Child and Parent Occupational Wellness

Visual Processing Skills Required for Learning

Visual processing and visual perceptual skills are major components that need to develop in the young child in order for him/her to be able to participate fully in the classroom environment.  In babies, oculomotor development can be seen firsthand as babies try to focus and coordinate both of their eyes to work together (binocularity).  As a child grows, their eyes must develop to be able to function together.  If there are signals that a child is demonstrating oculomotor difficulty (such as a wandering eye, squinting, seeing double, difficulty keeping place while reading, skipping letters or words while copying sentences, etc), a visual screening should be done, preferably by a developmental optometrist.  Good vision is more than just acuity.  The eyes, brain, and learning are all connected.  The following link is a great website that children, (and adults, too!) will find fun.  There are games for all visual processing skills, including visual tracking (smoothly following a moving object with the eyes), scanning (moving the eyes to locate an object among others, as in a word search), visual discrimination (finding differences among similar objects), figure ground (seeing figures against a background), and eye teaming (both eyes working together).  Again, if a child is demonstrating difficulties in any areas of visual processing, a visit to a developmental optometrist could help.  Developmental optometrists work to correct a variety of visual issues using specified techniques for vision therapy.  Many of them work together with pediatric occupational therapists in order to maximize the child's functioning within the academic environment.  Many young students who struggle in school have visual processing difficulties that may go unnoticed.  Usually, a student with visual processing difficulties who gets help often improves his/her school performance.  Check out the following website to learn more about visual processing skills and have fun!

Eye Can Learn

DbD Toys: Development by Design- Great Toys for Every Child on Your List!

DbD Toys, a company created by Jessica Zarin Kessin (founder & president, professional product designer) and Julie Robbins, OTR/L is a great new company with a focus on developing toys for children of all abilities, special needs included.  They have a great website that explains developmental occupational skills such as gross motor, fine motor, bilateral coordination, motor planning, sensory processing, visual perception, social and pre-academic skills, eye-hand coordination, and oral-motor skills.  For a quick link to explanations of these skills, click on Developmental Skills.

Julie Robbins, the occupational therapist, has authored a series of articles & game ideas available on the website that cover topics in the aforementioned skills areas and how to incorporate activities into the lives of your children to promote good development of the skills.  She also is directly involved with the design, testing, and evaluation of all DbD toys & products.  She has worked extensively with the special needs population and is able to apply her knowledge of this for toy development.

Check out the website at www.dbdtoys.com, where you can sign up for their free newsletter which includes new toys, articles, and information for parents and teachers.  There is something for every child on this site!

DOG-GONE Therapy!!! How Therapy is "Going to the Dogs"

There is much to be said about the human-animal bond, especially for children.  As the daughter of a veterinarian, I grew up with all kinds of pets.  We had dogs, hamsters, rabbits, birds, and fish.  Though I loved them all, I cannot say enough about the wonderful experience of growing up with my rabbits and dogs.  Most people who know me personally have probably heard at least one story about my beloved rabbit, "Cocoa", who came to his cage door when you knocked, who chased a ball, hung out with my dog, and learned to swim in my pool -- yes, you read correctly -- a swimming rabbit.

If people I know haven't heard about Cocoa, they have certainly heard about Raja and Ginger (pictured below), my parents' adorable mother-daughter combo of yellow labrador retrievers with whom I had the great pleasure of spending my adolescent and college years.

            

Companion animals provide many things to their human counterparts.  I can speak first hand about the security, unconditional love, socialization, and friendship that my pets provided me with (not to mention the nurturing skills and empathy that comes along with the responsibility of caring for another living creature).  These are but some of the qualities that make animals (especially dogs) such appealing partners in therapy. 

Therapy dogs are currently practicing alongside their occupational therapist owners/handlers in a variety of ways.  Dogs take part in therapy sessions to increase motivation in the child while the OT directs the treatment process to help the child reach his/her therapeutic goals. 

Some examples of this include:

• Improving gross motor skills such as bilateral upper extremity use, balance, and body awareness (possibly by having the child pet, brush, and do an activity with the dog, among other ways).
• Improving fine motor skills by having the child place objects/treats on the dog's vest, manipulate buckles on the dog's collar, utilizing a leash.
• Sensory integration skills/sensory stimulation - tactile awareness through petting the soft fur of the dog, regulating muscle control/force of upper extremities through touch.
• Visual perception- identifying colors/patterns on dog, categorizing, etc.
• Socialization/Sequencing- by talking to the dog and giving commands, children learn to communicate.  They can learn sequencing skills by following certain directions from the therapist to complete a "task" with the dog.

Dogs are unconditionally loving.  They are non-judgemental and they are social.  These qualities are appealing to children and often times can motivate a child more than a human could.  Children who are typically shy or withdrawn may come out of their "shell" in the presence of a therapy dog and take part more fully in the therapy session.  They can form an emotional attachment and friendship with the dog, which ensures increased motivation for future treatment sessions.

Therapy dogs are currently taking part in programs with children to improve sensory integration, increase social skills, improve literacy and handwriting, improve gross and fine motor skills, and more.  Dogs are specially trained to work with certain populations in a therapeutic environment.  The treatment sessions are directed by the therapist/dog handler.  Check out this report about animal assisted therapy at Columbus Children's Hospital in Ohio:

If this topic is of interest to you as a parent or professional, I strongly recommend checking out the following link, which is a current weblog by an OT in Texas about her practice with her therapy dog and children.  It is a first-hand glimpse into the world of occupational therapy and how a dog is incorporated into sessions to elicit all kinds of responses from children in order to help them maximize their functioning.  The site includes pictures and videos of therapy sessions in action: 

                      Jumpstart Therapies Animal Assisted Therapy Program

Also, the following link is to an article about a literacy program that originated in the western United States and uses therapy dogs: Kids + Dogs = Combination for Paw-rrific Reading Adventures.

For more specific information on animal-assisted therapy (AAT) and the training of therapy dogs and their handlers, click on:

The Delta Society - Improving Human Health Through Service and Therapy Animals.

Lastly, refer to the sidebar of this site under "Animal Assisted Therapy/Therapy Dogs" for future updates on information and articles on this subject.

I welcome any personal stories & anecdotes regarding therapeutic experiences with therapy dogs and/or other animals.  Please share!

Back To School is Upon Us!

It is the last week of August and all of us parents are busy preparing our children to begin the 2007-2008 school year next week.  In the United States during the month of September, occupational therapists across the country work in conjunction with schools, communities, and families to hold Backpack Safety Awareness Day.  I am including in this post a link about research that has been done on students who use backpacks.  There have been a lot of findings regarding posture, spinal growth, chronic back pain, poor body mechanics, and repetitive stress injuries related to the improper wearing and carrying of a school backpack.  These problems can easily be prevented by knowing how to properly use a backpack.  To read the findings, click on Backpack Research.

In the sidebar under "Student Backpack Safety Awareness" is a nice list of files produced by AOTA about backpack safety.  It includes tips on how to properly pack and wear a backpack, as well as how much weight each student should carry depending on his or her own body weight.  There are also health and success tips for students and backpack information for schools.  I encourage you to check out the lists and print them out so that you can get your child started off on the right foot!