read the whole story at Respect the Intelligences of Kids with Intellectual Disabilities
Category: paediatrics
Choosing Wisely ® and ASI – a fantastic initiative from AOTA – it got me thinking about why people think sensory is easy and just anyone can do it.
Just like a parent can decide a child has a cold and needs Calpol, a sensory rich home environment can help support development. However just like a child may need a Dr, Dentist or other specialist if they have a more serious illness, what some people need is specialist intervention. Sensory Integration therapy requires years…
Dyspraxia or DCD, what term and recommendatons do you use in your EHCP’s and why?
“Developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD), also known as dyspraxia, is a condition affecting physical co-ordination that causes a child to perform less well than expected in daily activities for his or her age, and appear to move clumsily.” NHS Choices[accessed 1 July 2018] Sometimes the terms we use as therapists are disputed in EHCP meetings or…
Early trauma is stored in the body via the senses, this is why therapy through the senses is effective
“Early trauma is stored in the body via the senses, this is why therapy through the senses is effective.” Smith, K BPD and SI 2004 Occupational Therapists are ideally placed to work through play and via the senses to promote the development of healthy neurological pathways and structures; impacting the development of sensory motor skills…
Supporting Practice – Your Questions Answered: Why did Ayres’ not consider the visual system?
So I was just asked “Why didn’t Ayres consider and put more importance of the visual system? I was a bit perplexed and so explored this further with the therapist asking the question. The OT explained that she has been taught that Ayres did not consider the visual and auditory systems and that this means…
Occupational Therapy and Trauma 3: A Tool for considering the physical environment in children’s residential homes to address sensory processing issues in trauma-affected children
This article by Clinical Psychologists Christopher Robinson and Alicia Madeleine Brown in the Scottish Journal of Residential Child Care includes a lovely environmental checklist (adapted from Simpson 2009) used in considering the physical environment in three children’s residential homes. Abstract: Sensory processing issues are generally considered to be clinically significant in children who have suffered…
Ayres’ Sensory Integration and ADHD; what do we know?
In 2004 Aviva Yochman, Shula Parush and Asher Ornoy summarised a lot of history about ADHD and Sensory Integration in a journal article; Responses of Preschool Children With and Without ADHD to Sensory Events in Daily Life In 2010 Shelley Lane published a study that concluded that 54% of children with ADHD have sensory over-responsivity. In…
Sensory Ladders
The first Sensory Ladders were made in 2001 for adults with sensory integration difficulties receiving help with mental health difficulties in Cornwall. Influenced by the paediatric Alert Program, they offered therapists a way to combine Dialectical Behaviour Therapy and Ayres’ Sensory Integration, addressing the development of the person’s self-awareness in collaboration with ward staff on an…
Ayres’ Sensory Integration and the great outdoors
The “just right challenge: for this plucky young lady. She clearly likes the sensory input these activities are providing to her body and brain. These are exactly the outdoor sensory system challenging opportunities afforded by climbing trees and jumping streams that Jean Ayres’ wanted to recreate in her therapy spaces. For those of us lucky enough to…
Ayres’ Sensory Integration and the great outdoors
The “just right challenge: for this plucky young lady. She clearly likes the sensory input these activities are providing to her body and brain. These are exactly the outdoor sensory system challenging opportunities afforded by climbing trees and jumping streams that Jean Ayres’ wanted to recreate in her therapy spaces. For those of us lucky enough to…
Ayres’ Sensory Integration Evidence 