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Sleep Hygiene: Support to Improve Your Child’s Sleep

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SLEEP HYGIENE: SUPPORT TO IMPROVE YOUR CHILD’S SLEEP

How many of our families out there dread the night-time routine, the idea to try and get the kids to settle to sleep and stay asleep? 

The millions of questions running through their minds that they need to ask you, the need for extra food, extra drink, the list goes on… 

Sleep is a common conversation we have  with our families and where the foundational understanding as to why our kids are unable to shut off and the ideas around the importance of sleep hygiene and sleep routines come into play. 

Sleep is an essential part of our everyday lives. Our bodies need sleep to stay healthy, think, move, interact, and feel our best. The way in which we work towards improving our sleep and how to manage areas that are impacting our children’s sleep is by focusing on our sleep hygiene in our day-to-day. 

What is Sleep Hygiene?

Sleep hygiene refers to quality sleep and making the  actions, habits, and necessary changes to set up a child for success in their sleep. It involves nightly routines, modifications to the environment, and daily decisions that will optimise sleep. 

How do we improve our child’s sleep hygiene?

In order to support improvements in sleep, we first need to look at the underlying reasons as to why these challenges are occurring. 

One reason for challenges in falling and staying asleep for our children can be related to the way their bodies experience and react to the world around them. Sensory stimuli such as sights, sounds, touch, spatial awareness, and body awareness can make it difficult for some children to make their bodies calm and relaxed. When children do not have sufficient body awareness and, therefore, safety within themselves, this leads to them living in a state of heightened or overwhelm, impacting their ability to calm and feel grounded enough to shut off and fall asleep, and they will do anything in their power to avoid it. 

Once this information is established, we work with our parents to identify the environment or lifestyle factors that may be affecting the consistency of the current sleep routine. Such as:

  • Is there a current routine before bed, and how consistent is it?
  • Activities completed before the night routine commences, e.g. limiting screen time
  • The bedroom environment, e.g. temperature, darkness, sounds
  • Diet close to bedtime

How can our Occupational Therapists help?

We work together and provide education to our parents and caregivers on the misconceptions and expectations of sleep and address factors that may exacerbate poor sleep quality to establish: 

  1. A predictable and smooth routine and how we can adapt the current routine for successful and ongoing implementation at home, including setting regular wake and sleep times.
  2. A bedroom environment modification that includes noise, light, temperature, and bedding that helps the child wind down and prepare for sleep.
  3. Sensory strategies that will help children regulate their bodies and prepare for sleep. This may include techniques such as individualised sensory diets.
  4. Relaxation techniques that will promote restful sleep, such as deep breathing and progressive muscle relaxation.
  5. Coping skills and self-regulation to facilitate the child’s capacity to relax for sleep onset.

Sleep is such a complex task. When a child is not sleeping, it impacts the entire family dynamic. Sleep is so important and can seriously impact on daily activities, from self-care to academics to social skills. 

Please reach out to us if you would like more information and support in developing a successful sleep routine. By reviewing a child’s sleep habits, providing education and guidance, and developing behavioural and sensory strategies, we can help our children get the rest they need to thrive. 

Looking forward to hearing from you soon. Contact us on 0477 708 217 or admin@exploreandsoar.com.au

Until next time, 
Maddie

References

https://grhsonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Basic-Sleep-Hygiene-Guidelines.pdf

https://thespiralfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Sleep-and-SI-brochure_final.pdf

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED AUGUST 2, 2023

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Eyes on the Prize: The Power of Hand-Eye Coordination for Mastering Fine Motor Skills

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EYES ON THE PRIZE
– THE POWER OF HAND-EYE COORDINATION FOR MASTERING FINE MOTOR SKILLS

From playing catch to mastering the art of drawing, hand-eye coordination is the superhero skill that enables children to develop their fine motor skills with ease. 

Have you noticed the stage within a child’s life where their messy scribbles become somewhat legible pictures? Or that they catch a ball much easier? Or that they stack the block tower higher before it falls? 

All of these changes can be partly due to the development of fine motor skills, but also other skills such as hand-eye coordination. 

So, when children are referred to occupational therapy for fine motor skills, it is important we look not only at the strength of the hand but other factors that may influence fine motor development.

Hand-eye coordination refers to the ability of the hands and eyes to work together to perform a task. It involves the visual system, providing visual information to the brain about the location of objects and the movements required to interact with them, as well as the motor system, which executes the movements needed to manipulate objects. 

 Children who have poor hand-eye coordination may:

  • Struggle catching or throwing a ball.
  • Have difficulty writing or drawing, or be resistant to do such tasks.
  • Prefer to use their hand rather than using utensils.
  • Be clumsy or awkward in movement, such as bumping into objects or knocking things over frequently.
  • Have poor posture or balance.
  • Have difficulty with visual tracking, such as following moving objects or tracking a line of text while reading.
  • Not be able to do up their shoelaces or button up clothes like other children their age.

It’s common for children who struggle with sensory processing difficulties to experience difficulties with hand-eye coordination and, therefore, fine motor skills. For example, children with sensory processing difficulties may find seeing things with their eyes hard, such as where the pencil is on the page, or where the ball is in relation to the bat. Without this visual feedback, they can have challenges getting their body ready to move so that they can hit the ball or draw the wheels on the car. This is how hand-eye coordination can impact their ability to develop their fine motor skills.   

How can we work on Hand-Eye coordination?

Providing sensory-rich environments through activities such as playing with playdough, finger painting, lego, and puzzles can help children develop their sensory processing skills and improve their hand-eye coordination. We also look for opportunities for movement and physical activity, as this can help children learn where their body, arms and legs are so they can move or adjust their bodies to be ready for what is to come. Once we know where our body, arms and legs are, we then know where our wrists, hands and fingers are. Combining that with our eyes telling our body what is coming means we can coordinate our hands and eyes to complete the task in front of us.   

Some ways your child can develop hand-eye coordination at home:

  • Stringing beads or threading pasta
  • Throwing and catching a ball, balloon, or frisbee
  • Jigsaw puzzles
  • Drawing and colouring
  • Using scissors, cutting out and then pasting onto a page
  • Playing with blocks or Legos (We would love to see the creations made!)
  • Playing with Play-Doh
  • Play with Play-Doh: Use their hands to manipulate the dough while looking at what they are making

We hope you have found this blog informative; if you need a ‘hand’ with developing your child’s Hand-Eye Coordination, please call us today; we would love to chat about what we can do to support your child’s development. 

Looking forward to hearing from you soon. Contact us on 0477 708 217 or admin@exploreandsoar.com.au

 Until next time,
Molly

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED JULY 5, 2023

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The Core of It All!

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THE CORE OF IT ALL!

How often have you heard your OT talk about the importance of core strength in a session with your child? It is something that we definitely speak about a lot in sessions as it is foundational to so many different skills that we all develop over our lifetime. In one of our previous blogs, we looked at Gross Motor Skills  and how we work on these skills as OT’s. We talk about Gross Motor skills involving all those activities that use big muscle groups. One of those big muscle groups is our core – from the bottom of the rib cage to the pelvic floor; That is our core! 

Being such a large section of our body, our core muscles help us to move in every way. From twisting and turning to bending and standing up straight. Without a strong core, many different skills, such as our coordination and the use of fine motor skills, can be more challenging than they should be.

Kids who generally have a weak core may:

  •  “W” sit on the floor
  • Slump or hunch over when sitting on the floor or in a chair
  • Constantly move or change position when sitting in a chair
  • Hold their head in their hand when writing or colouring in
  • May struggle with small items such as coins or doing up buttons on shirts
  • Need to lean against a wall or furniture to put shoes on
  • Struggle to keep up with their friends running around or complain that things are “too hard.”

So, is my child working on a six pack?

No – that is not the overall goal of improving your child’s core strength! Our core is made up of not only our abdominal muscles but also some of our back muscles as well as muscles that connect our legs to our hips and body. We are looking at strengthening those deep muscles within our body. We want to get those muscles to work for longer before they become fatigued (endurance), to work with all the other muscles of the body and to react to what is happening around us to help maintain our balance and stay upright.

How do we work on core strength?

We use three main concepts:

  1. Make it fun
  2. Work the whole body
  3. A little every day is best

Some of the ways your child can develop core strength include:

  • Pretend to be an animal and walk like them – bears, frogs, crabs, and worms are great
  • Laying on your tummy to play card games
  • Kneeling on the floor or on uneven surfaces, such as a pillow
  • Scooter board races
  • Obstacle courses that you have to commando crawl through
  • Using a gym ball while in a plank position to toss a bean bag at a target 

If this sounds like your child, or you would like to know more about how you can work on Core Strength at home, we would love to chat with you about your child and their goals.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon. Contact us on 0477 708 217 or admin@exploreandsoar.com.au

Until next time,
Lori

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED JUNE 7, 2023

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Safety for Vulnerability

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SAFETY FOR VULNERABILITY

Happy New Year everyone! I hope everyone has had a magical Christmas and New Year with your family, friends and community. 

I know December was a busy time for a lot of people, navigating all the demands of the end of year. I hope there has been lots of resting, sharing quality time and making memories for you and your family, to set you up for another successful year ahead. I truly cannot wait to see you all continue to grow, share who you are with the world and shine.  

At the beginning of each year we reflect on the previous year’s theme and set intentions for the year to come. This year our intentions and the way you will see us show up within ourselves, our team and with you, our families and communities is Safety for Vulnerability. 

Why this theme?

How this came about is for the last few years we have had significant change, including life and world events; but also growth of the company, which has meant a lot of movement, adapting, changing and requiring to always be on. This year, it is about getting back to our core knowledge and foundations. 

It is about holding space for people to feel ‘Safe’ to allow for ‘Vulnerability’. When this happens, this is where the magic happens. 

The clinical side of it

From an OT perspective, there is a lot of research around the importance of feeling safe before beginning any work with any child, family member or community. 

When we feel safe, secure, and protected, we are comfortable to let our true self shine, to show people our true selves, including our quirks, strengths and limitations. This is where the true beauty is. Being able to share who you are unapologetically is the essence of what brings you joy in your everyday activities; it brings about wellbeing and enhances our confidence in everything we do. As OT’s this is part of our job – to facilitate and support all our children, parents and community members to achieve this. To create a feeling of safe, to allow you to be vulnerable and share who you are. 

This is where our point of difference at Explore and Soar is for our clients and families, because connection, relationships, establishing trust and safety are at the forefront and the beginning of everything we do. We take pride in these relationships with you all, because we know when we have this safety and connection, only then can we address and begin the real work.

Once we feel safe, we can be vulnerable 

We can share and express how we feel, and work through these feelings. It is these moments that we as part of your team, get to support you further and be there with you in those moments. It is where we can assist in identifying activities that are leading to such feelings where things feel like they are  unattainable or unachievable. 

This is where we grade these activities for success in learning that new skill and then, where appropriate share them with your people and community. 

So something that felt big and challenging is now an obstacle overcome and done so with everyone supporting you. 

Vulnerability also brings the need for flexibility

When we share our true selves – our emotions and feelings – we cannot be sure how people will react; its unpredictable. 

For our children, unpredictability is the opposite of what they need. It is the opposite of what they seek. They seek the predictable, to know the boundaries and limits and have control. However, ensuring strong connections and relationships allow our children the safety and securing within this unpredictability. 

It is here we can show our flexibility. It is here that we can still provide our children with the predictability they seek. Our ability to be flexible in our thoughts, plans and actions is teaching our children that skill also! It is breaking down a skill that seems big and challenging to our children in real time. 

Being flexible and dealing with change is something every one of us has to be at some point in our lives. 

So it is our commitment to our Explore and Soar families that we will show Safety in Vulnerability in 2023 – to develop our children’s flexibility and dealing with change.

Until next time,
Jess & Lori

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED FEBRUARY 10, 2023

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Transitions for Kindergarten

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TRANSITIONS FOR KINDERGARTEN

Transitions can be an exciting and nerve-racking time. Transitioning to Kindergarten being one of those times in our life. It is the moment where you are finishing an era in preschool and being home more with your family, to starting your 12 years of learning at school. It’s the start of one your biggest transitions.

We at Explore and Soar, have you. 

We hear you in the excitement as well as the nerves. We understand the range of emotions we all have with the closing and saying goodbye to a fun stage in our lives and opening the door to the next. We know exactly what to look out for and how to assist during these times. 

As OTs for our children, we look at all areas of development, such as sensory motor, emotional and social, attention/concentration, fine motor, gross motor, self-care, routines, motor planning, problem solving and play skills. We dive deep into all these areas, identify strengths, areas to work on and provide a range of strategies to support their development in preparation for the coming year. 

Some strategies for our children are:

Obstacle Courses: Inside and outside (weather and time dependent), being able to crawl, climb in, over, under, through all different items within the family home or backyard that brings about a fun playful adventure. Sometimes we play “pirates finding the treasure”, dinosaurs or “hidden treasures in the garden” – the world is your creation in play!

Arts & Craft: Christmas is such a fun time for all the craft ideas that our children are motivated to engage in. It’s great for using all different craft utensils and ways to make anything, from ripping paper, scrunching and gluing it on a Santa hat, cutting out a Christmas tree, painting (inside or outside), using a water bottle and paper towel to clean up wet chalk drawing on doors or chalk on the pavement. If you want to share your creations, we would love to see them all! 

Eating & Drinking: With all the end of year social events and New Year, practicing drinking from our school drink bottle, to open it, close it and refill it is vital. So is eating different snacks and food. When going out to all events over the break, take your school lunch box and package foods like you would they were attending school. Practice eating from this packaging to ensure they can open it. Who doesn’t love to eat?? 

If you’d like some ideas, our team have developed a Transition to School resource for you to reference and support you for some fun activities.

As OT’s for our parents, we look at how to best support you in this transition to provide the best for your children, this can come in many different ways and is not limited by any means. Some ways that we support is through parent coaching and education, presenting transition to school talks at our local communities schools as well as providing online education transition to school seminars with a Speech Pathologist. 

Some strategies for our parents are:

Self-regulation & Awareness: Being aware of your own emotions and ability to regulate them. It’s ok to feel nervous, uncertain and overwhelmed, but being able to individually work through these yourself will further support your child transition. What emotions you are feeling subconsciously, your child will be able to feel them too. 

Ask Questions: It is ok to ask questions! Talk to your teachers, chat with allied health professionals (OTs and speech pathologists) if you have any questions about development and/or being ready to transition to school. We can help, support and give guidance for where you need it.

Attend our FREE online School Readiness talk with ASPIRE Speech Pathology. 

Our Director Jess Rodgers and ASPIRE’s Director Andrea Cooper, team up each year to present all the must knows around Speech, Language & Overall Development as our children transition into Kindergarten. The online FREE event occurs at 7pm – 8pm Thursday 3rd November. Please join us as we love answering all your questions and sharing our knowledge with you all. 

Lastly but most importantly. Follow your gut! Our gut instincts are there for a reason, if you have any uncertainties or questions, my advice is also trust your gut and go with it. The uncertain feeling is there for a reason.  

School transitions are big, we want to ensure you are well prepared and have plenty of opportunities to reach out. If you would like more information each November, we write different pieces around school readiness. 

We hope these last few months of the year are exciting, fun and playful. We are looking forward to sharing with you our last blog of the year next month and begin sharing with you all, all the changes and transitions, Explore and Soar have been going through too. 

Until next time,
Jess

P.S. Last year Georgia wrote a lot of helpful tips about school readiness. Read here. 

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 1, 2022

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