October is Sensory Awareness Month

We are all sensory beings and need accurate information from the environment in order to function in our daily lives. Parents that have children with sensory processing problems may be aware of the important role that sensory processing plays in our everyday lives. Often, the average person takes for granted the brains ability to take in sensory information, process the input, and make an appropriate response according to the information provided. For example, what happens when you are driving along and you see a stop sign? Your eyes take in the visual information (red, hexagon, letters STOP), your brain processes the information (have I seen this sign before, what have I done in the past, what needs to happen now... the car needs to stop), and the brain sends out a motor response to your foot to step on the break. All of this happens within a split second when your sensory system is working smoothly. What happens when there is a problem?

People receive continuous information from the environment from sensory receptors. The five well known senses are visual, auditory, gustatory (taste), olfactory (smell), and tactile. There are seven senses all together. The two lesser known senses are proprioceptive and vestibular. The proprioceptive sense is provided by receptors located in muscles and tendons that stretch in response to muscle movement and allow our body to know where we are in space and grade muscle movements. The receptors for the vestibular sense are located within the ear canal and allow us to perceive linear and rotary movement.

Sensory processing dysfunction can lead to hyposensitivity and/or hypersensitivity. Hyposensitivity is under-responsiveness to sensory input. For instance, you are standing right next to a child calling his or her name and he/she does not respond. The difference between hyposensitivity and deafness or blindness is that the sensory input is registered in brain centers but the information is not properly processed at the brain level. Hypersensitivity is an over-reaction to sensory input. For example, a child withdraws from a light tap on the shoulder or avoids hugs due to "they hurt." Hyposensitivity and hypersensitivity are not on a continuum and people can have hypersensitivities in one area and hyposensitivities in another.

Our sensory systems are dynamic and (when functioning properly) modulate toward a state of homeostasis or balance. We need sensory input in order for our brains to develop and function properly. Sensory input allows us to form new neural connections and learn new skills.

Quick Tips - Little Hands Need Little Writing Tools

It seems pretty straight forward when you hear it - little hands need little writing tools. In order to promote mature grasp patterns, using small pencils, broken pieces of crayons or chalk (Handwriting Without Tears also have small 'flip crayons'), and little erasers. These items will decrease the opportunity for immature grasp patterns and utilize muscles necessary for writing readiness.

Fine Motor Fun

Fine motor skill development is important for achieving independence with life activities. Fine motor skills require the coordination of the small muscles in the fingers, hand, and wrist along with the visual system. Fine motor skills are needed to manipulate buttons, snaps and zippers for dressing. Manipulating toys for play. Utilizing crayons, markers, and pencils for drawing and writing tasks. Using fingers or utensils for self-feeding. It is important to provide children with the opportunity to develop their fine motor skills throughout their lifespan.

Babies start with using gross grasp patterns to pick up objects and bring them to the mouth. One of the few opportunities toddlers have to manipulate small objects and develop in hand manipulation skills is during feeding time. Picking up small pieces of food helps to develop hand eye coordination, body awareness (where their mouth is in relation to the rest of their body), finger isolation, and pincer grasp.

As a child gets older they are expected to color, cut, and write. These are skills that need to be taught and are not something that they will inherently know. To work on pre-writing skills provide small pieces of chalk or crayons to encourage the use of a mature grasp. Place drawing or writing papers on a vertical surface such as an easel or wall to promote wrist extension with pencil and paper activities. Hand separation is an important aspect of cutting and writing. This is the ability to use the thumb side of the hand separate from the pinky side of the hand. Some activities that work on hand separation are holding beads in the palm of the hand and moving one bead at a time from the palm to finger tips without dropping any beads (this can be incorporated into a fun fusion bead activity, Lite Brite, or stringing small beads). Encourage kids to hold a small item in ring and pinky finger when using scissors for cutting.

Activities to promote fine motor skill development for the preschool child include but are certainly not limited to the following:

• stringing beads

• Lite Bright

• Using chalk on a chalkboard or dark color construction paper

• Fun Fusion beads

• lacing activities

• finger painting

• chopstick pom pom pick up (or use chopsticks to eat noodles at dinner time)

• Wikki sticks

• small stickers

• stamps

• playdoh

• different shape paper punches

There are a lot of systems working together that make for smooth and coordinated fine motor skills but participation in the above activities will help develop these skills and provide a solid foundation for success in the future.

Quick Tips - Homework

Children sit at desks for the majority of their school day, so when it comes to doing homework change it up a bit. For those kids that just can't sit still through homework time, try standing instead. You can set up an easel or tape homework papers to the wall for writing activities. For reading assignments, provide a quiet area away from distractions with indirect lighting where children can lie on their stomachs, lie on their sides or sit in a bean bag chair. Some children need background noise to focus, but instead of the television (which can be a major distraction) try classical music with a moderate tempo (54-60 beats per minute).

Free Online Webinar Presented by Handwriting Without Tears

Handwriting Without Tears will be presenting an online seminar entitled Top 10 Questions About Handwriting September 27th at 8pm. This seminar is free and will provide an opportunity to learn about the Handwriting Without Tears multisensory strategies for teaching handwriting and why handwriting is still important in the age of technology. Please follow the link above to sign up!

Quick Tips - Handwriting

Handwriting is more fluid and consistent when children are taught the correct start point and formation of letters. All capital letter should start at the top. Find out what handwriting program your child's school uses (the most widely used programs are Handwriting Without Tears, D'Nealian, and Zaner-Bloser) and get a copy of the letter formations. This way you can keep handwriting instruction at home consistent with what is taught at school.

Halloween Bash at Miracle League Park

The Miracle League of the Lehigh Valley is an organization that provides children and young adults with special needs the opportunity to play baseball. The fields are fully accessible, and all players are encouraged to participate regardless of disability. In an effort to make Trick or Treating an enjoyable and accessible event for children with special needs, the Miracle League brings the neighborhood to the players. Local businesses and supporters setup booths and hand out treats.

For the third year in a row, Bethlehem Pediatric will participate in the annual Halloween event at Miracle League Park located in Schnecksville, PA. The event will take place on October 19 from 6 to 8pm.

Further information about the Miracle League, how to support upcoming events, or to sign your child up for Miracle League baseball please visit The Miracle League website.

What Do Rhthym and Timing Have to Do With It? Bethlehem Pediatric Offers Interactive Metronome

Rhythm and timing are especially important to childhood learning and development. Many of the activities that a baby does are based on rhythm and timing including coordinating suck-swallow-breath for eating, rocking on hands and knees in preparation to crawl, and making rhythmic noises for self-soothing. The toddler claps in response to a caregiver clapping. A preschooler sings along with the song at circle time, swings a bat to hit a baseball, or beats a drum along with a classmate. What happens when the rhythm and timing of the brain isn't functioning efficiently?
If your child struggles with difficulties in organization, motor planning and coordination, balance, and/or attention, Interactive Metronome may be able to help.

Interactive Metronome is a computer based program where the participant taps a target/switch in response to a metronome beat heard over headphones. The computer calculates how far from the beat the participant is in milliseconds and provides additional auditory and visual feedback to guide the person's motor actions closer to the beat. Scores are recorded on the computer and each session can be compared to monitor progress. This is an intensive therapy and runs 3-5 times a week for 3-5 weeks with the target number of sessions being 15.

Over the course of the treatment, patients learn to:

• Focus and attend for longer periods of time
• Increase physical endurance and stamina
• Filter out internal and external distractions
• Improve ability to monitor mental and physical actions as they are occurring
• Progressively improve coordinated performance.

For the pediatric population that we serve at our facility, the activities are modified to make them fun. The more a child is motivated to participate in the treatment, the more he or she will gain from the treatment. If you would like more information about our program or want to schedule an opportunity to trial Interactive Metronome please contact us @610-625-4404.

Further information, research and case studies can be found on the Interactive Metronome website.

Helpful Handwriting Tips

Here are some helpful activities that promote handwriting skills without having to pick up a pencil...

#1 Fluid handwriting starts with letter recognition. Does your child's teacher tell you that their handwriting looks great when copying in a workbook but is a mess when they need to write in their journal? Letter memory is an important part of fluid legible handwriting. Work on letter recognition. Start with letter flash cards and have your child do animal walks (such as bear walks or crab walks) to find a letter. Animal walks provide weight bearing through the hands which increases the strength of intrinsic hand muscles (the muscles used for pencil control).

#2 To have legible handwriting, you need good pencil control and good posture. Encourage your child to sit on the floor when playing a game to encourage weight shifts and weightbearing through hands. Also, encourage lying on their stomach to increase trunk strength to provide postural stability during seated tasks.

#3 Practice writing letters in different textures such as sand, shaving foam, or finger paints. This will promote motor learning of correct letter formation but is a lot more fun for kids than just picking up a pencil.

These are a few fun and simple activities that can be added to your child's daily routine to improve handwriting skills without ever putting pencil to paper!

National Backpack Awareness Day is September 21st

This Wednesday is AOTA's National Backpack Awareness Day. Don't forget to remind your students to wear their backpacks correctly to avoid injury. Shoulder straps should be worn on both shoulders to evenly distribute weight and a student should carry no more than 15% of their body weight (preferable less). Over half of students in the United States carry backpacks that are too heavy. These statistics were courtesy of the American Occupational Therapy Association website. You can visit AOTA's website for more information and tips to keep students happy and healthy!

New Programs Now Offered

We are excited that we are now able to offer many new programs at our larger location. Upcoming events are located separately in the 'Upcoming Events' area on this blog. We plan to offer parent and professional education opportunities at least once a month. If there is a topic you would like us to present just let us know by commenting on the blog or contacting our office.

New specialized programs this Fall include the following:

Funfood - Feeding and cooking groups for the picky eater. This group is designed to allow kids to explore the sensory aspects of varying foods and work toward expanding food preferences.
Social Skills Groups - led by a speech language pathologist, these groups are aimed at developing pragmatic communication skills. Children are grouped according to age and ability.
SOCIALS - these are language and social skills development classes for the preschooler and young school age child who are having difficulty learning these skills in a larger classroom setting.
Pencil Pals - a handwriting group designed to target the developmental skills needed for success in handwriting.
Individual Intensive Sensory Integration Treatment
Support Groups - these groups are designed for teens with specific diagnoses, such as Attention Deficit Disorder and Sensory Processing Disorder, to have an opportunity to discuss topics specific to them with peers with similar experiences.
Interactive Metronome/ Sensory Movement - These are intensive (3-5 times a week) individual or small group sessions designed to address the needs of children with sensory processing challenges.

If you haven't heard yet, we've moved!

Bethlehem Pediatric Therapy Services has moved to a larger location with a spacious gym, multiple treatment rooms, and many new programs to offer. Our new office is located at 3012 Emrick Blvd., Bethlehem, PA.