The ability to maintain body orientation and posture in relation to the surrounding environment (physical and social space) is challenging for many children. Mastering these skills represents a point of entry for most group and sports activities. These sorts of activities tend to lead to friendships and improved sense of self worth. For children with sensory processing dysfunction, this point of integration represents a challenge that
Using food crafts to help develop precision in fine motor skills The skills needed to coordinate small muscles of the body, such as the muscles of the fingers, eyes, and ears take the longest time to mature. Synchronization of these smallest muscles requires sustained attention, along with the ability to remember little details about the actions of these muscles. The ability to pull together
Many exercises need not include expensive equipment, instead a good eye for simply applying common everyday activities with a view to looking for inherent resistive exercise is what is needed. What seems to be key however, is the use of regularly scheduled periods of exercise 10-20 minutes twice daily depending upon the age of the child. Researchers continue to show caretakers that children
(Try dressing, eating, or washing up without them) Most of the children I have treated over the years who have had coordination deficits generally tended to have difficulty using hand and finger motions as well. These difficulties often caused problems with daily living activities such as dressing, manipulating clothing fasteners (buttons, zippers, shoe laces, etc.), using utensils, grooming and hygiene. Planning developmentally appropriate projects
This “game” uses parts of a roadway to capture attention. Consequently, the appealing visual images subtly draw the child into a mindset of sustaining attention to the “what” and “where” ideas needed to solve the puzzle of a layout. This game of dominoes uses cars and trucks, and presents the problem of locating the front and back of each vehicle. A clue is given
For children who have Sensory Processing Disorders, using vision, especially when approaching unexpected sights, can be challenging. Features such as “Gaze Aversion”, redirecting eye gaze away from an image they find to be disquieting (for instance a face), impacts their ability to interact with the environment, avoiding obstacles in a typical way. Parents of these children are familiar with the types of frequent collisions
Visual processing skills enable learning and generally include skills that are carried out through use of the muscles that surround each eyeball. Since children who have SPD tend to have deficits with coordinating their muscles, these small muscles that are hidden within the orbit of the eyeball are generally also impacted. Visual processing includes both “motor free” skills such as visual discrimination as well
Fingertip prehension patterns begin early on in life, but are some of the last motor functions to mature completely. In some part, this is because such a large part of the motor region in the brain is dedicated to coordinating movements of the hand. This means that it takes more focused attention and mental effort to move the hand and fingers, than it does
Awareness of one’s position in time and space Is a vital skill needed for safety in navigating the environment. This concept incorporates the ability to attend to details as you move through space, being mindful of objects found there. Many children who have sensory processing dysfunction have deficits in this skill and tend to fall or experience collisions as they come close to objects.
Upper body strength and postural control generally do not come easily for children who have Sensory Processing Disorders. These are skills needed for maintaining an erect sitting posture so that fine motor skills can emerge efficiently. Strength and postural control is also needed for success when participating in childhood sport activities from which concepts of self esteem often emerge. For children who have SPD,