Tuesday, 06 July 2010
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Learning in Motion 101+ Sensory Activities for the Classroom a Review
Learning in Motion 101+ Sensory Activities for the Classroom
by Patricia Angermeier,Joan Krzyzanowski,
Kristina Keller Moir
Since my retirement from teaching, nothing has made me miss my classroom more than reading about the exciting sensory activities dreamed up by these three occupational therapists. Combining their knowledge about pediatrics, neurodevelopmental treatment techniques and occupational therapy gained through their work in clinics, schools and raising their own children, Patricia Angermeier, Joan Krzyzanowski and Kristina Keller Moir have compiled a must-have resource for all who work with children, especially children with Sensory Processing Disorder. Parents, this book is not only for the classroom, you will find a wealth of practical, easily doable sensory activites to be enjoyed the twelve months of the year in your home.
This book provides teachers, therapists, home-schooling parents, parents in general and other professionals with a variety of ways to help children improve their ability to learn and respond appropriately to the learning environment. Many children struggle with sensory issues, therefore, to address these needs, sensory integration has become a staple in early education. This book, covering the twelve months of the year, can be your bible of sensory activities.
Picture this teacher: It has been a long year, school in almost over as it in mid June. The forecast for next day gives an uncomfortable, sticky, rainy day. How to plan for the next day an activity that is fun and meaningful?
Where is that book the size of a telephone book, Learning in Motion? It is filled with great ways to improve learning and behavior.
Great, it is right here on my shelf with all the other teaching resource books. Skim Table of Contents…September, October, Nov… JUNE Activity Finder. Circus Tricks page 255? No, too active already. Clowning Around page 256, No …JUMPING ROPE ~ perfect it can be done indoors.
Page 269: All that I need to read is on one page. Each carefully, crafted lesson plan is always in the same format so it is simple and practical to use.
Activity Goals: Example: Gross-Motor Skills Development…
Time: 20 to 30 minutes
Objectives: Example: Jump over a moving rope…
Materials: Rope 10 to 15 feet long
Procedure: Great, the seven easy steps to carry out this activity are clearly stated here.
Adaptions: My differently-able student in her wheel chair will participate by going under the rope...
Multilevel Instruction: Vary the height or movement of the rope…for various skill levels.
This Jumping Rope activity is easy to do at home also. With no pangs of guilt, the book says I may copy the Letter to Parents that goes with this activity. I appreciate this letter after each activity as it gives the parents a chance to see what we do at school and many will want to repeat it at home.
Bell rings and I prepare for the next day. Reading my notes on the Jumping Rope activity, I notice a few children had trouble with the Activity Goals: Gross-Motor Skills Development.
Back to the Learning in Motion book.
Table of Contents…JUNE
On the first page in the section for June, like for each month, I find a chart with the fifteen Educational Goals by Activity listed in alphabetical order. I locate the Gross-Motor Skills Development column. Skim down the column, look for a checked box, skim across to the listed activity. Yes, an activity called Mountain Goats also develops this skill which we will do tomorrow.
Each month’s activities include a variety of ways to make learning fun and exciting. When you start turning the pages you feel like a kid in a candy store that cannot decide because everything looks so delicious. The IO1+ ACTIVITIES like the following make every day worth going to school for: Textured Finger Paints, Forsythia Branches, Flying Bats and Ghosts, Making Pottery, Dr. Seuss Day, Balloon Tennis, Windsocks…The Introduction on the Theories of Motor Development and the description of the fifteen Educational Activity Goals will help you understand the reason behind each activity.
The last few pages have a special section suggesting activities to reinforce learning the alphabet. There are further adaptations and modifications to assist children with special needs. Some activities have recipes included, but as an added bonus, three full pages of recipes for finger paint, clay, play dough… round off the book.Do not let the size of this book discourage you. It is well organized in a logical, easy to navigate format. Once you have used one activity, all the others are presented in the same way. This user-friendly guide is a wonderful timesaver, written in easy to understand language. Fun-filled activities correspond with seasons, holidays, and educational goals that make even a retired teacher want to go back to school.
• Publisher: Future Horizons; 2 edition (June 1, 2009)
• Paperback: 350 pages
• Language: English
• ISBN: 978-1932565904
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.4 x 0.9 inches
• Price: US $39.95
What other resources with sensory activities do you use with your children?
Tuesday, 22 June 2010
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Is Early Autism Diagnoses Near?
Researchers seem to agree that early intervention for children diagnosed with autism is key to a better future for these children. Unfortunately, many families still remain in the dark much too long before autism is properly diagnosed and treated. In mid May 2010, results of scanning procedures that could help speed detection and allow early, more effective intervention were explained at an international meeting.
Eric Courchesne, Ph.D., a Professor of Neurosciences at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and director of the University’s Autism Center of Excellence is the author of a study using functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, to peer at images of the children's brains. The Autism community must be following closely the work of these researchers from the UCSD Autism Center of Excellence, who presented their findings at the International Meeting for Autism Research in Philadelphia.While the children were in the scanner, researchers played a repeating tape of a female voice reading a bedtime story and the scanner recorded the children's brain activity. The study suggests that autistic children as young as 14 months use different brain regions than youngsters with more typical development when hearing these stories.
This research "Is going to tell us an awful lot about how the brain goes wrong in the first place and then gives us insight into how we'll be able to help at an earlier age," says Dr. Courchesne,"
In one of my previous posts, entitled Red Flag Signs of Autism, the symptoms in the category Communication problems and Social problems show failure of language comprehension is a "red flag" for babies with autism.
It is known that the left side of the brain usually deals with the understanding of the meaning of words and that the right side helps to understand the social context of the language, like how the person speaking feels (angry, scared, happy…) when saying the words.
In this study, it showed typically developing babies had both the right and left temporal regions of the brain—parts that help us understand different aspects of language, activated during the tests. To conduct the study the children were naturally asleep before being placed in the scanner.During the tests it was shown that the use of the right brain was far stronger in babies and children showing signs of autism-spectrum disorders. Dr. Courchesne says: “One theory is that in autism, the right side is needed to learn the basic definitions of words, crowding out the ability to develop skills to process more social, nuanced aspects of language”.
According to Dr. Courchesne, learning when and where brain changes occur can help discover what causes or does not cause autism. If it were proven that brain differences were present at birth, the questions about environmental toxins and vaccine exposure during childhood would be answered.Along with Dr. Courchesne, the UCSD Autism Center of Excellence brings together the expertise of over 40 scientists working collaboratively to discover a bio-behavioral “fingerprint” of what autism looks like in babies at 12-months.
As director of the UCSD Autism Center’s MRI Project on early brain development in autism, Dr. Courchesne’s efforts have produced new information about the structural, functional and genetic bases of this disorder.
Autism remains a behaviorally defined disorder and as such, is generally not diagnosed until age 3. Hopefully studies like this one will soon result in earlier diagnoses, earlier treatment and a significant reduction in symptoms for affected children.
What were the first symptoms of autism you noticed in a child close to you?
Monday, 14 June 2010
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Urban Sensory Gardens~Versatile Balconies
Each year we hear of communities who want chemical free landscaping. Therefore instead of treating their plot of land around their house to look like a golf green, being a slave to weakly mowing and, heaven’s forbid, watering the grass with our precious water resources, some families landscape with a sensory garden. These plants bring joy to all the senses to young and old alike.
When we were travelling in Europe, the fact that every square foot of land was put to practical uses impressed me. Our friend in a German town, had her house surrounded with fragrant flowers, edible berries growing on attractive bushes, patches of vegetables among her flowers, fruit trees providing shade for sitting and shade loving plants, bird feeders and bird baths inviting feathered friends to entertain and... not a blade of grass.
Right at her doorsteps she had plants requiring care which she lovingly bestowed and which gave her ample exercise each day. Her grandchildren gave her a helping hand and all benefited from the wonderful experience of planting, caring, exploring and eating from a sensory garden.
In a previous post, Sensory Gardens For Kids, I listed the senses and gave suggestions on which plants or accessories you could include in your garden to provide your child with a wonderful sensory experience. This post will deal with making the most of a small, urban balcony or deck and the care of plants, especially tomatoes.
So, you only have a balcony or a small patio. When our daughter was living in a Montreal apartment, she still managed to use wisely the space on their small balcony for plants. 
Many planters, in various lengths, come with hooks that attach on the balcony railing. On the side of the house a few planter bags can be hung with flowers or even strawberries. Window boxes with growing herbs can be reached from inside the house to add flavor to your meals. Then along the sides on the floor, line up larger pots containing more soil for tomatoes, cucumbers, peas and beans that will climb upwards on a support which is pushed in the soil, surrounds the plant and allows it to attach itself to the support as it grows. 
Fill the planters and pots with a soil mixture and compost that contains organic fertilizers available at many garden centers or you may make your own compost by composting all winter in a container that you use for plants in the summer.
Sometimes a stake will have to be used as well to support the plants. Drive the stakes deep into the pots a week or so after planting so you do not damage the roots later on. To tie the plants to the stake, use strips of old cloth because a piece of string can cut into the stems. 
The secret of successful balcony/deck/patio planting is choosing plants that grow upwards to economize your space. Do not let the plants spread on the balcony/deck floor which can become much too hot in the summer sun. You must water daily and following the replenishing schedule of the organic fertilizer. The tomato plants will have to be pruned. As a tomato grows, side shoots, or suckers, form in the crotches between the leaves and the main stem. If left alone, these suckers will grow just like the main stem, producing flowers and fruit but you will end up with an unruly maze of side stems and a weaker main stem. To encourage the growth of a strong main stem because it feeds the entire plant, prune all the suckers and do not tie the plants before the first flowers appear.
From then on, remove all suckers below the first cluster of flowers, leave some higher up to form a few other side stems but remember fewer the stems, fewer tomatoes but larger tomatoes.
The simplest and best time to prune the suckers is when it is still small. You do this by pinching the tender suckers off with finger and thumb. The sucker should snap off and its wound will heal quickly. If you missed a side shoot and it has grown large and tough, you must use a sharp, clean blade. This simple pruning continues all through the season.
One last pruning is necessary 30 days before the first frost. The tomato plant must be topped. To allow the last tomatoes to mature well, remove all the growing tips. Last year, just before the first frost, I picked a flat cardboard box filled with still green cherry tomatoes. We also had a basket filled with them. We left box and basket in our garage attached to the house so it does not get too cold. We would eat them as they ripened and we enjoyed the last ones for our Christmas meal! So do not let the fact that you live in a city rob you of the joy and benefits of a sensory garden, small but prolific, right their on your balcony.
Have you had success with urban gardens?
Wednesday, 12 May 2010
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Are Siblings Of Autistic Children At Risk Also
From reading numerous articles on at risk siblings of Autistic children, I have come to the conclusion that both the younger and older siblings in various studies have shown problems. The good news is, that for most, they only need to be on our radar screens, they need to be monitored and the few that manifest problems must be offered appropriate support.
Research has shown that older brothers and sisters of an Autistic preschooler may develop hyperactivity themselves. Teachers noted that these children exhibited slightly more fidgeting, movement and attention problems, but not at levels generally attributed to attention-deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD). But for the most part, it was found most older brothers and sisters are all typically developing kids.
However, some older siblings may start school OK but they may demonstrate difficulties over time. Results provided by the University of Oregon (2010, March 8). Possible early glimpse of autism's impact on older siblings, show that around 30 percent of siblings of autistic children have some difficulties in behavior, learning or development."
Laura Lee McIntyre, a professor and director of the University of Oregon's school psychology program says: “We know there are risk factors, but we don't know if they result from having a child with autism, or if there are genetic predispositions as part of the broader autism picture," McIntyre said. "Are these difficulties the result of child-rearing challenges, or are they negatively impacted because of shared genetic risks?"
Another study found younger siblings of children with autism are at risk to suffer from delayed verbal, cognitive and motor development in their early childhood years. Specifically they had delayed linguistic abilities, difficulties in expressing feelings and in making eye contact, and in social interaction.
The research showed that these siblings manifested problems between 14 months until the age of four and half. After that, most of those in the group of siblings with autism were able to close the gap between them and the children in the comparison group,
Wendy L. Stone, Ph.D., and colleagues at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn., states: "Younger siblings of children with autism spectrum disorders demonstrated weaker performance in non-verbal problem-solving, directing attention, understanding words, understanding phrases, gesture use and social-communicative interactions with parents, and had increased autism symptoms, relative to control siblings," This study highlights the importance of closely monitoring these at-risk children for developmental problems.
Dr Stone's team concluded: "This research has the potential to increase our knowledge about the early development of autism and to develop tailored intervention and prevention strategies for promoting optimal outcomes in this group of at-risk children,"
Lastly, my feelings about this whole matter is exactly the same as Sandra L. Harris, Ph.D., a Professor at the Rutgers University and author of Siblings of Children with Autism who stated: “… impressed me most about families of children with autism is the resilience and strength they bring to that experience. I have known hundreds of families over the past 30+ years and one of the important lessons they have taught me is about learning to carry life's hard demands with grace and humor.”
How has the lives of siblings of an Autistic child you know been impacted by their situation?
Thursday, 22 April 2010
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Effective Fidget Tools Can Mean Knowledge In the Hands of a Child
At last, most educators agree that fidgeting can help youth focus and learn.
Research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council in the UK showed that children who were allowed to fidget with their hands, performed better in memory and learning tests.[1]
Fidgeting is moving away from its old stigma and is now considered among the most beneficial of the minor hand activities. Manipulatives can help those with anxiety disorders, attention deficit disorder (ADD/ADHD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), autism spectrum disorders and others.
So, if fidgets, sometimes called stress toys or manipulatives, are not toys and will be added to the arsenal of Special Needs tools and classroom aids, what identifies an effective one? Shared sentiments from parents, teachers, occupational therapists and children, reveal the properties of the perfect home and school fidget.
First, let us assume that most classrooms have a set of rules, or standards, to make the school day more pleasant for students and teachers alike. What standards should we have for the use of fidgets?
Standards for Fidget Tools in class:
• First, the purpose of the fidget must be explained to the class. It is a tool, a focus aid to help students focus on their work.
• Manipulatives must not cause the child or others to over-focus on it.
• Effective Fidget Tools do not buzz, bubble, bounce or bother the child or others.
• Classroom Focus Aid must not be used by others, only by the child owner.
• Fidget will be taken away if misused. It will be returned when student is ready to use it for support.
By knowing the standards of a fidget, we can now describe the properties of an ideal Fidget Tool:
• Designed to be transportable and easily accessible.
• Silent and respectful so as not to embarrass the wearer or to bother other people.
• Discreet, to facilitate the wearer to blend in and to feel calm, comfortable and in control.
• Fashionable enough to be almost unnoticed by peers.• Personalized and washable to withstand classroom loss and germs.• Made of appealing sensory materials, configured to provide a combination of hard and soft, rigid and pliable, curved and concave, hand tactile experiences.Pencils may not be the best fidget tools!To conclude, each child will have slight variations on his or her ideal fidget. Nevertheless, when parents of special needs children buy a fidget tool for play and for the classroom, it should support learning, boost self esteem and should let children be themselves.
What qualities do you look for in a fidget for your Special Needs child?
Does your school allow fidgets during class time?
1. ^ "UK Fidgeting children 'learn more'". BBC News. 2005-04-12. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4437171.stm
