Sensorimotor activities

[AustinsMom]

For those with kids with sensory integrations problems and a variety of visual motor/perceptual motor issues I found a website that has some interesting activities that you might want to check out.

The website is www.handle.org and you go to the Activities and Exercises section. Each exercise is spelled out clearly and it tells you what you are working on with it. These are all good OT kind of activites, and they look somewhat fun too. I played the Blow Soccer game with my son today, and he loved it.

This definitely falls into the "it can't hurt" and "it's cheap" categories, for those who think it might help their kids.

[catatonic]

Very interesting website. I like the whole philosophy there. How do you select which exercise to start with, though, or figure out which one is most likely to help?

[AustinsMom]

I believe my son has issues with the 2 sides of his brain not communicating, and this is a theme with many of the exercises, so I will focus on those. Also the issue of rhythm and timing is key for ADHD (hence the studies that show Interactive Metronome program works) so I'll do those too.

I printed them all off, and bought the few supplies I need last week. There is a section on each exercise that talks about what it will help, and I think you can use that as a guideline. I did Blow Soccer with Austin yesterday and he LOVED it. He laughed and laughed. It's so nice to do something that doesn't reek of remediation.

The success we have had with STNR therapy has reminded me that I have been so caught up in behavior management and academic work that I have forgotten my true roots and what I know is the basis that everything must be built upon. The people who's theories and research are cited as theories that are followed at this institute are giants in the field of OT, so I'm secure in the basic principles used.

At the LD sites I have also been reminded by other parents experiences that all the remediation works so much better when you work on the sensory issues too. I'm hoping to substitute some of these things for that crazy koosh baseball game we play between sections of our STNR therapy....