NESCA’s Newton, MA location has immediate availability for neuropsychological evaluations. Our MA clinicians specialize in the following evaluations: Neuropsychological; Autism; and Emotional and Psychological, as well as Academic Achievement and Learning Disability Testing.

Visit www.nesca-newton.com/intake for more information or to book an evaluation.

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149

From School to Summer – Life Rolls Along in the Era of COVID19

By | NESCA Notes 2020

By: Sophie Bellenis, OTD, OTR/L

Occupational Therapist; Real-life Skills Program Manager and Coach

This past March, families were thrown into the world of remote learning, Zoom classrooms, digital assignments and school at home. With little to no time to prepare, teachers and parents alike have worked tirelessly to provide a sense of routine and academic focus, while handling the social and emotional fallout of the COVID19 pandemic. As schools start to wrap up their years and families start to look ahead at what is sure to be a notably unique summer, there is a bit more time to plan, think proactively and chart a positive course for our children.

As summer camps, childcare options, volunteer opportunities, and internships are either cancelled, transitioning to an online format, or significantly limiting capacity, the need for children to manage and plan self-directed activities is becoming more and more apparent. With such an extended period of time ahead of us, let’s highlight some ways that we can create environments that allow our children autonomy while building important skills and leavings lots of room for fun.

Set Firm Boundaries

There is evidence that tells us our children most successfully build and demonstrate their executive function skills when they are allowed freedom and opportunities to make their own choices, within boundaries and limits set by their parents (Schroeder & Kelley, 2010). Consider what aspects of summer life are non-negotiable for your family. This may be a certain limit on hours of screen time per day, a time that all children are expected to be up and out of bed, or chores and expectations that they must meet as a part of the family unit. Make sure that these are clearly communicated and agreed upon by everyone in the home.

Set Goals

Helping children set and work on completing goals can provide a concrete representation of the accomplishments that they have achieved over the summer. There are many ways to organize and format this process, but one consistent theme should be creating goals that are measurable, achievable and specific. Consider the SMART goal format as a template. One way to help children to choose their goals is to have them focus on three categories: personal, family and community. Some examples are:

  1. Personal Goals – Develop a consistent exercise routine; try out a new form of exercise, such as running, yoga or Pilates; incorporate a mindfulness meditation into a weekly schedule; consistently wake up independently with an alarm; or drink the recommended amount of water per day for their age, etc.
  2. Goal to Benefit the Family – Cook dinner for the family once a week; commit to weeding a family garden; deep clean one room per week; learn which cleaning supplies are used for the bathroom and for the kitchen; add a new chore each week; or teach a grandparent or family friend how to use a new technology, etc.
  3. Goal to Benefit the Community – Collect box-tops from all of the food items in the home to give to their school once it’s back in session; take a walk and pick up trash on a road or beach; do a food drive for a local pantry; mow the lawn for a neighbor; or reach out to vulnerable people in the community and ask if they can do anything to help, etc.

Create an Activity Bank

Pediatric Neuropsychologist Dr. Angela Currie of NESCA recently explained why telling kids to simply, “find something to do,” rarely leads to positive results (Currie, 2020). One suggestion that Dr. Currie gives is to create an activity bank or “menu.” It is often difficult to come up with suggestions in the moment when a child mentions that they are bored or feel there is little to do. Take the proactive step of creating a list of activities that your child can go to when they are having a hard time deciding how to fill their time. This makes it easy to prompt them to independently choose something to do. The response, “Why don’t you go take a look at the activities bank and see if there is something that would be a great choice for today?” gives a child a concrete first step. Some families have used creative ways to help children decide between options, such as an activity dice, an activity grab-bag or a personal activity “menu” with specific options for each child.

Encourage Independent Learning

The old adage states that anyone can be an expert at something, if they spend 10,000 hours practicing. Teach this theory to your children and ask them what truly makes them feel excited and curious. What would they like to explore? Children are used to viewing themselves through the lens of a student; however, they rarely make decisions about exactly what they would like to learn. Help your child explore their personal interests and choose something they would like to learn about over the course of the summer. This could look like a 1st grader collecting sea shells at the beach and bringing them home to draw; a 5th grader spending a couple of hours a week researching underwater caves; an 8th grader learning how to keep a sourdough starter alive and bake bread; or a junior in high school doing a deep dive into the current cultural shift developing in the United States. The topic should be completely chosen by the child, with suggestions and support facilitated by their parents.

 

References

Currie, A. (2020). Why “find something to do” doesn’t work – Teaching independent play skills during quarantine, NESCA Notes. Retrieved from https://nesca-newton.com/why-find-something-to-do-doesnt-work-teaching-independent-play-skills-during-quarantine/

Schroeder, V. & Kelley, M. (2010) Family environment and parent‐child relationships as related to executive functioning in children, Early Child Development and Care, 180:10, 1285-1298, DOI: 10.1080/03004430902981512

 

About the Author

Dr. Sophie Bellenis is a Licensed Occupational Therapist in Massachusetts, specializing in educational OT and functional life skills development. Dr. Bellenis joined NESCA in the fall of 2017 to offer community-based skills coaching services as a part of the Real-life Skills Program within NESCA’s Transition Services team. Dr. Bellenis graduated from the MGH Institute of Health Professions with a Doctorate in Occupational Therapy, with a focus on pediatrics and international program evaluation. She is a member of the American Occupational Therapy Association, as well as the World Federation of Occupational Therapists. Having spent years delivering direct services at the elementary, middle school and high school levels, Dr. Bellenis has extensive background with school-based occupational therapy services.  She believes that individual sensory needs and visual skills must be taken into account to create comprehensive educational programming.

To book an appointment or to learn more about NESCA’s Occupational Therapy Services, please fill out our online Intake Form, email info@nesca-newton.com or call 617-658-9800.

 

Neuropsychology & Education Services for Children & Adolescents (NESCA) is a pediatric neuropsychology practice and integrative treatment center with offices in Newton, Massachusetts, Plainville, Massachusetts, and Londonderry, New Hampshire, serving clients from preschool through young adulthood and their families. For more information, please email info@nesca-newton.com or call 617-658-9800.

 

149

Multi-sensory Learning: Bringing it into the Home

By | NESCA Notes 2020

Sophie Bellenis, OTD, OTR/L

By: Occupational Therapist; Real-life Skills Program Manager and Coach

In our last OT Tuesday blog, we delved into the topic of multi-sensory learning: what it is, what it looks like in the classroom and what it intends to do. We reviewed the fact that this technique consists of targeting children’s auditory, visual, tactile and kinesthetic systems with hands-on learning activities. This week we will further discuss multi-sensory learning and brainstorm ways that this approach can be incorporated by parents into home-based learning. Multi-sensory learning is hugely variable and can be applied in a plethora of creative ways. Here are some tips to help tailor this approach to your child at home.

  1. Consider Your Child’s Learning Profile. It is common knowledge that both children and adults tend to have a unique style of learning, as well as preferences for how information is presented. Think about how your child has learned from you in the past. Did she learn to wash her hands thoroughly by singing a song? Watching a timer? Observing you demonstrate the best way first? Information from teaching simple tasks like these can help you suss out how your child may best learn and take in academic information. If you are unsure, consider reaching out to teachers and professionals who have worked with your student in the past. Teachers are excellent at determining the ideal way to present information to each child. They may be able to help you better understand your child’s unique learning profile and give suggestions for activities.
  2. Create Manipulatives. Manipulatives, or things that children can hold, feel and manipulate with their hands, are tools that help solidify concepts for many of our tactile learners. While school buildings are often full of creative manipulatives, many of these are easy to make using household objects. Have your child cut up cereal boxes to make letter cards. Write numbers on bottle caps or rocks and have your children count them out or create math equations. Cut up paper plates into slices to help visually represent fractions. Use an egg carton with ten cups to build a homemade ten frame. Write out words using pipe cleaners or clay. If you are not feeling particularly “DIY,” many manipulatives can be purchased online. Here are few options for manipulatives, by subject:
  1. Consider Learning Opportunities in Your Community. There are, of course, universal lessons and aspects of curricula that are consistent across the Unites States. Children all work to learn their letters, the basics of addition and subtraction, and eventually how to write a paragraph. In contrast, the unique fabric of the varied communities across our country, allows for specific education through hands-on experiences in our environments. In New England, we have access to the coast, historic sites relating to the Revolutionary War, and many state and national parks. Teach environmental science by exploring tidepools and looking at sea creatures. Involve kinesthetic learning by having your children walk along part of the Freedom Trail. Get your children outside and show them physical representations of the things that they read about and see in pictures.
  2. Tap into Online Resources. Some of the most effective multi-sensory learning tools are quite simple. Having a child follow along in a book as they listen to someone read out loud targets both the visual and auditory systems. Kids both review their spelling and focus on reading comprehension while they listen. Videos and audio recordings of educators and parents reading children’s books aloud can be found on YouTube, Audible and many other internet sites. Look at your personal library and search the titles to see whether this option is readily available. Additionally, with this teaching method becoming increasingly evidenced-based and popular, sites such as Pinterest, TeachersPayTeachers and Understood.org have excellent ideas and examples of activities to incorporate into your day.
  3. Use What You Have. Many of the multi-sensory learning activities, especially for younger children, invite kids to get their hands dirty and feel. We prompt children to practice writing their letters in bins of beans or rice. We practice patterns with popsicle sticks or blocks. We use playdough or clay to both make art projects and forms letters. Look around your house and see what you already have available. If you do not have rice or beans, but you do have some sand outside, write letters in sand! If your supply of popsicle sticks ran out back in March, have your children step outside and collect 20 small sticks each. Use those sticks to spell out words. Color them with markers and then line them up to create patterns. Have your child dip them in water mixed with food coloring and practice writing letters on a piece of paper. Multi-sensory learning is all about having children learn from the complex and rich environments around them, while using multiple sensory pathways within their bodies. Teaching materials are all around us!

 

About the Author

Dr. Sophie Bellenis is a Licensed Occupational Therapist in Massachusetts, specializing in educational OT and functional life skills development. Dr. Bellenis joined NESCA in the fall of 2017 to offer community-based skills coaching services as a part of the Real-life Skills Program within NESCA’s Transition Services team. Dr. Bellenis graduated from the MGH Institute of Health Professions with a Doctorate in Occupational Therapy, with a focus on pediatrics and international program evaluation. She is a member of the American Occupational Therapy Association, as well as the World Federation of Occupational Therapists. Having spent years delivering direct services at the elementary, middle school and high school levels, Dr. Bellenis has extensive background with school-based occupational therapy services.  She believes that individual sensory needs and visual skills must be taken into account to create comprehensive educational programming.

To book an appointment or to learn more about NESCA’s Occupational Therapy Services, please fill out our online Intake Form, email info@nesca-newton.com or call 617-658-9800.

 

Neuropsychology & Education Services for Children & Adolescents (NESCA) is a pediatric neuropsychology practice and integrative treatment center with offices in Newton, Massachusetts, Plainville, Massachusetts, and Londonderry, New Hampshire, serving clients from preschool through young adulthood and their families. For more information, please email info@nesca-newton.com or call 617-658-9800.

 

149

Multi-sensory Learning: More than Just a Buzz Word!

By | NESCA Notes 2020

By: Sophie Bellenis, OTD, OTR/L
Occupational Therapist; Real-life Skills Program Manager and Coach

As teaching methods continue to become more and more creative, and learning is being facilitated through interventions that target all types of students, the term “multi-sensory learning” has started to cement its place in the educational lexicon. You may have seen a line in an evaluation, such as, “This student would benefit from a multi-sensory learning approach,” or “The use of multi-sensory teaching methods will help this student to solidify their learning.” In some ways this phrase is easy to interpret. Multi means many. Sensory refers to the body’s different senses, the tools we use to interpret and experience the environment around us. Reason would tell us that this phrase means using all of these senses to acquire knowledge, information, and skills, and….it does! But what does this look like in practice? How are professionals actually using this method to help our children learn?

If you picture a typical classroom from a few decades ago, there is a teacher standing up at the front of the room providing students with information to copy down into their notebooks. These students are receiving information through the auditory system only. They are being expected to listen, comprehend and retain the lesson using one sense, their hearing.

Now let’s picture the classroom of a teacher using multi-sensory learning techniques. Often, students are clustered in different areas with a teacher checking in at every table to provide each small group with support. Students are looking at images or pictures of the object they are studying, both reading information and hearing it clarified by their teacher, and are likely using manipulatives, or things they can feel to help understand the content. These students are learning through their visual, auditory and tactile systems.

Humans grow, evolve and learn in complex, multi-sensory environments that are constantly targeting all of our senses. Our brains are built to learn through a combination of visual, auditory, tactile and kinesthetic data (Shams & Seitz, 2008). Using visual methods helps children learn through the sense of sight; auditory through the sense of hearing; tactile through the sense of touch; and kinesthetic through body movement. Children display greater performance when learning activities target all of these systems, as opposed to when they are taught using one modality (Broadbent, White, Mareschal, & Kirkham, 2018).

As an example, let’s look at teaching Kindergarten students their letters. A robust multi-sensory approach to teaching the alphabet includes looking at pictures of the letters, saying the sounds out loud as a class, tracing the letters in the air with one finger, making each letter out of playdough, writing the letters in bins of rice, making the student’s bodies into the shape of individual letters, and finally picking up a pencil to attempt to form the letters on the page independently. Students gain a comprehensive understanding of the letters as their brains have been targeted across multiple sensory systems.

There is substantial research for using this multi-sensory approach for another foundational academic skill: reading (Walet, 2011). Many of the most well-known phonics and reading programs, such as Orton-Gillingham and the Wilson Reading System, use these strategies to help students who learn differently to master this skill (AOGPE, 2012 & Wilson, 2017). When using some programs students learn to tap out syllables and letters on their fingers as they read, incorporating tactile feedback. Others focus on including books on tape so that students both see and hear each word as it is read aloud.

Other excellent examples of multi-sensory learning in the classroom include:

  • Songs and rhythm to solidify content
  • Base ten cubes as math manipulatives
  • Fieldtrips!
  • Games involving movement, such as flashcard races, Around the World and clapping games
  • Paper with raised or highlighted lines for tactile or visual feedback
  • Video clips to review concepts
  • Real coins and dollars when learning about money
  • Science experiments in a high school lab

While students are currently all at home receiving their lessons and assignments through a digital medium, many are missing out on the creative ways that their fabulous teachers use these strategies in their classrooms. In my next blog, we will discuss some ways to incorporate these strategies in the home!

 

References

Academy of Orton-Gillingham Practitioners and Educators (AOGPE). (2012). The Orton-Gillingham

Broadbent HJ, White H, Mareschal D, Kirkham NZ. Incidental learning in a multisensory environment across childhood. Dev Sci. 2018;21(2):e12554. doi:10.1111/desc.12554

Shams, L., and Seitz, A.R. Benefits of multisensory learning. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 60, November 2008, pp. 411-17.

Walet, J. (2011). Differentiating for Struggling Readers and Writers: Improving Motivation and Metacognition through Multisensory Methods & Explicit Strategy Instruction. Journal of the American Academy of Special Education Professionals,83-91.

Wilson, B. (2017). Teaching total word structure. Wilson Language Training Corporation.

 

About the Author

Dr. Sophie Bellenis is a Licensed Occupational Therapist in Massachusetts, specializing in educational OT and functional life skills development. Dr. Bellenis joined NESCA in the fall of 2017 to offer community-based skills coaching services as a part of the Real-life Skills Program within NESCA’s Transition Services team. Dr. Bellenis graduated from the MGH Institute of Health Professions with a Doctorate in Occupational Therapy, with a focus on pediatrics and international program evaluation. She is a member of the American Occupational Therapy Association, as well as the World Federation of Occupational Therapists. Having spent years delivering direct services at the elementary, middle school and high school levels, Dr. Bellenis has extensive background with school-based occupational therapy services.  She believes that individual sensory needs and visual skills must be taken into account to create comprehensive educational programming.

To book an appointment or to learn more about NESCA’s Occupational Therapy Services, please fill out our online Intake Form, email info@nesca-newton.com or call 617-658-9800.

 

Neuropsychology & Education Services for Children & Adolescents (NESCA) is a pediatric neuropsychology practice and integrative treatment center with offices in Newton, Massachusetts, Plainville, Massachusetts, and Londonderry, New Hampshire, serving clients from preschool through young adulthood and their families. For more information, please email info@nesca-newton.com or call 617-658-9800.

 

149

Visual Motor Integration Deep Dive – Part 2

By | NESCA Notes 2020

 

By: Sophie Bellenis, OTD, OTR/L
Occupational Therapist; Real-life Skills Program Manager and Coach

Last week’s blog taught us the nuts and bolts of Visual Motor Integration. Let’s jump into the what VMI really means for students who struggle with VMI.

Research has shown a statistically significant correlation between performance on visual motor integration assessments and teachers’ assessments of early elementary school students’ reading, mathematics, writing and spelling ability (Optometry and Vision Science, 1999; Pereira, D., Araujo, R., & Braccialli, L., 2011). Now that we understand what visual motor integration is as a concept and that it is a foundational skill for academics, let’s look at some areas of education that may be difficult for children with visual motor dysfunction.

  • Written Output – Beginning in preschool, children start to learn how to draw vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines. They practice circles, squares, crosses and drawing an X. All of these are considered pre-handwriting practice. As a child moves along in their academic career, they start incorporating these movements into letters and eventually words. Children who struggle with VMI have particular difficulty recreating the images that they see. This often manifests itself in letter reversals, illegible written output and inability to judge whether their copy looks like the model or not. As children get into later grades, visual motor dysfunction may include difficulty copying information from a whiteboard, trouble staying on the line or within the space provided, and a simple lack of fluidity when writing. Tasks, such as filling out graphic organizers and brainstorming, feel tedious and tiring, as opposed to helpful.
  • Math – While math is not typically thought of as a motor-based task, substantial portions of current math curriculums rely on visual motor integration. For younger students, drawing shapes, writing equations and recognizing patterns may be particularly tough. As students get older, geometry requires them to write out proofs and draw shapes, while calculus requires graphing and drawing lines based on complex equations. Building on VMI helps students to access more than simple written output.
  • Using Classroom Tools – While this may not seem as academically focused as the other areas that are affected by VMI, classroom tools are frequently used throughout the school day. Scissors, a stapler, a hole puncher and a mouse/keyboard all require some level of visual motor function.

It’s difficult to briefly sum up all of the ways that students are incorporating their visual motor integration skills into a typical school day, or realistically a day in general. They use these skills without even realizing it, which means they unintentionally practice them all day. VMI is something that can continue to develop all through the lifespan. Artists pick up new tools and build mastery, adult calligraphy classes have become a new fad as people learn to modify and improve their handwriting, and even Tom Brady continues to work on perfecting that spiral. Targeted intervention can help children build on their foundation and find confidence in their abilities. If you feel that VMI might be affecting your child’s education, reach out to an occupational therapist and see if they can help you better understand your child’s individual profile.

 

References

Optometry and Vision Science: March 1999 – p 159-163. Retrieved from https://journals.lww.com/optvissci/Abstract/1999/03000/Relationship_between_Visual_Motor_Integration.15.aspx

Pereira, D., Araujo, R., & Braccialli, L. (2011) Relationship between visual-motor integration ability and academic performance. Journal of Human Growth and Development, 21(3), 808-817. Retrieved_from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317462934_Relationship_analysis_between_visual-motor_integration_ability_and_academic_performance

 

About the Author

Dr. Sophie Bellenis is a Licensed Occupational Therapist in Massachusetts, specializing in educational OT and functional life skills development. Dr. Bellenis joined NESCA in the fall of 2017 to offer community-based skills coaching services as a part of the Real-life Skills Program within NESCA’s Transition Services team. Dr. Bellenis graduated from the MGH Institute of Health Professions with a Doctorate in Occupational Therapy, with a focus on pediatrics and international program evaluation. She is a member of the American Occupational Therapy Association, as well as the World Federation of Occupational Therapists. Having spent years delivering direct services at the elementary, middle school and high school levels, Dr. Bellenis has extensive background with school-based occupational therapy services.  She believes that individual sensory needs and visual skills must be taken into account to create comprehensive educational programming.

To book an appointment or to learn more about NESCA’s Occupational Therapy Services, please fill out our online Intake Form, email info@nesca-newton.com or call 617-658-9800.

 

Neuropsychology & Education Services for Children & Adolescents (NESCA) is a pediatric neuropsychology practice and integrative treatment center with offices in Newton, Massachusetts, Plainville, Massachusetts, and Londonderry, New Hampshire, serving clients from preschool through young adulthood and their families. For more information, please email info@nesca-newton.com or call 617-658-9800.

 

149

Visual Motor Integration Deep Dive – Part 1

By | NESCA Notes 2020

By: Sophie Bellenis, OTD, OTR/L
Occupational Therapist; Real-life Skills Program Manager and Coach

If your child is currently receiving occupational therapy services in either a sensory clinic or a school-based setting, it is likely that you have heard the phrase “visual motor integration (VMI).” It has possibly been described as the ability to “see something and then recreate it with a pencil,” or “coordination between the eyes and the hands to create an intended outcome.” While these phrases or simple definitions do give some insight into the skill, there are layers to understanding the intricacies of VMI and how it may affect someone in a classroom setting. Why is visual motor integration important? Why does this skill affect a child’s ability to successfully access their curriculum? And really, why do occupational therapists seem to be so focused on this foundational skill?

Let’s start by dissecting the phrase visual motor integration, as each word truly highlights an important aspect.

Visual.

In this sense, “visual” refers to the functional visual skills and visual perception. Functional visual skills include being able to follow along a horizontal, vertical or diagonal line with one’s eyes, as well as being able to account for depth by focusing on objects that are both close to the face (a book) and far away (the whiteboard). Clinically, these skills are referred to as visual tracking and convergence respectively. Visual perception is the brain’s ability to interpret the data that the eyes are seeing and turn it into meaningful information. This is not simply the ability to clearly see something, a skill that is often assessed by school nurses or optometrist. It is the ability to understand it. Visual perception is complex in its own right, but the specific details are for another time, or potentially another blog.

Motor.

Similar to visual skills, “motor” refers to one’s overall motor skills. This includes:

  • Fine motor control – the ability to use the small muscles in the hands to make coordinated movements;
  • Gross motor – the ability to use the large muscles in the body; and
  • Postural stability – the ability to create a supported foundation when sitting or standing; a child’s postural stability is hugely affected by their core muscles and their position when sitting.

Integration.

Some students have visual motor dysfunction because of a deficit in either their visual skills or their motor skills. They find using these two skills together difficult simply because one foundational piece is already affected. Conversely, some students have trouble with VMI simply because of this integration piece. Being able to use these two skills in conjunction with intention and coordination is a skill within itself. Through standardized assessment and clinical observation, occupational therapists should be able to determine the root cause of a child’s VMI dysfunction. This helps to guide appropriate intervention and accommodation. In some ways, visual motor integration is similar to hand-eye coordination.  Being able to recreate something that a child sees, such as a square, the letter “A” or a horizontal line is truly using VMI skills.

Next week, we’ll dive further into VMI and how it serves as a foundational skill for academics, its impact on learning and the output students produce.

 

About the Author

Dr. Sophie Bellenis is a Licensed Occupational Therapist in Massachusetts, specializing in educational OT and functional life skills development. Dr. Bellenis joined NESCA in the fall of 2017 to offer community-based skills coaching services as a part of the Real-life Skills Program within NESCA’s Transition Services team. Dr. Bellenis graduated from the MGH Institute of Health Professions with a Doctorate in Occupational Therapy, with a focus on pediatrics and international program evaluation. She is a member of the American Occupational Therapy Association, as well as the World Federation of Occupational Therapists. Having spent years delivering direct services at the elementary, middle school and high school levels, Dr. Bellenis has extensive background with school-based occupational therapy services.  She believes that individual sensory needs and visual skills must be taken into account to create comprehensive educational programming.

To book an appointment or to learn more about NESCA’s Occupational Therapy Services, please fill out our online Intake Form, email info@nesca-newton.com or call 617-658-9800.

 

Neuropsychology & Education Services for Children & Adolescents (NESCA) is a pediatric neuropsychology practice and integrative treatment center with offices in Newton, Massachusetts, Plainville, Massachusetts, and Londonderry, New Hampshire, serving clients from preschool through young adulthood and their families. For more information, please email info@nesca-newton.com or call 617-658-9800.

 

149

The Therapeutic Great Outdoors—Part 2

By | NESCA Notes 2020

By: Sophie Bellenis, OTD, OTR/L
Occupational Therapist; Real-life Skills Program Manager and Coach

In last week’s blog, we provided the first five ideas on how to teach and build OT skills by getting outdoors. This week, we bring the next installment of ideas to help build skills while also providing a break from being cooped up together. Take it a step further and build in some kindness lessons by offering neighbors or passers-by some of the outputs from the suggested ideas and projects!

  1. Make Fossils. This activity consists of finding unique and special treasures outdoors and making imprints of them back inside. First, find some small solid objects, such as rocks, small sticks, acorns, leaves or shells. This is a perfect activity to do after a nature scavenger hunt! Then have your children press these objects into playdough or plaster of Paris to make their own fossils. Children work on their fine motor skills as they roll out the plaster, pinch their objects and push them down to make an imprint. Try making this great playdough recipe together before you get started. For some extra creative options, to try include: incorporating small toys, such as dinosaur figurines or LEGOs or using cookie dough as a base, then eat your fossils for a snack!
  2. Make a Bird Feeder. There are many different creative ways to make bird feeders with your children. Choose a bird feeder that requires multiple fine motor skills and is appropriate for your child’s level! Two options are:
    1. Bagel Feeder – Start with a bagel. Help your child tie a string or piece of ribbon through the center hole of the bagel in a large loop. Next, have your child choose a topping to put onto the bagel. I generally suggest peanut butter! Have the child practice spreading this topping all over the bagel. Using a knife to spread such a thick, sticky substance is a pretty difficult fine motor task! Next have your child use their “pinchy fingers” (thumb and pointer finger) to pick up bird seed and sprinkle it on the peanut butter. The end product will be a bagel covered in peanut butter and bird seed that is ready to hang on a tree outside. Place it near a window and let your children watch the birds enjoy their creation!
    2. Cheerio Feeder – You may have heard that stringing beads is an excellent occupational therapy activity that promotes bilateral coordination, fine motor precision, motor planning and a pincer grasp. Consider making a bird feeder by stringing Cheerios (or any cereal with a hole in the center) onto a piece of string and hanging them in the trees. Birds will love to peck off the individual pieces as a snack.
  3. Paint Rocks or Shells. Painting rocks and other outdoor treasures is a great activity that allows children to be creative while using tools and practicing a functional grasp. Allow children to pick up the rocks and get messy to help promote some bilateral coordination!
  4. Draw with Sidewalk Chalk. While writing with chalk may seem very similar to writing with a pencil to us adults, for children who are just learning to manipulate a pencil, it can be a hugely different experience. Writing on the uneven ground provides tactile feedback. Holding a piece of chalk that moves with the contours of the ground requires increased hand strength. Children get to practice modulating how hard they need to push down on the chalk to make a solid line. If your child is hesitant to practice handwriting, try sneaking outside 5 or 10 minutes before them to create a few “sidewalk worksheets” for them to complete before they start to draw their creative masterpieces. For some children, there is a huge sensory piece to sidewalk chalk, as they work to tolerate the new texture and the feeling of chalk on their hands.
  5. Bring out the Bubbles. In occupational therapy, we often use bubbles to help children work on their oral motor skills. Children work to make their mouth into a round “O” shape and blow with enough force to create the bubbles themselves. Prompt your kids to pop bubbles by clapping their hands together. This helps to practice eye-hand and bilateral coordination. Next, have your child try to keep their eyes on one bubble as long as possible to practice visual tracking!

 

About the Author

Dr. Sophie Bellenis is a Licensed Occupational Therapist in Massachusetts, specializing in educational OT and functional life skills development. Dr. Bellenis joined NESCA in the fall of 2017 to offer community-based skills coaching services as a part of the Real-life Skills Program within NESCA’s Transition Services team. Dr. Bellenis graduated from the MGH Institute of Health Professions with a Doctorate in Occupational Therapy, with a focus on pediatrics and international program evaluation. She is a member of the American Occupational Therapy Association, as well as the World Federation of Occupational Therapists. Having spent years delivering direct services at the elementary, middle school and high school levels, Dr. Bellenis has extensive background with school-based occupational therapy services.  She believes that individual sensory needs and visual skills must be taken into account to create comprehensive educational programming.

To book an appointment or to learn more about NESCA’s Occupational Therapy Services, please fill out our online Intake Form, email info@nesca-newton.com or call 617-658-9800.

 

Neuropsychology & Education Services for Children & Adolescents (NESCA) is a pediatric neuropsychology practice and integrative treatment center with offices in Newton, Massachusetts, Plainville, Massachusetts, and Londonderry, New Hampshire, serving clients from preschool through young adulthood and their families. For more information, please email info@nesca-newton.com or call 617-658-9800.

 

149

The Therapeutic Great Outdoors—Part 1

By | NESCA Notes 2020

By: Sophie Bellenis, OTD, OTR/L
Occupational Therapist; Real-life Skills Program Manager and Coach

Aside from a spring snowfall this week, it looks like springtime may have truly arrived here in New England. Flowers are popping up on trees, the peepers and morning birds are singing and the warm sun is finally convincing most of us to leave the coats and hats inside. Now more than ever, the opportunity for children to get outside seems like a welcome reprieve from the weeks either cooped up or bundled up.  Mother Nature is a fabulous teacher and has created the perfect environment for children to work on building some of their fine motor, visual motor and sensory skills. This week, we’ll explore five of 10 creative ways to use the outdoors as the classroom, OT gym or playground that it can be! Check back next Tuesday for the next five!

  1. Get Dirty! Thankfully, some of the simplest activities work on the most skills. Letting kids get as dirty as they can works on building sensory tolerance. Digging in the dirt builds hand strength and endurance. Squatting down to play in the mud builds gross motor coordination and whole-body control. Consider bringing out utensils, cups and bowls and so your children can practice scooping, pouring and mixing!
  2. Plant a Garden. Take playing in the dirt one step further by incorporating the steps to planting a garden. This “garden” could be flower or veggie patch, a planter or just a little pot to keep on the window sill. Children work on isolating one finger by poking a hole in the soil, a pincer grasp by picking up small seeds between their thumb and pointer finger and hand strength by digging holes and burying seeds. This is also a great opportunity for children to practice the responsibility of watering plants every day. Add in some math review by having them measure the height of their plants and recording the information in a table.
  3. Climb Trees. The age-old activity of climbing trees works on building gross motor coordination, muscle strength and motor planning. To incorporate some visual skills practice, have children bring “binoculars,” or two toilet paper rolls taped together, to seek out different things that they can see from a new vantage point.
  4. Nature Scavenger Hunt. Scavenger hunts are an excellent way to target building visual skills as they prompt kids to scan their environment, search for specific things in a busy visual field and ignore the overwhelming amount of visual stimulation around them. Bring in a sensory element by asking children to observe, feel and smell each of their treasures. Check out this fabulous Egg Carton Nature Scavenger Hunt created by The Silvan Reverie.
  5. Build a Fort. Encourage kids to use their imagination and build outside. Provide them with twine or string, an old sheet, and a hammer and nails (if they can use them safely). If they are not ready to use these tools, they can practice propping sticks up against a tree to build a lean-to or gathering sticks and branches to make a platform to sit on. All of these options require motor planning, trial and error, and get kids to move their bodies.

 

About the Author

Dr. Sophie Bellenis is a Licensed Occupational Therapist in Massachusetts, specializing in educational OT and functional life skills development. Dr. Bellenis joined NESCA in the fall of 2017 to offer community-based skills coaching services as a part of the Real-life Skills Program within NESCA’s Transition Services team. Dr. Bellenis graduated from the MGH Institute of Health Professions with a Doctorate in Occupational Therapy, with a focus on pediatrics and international program evaluation. She is a member of the American Occupational Therapy Association, as well as the World Federation of Occupational Therapists. Having spent years delivering direct services at the elementary, middle school and high school levels, Dr. Bellenis has extensive background with school-based occupational therapy services.  She believes that individual sensory needs and visual skills must be taken into account to create comprehensive educational programming.

To book an appointment or to learn more about NESCA’s Occupational Therapy Services, please fill out our online Intake Form, email info@nesca-newton.com or call 617-658-9800.

 

Neuropsychology & Education Services for Children & Adolescents (NESCA) is a pediatric neuropsychology practice and integrative treatment center with offices in Newton, Massachusetts, Plainville, Massachusetts, and Londonderry, New Hampshire, serving clients from preschool through young adulthood and their families. For more information, please email info@nesca-newton.com or call 617-658-9800.

 

149

Helping Children Transition from One Activity to the Next

By | NESCA Notes 2020

By: Sophie Bellenis, OTD, OTR/L
Occupational Therapist; Real-life Skills Program Manager and Coach

Here at NESCA we often talk about Transition as the process by which an adolescent or young adult develops the necessary skills to function independently in the adult world (Big “T”), but many younger students are working to master much smaller transitions throughout the day (little “t’s”). Classroom teachers are all acutely aware of the difficulty that some student have when transitioning back from activities, such as lunch, recess, physical education or art class. These students also frequently struggle switching from math to English or social studies to science. It is a balancing act when determining what is a reasonable expectation and what supports we may need to build in for our kids to be successful during these times. Here are some tips to try at home, as parents continue to take on the role of teacher and attempt to keep children on task and sticking to a schedule.

  • Give warnings. Some children just need a quick heads-up, such as, “In 5 minutes we will be heading inside to practice your math problems!” Other children may need repetition, with 5-minute, 3-minute and 1-minute warnings. Consider using a timer if your children seem hesitant to believe that it has truly been a whole 5 minutes!
  • Remember that children love to finish! Allow adequate time for kids to complete the project or activity that they are so diligently working on. If this is not possible, identify a specific time that they can come back to the project. For example, “It’s time for you to move onto your math homework, but at 1 o’clock you can take out your art supplies and finish your picture. 1 o’clock will probably be right after we eat lunch.”
  • Use movement. Movement breaks or “brain breaks” are often great transition activities between two sedentary tasks. If a student is transitioning from Delta Math online to a reading comprehension activity, movement can help them re-regulate their bodies and wake up their nervous system a little bit. Getting outside for a quick run around the backyard, kicking a soccer ball back and forth or doing 10 jumping jacks are great outdoor options. On rainy days or when there is limited outdoor space, consider videos from GoNoodle, Cosmic Kids Yoga or The Learning Station YouTube Channel. Try to keep these movement breaks to under 5 minutes so that children do not lose their focus.
  • Use calming activities. While movement breaks may be a great option between two low energy tasks, kids may need a different strategy to help them transition back to schoolwork from a high energy activity. This is the case for many of our students after lunch in a traditional school setting. Creating a calming environment (i.e. soft music, low light and minimal distractions) and allowing children to choose one peaceful activity, such as coloring, building with Legos or reading a favorite book, to focus on for 10 minutes can help them calm their bodies and prepare for work. Make sure that it is something they truly enjoy.
  • Try a transition “cue.” A transition cue is really any prompt that is used to notify a child that it is about to be time to switch activities. It acts as a concrete representation of the upcoming shift. These prompts can be auditory, visual or tactile. Examples of each include:
    • Auditory – Many teachers use songs as auditory cues throughout the day. From the Welcome Song to The Clean Up Song, teachers prompt their students to change their behavior and get ready for the next activity of the day through song. If you do not feel comfortable singing at home or this feels too immature for your child, consider picking a song to play when it is time to start transitioning. Challenge your student to be ready for the next activity by the end of the song. Provide a direct explanation of expectations, such as, “By the end of this song I want to see the table clear of your art materials, your science notebook in front of you, and you seated at the table with a pencil.”
    • Visual – Visual cues could include a transition card that is carefully placed next a child 5-minutes before they need to move to a new activity, a visual timer or even a pre-agreed upon hand signal.
    • Tactile – Tactile cues are less frequently used in the school setting, but may be helpful at home. Some children benefit from a transition object, such as a fidget, a ball or favorite stuffed animal to hold and play with while a new activity is being set up.
  • Give feedback and teach children to self-monitor. Make sure to give feedback on both the positives and the negatives. Many children thrive on positive reinforcement and love having their successes highlighted. Consider including children in this process and allowing them to reflect on how they did during a transition. Use questions such as, “How did playing that song work for you? Was it helpful?” or “I noticed that you had a hard time calming down after we played outside today, do you think that coloring or a listening to a book on tape would help? What do you think might work for you?” Giving our children the language they need to describe how they are feeling and experiencing this learning process will help them to develop the ability to self-monitor and reflect on their own performance.

As we all do our best to get through these unique times, remember that sometimes the littlest things are the most difficult. Accept that our children are almost all still building the ability to transition successfully, and they will need time to practice, especially in the new remote learning environment.

 

About the Author

Dr. Sophie Bellenis is a Licensed Occupational Therapist in Massachusetts, specializing in educational OT and functional life skills development. Dr. Bellenis joined NESCA in the fall of 2017 to offer community-based skills coaching services as a part of the Real-life Skills Program within NESCA’s Transition Services team. Dr. Bellenis graduated from the MGH Institute of Health Professions with a Doctorate in Occupational Therapy, with a focus on pediatrics and international program evaluation. She is a member of the American Occupational Therapy Association, as well as the World Federation of Occupational Therapists. Having spent years delivering direct services at the elementary, middle school and high school levels, Dr. Bellenis has extensive background with school-based occupational therapy services.  She believes that individual sensory needs and visual skills must be taken into account to create comprehensive educational programming.

To book an appointment or to learn more about NESCA’s Occupational Therapy Services, please fill out our online Intake Form, email info@nesca-newton.com or call 617-658-9800.

 

Neuropsychology & Education Services for Children & Adolescents (NESCA) is a pediatric neuropsychology practice and integrative treatment center with offices in Newton, Massachusetts, Plainville, Massachusetts, and Londonderry, New Hampshire, serving clients from preschool through young adulthood and their families. For more information, please email info@nesca-newton.com or call 617-658-9800.

 

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