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Children's development

Other related areas

Why core strength and co-ordination is important

Core strength is children’s ability to keep their position and move from the centre of their body outwards.

If core strength is underdeveloped, children will struggle with gross motor skills and fine motor skills, stability and balance.

This will affect their ability to coordinate more refined movements.

Coordination is the brain’s ability to control movement of different body parts at the same time.

When babies are born, their most developed body part is their head, and the least developed is their feet.

It takes 2 months before an infant recognises their hands as their own.

To be confident with movement children must develop both core strength and coordination.

Developing core strength and co-ordination supports children’s ability to communicate, learn language and eventually read and write.

Whole body movements contribute to the accurate use of small tools and delicate materials.

Writing, drawing and painting should be considered as whole-body skills.

Suggested activities for core-strength & co-ordination

1 – Gardening

Gardening supports and extends children’s physical development, muscular strength, fine motor skills and coordination.

Bending over to pull up weeds, lifting a stone or picking up a soil bucket all support developing core strength. Joints are strengthened and made more flexible.

2 – Adventurous climbing and swinging

Adventurous climbing outside develops children’s core strength and coordination.

The best resource for adventurous climbing is an accessible tree.

You can also attach a swing.

Swings help develop children’s core strength because of the muscles they use to sit securely and move with their legs.

Daily experiences are the best for every child to develop their core strength and coordination over time.

Provide ‘woodland’ climbing daily, including low level climbing for children who find physical movement a challenge.

Babies need the opportunity to have tummy time outside on different natural surfaces.

Core strength summary

  • Core strength is children’s ability to maintain their position and move from the centre of their body outwards.
  • Co-ordination is the brain’s ability to control different body part movements at the same time.
  • Children’s early years are important to sensory and physical development.
  • Children’s core strength and co-ordination are essential to developing their ability to move in different ways, control their movements as well as fine motor control.
  • Developing children’s core strength and coordination means they can be more agile, flexible, well-coordinated, balanced and motivated to take part in physical activity.

Visual Tracking vs. Visual Scanning

Activities

Visual tracking

Visual tracking is the ability in which we focus our eyes to follow a target without moving our entire head.

Independent of head movement, our eyes are capable of working together in all planes, efficiently moving right/left, up/down, and in a circular movement.

This is in addition to the ability to cross the midline.

Visual scanning

Visual scanning is the ability to use this coordinated eye movement to efficiently search within the environment.

This is a significant factor for all daily skills, including coordination (e.g. navigating obstacles or finding objects within a crowded cabinet) and school based activities (e.g. reading, copying from the board, alignment of math equations).

Try one or all of these activities listed below to support visual scanning and visual tracking.

Flashlight Tag

Both adult and child should have their own flashlight in a dark room.

The adult starts as the “leader”, casting her flashlight up against the wall, moving in a random pattern.

Using his own flashlight, the child should “chase” the adult’s light.

Encourage minimal head movement to maximize the amount of visual tracking required.

As the child casts his light on the wall in search of the caregiver’s light, the goal is for the child to have the smoothest pursuit of the flashlight.

Ball Games & Paper-Pencil Tasks

Starting with a balloon and playing a game of “keep it up” allows for increased time to coordinate a motor response to accompany the visual input of the floating balloon.

Progress to throwing, catching, and bouncing a ball. Increase the challenge using a smaller ball or smaller target.

Mazes, connect the dots and tracing.

Structured paper-pencil tasks like these require the eyes to track in a specific direction in order to complete the challenge.

I Spy

Play the classic game but encourage the child to keep his head stationary, only “spying” and “guessing” objects only that can be seen in front of him or in the periphery.

Choosing objects in your child’s peripheral view increases the challenge.

Cup Shuffle

Place three cups upside down on the table.

With the child watching, hide a small ball or toy underneath one of the cups and mix the order of the cups.

Challenge your child to keep his eyes on the cup obscuring the toy.

Increase the challenge by increasing the number of times you rearrange the order of the cups or the speed in which you do so.

Activities to Improve Hand Eye Coordination

What is Hand Eye Coordination?

At its most basic, hand eye coordination is the way your brain synthesizes visual input (what you’re seeing) with your upper extremity movements in order to perform a precise action.

Think stringing beads, copying shapes, using utensils to feed yourself, so many things!

Catching

Catching is the ultimate eye hand coordination activity. If your child has difficulty coordinating their movements to catch something thrown to them, consider starting somewhere a little easier.

Like playing with brightly colored scarves or learning to juggle them.

The scarves drift through the air, moving slowly enough that younger children have an easier time tracking them with their eyes and coordinating a reach to catch a scarf.

They are also easy to grasp and only require one hand to catch, meaning this is a perfect activity for a child who has difficulty with fine motor coordination or with using both hands together.

Handkerchiefs make great impromptu scarves – try dropping it from above your child’s head or have them play catch with themselves by throwing it up in the air and catching it.

Of course, as this becomes too easy, you can increase the challenge by swapping out the scarf for a balloon, a floating piece of tissue paper, or, you guessed it, a ball!

Popping Bubbles

These instant kid pleasers are also a quick and easy way to work eye-hand coordination practice into your play routine with your child.

See if your child can reach to pop each bubble (bonus points for working on finger isolation – show me that pointer finger!).

If that’s too easy, see how many they can catch in a cup, or in a bowl using two hands.

You can also have them alternate hands to pop bubbles even faster using both sides of their body.

Copycat Drawing

If your child enjoys crafts and coloring, this activity could be a winner.

It requires no set up and simple materials – all you need is a piece of paper and something to draw with.

Take turns with your child drawing silly shapes or simple pictures then have them try to replicate the same drawing.

This works best for younger children if you keep things simple (think shapes, squiggly lines, zigzags, basic letters).

If copying the shape is too hard, you can have them trace on top of your drawing first.

As kids improve you can make drawings sillier and more complicated – just follow your child’s lead!

This is a great game to break out while you’re waiting for your food to arrive at a restaurant, in the waiting room at the doctor’s office, or just a rainy Saturday afternoon.

Water Play

Water play is such a fun, engaging activity for kids that engages their senses and helps synthesize so many motor skills.

Try filling a bin (or the bathtub – this is a great bath time activity) with water and pompoms, then give your child some cups, bowls, or utensils to practice scooping and pouring.

Challenge them to get all the pompoms of one colour into the same cup just by scooping, or simply let them do their thing.

The best part is, at the end just scoop the pompoms out and set them aside to dry and they’re ready for use next time.

Targeted Reaching

This activity is pretty broad and can easily be adapted to whatever you have around the house at the time.

One of my favourites is taping some paper up on a ball and drawing a zigzag line, or a simple picture like a flower or sun.

Then, hand your child some stickers or dot markers and they’re off.

Have them outline the drawing by placing the stickers along the lines or dotting along it with the dot marker.

Having the paper on a vertical surface like a wall or the fridge helps build shoulder and wrist strength as well and it adds an unexpected element of fun for your child.

Don’t have stickers or dot markers on hand?

Don’t want to risk paint all over your living room walls?

Stickers are too hard?

Have your child reach for a toy that you hold out for them.

If that’s too easy, try waving it slowly through the air to increase the challenge.

Place some spices you need to cook dinner on something that turns around and spin it slowly while asking your child to pick out a particular one.

The options are endless!

The goal here is to have them reaching towards a specific item/spot with as much accuracy as possible.

You can make that easier or harder depending on your child’s current skill level, and it works for so many activities.

Happy playing!

Visual Motor Integration?

What Is Visual Motor Integration?

Visual motor integration is the ability for your child’s hands and eyes to work together to guide their movements.

Their eyes tell their brain how to move, and then their brain tells their hands to move there.

Visual motor integration is the ability to incorporate visual information that we perceive with our motor skills in order to correctly execute movement of our arms, legs, and body.

Visual motor skills are integral to efficient and coordinated movement which allows your child to successfully engage in daily occupations.

Visual motor integration is important for handwriting, playing, feeding, and much more.

Signs of Visual Motor Deficit or Dysfunction

Visual motor deficits or difficulties may present in a variety of ways.

Your child may have difficulties with staying within the lines when they coluor, catching or kicking a ball, fastening buttons, tying their shoelaces, as well as many other gross and fine motor activities.

These tasks develop throughout toddlerhood and may take time for them to master.

Visual Motor Activities

Common activities that require the use of visual motor skills include colouring within the lines, copying words/shapes, writing within the lines on a piece of paper, and participating in gross motor activities that require well-time movements such as catching or hitting a ball.

These skills work hand in hand with many other skills including oculomotor control, and visual perception to make up visual processing which is the ability to make sense of what we see.

Listed below are different visual motor activities that can help improve visual motor skills.

As you can see, there are various activities you can encourage that foster visual motor integration for your child!

Gross Motor Activities

Start with a large ball and pass it slowly so you child has better success and make the task harder by using smaller balls or passing it faster

Encourage your child to engage in jumping activities such as jumping jacks or jump rope

Sit in a darkened room with your child and make shapes using a flashlight, encourage your child to copy the shapes

If you have a swing in your backyard, allow them to swing while you hold a hula-hoop or laundry basket and encourage your child to toss beanbags or stuffed animals into it

Paper Activities

Make raised letters using glitter glue and let your child trace them with their finger once it is dry

Use a highlighter on the top and bottom of handwriting practice paper to orient your child

Use paper maze activities such as dot paths and rainbow ladders

Help your child make origami or paper airplanes

Fine Motor Activities

String large blocks with larger holes and make it harder my using smaller beads

To practice using scissors, start with simple shapes with large, bold lines and move to more complex shapes

Make simple shapes on a piece of paper and encourage your child to use pipe cleaners to match the shape

Word Searches, “I Spy” Games, and Hidden Pictures

These can improve visual scanning, where the eye looks top to bottom or left to right, which is important to pick out relevant information.

Mazes

Finishing a maze on paper requires the eyes to tell the hands how to move just the right distance without going over the edge.

Colouring by Number

This activity helps guide your child’s hands to colour just the right amount to fill in each space without going over the edges.

Playing Catch

Visual motor skills aren’t just for tabletop!

Throwing a ball back and forth requires your child’s eyes to tell their hands which way to move when the ball is coming towards them.

Modify this activity by using a balloon as it’s bigger and falls more slowly!

Puzzles

Your child’s eyes work to tell their hands which piece goes where, and which way to turn a piece to make it fit together (or into the slot for wooden puzzles).

Motor Planning

Activities

What is Motor Planning?

Motor planning is a complex idea that has many different components.

In short, motor planning is the body’s ability to remember the small steps that when combined, allow us to carry out a specific activity.

Motor planning refers to the movements our bones, joints, and muscles make that allows our bodies to move.

With each movement, our body and brain send messages back and forth to tell each other certain ways to move to accomplish tasks.

You can thank your ability to motor plan when you get on a bike for the first time in 5 years, pick up your toothbrush from the same spot on the counter each morning, and take the same walk in the morning on the way to school!

Motor planning goals may include activities such as riding a bike or tying your shoes.

Understanding Motor Planning Disorders

Sometimes children have difficulty with processing the information needed to learn new motor actions.

So, what happens when we lose the ability to motor plan?

Suddenly, riding a bike feels impossible, grabbing your toothbrush in the morning just got harder and the walk to school feels different every day.

These children may appear to be clumsy or need extra time to complete what may seem like a simple task.

So perhaps you may have already shown your child the steps it takes to brush their teeth, but after the 20th time they still seem to need reminding to put toothpaste on the toothbrush!

No need to get frustrated, there are some motor planning activities and exercises you can work on with your child that will help to develop their ability to motor plan.

Animal Walks

Have races around the living room walking like a bear, crab, frog, snake, or giraffe.

Or you can go on a treasure hunt from your own living room but make it a rule where you must walk like a certain animal.

Or to challenge them, have them come up with a way to walk like a specific animal!

Simon Says

You as the parent can start off by being Simon and holding different poses such as standing one foot in front of the other and one hand on top of your head.

The sillier the better!

Do not stress as much about your child following the rules of the game, but rather more on challenging their bodies to replicate what you are showing them.

Ball Maze

You will need a ball of any size and a rope or tape for this game.

The goal of the activity is for the child to move the ball along the rope from one side to the other.

First, they can start with their hands to roll the ball along the line.

Then make it more challenging by having them move it with their foot.

You can also increase the challenge even more by allowing them to only move it with their elbow or knee, or to make the pattern of the rope like a wave or a zig zag.

Obstacle Course Stations

With this idea, you do not have to always resort to climbing on furniture.

You can create a sequence of stations your child has to go through such as kicking a ball to knock down a block tower, followed by frog jumping towards 3 different targets, and then finally pushing a weighted laundry basket around 2 obstacles.

You can challenge them by changing up one part of the circuit each time such as making them jump sideways to the targets instead of forwards.

Another challenge could be having them come up with their own tasks they have to do at the stations!

Visual Perception

What is Visual Perception

Visual perception refers to the brain’s ability to make sense of what the eyes see.

This is not the same as visual acuity which refers to how clearly a person sees (for example “20/20 vision”).

A person can have 20/20 vision and still have problems with visual perceptual processing.

Why is visual perception important?

Good visual perceptual skills are important for many every day skills such as reading, writing, completing puzzles, cutting, drawing, completing math problems, dressing, finding your sock on the bedroom floor as well as many other skills.

Without the ability to complete these every day tasks, a child’s self esteem can suffer and their academic and play performance is compromised.

What are the necessary building blocks?

Sensory Processing: Accurate registration, interpretation and response to sensory stimulation in the environment and the child’s own body.

Visual Attention: The ability to focus on important visual information and filter out unimportant background information.

Visual Discrimination: The ability to determine differences or similarities in objects based on size, colour, shape, etc.

Visual Memory: The ability to recall visual traits of a form or object.

Visual Spatial Relation Ships: Understanding the relationships of objects within the environment.

Visual Sequential-Memory: The ability to recall a sequence of objects in the correct order.

Visual Figure Ground: The ability to locate something in a busy background.

Visual Form Constancy: The ability to know that a form or shape is the same, even if it has been made smaller/larger or has been turned around.

Visual Closure: The ability to recognise a form or object when part of the picture is missing.

How can I tell if my child has problems with this?

If a child has difficulties with visual perception they might have difficulty:

  • Completing puzzles or dot to dots.
  • Planning actions in relation to objects around them.
  • With spatial concepts such as “in, out, on, under, next to, up, down, in front of.”
  • Differentiating between “b, d, p, q”
  • Reversing numbers or letters when writing.
  • Losing place on a page when reading or writing.
  • Remembering left and right.
  • Forgetting where to start reading.
  • Sequencing letters or numbers in words or math problems.
  • Remembering the alphabet in sequence,
  • Coping from one place to another (e.g. from board, from book, from one side of the paper to the other).
  • Dressing (i.e. matching shoes or socks).
  • Discriminating between size of letters and objects.
  • Remembering sight words.
  • Completing partially drawn pictures or stencils.
  • Attending to a word on a printed page due to his/her inability to block out other words around it.
  • Filtering out visual distractions such as colorful bulletin boards or movement in the room in order to attend to the task at hand.
  • Sorting and organizing personal belongings (e.g. may appear disorganised or careless in work).
  • With hidden picture activities or finding a specific item in a cluttered desk.

What other problems can occur when a child has difficulties with visual perception?

When a child has visual perception difficulties, they might also have difficulties with:

  • Academic performance: The ease and skill with which they can complete academic tasks.
  • Attention and concentration: Sustained effort, doing activities without distraction and being able to hold that effort long enough to get the task done.
  • Self regulation: The ability to obtain, maintain and change one’s emotion, behaviour, attention and activity level appropriate for a task or situation in a socially acceptable manner.
  • Behaviour: They may avoid or refuse to participate in activities that require visual perceptual skills.
  • Frustration: With precise eye and hand tasks.
  • Avoidance: They may prefer to get others to perform tasks for them under their direction, rather than actually doing themselves (e.g. “Daddy, draw me a house”, or “build me a rocket”, with refusal to do it themselves).
  • Organisation: They may have difficulty keeping track of and organising belongings.

What can be done to improve visual perceptual skills?

  • Visual cues: For example, use a coloured dot or sticker to show what side of the page to start writing on or reading from, or place a texta mark on stick on the inside of the child’s shoes so they know which foot to put them on (dots face inwards).
  • Directional arrows: To help with direction or starting position (e.g. for letter formation).
  • Graph paper: To help with word spacing and sizing.
  • Highlight the line: To encourage correct line alignment.
  • Paper copies: Provide the child work that is to be copied on a piece of paper to put on their desk, rather than asking them to copy it from the board.
  • Alphabet strip: Place on the child’s table that they can refer to for correct letter formation.
  • Eliminate clutter: Encourage the child to keep their desk clear of distractions and clutter.
  • Position desk away from distractions: Sit the child’s desk in an area closer to the front to avoid the distractions of other students.
  • Eliminate visual distractions: Remove as much of the visually stimulating classroom wall decorations as possible, especially near the child’s desk.
  • Keep worksheets clear and simple: Avoid unnecessary decorations (e.g. place only one activity on a page, remove pretty borders on worksheets).
  • Outline boundaries: Use a red marker to outline the boundaries for coloring, mazes or cutting tasks.
  • Break visual activities into small steps: When working on puzzles, present one piece at a time and cover unneeded pieces of the puzzle.

What activities can help improve visual perception?

  • Hidden pictures games in books such as “Where’s Wally”.
  • Picture drawing: Practice completing partially drawn pictures.
  • Dot-to-dot worksheets or puzzles.
  • Review work: Encourage your child to identify mistakes in written material.
  • Memory games: Playing games such as Memory.
  • Sensory activities: Use bendable things such as pipe cleaners to form letters and shapes (because feeling a shape can help them visualize the shape). The letters can then be glued onto index cards, and later the child can touch them to “feel” the shape of the letter.
  • Construction-type activities such as Duplo, Lego or other building blocks.
  • Flash cards with a correct letter on one side and an incorrectly formed letter on the other side. Have the child try to draw the letter correctly, then turn over the card to see if it is right. (Have them write in sand or with finger paint to make it more fun).
  • Word search puzzles that require you to look for a series of letter.
  • Copy 3-D block designs
  • Identify objects by touch: Place plastic letters into a bag, and have the child identify the letter by “feel”.

If left untreated what can difficulties with visual perception lead to?

When children have difficulties with visual perception, they might also have difficulties with:

  • Anxiety and stress in a variety of situations leading to difficulty reaching their academic potential.
  • Difficulties completing busy work sheets or following visual instructions.
  • Difficulties accessing the curriculum because unable to attend to the appropriate visual information.
  • Difficulties dressing independently and managing other self care tasks independently.
  • Difficulties completing exams due to difficulty blocking out unimportant visual information.
  • Poor self esteem when a child compares their abilities with their peers.
  • Poor handwriting skills.

sensory processing

What Is sensory processing?

Sensory Processing – or Integration as it is also known – is the effective registration (and accurate interpretation) of sensory input in the environment (including one’s body).

It is the way the brain receives, organises and responds to sensory input in order to behave in a meaningful & consistent manner.

There are 3 possible components of Dysfunction of Sensory Integration.

  • Sensory Modulation Disorder is a problem with turning sensory messages into controlled behaviours that match the nature and intensity of the sensory information.
  • Sensory-Based Motor Disorder is a problem with stabilising, moving or planning a series of movements in response to sensory demands.
  • Sensory Discrimination Disorder is a problem with sensing similarities and differences between sensations.

Other factors that impact processing can include: speech and language difficulties, attention difficulties (e.g. ADD/ADHD), psychological issues (e.g. anxiety, depression), fatigue, diagnosis specific behaviour and conscious choice behaviour.

Environmental factors include: the sensory input around the child, the degree of structure of the setting, the time of day, the impact of fatigue, and the expectations placed on them by the tasks they are doing.

Why is sensory processing / motor integration important?

A new born is able to see, hear and sense their body but is unable to organise these senses well; therefore this has very little meaning to them.

They are unable to judge distances or feel the shape of one object versus another.

As the child is exposed to various sensory inputs, they gradually learn to organise them within their brain and are able to give meaning to them.

They become better able to focus on one sensation and as a result performance improves.

Their movement changes from being jerky and clumsy to more refined and they are able to manage multiple amounts of sensory input at one time.

By organising sensations the child is able to modulate their response and as a result they seem to be more connected with the world and in control of their emotions.

When children are efficient in their processing, appropriate responses to the environment around us occurs and is demonstrated by appropriate skill mastery, behaviour, attention and self regulation.

Children are able to sit and attend to the important pieces of information in a classroom and therefore will have a good chance at achieving their academic potential.

Furthermore a child will be able to understand their body’s movement in relation to their surroundings and itself.

This allows for success in fine and gross motor activities. This in turns aids the social development of a child.

What are the building blocks necessary to develop efficient sensory processing / motor integration?

All the sensory systems need to work together for effective sensory processing.

It is important to recognise that there are in fact 7 senses that make up the sensory system and its these systems that process information as a building block to many other skills.

  • Visual sense: The ability to understand and interpret what is seen.

The visual system uses the eye to receive information about contrast of light and dark, colour and movement. It detects visual input from the environment through light waves stimulating the retina.

  • Auditory Sense: The ability to interpret information that is heard.

The auditory system uses the outer and middle ear to receive noise and sound information about volume, pitch and rhythm.

It is important for the refinement of sounds into meaningful syllables and words.

  • Gustatory Sense: The ability to interpret information regarding taste in the mouth.

It uses the tongue to receive taste sensations and to detect if these are safe or harmful by their chemical makeup.

  • Olfactory Sense: The ability to interpret smells.

It uses the nose to receive information of the chemical makeup of particles in the air.

  • Tactile sense: The ability to interpret information coming into the body by the skin.

It uses receptors in the skin to receive touch sensations like pressure, vibration, movement, temperature and pain.

It is the first sense to develop (in the womb), and as such is very important for overall neural organisation.

  • Proprioceptive Sense: The ability to interpret where your body parts are in relation to each other.

It uses information from nerves and sheaths on the muscles and bones to inform about the position and movement of the body through muscles contracting, stretching, bending, straightening, pulling and compressing.

  • Vestibular sense: The ability to interpret information relating to movement and balance.

The vestibular system uses the semi-circular canals in the inner ear to receive information about movement, change of direction, change of head position and gravitational pull.

It receives information about how fast or slow we are moving, balance, movement from the neck, eyes and body, body position, and orientation in space.

How can you tell if my child has problems with sensory processing / motor integration?

If a child has difficulties with sensory processing they might:

  • Show heightened reactivity to sound, touch or movement.
  • Be under-reactive to certain sensations (e.g. not notice name being called, being touched, have a very high pain threshold).
  • Appear lethargic or disinterested; appearing to mostly be in their ‘own world’.
  • Have difficulty regulating their own behavioural and emotional responses; showing increased tantrums, being emotional reactive, having a need for control, impulsive behaviours, being easily frustrated or overly compliant.
  • Being easily distracted, showing poor attention and concentration.
  • Have poor motor skills; appearing clumsy, have immature coordination, balance and motor planning skills, and/or poor handwriting skills.
  • Have poor sleep patterns.
  • Have a restricted eating habits or be a picky eater.
  • Become distressed during self-care tasks (e.g. hair-brushing, hair-washing, nail cutting, dressing, tying shoe laces, self-feeding).
  • Loves movement so that they seeks out intense pressure (e.g. constant spinning, running around, jumping, crashing in objects/people).
  • Avoid movement based equipment (e.g. swings, slides).
  • Appear floppy or has ‘low muscle tone’, tire easily and often slumped in posture.
  • Perform tasks with too much force, have big movements, move too fast, write too light or too hard.
  • Have delayed communication and social skills, is hard to engage in two-way interactions.
  • Prefer to play on their own or has difficulty in knowing how to play with other children.
  • Have difficulty accepting changes in routine or transitioning between tasks.
  • Have difficulty engaging with peers and sustaining friendships.

What other problems can occur when a child has difficulties with sensory processing / motor integration?

When a child has sensory processing difficulties, they might also have difficulties with:

  • Attention and concentration: Sustained effort, doing activities without distraction and being able to hold that effort long enough to get the task done.
  • Behaviour: Their actions, usually in relation to their environment.
  • Body awareness: Knowing body parts and understanding the body’s movement in space in relation to other limbs and objects.
  • Coordination: The ability to integrate multiple movements into efficient movement.
  • Expressive language (using language): The use of language through speech, sign or alternative forms of communication to communicate wants, needs, thoughts and ideas.
  • Play skills: Voluntary engagement in self motivated activities that are normally associated with pleasure and enjoyment where the activities may be, but are not necessarily, goal oriented.
  • Receptive language (understanding):
  • Comprehension of language.
  • Self regulation: The ability to obtain, maintain and change their emotion, behaviour, attention and activity level appropriate for a task or situation in a socially acceptable manner.
  • Articulation: Clarity of speech sounds and spoken language.

What activities can help improve sensory processing / motor integration?

A Sensory diet to provide sensory feedback to the body to enable it to sensorily regulate. These activities might be activities such as:

  • Wheelbarrow walking
  • Animal walks
  • Trampolining
  • Cycling or scooting
  • Swings (forward and back, side to side, rotary)
  • Rough and tumble play / squishing or sandwiching with pillows or balls
  • Wearing a heavy backpack
  • Weighted items (wheat bag on lap while sitting or heavy blanket for sleep)
  • Chewy toys
  • Visual schedules enable a child to see and understand what is going to happen next. Schedules also help them to organise themselves and to plan ahead.
  • Timers help with transitions as they tell the child how long and when they are going to have to do an activity. Timers allow us to pre-warn the child.

If left untreated what can difficulties with sensory processing / motor integration difficulties lead to?

When children have difficulties with sensory processing, they might also have difficulties with:

  • Self regulation of their emotion, behaviour, attention and activity levels to match them to the task or situation in a socially acceptable manner.
  • Behaviour as the child might be unable to regulate themselves appropriately to settle and attend to a task for extended periods of time.
  • Difficulties accessing the curriculum because they are unable to attend to tasks long enough to complete assessment criteria.
  • Poor sleep habits, impacting upon skill development due to fatigue.
  • Rigid routines that are difficult to break.
  • Speech and language difficulties as sensory processing is the foundation to these skills.
  • Physical skills (fine and gross motor) including self care skills (eating, sleeping, teeth cleaning, tolerating haircuts).
  • Play skills being more limited in scope and being more bossy in social interaction with peers than age appropriate.