When the weather is right, playing outside (and away from screens) is a perfect thing for a child’s growth and development.
 
Try the following:

• Sensory Play

Playing outside gives children opportunities to interact with different sensations and textures like sand, grass, rain, snow, or mud. All of these sensations provide our children with much needed and important sensory information which helps their brain growth and development. By engaging with sensory activities in a fun environment (like playing outside) we help our child’s brain learn how to interpret and make sense of different sensory inputs which can prevent sensory aversions for our children as they become older.

• Heavy Work

Heavy Work is any type of movement a child does that requires them to use multiple muscles. Think of pushing items like a wheelbarrow or a ball across the ground, pulling items like a wagon or sled, and climbing a jungle gym or tree (with adult supervision.) In addition, heavy work can be very calming and organizing for children.

• Group Play

Playing with others like a sibling, friend, or team helps our children to learn about others and develop their social skills. Sign your child up for a sports team or set regular plays dates with their friends, as this helps children learn skills like sharing, waiting, being patient, taking turns, following instructions, and transitioning – all while having fun.

• Imaginary Play and Exploration

With so much technology available at our fingertips, it is important that children take a break and stop and smell the roses (in this instance literally :) encourage your child to use their imagination while playing.  Exploring helps with their brain development, sense of self, and stimulates their creativity. Take regular items you may play with outside (balls, swings, toys, bikes, etc.) and encourage your children to turn them into something else. Don’t have a lot of items to play with? No worries! simple things like a hat can easily be turned into a space helmet, pirate hat, or robot face. When children use their imagination, the possibilities are endless.

Does your child like to play outside? If so, what things do they like to do when they play outside? Email me at blog@goflowoccupationaltherapy.com

See you soon!
Michael Jankowski, MS, OTR/L

​Sensory calming techniques are strategies that help children calm when they are starting to get overwhelmed or have sensory overload. For sensory calming techniques there is no “one size fits all”.  It is important to start slow and see what your child responds positively to. We can learn a lot just through observation!  You may find that your child does best with a combination of calming techniques.  
 
Work on developing these techniques ahead of time.  In the middle of a meltdown is NOT a good time to experiment with new calming techniques. We don’t want to risk overstimulating a child when they are distressed or accidentally turn a “small” meltdown into a “mega” meltdown. Experiment with these strategies when children are calm and ready to play.
 
Movement Based Activities 
Movement can help a child get out any excess energy and meet sensory needs. Some children will start to calm by simply being given the opportunity to move their bodies. Here are some ideas:

• Set up an obstacle course
• Swings
• Dancing
• Play games that involve whole-body movement (twister, hide and go seek, red light / green light, simon says, tag)
• Walk like animals (walk like a dog, hop like a bunny, balance on 1 foot like a flamingo)
• Kids Yoga 

 
Mouth Based Activities 
We receive numerous sensory inputs in the mouth including taste, texture, temperature, and shape. As a result, some children calm with having extra input in their mouths.  Try some of the following:

• Offer different texture foods/items such as something crunchy like pretzels or ice or something soft like gum
• Blowing bubbles or blowing on a pinwheel. By focusing on controlling and providing the right amount of force in our breath, it allows us to concentrate on our breath and airflow which can be very calming
• Teach deep breathing techniques.  During a meltdown, if children take shallow and quick/rapid breaths, breathing is not efficient and may lead to more frustration and anxiety. By taking deep breaths and fully filling up our lungs with each breath we are maximizing our oxygen capacity
• Chewelry
  • (https://funandfunction.com/product-type/chewies.html
  • https://www.arktherapeutic.com/chewelry/)

Vision/Light-Based Activities 
Bright and fluorescent lights can be overstimulating for some children and provide too much visual stimulation.  Try some of the following:

• Lower the lights or turn the lights off.  This may help by giving the child less visual stimulation
• Find calming photos and save them to your phone or tablet such as beaches, mountains, lakes, or calming animals
• Liquid motion toys
  • (https://www.amazon.com/YoYa-Toys-Liquimo-Hourglass-Management/dp/B07G2DYQ7D/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=liquid+motion&qid=1562636639&s=gateway&sr=8-4)
• Toys that emit light like a Lite Brite

 
Noise/Music Based Activities
Noise and music can be very calming for some people but can be startling and alerting for others. Experiment when your child is calm and see how they respond to various types of noise and music. For the child that gets easily overstimulated by sounds or noise, they may benefit from wearing noise-cancelling headphones or earplugs in loud or crowded public places.
 
Have fun experimenting and let me know how it goes blog@goflowoccupationaltherapy.com! I would love to hear any strategies you find that work well for your child. 

Make sure to subscribe to our blog (at the top right of the page), as new blogs are added on a weekly basis.
 
See you soon!
Michael Jankowski, MS, OTR/L 

This is part 1 of a 2-part blog post about Sensory Integration and what can we do if our child has difficulty with Sensory Integration. In the therapy world, we hear numerous terms that sound big and intimidating including "Sensory Integration." In my blog this week I want to describe Sensory Integration in a way that makes sense and is easy to understand. By the end of the blog post, I hope you can make sense of the word "Sensory Integration" and see it's importance and it's role in our daily life. This is a 2-part blog post, so make sure to come back next week for the 2nd part of this blog where I will discuss what we can do if we have a child who has difficulty with sensory integration.
 
I would like to start this blog with some book excerpts from Dr. Jean Ayres. Dr. Jean Ayres was an Occupational Therapist who developed Sensory Integration Theory and laid the foundation and groundwork for Sensory Integration Occupational Therapy in her foundational book “Sensory Integration and the Child.” 
 
To quote Dr. Ayres, “Sensory integration is the process of organizing sensory inputs so that the brain produces a useful body response and also useful perceptions, emotions, and thoughts” (Ayers, 2005). “Sensory Integration is the organization of sensations for use. Our senses give us information about the physical conditions of our body and the environment around us...The brain must organize all of our sensations if a person is to move and learn and behave in a productive manner” (Ayers, 2005). 
 
But what exactly does that mean?
 
Sensory Integration is something that we all do constantly on a daily basis, and we typically won’t even notice our bodies doing it. We are constantly getting bombarded with sensory input – what we see, hear, smell, touch, taste, and feel. In addition to how our body is moving and what our body is doing. Our brain’s job is to take all of that input/sensory information, quickly make sense of it, and then tell us what to do with this information - is my environment safe? are there any threats? do I need to turn my head and look at a sound? do I need to be aware of anything? etc. This process will then repeat itself with the next batch of sensory information it receives, and our brains will continue this process of receiving and responding to sensory input throughout the day. There are so many things happening in our brain during this process that happen very quickly. If we have difficulty with sensory integration it can affect how quickly our brain can respond to sensory input and how it makes decisions based on the sensory input it receives. If we have difficulty with sensory integration we may receive the same sensory input everyone else is receiving, we may just perceive it differently and we may perceive new or unknown sensory inputs as threats. In addition, it is also a possibility that we may process sensory information differently than other people. As a result, we may require more or less sensory input to make sense of our environment and the world around us.
 
The 2nd part of this blog where we will discuss what we can do if a child has difficulty with sensory integration is available now!
 
If you have any specific questions or anything you would like me to write about please email me at blog@goflowoccupationaltherapy.com
 
See you soon!
Michael Jankowski, MS, OTR/L
 
References​

• Ayers, A.J. (2005). Sensory Integration and the Child. Torrance, CA: WPS Publishing