be distraught when being touched by others.

On the other side of the continuum, some people are hypo-responsive and may not notice tactile input quite so much, such as the person who doesn’t notice the food on their face. Finally, there are sensory seekers in the world- those who crave specific sensory inputs, such as a person who has the need to touch and fidget with different materials or even touch other people.

Recognizing that some people may be very sensitive to touch is importation, as the tactile system has connections with the autonomic nervous system and could potentially trigger a fight or flight response. Therefore, it’s important NOT to force tactile situations on kids or who demonstrate tactile defensiveness. Often, it’s easier to present tactile stimuli in combination with proprioceptive input, but of course, if you have major concerns, consider a referral to an OT to look at the specific situation.

tactile input to calm or alert

So how can we use this understanding of our sense of touch? By promoting the development of this sense, and utilizing the tactile system in our daily routines:

Alerting activities include light touch, such as tickling. You can try using a feather boa or light clothing to let kids play games and to play dress up. Calming activities include using massage, weighted blankets, moderate and deep pressure inputs such as hugs.

Allowing children to have ample opportunities for tactile exploration may promote the development of this sense and tactile discrimination abilities. Some ideas to do this include:

  • Sensory bins/boxes- filled with sand, rice, dried pasta, beans, small balls, etc.
  • Play with your food
  • Manipulate play dough, gak, slime, floam
  • Use nature– sand sticks, grass, rocks
  • Put on lotion
  • Play dress up

Also, don’t forget to hold those babies, squeeze your spouse, and utilize this sensational sense of touch!  On that note, I think I need to go hug my family now 🙂

 

*Disclaimer: The information presented in the blog is intended for information purposes only. Please consult your physician with any medical concerns and/or for medical advice. The information presented is not intended to be used in place of individualized therapy services, please contact your health care team for skilled therapy if you think it is necessary. Please supervise your children (or friends, spouses, etc)  if you decide to try any of the activities or ideas presented as the author or this blog does not claim liability for possible injury or negative consequences related to the activities and ideas presented here.

 

References:

  1. Case-Smith, J. & O’Brien, J. (2009) Occupational Therapy for Childretn (6th). Mosby Elsevier, St. Louis, Missouri
  2. Field, T. (2009). Touch for socioemotional and physical well-being: review. Developmental Review, 30, 367-383. Doi:10.1016/j.dr.2011.01.001
  3. Kramer, P. & Hinojosa, J. (2010). Frames of Reference for Pediatric Occupational Therapy (3rd). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia, PA
  4. Lundy-Ekman, L. (2007). Neuroscience: Fundamentals for Rehabilitation (3rd). Saunders Elsevier, St. Louis, Missouri

Messy Play Hacks

sensory 2 Comments

OT Mom says, “Let’s use some [insert something super messy; e.g. paint, slime, sand] today!”

Dr. Dad doesn’t say anything but omits a low guttural sound of disapproval. He doesn’t love it when we make a mess. He does, however, help when we do it anyway.

Respect all life.

Messy play activities are excellent for allowing young children to explore their world. Not only does do messy play activities provide an opportunity to develop a variety of senses, they have the potential to promote skills such as fine motor coordination, pre-writing skills, tactile discrimination, and bilateral coordination to name a few.

That being said, we don’t always have the time, energy, or patience for all out messy activities. Last summer we even had our house for sale, and trying to keep it clean with a messy toddler boy and a food-throwing baby was quite the challenge. While attempting to keep our house close to “show” ready, I figured out some hacks to make messy activities possible. I’ve thrown in some bonus ideas to make the most of messy play opportunities.

Take it Outside

If the weather is nice, take the kids outside to make a mess. When we think of painting, we usually don’t think to do it outside, but why not? A little paint splattered into the grass is no biggie. I use a drop cloth on the back lawn and let them go at it. If it’s especially warm, you can  have some water ready outside for easy clean up.

You can also use mother nature’s readily available messy supplies. Kids love digging in the dirt, playing in rocks, or stomping in mud puddles. We recently planted some seedlings and got dirt everywhere, and it just took a quick sweep to clean it up.

The bonus:  Being outside is associated with a lot of perks in itself, such as associations with many positive mental health benefits.

otmomsays.com-4

Take it to the Tub

There are so many fun, messy sensory activities you can do in the bathtub! You can use what’s available commercially (foam soap, bubbles, bath crayons, bath paint) or go a little bit outside of the box.

We use actual kid paint in the bath tub sometimes when we are doing art projects, just because it makes clean up much easier.

The bonus: Using the vertical sides of the bathtub wall also promotes some great motor skills when doing things like doodling with bath crayons.  Writing on the vertical surface of the tub wall allows for wrist extension and promotes proper grasp patterns children need for good handwriting skills.

Box It Up

Speaking of thinking outside of the box, you can do messy play IN a box to help keep it contained. This is a great idea for things like markers, paint, and crayons that you don’t want a toddler getting all over the walls.

The bonus: Kids love to play in boxes and they are inexpensive (it’s also another opportunity to utilize a vertical surface).

COFFEE

Catch It in a Sheet

I love letting my kids cook and bake with me, but let’s face it, toddlers are NOT good at keeping all the ingredients in the bowl. When we bake, I usually will put a sheet or a picnic blanket on the floor and let the kids help mix the ingredients on top of that. While it doesn’t catch every speck of flour, it does help keep the mess contained.

I also use a drop cloth under the area that my kids play with play dough.

The bonus: Kids can help lay out the sheet and make sure it’s smooth. When the activity is done, they can help to fold it up in a way that the mess won’t fall out and help shake it out outside.

Try Some Good Ol’ H20

The absolute easiest idea is to simply use water. Young kids can “paint” with water on construction paper (you can let it dry and reuse it several times). When my older son paints with watercolors (what I believe to be the easiest paint to clean up), my daughter (who is a bit younger) is perfectly happy with just water.

OTMOMSAYS.COM-5

 

There are also watercolor paint books that have just a touch of paint at the top of each page and “magic” water activity books that are low to no mess.

I’ve even taken it up a step with the water messy play by putting a couple thick towels on my kitchen floor to let my daughter use kitchen items and water for pretend play. She likes to pour and stir the water in kitchen pots and bowls with real utensils. She scoops and pours a little water with measuring cups. Sure some of the water spills, but it’s super easy to clean up. Just about a cup of water (and of course supervision) and she is happily entertained and engaged in a great activity.

The bonus: Using water for pretend play encourages creativity and promotes development of social-emotional skills.

Zip It Up

This one isn’t messy at all. It is however, a fun tactile activity that little ones love.  You can use a zip lock bag filled with something squishy (I use hair gel) and add things such as glitter, water beads, or small toys (without sharp or pointy edges).  I’d also recommend taping the bag shut and always supervising kids closely with this activity, in case the bag does happen to get ripped open and since if not used correctly a suffocation and choking hazard. When my son was a baby, I’d tape it to his high chair tray for a fun, easy activity to do while I prepped dinner. If you’re really brave, you can have a young helper assist in making the bags.

Copy of Zip it up

The bonus: Visual perception/discrimination games can be incorporated into the play. Some ideas include: have the child point to all the blue items, identify alphabet beads, squish all the purple water beads to the same side. This activity also provides an opportunity to practice finger isolation to poke at the sensory bag for fine motor development.

Make It Edible

We all have to eat and a lot of young kids are already making a mess, so another option for messy play is to stick them in the high chair or at the table and paint with yogurt, jam, avocados, sauce (whatever you have on hand). This way, if they are in a stage where they’re putting anything (or everything) in their mouth- it’s a good thing!

The bonus: Try to incorporate practice using utensils for fine motor development and promotion of self-help skills. Even if your child doesn’t use a child spoon accurately yet, it’s great to still allow for some practice and exploration of the item.

halfway

Plan Ahead

This may seem obvious, but I’ve learned the hard way. Having your clean up materials at arms length is half the battle. If your doing some kind of wet messy play (e.g. paint, goop, food, etc) have some wet wash clothes or baby wipes nearby. If it’s some kind of dry mess (e.g. rice, sand, etc) have a broom or vacuum ready to go. This way, once the activity is over, the mess can be minimized before it spreads and takes over your house.

The bonus: Having the kids help you gather the needed items allows them to be involved in the routine and can serve as a learning opportunity. Concepts such as before, during, and after can be explained and the preparation, action, then clean up can help kids with transitions between activities.

Clean Up Together

Let’s face it, sometimes messy play (no matter how you plan it or what precautions you take) makes a BIG mess. That’s ok, because there are many great skills to be gained in the clean-up process.

The bonus: During the clean up process, kids get a sense of participation in the family routines, motor skills may be developed, and more sensory input is included, such as proprioception.

Add or Remove Clothing

Either way is a good way to go- Using a smock or an old shirt designated for painting, or allowing for some shirtless messy play, you get a reduction of ruined cloths and:

The bonus: practicing self care dressing (and undressing) skills.

Messy Play-2

Use Everyday Stuff

Messy play can simply be fun, cheap, creative play. There are so many activities you can do using the items you have in your house at any given time. In the kitchen, have the kids explore produce:  pumpkin guts, squishing (and eating bananas), dried rice for a sensory bin, playing in flour, or dried dried noodles. You can head outside to stomp in the mud, dig for worms, or jump in leaves. The options are endless, just look around!

The bonus: by looking at an everyday item in a different way, imaginations can soar.

I hope your next mess is a good one! Let me know how it goes 🙂

*Disclaimer: The information presented in the blog is intended for information purposes only. Please consult your physician with any medical concerns and/or for medical advice. The information presented is not intended to be used in place of individualized therapy services, please contact your health care team for skilled therapy if you think it is necessary. Please supervise your children (or friends, spouses, etc)  if you decide to try any of the activities or ideas presented as the author or this blog does not claim liability for possible injury or negative consequences related to the activities and ideas presented here.

Beyond the Five Senses: Input Vestibular

sensory 4 Comments

Dr. Dad says, “I’ll rock the baby tonight.”

OT Mom says, “Well then, good night to the both of you.”

Like many parents, he often falls asleep while rocking her, but why? Not only are our babies warm and snuggly, (and most of us are usually at least a little short on sleep), there’s more going on. It’s the rocking. The slow, linear movement of rocking has a direct calming effect on both of them, thanks to their vestibular systems.

IMG_7657

Many of us are familiar with the five senses we learned about as kids, but there are several additional senses that have a ton of impact on just about everything we do. In a post a couple weeks ago, I provided some information about the proprioceptive system. Another super important system (that works very closely with the proprioceptive system) is the vestibular system.

So what is the vestibular sense? It’s the sense of where your head is positioned relative to gravity and your awareness of head movements. It works closely with our visual and proprioceptive systems to allow for us to maintain balance. The receptors for this sense are located in the inner ear and include three semicircular canals filled with fluid and hairs, and two organ sacs filled with gel, hairs, and little rock-like things called otoconia8. I will spare you the physiological details, but pretty much the hairs move in response to movement, movement momentums, and the position of your head in space.

When I hear the someone say, they’re “losing their marbles,” I really hope they don’t mean their otoconia. There is actually a disorder known as Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV) where those silly otoconia are displaced into one of the semi-circular canals causing symptoms like vertigo, nausea, and poor balance8.

rock-1573068_1920

Dr. dad tells his patients that “they’ve got rocks loose in their heads,” and they laugh.

When we engage in motion that is slow, rhythmic, and linear, it has a calming effect on our nervous system4. That’s why things like rocking babies or swaying with them slowly, puts them to sleep (and sometimes makes the moms and dads tired too). The vestibular system also contributes to the drowsiness we get in the car. It’s the constant linear motion that creates a calming effect.  When used in a different way, this system can be very alerting. When movement is fast, irregular (such as sudden starts and stops), or changing directions and intensities, it stimulates our nervous system and heightens our awareness and alertness4,16.

person-842429_1920

But what about car sickness? I blame Dr. Dad’s bad driving. Just kidding (kind of). Actually, car sickness is due to the visual and vestibular systems getting contradictory information8– that’s why it’s more common for people when they try to read in the car. If you’re focused on something in front of you, and your visual system is not getting input of the movement of driving down the street, but your inner ear is, it’s a disconnect and your nervous systems says, “somethings not quite right here, let’s vomit.”  Well, hopefully you’re not to the point of vomiting, but you get my drift. That’s also why when you are in the front seat, especially the driver, you’re less prone to car sickness as you’re more aware (I hope especially if you are the driver) of the movements of the car and yourself.

trees-358418_1920

This nausea can also happen if you are sitting still but you’re getting visual input telling your brain that you are moving, such as in some 3D experiences  or movies with a shaky camera. I have a distinct memory of my sister listening to, rather than watching, the end of one such shaky camera horror movie with her face over an empty popcorn bowl. The visual to vestibular disconnect made her that unable to watch.

Usually, however, for most of us the vestibular system functions well with our other senses to do amazing things.  In our brain, vestibular information meets up in a central hub that also receives information about proprioception (relating to joint movements and positions), vision, tactile (touch), and auditory information. This allows for:

  • control of our head movements
  • stabilization and control our eye movements (even when our heads are moving)
  • maintaining and adjusting body posture and influencing our body’s muscle tone
  • development of self regulation and sensory awareness
  • engagement in bilateral integration (using both sides of the body efficiently, such as both hands together to complete a task).
  • auditory language development2,4,8,9,10

brain-1845962_1920

As you can see, the vestibular system is linked to many, many areas of the brain and has a wide spread influence over brain organization and functioning. There’s also some research suggesting that vestibular input can influence stress reduction13,  emotional behavior6,12 and mood11,16. In some settings, vestibular input has been shown to promote academic participation and achievement15.

backpack-1149461_1920

For the kids of the world, it’s so important to provide them with opportunities to develop and strengthen this system. There’s evidence that an environment rich with vestibular-proprioceptive opportunities has powerful effects on development14. It baffles me to see school districts cutting back on recess, PE and related activities.  In this day and age of technology, our kids still need to MOVE!

Seize the

So, now that we know a little about this incredible sensory system, let’s use this knowledge to brainstorm some fun vestibular activities that could promote good things today!

-In your house, equipment free– to provide stimulating input you can spin, dance roll, climb exercise, run with lots of stop and go’s (think red light/green light).

-Play outside-  swings, slides, bike riding (always wear a helmet), wagon rides, scooter boards, push cars, sledding, skiing, running, playing team sports, and the list could go on and on.

z

– Try similar things inside- my kids love pushing each other in a cardboard box and spinning each other on our swivel chairs and office chairs for increased stimulation; try rhythmic, slow rocking for a calming effect.

– Tai Chi- While I have not tried this personally, there is more and more evidence that engaging in Tai Chi can improve balance, well-being, strength, and potentially decreases falls for older individuals1,7.

– Dance-  Try slow dancing to relax, or dance fast and wild to wake up. There’s research on the benefits of dance for older adults too, with improvements found in both cognitive and sensorimotor performance5.

– Wear your baby– instead of just rocking your baby, you can use a baby wrap, carrier, or baby backpack to attach your baby to you while you grocery shop, clean your house, or go for a walk. I’ve even taking my kids morel mushroom hunting using them. Not only does your child get the wonderful movement, I think it’s also great for bonding and allowing them to be involved in your daily activities.

– Ride a horse- there’s a whole branch of therapy known as hippotherapy where horses are utilized as a treatment tool for OTs, PTs, and SLPs. Riding a horse provides vestibular and proprioceptive input and can promote improvements in balance, strength, coordination, mobility, balance, sensory motor function, postural control, attention, mobility, and communication3.

-If you’re prone to motion sickness, don’t read in the car. In fact try to pay attention ahead out the window to reinforce the connect between your visual and vestibular systems so that you don’t get the negative effect from a disconnect.

IMG_0648

It is important to remember that each individual has different thresholds for sensory input for each individual sensory system. For example, my kids have pretty high thresholds for vestibular input, as they love to spin, go on slides, and move constantly. They love spinning each other in our gliding chairs, and often my son wants to spin me while I’m sitting with my daughter. I always end up limiting the repetitions as my threshold for rotary movement is low. I get nauseous easily and am prone to motion sickness on boats and in cars. You can also think about  our individual differences when considering how people differ in regards to roller coasters. Some people love the thrill of the motion and tolerate spinning upside down, while others you will find wanting to puke in the corner after just the thought of it.

leisure-199231_1920

Additionally, there is also something known as gravitation insecurity, which makes some children very fearful and anxious in situations where their feet leave the ground6.  I mentioned a lot about the autonomic effects that can come with waking up this system, so please use caution. If you do any of these activities on a regular basis or decide to try a new one, be aware of a few warning signs that you’re overdoing it: pallor, nausea, changes in heart rate and breathing, palpitations, anxiety. Please take things slow and do what works for you. Always contact a doctor or certified therapist to address individual issues.

*Disclaimer: The information presented in the blog is intended for information and entertainment purposes only. Please consult your physician with any medical concerns and/or for medical advice. The information presented is not intended to be used in place of individualized therapy services, please contact your health care team for skilled therapy if you think it is necessary. Please supervise your children (or friends, spouses, etc)  if you decide to try any of the activities or ideas presented as the author or this blog does not claim liability for possible injury or negative consequences related to the activities and ideas presented here.

Resources

1. Adler, P. A., & Roberts, B. L. (2006). The use of tai chi to improve health in older adults. Orthopaedic Nursing, 25(2), 122-6. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/195963159?accountid=143111

2. An, S. L. (2015). The effects of vestibular stimulation on a child with hypotonic cerebral palsy. Journal of Physical Therapy Science, 27(4), 1279-1282. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1589/jpts.27.1279

3. Bender, M., & McKenzie, S. (2008, Winter). Hippotherapy. Palaestra, 24, 43-44. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/213181696?accountid=143111

4. Kramer, P. & Hinojosa, J. (2010) Frames of Reference for Pediatric Occupational Therapy (3rd). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia, PA

5. Kshtriya, S., Barnstaple, R., Rabinovich, D., Desouza, J. F., & X. (2015). Dance and aging: A critical review of findings in neuroscience. American Journal of Dance Therapy, 37(2), 81-112. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10465-015-9196-7

6. Lane, Shelly J, PHD,O.T.R./L., F.A.O.T.A., Lynn, J. Z., & Reynolds, Stacey,P.H.D., O.T.R./L. (2010). Sensory modulation: A neuroscience and behavioral overview. OT Practice, 15(21), CE1-CE8. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/807980071?accountid=143111

7. Leung, D. P. K., M.Sc, Chan, C. K. L., M.Sc, Tsang, H. W. H., PhD., Tsang, W. W. N., PhD., & Jones, A. Y. M., PhD. (2011). Tai chi as an intervention to improve balance and reduce falls in older adults: A systematic and meta-analytical review. Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, 17(1), 40-8. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/851708686?accountid=143111

8. Lundy-Ekman, L. (2007). Neuroscience: Fundamentals for Rehabilitation (3rd). Saunders Elsevier, St. Louis, Missouri

9. Mauer, D. M. (1999). Issues and applications of sensory integration theory and treatment with children with language disorders. Language, Speech & Hearing Services in Schools, 30(4), 383. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/232585154?accountid=143111

10. McHugh Pendleton, H. & Schultz-Krohn, W. (2006). Pedretti’s Occupational Therapy: Practice Skills for Physical Dysfunction (6th). Mosby Elsevier, St. Louis, Missouri

11. Mehta, Z., & Stakiw, D. B. (2004). Childhood vestibular disorders: A tutorial. Communication Disorders Quarterly, 26(1), 5-16,56-57. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/213789303?accountid=143111

12. Rajagopalan, A., Jinu, K. V., Sailesh, K. S., Mishra, S., Reddy, U. K., & Mukkadan, J. K. (2017). Understanding the links between vestibular and limbic systems regulating emotions. Journal of Natural Science, Biology, and Medicine, 8(1), 11-15. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/0976-9668.198350

13. Sailesh, K. S., & Mukkadan, J. K. (2015). Controlled vestibular stimulation, standardization of A physiological method to release stress in college students. Indian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology, 59(4), 436-441. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1812437841?accountid=143111

14. Schaaf, Roseann C, PHD,O.T.R./L., F.A.O.T.A., & Lane, Shelly J, PHD,O.T.R./L., F.A.O.T.A. (2009). Neuroscience foundations of vestibular, proprioceptive, and tactile sensory strategies. OT Practice, 14(22), CE1-CE8. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/232422301?accountid=143111

15. Watling, R., & Hauer, S. (2015). Effectiveness of ayres sensory integration® and sensory-based interventions for people with autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 69(5), 1-8A. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1711617297?accountid=143111

16. Winter, L., Wollmer, M. A., Laurens, J., Straumann, D., & Kruger, T. H. C. (2013). Cox’s chair revisited: Can spinning alter mood states? Frontiers in Psychiatry, 4, 132. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2013.00132

Embrace the Power of Proprioception

sensory 6 Comments

Dr. Dad says, “Stop taking apart the couch!”

OT Mom says, “Not just yet. Stack those those cushions, kids!”

You may be wondering, what the heck is proprioception? Proprioception is the sense of our joints position, the location of our body parts in space, and the awareness of the strength being used for a particular task. It allows us to know where our limbs are and how much force we are using at any given moment. The sense receptors for proprioception are within the muscles and joints of our bodies. This sensory system is super important and allows us to move and react to our environment and works in connection with our other senses. In particular, the tactile (aka touch) sensory system and proprioceptive system work closely to help use develop body awareness as children (Kramer & Hinojosa, 2010).

embrace-the-power

While most of us can self regulate our sensory needs to succeed throughout life, some of us need or could use a little more help. We are all on a continuum in the realm of sensory experience, and I believe that my kids happen to be more towards the sensory seeking end of the spectrum.

When my 3 year old gets out of bed, the first thing he does is STOMP down the hallway. He love to to crash, spin, jump, and dance. He screams just to scream and instead of just walking to his door of the car, he rubs against the car on his way. My daughter, who loves to spin and dance and push our kitchen chairs around the house seems to be following in his foot steps. It’s pretty normal for toddlers to be full of energy and active and it’s such a good opportunity to let them engage in sensory  activities. 

Your own kids (or yourself) may not be towards the sensory seeking end of the spectrum, but they are somewhere on the sensory continuum. Some of us seek out input, some of us avoid it, and most of use do a combination or do something in-between.  Sensory input is all around us, and the way we process the world impacts our functioning in many ways.

So adding proprioceptive activities to your daily routine can help regulate your alertness or arousal to an optimal state.

Proprioceptive input is powerful.

It can calm you down or amp you up a bit. An easy way to think of proprioceptive input is to think of “heavy work” activities. You want these sensory experiences to impact your muscles and joints. My son is awesome at figuring out ways to engage in heavy work through play, but he sometimes needs a little help with he’s getting off track or when we are not at home when his usual go-to’s are not available.

Learning from the best, we can look at the favorite self-sought activities from my awesome little three year old:

  •   Stacking the couch cushions– Although it’s probably not the best thing for our couch (and drives Dr. Dad crazy) it provides multiple sensory inputs. He gets the heavy work from lifting and stacking the cushions. He also loves to climb over them and squeeze himself under them providing deep pressure input. An added bonus is that I can see his imagination at work. He likes to build “volcanos” and “hotels.” This activity obviously benefits from close supervision to prevent fall, injury, etc, but with supervision, it’s been a big favorite in my house.
    • In addition to being buried under the couch cushions, my son loves to be buried by toys. Deep pressure following the hard work of moving the toys seems to comfort him. He will remove all of his toys from the toy box and ask to be buried. Again- use common sense and caution. I am looking forward to summer when he might like getting buried in the sand.

Since we are not always able to play in the living room by the couch and my kiddo still craves sensory input throughout the day, here are some additional ideas we’ve come up with to sneak in some input and/or add it to your daily routines.

everyday

  • While at the store– push a shopping cart and help lift the shopping items- this obviously engages the muscles, and most kids think it’s pretty fun. I love that some grocery stores have mini carts for kids, what a great idea, load it up!
  • Have them help with chores– shovel, rake, sweep, vacuum, mop, and scrub. While little ones might not do the best job, they are sure good helpers. Even if the chores take a bit longer, I find it rewarding to allow my kids to help and it provides such great sensory experiences. In addition to proprioception, you’re using lots of other great senses too (visual, auditory, tactile, vestibular)! It also helps develop a sense of accomplishment and roles within the family unit which I think is great for a child’s self-esteem.1
  • Push and pull– my son is a great helper and loves pulling his little sister in a wagon or sled, or pushing her in a stroller. Proprioceptive input that is in a consistent direction tends to be more calming, while push and pull actives (like tug-a-war, mopping, vacuuming) tend to be more alerting. Keep that in mind if you are considering a game of tug-a-war before bed… it might be best as a first thing in the morning activity.
  • In a pinch- Adding proprioception throughout your daily routing takes just a few minutes.  If you don’t have time for a big session, there are little things that can provide some great sensory input. Things like jumping jacks, dancing, yoga poses, animal walks (walk like a “bear,” “crab,” etc), clapping and marching/stomping games can be effective, quick, and easy to incorporate throughout the day.
  • Don’t forget the small joints, they count too! Hard work for little hands can give some good input too. Some ideas for play time include actives like play dough, legos type snapping blocks, and popping bubble wrap. While helping out around the house, kids can help with kneading pizza or bread dough, squeezing a spray bottle, or maintaining control of a hand held electric mixer when baking.

Finally, please remember, proprioception is not just for kids. Perhaps my kids are on the sensory seeking end of the proprioceptive spectrum because I am as well. People who know me, know I have trouble sitting still, and Dr. Dad can attest to my sometimes strange dance moves/hops that can seem to come out of nowhere while just walking through my house (though I tend to restrain myself in public). Part of my sensory routine is going for runs whenever I get the chance or at least doing some light to moderate physical activity on a daily or near daily basis. While my husband isn’t quite the sensory seeker I am when it comes to proprioception, he does feel great and balanced after lifting weights. What do you do to regulate yourself? 

References:

Kramer, P. & Hinojosa, J. (2010). Pediatric Occupational Therapy (3rd ed). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia, PA

*Disclaimer: The information presented in the blog is intended for information and entertainment purposes only. Please consult your physician with any medical concerns and/or for medical advice. The information presented is not intended to be used in place of individualized therapy services, please contact your health care team for skilled therapy if you think it is necessary. Please supervise your children (or friends, spouses, etc)  if you decide to try any of the activities or ideas presented as the author or this blog does not claim liability for possible injury or negative consequences related to the activities and ideas presented here.