Healing Thresholds Autism Therapy Topic Feed

Library Includes Kids With Special Needs in Story Time

scottie — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:58:29 +0000

Teaser:

The Hoboken Public Library now includes kids with autism and other special needs in story time.

Body:

The Hoboken Public Library now includes kids with autism and other special needs in story time. The Wednesday afternoon story time includes great activities along with wonderful stories. Activities include games, puppetry, and sensory activities. The Hoboken Library has been a part of the New Jersey community for a number of years. Along with story time for kids, the library provides resources for children, teens, and adults. Information can be found on the library's home page or on their Facebook page.

Read original article: Children with Developmental Disabilities, Autism Encouraged to Join in Hoboken Public Library Story Time Fun

Responding to sensory activities

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 23:39:38 +0000

I found that working with this population the individuals have shown a liking for the following activities:

Make your own play dough it is save to eat but it will not taste very well.

the need the following:

kool- aide mix multiple flavors (small packet size)

1 cup of flour (sifted)

1/2 cup salt

3 teaspoons of cooking oil

1 cup boiling water ( Per Kool aide packet)

Mix the salt, flour oil n kool aid in a bowl

add boiling water, mix with spoon for about 1 minute

then knead with hand it will be warm so check before letting kids touch.

Occupational Therapy Includes Sensory Integration Therapy for Students with Autism

scottie — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 15:00:00 +0000

Teaser:

An occupational therapist in Brownsville Texas knew that her work with students with autism should include sensory integration therapy.

Body:

An occupational therapist (OT) in Brownsville Texas knew that her work with students with autism should include sensory integration therapy. She said, “Sensory integrated activities were essential in the development of a child. In a school setting, to expect a child to be writing did not make sense if the child wasn’t ready developmentally yet.” As she worked with the children, she had them complete sensory activities that included climbing into a big stretchy body sock to work arms and legs, using tweezers to pick up favorite toys to develop hand-motor control, and tracing words of objects they loved.

Read original article: Occupational Therapists and Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)

The Effect of Sensory Activities on Correct Responding for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

scottie — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 04:02:30 +0000

Title	The Effect of Sensory Activities on Correct Responding for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders
Publication Type	Journal Article
Authors	Van-Rie GL, Heflin LJ
Journal Title	Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders
Year of Publication	2009
Volume	3
Issue	3
Pages	783-796
URL for Abstract	http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleListURL&_method=list&_ArticleListID=1006167559&_sort=r&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=c9150f5eb1955933a5bd67deb6045124
Teaser	Sensory-based activities may help some children with autism stay focused on a task.
Full Text	Sensory-based activities may help some children with autism stay focused on a task. Children with autism may have sensory integration problems that make it hard to focus on school work and come up with the right answer. Some therapists use sensory activities that may help children with these problems. For example, children may swing slowly on a swing or bounce quickly on an exercise ball. Usually the children enjoy the sensory activities very much. The researchers wanted to find out if a reward system would motivate children to give correct answers to some questions. Three children (ages 6-7) were offered a choice of sensory activities to do before a session. That activity would then be their reward for answering 12 correct answers. The session started when the therapist asked the child to open their workbook. As their task, children were then asked to identify pictures of community helpers and safety. The children earned a token for every correct answer. They needed to earn 12 tokens in order to get the reward of going on the swing or the exercise ball. The researchers added an interspersal procedure by mixing questions that the child clearly knew the answer to with others that they might need to learn the answer to. The sensory activities as rewards helped two of the three children give correct answers when asked to identify what was in the picture. The interspersal procedure also helped motivate children to give the correct answers.

Occupational Therapist Starts In-Home Autism Intervention Practice

scottie — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 17:07:41 +0000

Teaser:

Body:

Kristine Quiros, an occupational therapist (OT) in Florida, has set up Theraplay@Home so that children with autism and other developmental disabilities can be in comfortable surroundings for their treatment. She believes that she is the "therapy coach" for parents and other caregivers who spend most of their time with the child. She will "mentor, empower, make therapeutic suggestions, demonstrate techniques, and even provide the therapy when [she is] with the child, yet progress can be significantly more effective when caregivers have incorporated therapy activities into daily routines." She works with children on occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech therapy, and sensory integration issues. She feels that inclusion can be best for special needs students, and that no one suffers when a teacher spends time on sensory activities since they're good for all children.

Read original article.

Sensational Stars with Autism

scottie — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:31:02 +0000

Title	Sensational Stars with Autism
Publication Type	Journal Article
Authors	Simmons K, Miller LJ
Journal Title	EP Magazine
Year of Publication	2008
Volume	April
Pages	14-20
URL for Abstract	http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/eparent/access/1465586741.html?dids=1465586741:1465586741:1465586741&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT:PAGE&date=Apr+2008&author=Karen+Simmons%3BLucy+Jane+Miller&pub=The+Exceptional+Parent&edition=&startpage=14&desc=Sensational+Stars+with+Au
Full Text	Sensory integration therapy may help some children with autism. This article describes sensory processing disorder and the sensory integration therapy and occupational therapy that can be used to treat it. Sensory processing happens when the brain takes in messages and converts them into something with meaning that allows for a response. Children who have trouble with sensory processing often also have trouble communicating. Families can be an important part of sensory integration therapy by giving the child the many sensory experiences that create a rich sensory diet. Sensory activities can happen during mealtime, bath time, and bed time.

Just to snuggle

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 03:56:31 +0000

Thomas has made the transition from Thanksgiving break back to school without any serious side-effects. He asked almost every day of the break if he was going to school that day which makes me think that he wants to go to school. He was never upset when I told him “No,” so maybe it was just his way of preparing mentally.

Against Thomas’ wishes, I am going to school on Friday to make pizza with the class. We’re “Family of the Week” this week and we’re asked to send in family pictures, decorate a poster that’s all about Thomas and maybe come into school to make a snack. I came up with this pizza project which will involve smashing and shaping dough (good sensory activity) squirting pizza sauce and sprinkling cheese. Some of the other suggestions included bringing family members with special talents (musical instruments, etc.) to class for a demonstration, bringing in treasured family mementos or bringing in a favorite book to read. I sent in some pictures on Monday but I couldn’t think of any other “treasured mementos” that I’d trust with Thomas and a bunch of four year-olds. So tomorrow night I’ll be making pizza dough for fourteen mini-pizzas. Both Thomas’ teacher and I have been trying to explain to Thomas that I’ll be at school on Friday and we’ll be making pizza. I hope that because pizza is involved, Thomas will be a little more enthusiastic about seeing me at school than he was on Halloween.

Thanksgiving went very nicely. The kids were a little loud and high-spirited, but they did actually sit at the dinner table for more than a few minutes. Thomas really liked the turkey and Hayley ate a lot of mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. They both ate a ton of crescent rolls, of course. That was the main staple of their Thanksgiving meal. I’m actually very surprised at how open Thomas has been lately to trying new foods. Just tonight he ate some asparagus! He even said that he liked it! It really has been great that Thomas eats vegetables lately. I was beginning to worry that he was going to get rickets or something. Even if I’m trying to scarf down a Lean Cuisine steak and cheddar panini, Thomas asks to try some of it. He’ll take a bite and say, “Mmm, that’s yummy! I like it!” We can tell if he really liked it by whether or not he asks for more. For instance, he did chew and swallow the asparagus but he didn’t ask for more. One stalk of asparagus is better than none, I suppose.

The kids have been very excited about Christmas – much more excited than ever before. Both of them are open to the idea of visiting and asking Santa for presents this year, which is something we didn’t do last year because Santa was scary then. They probably felt that way because we let them watch “A Christmas Story” with that less-than-ideal Santa at Higbee’s Department Store. Thomas wants “a car to drive.” Yeah, and I want another garage to park it in! Ask Santa for that! Hayley wants “dollies,” despite the fact that she has quite a few already. I put up our Christmas decorations on Monday – everything but the tree. The kids dance around and screech, “It’s Christmastime! It’s Christmastime!” They’re acting how I feel! A very deep and profound love of Christmas has been passed down to me from my ancestors and it’s my duty to pass it on to my kids. They’re catching on, it seems. You can’t fight biology.

I’ve been wondering about the sleep study thing again. I’m worried that the neurologist is going to yell at me when she finds out that we cancelled it. I’m just a little confused about why we have to do it now that Thomas sleeps in his bed all night. True, we did see that odd frontal-lobe spikes on the first and second EEGs, but will a sleep study clear that up? On the physician’s order for the study, the doctor listed “possible polysomnia” as the reason for having the test performed. I’m not a doctor, but “poly” means “many,” and “somnia” means “sleep,” right? So “many-sleeps” – he wakes frequently in the night. What does that have to do with frontal lobe spikes? And even if he does have polysomnia, what is this doctor going to do about it? I know other kids with polysomnia and the doctor basically said, “Your son wakes up ninety times every night. We don’t know why. Maybe he’ll grow out of it. Have a nice day.” I’m figuring that the doctor will want to see Thomas again eventually and will probably continue prescribing the Clonidine contingent on our seeing her every three months or something. Thomas asked us yesterday to leave his bedroom light on so that he doesn’t have to get up in the middle of the night to turn it on. And he did come into our room very early this morning and when I asked him why, he said, “Mommy, I just wanted to snuggle with you.” Hmm. Maybe I don't mind so much after all.