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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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Auditory Intervention – TOMATIS®

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AUDITORY INTERVENTION – TOMATIS®

Recently the OT team at Explore and Soar participated in some professional development training that allows us to provide another auditory intervention to our clients and their families. We are pleased to announce that Explore and Soar is now a certified Level 1 TOMATIS ® Practitioner.

What is TOMATIS ®?

TOMATIS ® is a sound-based neurosensory education program that is used to enhance the connection of the ear, brain and body in order to work together and support the progression of all foundational skills for your child’s development. It is based upon the work of Alfred Tomatis (Tomatis® Method) using a special machine called the TalksUp® device, to produce the Tomatis® effect. 

This time last year we spoke about the complexity of the auditory sensory system and how it is linked to multiple other sensory systems, including the vestibular (movement) system. As such, our ear is regarded as both an auditory and motor organ within our body and is the doorway to our entire nervous system! The way it interprets and processes sensory information from the world around us impacts upon our emotional regulation, fine and gross motor skills, postural activation, spatial awareness and social skills. 

Did you know that one of the primary roles of the ear is to provide energy to the brain – 70-80% of all energy for our brain comes from our ear! 

Of this, 60% is from our auditory system (hearing) while 30% comes from our vestibular (movement) system. Thus, the ear requires both sound input as well as vibrational input for it to energise the brain and allow for sensory processing to occur at a very automatic level. The TOMATIS ®system is the only auditory system to provide both air (sound) conduction and bone (vibrational) conduction in order to simulate the brain. 

Here is a great video that demonstrates how this in fact works within our bodies.

So why would Explore and Soar use TOMATIS® over other auditory interventions?

TOMATIS ® is based on the principals of intensity and breaks. This means that each program lasts 14 days (intensity) with specific time durations (breaks) between the programs to allow for integration and progression of skills. Thus, it is a 14 day commitment, 4 times per year within the first year and minimum 2 to 4 programs upon the second year to complete the listening program of up to 80 miutes duration per day. However, the integration time outside of the listening stage is just as critical to the overall effectiveness of the program. The effects of TOMATIS ® are best seen over time (with multiple programs for increased results); whereas other auditory interventions can elicit an immediate response or change to behaviours or body awareness or require continued daily listening for up to 12 weeks. 

Explore and Soar clinicians apply their knowledge of each of the different auditory interventions we have access to, along with consideration of each individual’s goals, funds and family life to determine which interventions will be best suited for the individual. 

We’ve seen many children gain a range of benefits by completing the program alongside our clinicians. One of our clients who engaged with the Tomatis® method was previously unable to regulate emotions effectively, follow instructions, understand spatial awareness or movement through space. After completing his first 14 day program, the child became better regulated with a reduced recovery time, staying in his regulated state for longer, with a greater sense of awareness within his own space. He was able to engage and communicate his wants and needs in a healthy way, without lashing out and his creative play and expression exceeded all expectations. 

What benefits can TOMATIS® help achieve?

The changes mentioned here are some of the changes observed and reported by parents using the Tomatis® Method around the world. Responses will vary from child to child and can be difficult to predict; however patterns of development allow us to recognise and assist families in preparing for such changes. These benefits include:

  • A child can become either calmer or more alert depending on their sensory profile.
  • A child can appear more focused and more purposeful in their behaviour. 
  • Improved eye contact. 
  • More affectionate. 
  • Children begin to frequently seek their parents out and want to join in on more family activities. 
  • Show increased interest in non-verbal communication such as facial expressions and gestures.
  • A child may increase their self awareness, or become inquisitive about their own self.
  • They show more awareness of their environment around them and may start to notice things they seemed oblivious to before. 
  • Some of the sensory sensitivities that were especially heightened will start to decline.
  • Increased vocalisations or sounds such as babbling or baby sounds in children who are considered non-verbal.
  • Increased recognition of their name or when they are spoken to.
  • Ability to demonstrate an increased understanding of more complex sounds, words and phrases in children who are considered verbal.
  • Ability to understand and follow directions of varying complexities.
  • A child will have increased purposefulness in their communication, behaviours, play ideation and social interactions with others.
  • A child will be less in their own world and more willing to join our world. 

If you would like to know more about TOMATIS ® or the other auditory interventions Explore and Soar can offer as part of our ongoing therapy to assist your child in achieving their goals, please reach out to your treating clinician. 

Read more about the Tomatis® Method here.

Until next time,
Lori

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED AUGUST 31, 2022

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Handwriting & Creative Writing for Self-awareness and Wellbeing

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HANDWRITING AND CREATIVE WRITING FOR SELF-AWARENESS AND WELLBEING

There is nothing quite like putting pen to paper. 

Handwriting is a skill that we are often introduced to prior to entering school. It is then further explored in early education, then over time we develop the ability to form more comprehensive cursive written text. As we enter our teenage years and tertiary education, we then progress to touch typing – with digital correspondence becoming our most prominent means of written communication. 

We are taught to identify and draw shapes that lead into the pre-development of writing letters, and understand shape recognition of our letters to then write them. As Occupational Therapists it is our job to facilitate fine motor development, hand control and the strength needed to be able to achieve these handwriting skills, develop pre-requisites to handwriting and the correct letter formation. This occurs from capital letters to lower case to cursive writing in grades 3 and 4. We do this in conjunction with a child’s development and alongside the teachers in your child’s classroom. 

The power of handwriting is something that we as OT’s stress the importance of. Hoping for it not to be lost in a technologically advancing world. The ability to draw shapes and practice drawing letters prior to school, is a more powerful form of letter recognition for development in reading and writing once transitioning into school (James & Engelhardt, 2012).This is a more profound use of skill acquisition and the attention to complex writing skills, compared to tracing over letters on paper or using apps to do on electronics (Berninger & Amtmann, 2003).

So, what else is handwriting powerful for? 

Its power lies in a child or adult’s ability to to express themselves in written text! It can also be used as we get older as a creative outlet, a way to express ourselves without judgement, a way to work through our own personal experiences and emotions attached or further explore the process of different texts like short stories, plays and poetry. The power of putting pen to paper for written text has such profound positive effects on mood and well-being (Deveney & Lawson, 2022), yet despite all this evidence and documentation on creative handwriting on paper, it appears we are moving towards more technology based learning? So how does this further impact our children’s ability to attend to activities for longer, enhance their higher executive functioning skills of organisation, sequencing of an activity and expand their ongoing development and coordination of all skills together, such as cognitive, motor and neuromuscular?

I pose the question, what if writing is a creative outlet? A way to express ourselves without judgement, without rules, a way to make sense of our inner and outer world and enhance our wellbeing through body, mind and spirit. To declutter the mind and find truth, reasoning and intent behind our feelings and emotions. What if the very idea of escaping into an idea or fantasy prompts emotional regulation, self expression and a great understanding of oneself? 

I say this as someone who has truly found the benefit of written text – predominately through journaling to make sense of the world around me. Growing up, written text, English and the pressure of being creative within a certain formula was extremely difficult for me. I would become anxious and overwhelmed by the expected requirements. Not to mention spelling, grammar and paragraph formation. It was like an automatic cognitive roadblock to my brain that impacted the way I would bring together my creative mind and my higher executive functioning skills. 

Upon reflection growing up, these were all a part of my challenges academically and skills that certainly didn’t come to me overnight. In focusing on the finer details, I couldn’t be truly creative and use writing as a means to express myself and my emotions. I lacked self-regulation strategies, emotional awareness and that secure free outlet that I find today, in writing by hand in my diary. 

Taking the pressure off my grammar, spelling and structure when writing has helped to truly clear the road blocks I experience when I have to write an important written text for business or for everyday life. Even more so, journaling and creative writing about my life helps to clear my mind, and allows me to prioritise my important tasks. Looking back, what I often wonder that if I had this opportunity to explore a sense of creativity without limitations as a child, how much more expressive and perhaps how significantly better off my cognitive and creative mind would have been then. Especially through my teenage years and the challenges that high school brings. 

By using myself as an example, I hope that you can see just how important handwriting truly is as a means of self expression. Add to this colours, drawing, mind maps.. And your child’s development is greatly and positively impacted not just today but their years to come. Creative writing helps us gain perspective and channel different emotions.

So how do you use written language in your life and does it support your well being and mood when engaging? How do your children utilise written text in their life, and are you allowing space for creative and written language to express their emotions and work out different daily social contexts and events in order to  help with their own personal development and awareness? 

It might be time to put pen to paper and step away from the screen – for some creative expression. 

References:

Berninger, V. W., & Amtmann, D. (2003). Preventing written expression disabilities through early and continuing assessment and intervention for handwriting and/or spelling problems: Research into practice. In H. L. Swanson, K. R. Harris, & S. Graham (Eds.), Handbook of learning disabilities (pp. 345–363). The Guilford Press.

Deveney, C & Lawson, P. 2022, Writing your way to well-being: An IPA analysis of the therapeutic effects of creative writing on mental health and the processing of emotional difficulties. Counselling & Psychotherapy Research, Vol 22, Issue 2.   

James, K. H. & Engelhardt, L. 2012. The effects of handwriting experience on functional brain development in pre-literature children. Trends in Neuroscience and Education. Vol 1 Issue 1. 

Until next time,
Jess

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED JULY 5, 2022

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Gross Motor Skills – Muscle Tone

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GROSS MOTOR SKILLS
– MUSCLE TONE

This month we are going to break down a term that you might have heard your therapist mention to you when discussing your child’s gross and fine motor skills – and that is muscle tone!

Muscle tone is a key contributor that impacts everything that we do with our bodies in everyday life. This can include things like playing with our friends, sitting in the classroom, sitting at the table to eat dinner, or completing our homework. If a child is experiencing poor muscle tone, this can lead to challenges with gross motor, fine motor and coordination skills. 

So, what is Muscle Tone? 

By definition, muscle tone refers to the amount of tension, or the amount of resistance to movement, held in the muscles in our body. This tension or muscle tone helps us to hold our bodies in a stable upright position when sitting or standing. Changes in this tension or muscle tone then enable us to maintain control and stability over our bodies as we move and engage in a variety of activities. 

Postural control and muscle tone are essential for all motor skills. Sitting at a desk requires good postural control and so does sitting on the carpet. Without it, a child would likely start leaning into their peers. Other skills such as using a pencil or a computer also require good postural control. Playtime and PE are also much more difficult without good balance and postural control.

So, how does it work?

Muscle tone begins to develop when a child is very young. It is developed through activation and exploration of the vestibular sensory system. The vestibular system is stored in our ears. It consists of three semicircular canals filled with fluid. When we move our head forwards, backwards or side to side, this fluid moves inside these canals, telling our brain which direction and how fast our body is moving. This information then lets our brain know that we need to activate our muscle tone and where to hold or change the tension to keep our body stable and in control as we move. 

An example ofoptimal muscle tone activation that supports a daily activity is a child seated at their desk, leaning forward to write down the stimulus seen on a whiteboard. As they lean forward, their vestibular system is alerted that they are moving their head. This message then tells their brain that the body needs to activate tension to hold the core of the body stable in the seat while changing the tension in the neck to allow the head to scan up to the whiteboard and back down to the workbook on the desk in a controlled manner. The child’s body now remains stable while they use their fine motor skills in a controlled manner to write down the stimulus. 

The different types of Muscle…

We have two different categories of muscles within our body, tonic and phasic muscles. Tonic muscles are our inner postural muscles that are in charge of keeping us stable and upright against gravity. These muscles are longer lasting and are responsible for holding our body stable throughout the day to engage in daily living activities. Phasic muscles are our fast-firing and on-demand outer muscles that activate when we need a quick burst of movement or an action to be performed, but then they quickly fatigue. 

When our tonic muscles are unable to perform their tasks adequately, the phasic muscles act as substitutes. However, because the phasic muscles are responsible for mobility and skill, they are far less effective in maintaining posture. For example, a child who does not have well developed tonic muscle tone may compensate for this by using their shoulders and arms to stabilise themselves whilst seated at the classroom table, rather than using their back and core muscles. This results in increased fatigue for that child as the muscles they are compensating with tire quickly and are not designed for sustained use. It then also impacts their capacity to complete fine motor activities as they are using the muscles necessary for these skilled tasks to simply stabilise their body, rather than complete the academic activity in front of them.

So, what happens if Muscle Tone is not optimal? 

Muscle tone is a continuum. We all have different levels of muscle tone throughout our bodies. This variation is fine, as long as our body holds sufficient muscle tone to engage in the activities that we want and need to be able to perform on a daily basis. This differs however for children. For those who are having trouble engaging in everyday activities, it is important to consider that it may be muscle tone that is impacting their capacity to learn or perform.

Low tone:

Children who are experiencing low muscle tone may seem flacid or floppy when moving their bodies, have poor posture or stand/sit in a slouched position, have increased flexibility in their joints, have low endurance, lack body awareness and prefer sedentary activities. Think about those children who prefer to flop on to the couch, slump when seated, lean against objects when seated or standing to support themselves, be heavy footed, or appear uncoordinated or clumsy.

For these children, they require a high intensity of vestibular (movement) input to alert their brain and activate their muscle tone and body to engage optimally in activities. 

For our children who are experiencing low muscle tone, they fatigue quicker and easier than their peers. They also have to work harder to keep up with their peers and find compensatory ways to engage successfully in these activities. 

High tone:

This refers to children who appear to have six-packs and other visible external muscles (biceps, quadriceps, etc.). This is a result of them over-using their phasic (outer) muscles to compensate for their weaker inner core muscles when engaging in activities. 

Children with high muscle tone usually move very fast and often seem uncontrolled moving through activities, before their muscles reach fatigue. 

So how do we support our children to better activate and strengthen their muscle tone in order to participate in daily activities?

To further support our therapists and your child in achieving their goals – here is a list of activities that you can incorporate into your child’s daily routine within the home: 

  • Animal walks – including crab walks, bear walks, frogs walks, bunny hops and donkey kicks. These exercises activate a range of different muscles and assist in increasing muscle and postural tone.
  • Wheelbarrow walks – hold your child at their hips or knees whilst they walks on their hands. Motivate your child by encouraging them to go further each time. Vary the activity by making them walk around different obstacles or place a favourite toy on their back to balance / carry.
  • Bouncing on the trampoline – Vary the bounce to keep it interesting. Try star jumps, scissor kicks, donkey kicks, bouncing down to their knees and up again, etc. 
  • Sports such as swimming, martial arts and gymnastics.
  • Climbing activities such as monkey bars, ladders, ropes, playground equipment.
  • Heavy work (movements that involve push/pull/carry against resistance). For example: lifting heavy objects (e.g. shopping bags or piles of books), carrying a heavy school bag, helping out in the garden or moving furniture around the house.
  • Bouncing or completing any exercises provided by your therapist on an exercise ball to activate core muscles.
  • Sit-ups or “bicycles” (lie on your back and cycle legs in the air).
  • “Fly like a bird” – get your child to lay on their tummy and arch their back whilst pulling straight arms and legs off the ground.
  • Warm up activities before seated tasks can help to temporarily increase muscle tone, so the child can feel what it is like to have better posture e.g. star jumps or animal walks.
  • Alternative seating and working positions i.e. lying on stomach propped up on elbows or working at a vertical surface e.g. whiteboard or blackboard, this helps to engage upper limb and core muscles.
  • Playing with playdoh or putty can be a great way to build tone in the hands, which can assist with handwriting and fine motor tasks
  • Using a spray bottle, pegs, screwing and unscrewing jars and squeezing a stress ball will help to work the fine muscles of the hands.

It is important to identify when a child tires and aim to gradually and continuously increase either the length of time or the amount of repetitions being completed. This will in turn increase the child’s strength and endurance. Scheduling in frequent rest breaks and providing lots of encouragement as well as varying the tasks will provide motivation and help increase the duration of activities. It’s important to remember that these activities are more successful when you’re making them fun! If you’d like more ideas or have questions about anything we’ve spoken about above, please don’t hesitate to reach out and ask your therapist for more information! 

Research:

Markham, C. (1987). Vestibular Control of Muscular Tone and Posture. Canadian Journal Of Neurological Sciences / Journal Canadien Des Sciences Neurologiques, 14(S3), 493-496. doi: 10.1017/s0317167100037975

Ganguly, J., Kulshreshtha, D., Almotiri, M., & Jog, M. (2021). Muscle Tone Physiology and Abnormalities. Toxins, 13(4), 282. https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins13040282

Kramer, P. (2018). Frames of Reference for Pediatric Occupational Therapy (4th ed.). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Until next time,
Georgia

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED JUNE 1, 2022

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Social Skill Development & Community

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SOCIAL SKILL DEVELOPMENT & COMMUNITY

Last month we spoke about enhancing our understanding and development of safety and connection between the caregiver and a child. In the time that’s passed since our last blog,  so much has happened at Explore and Soar and with our families! With school and extracurricular activities, celebrations, catch ups and holidays all occurring over the last 6 weeks, as well as the constant uncertainty of Covid, we have been forging a path towards a new normal.

I have often thought about how exhausting assimilating into a ‘normal’ social life is for me, my team and our families. We have gone from months of being stuck in our own homes, to all of a sudden being out and about all the time. It has been exciting to reconnect with our friends, family and community in ways we did pre-pandemic, yet such a change does come with a few consequences. 

Notably, our children are exhausted! 

They simply haven’t had this much social stimulation in a long time. They have been out on weekends and are now experiencing their first proper end of term fatigue. And let’s be honest, as parents, we too are exhausted and needing some down time. 

As much as I want to discuss social skills and interaction in this month’s blog, I’d like to focus on finding the balance between socialising and creating the time for rest and integration (processing) time. 

Socially, developing these skills occur at the commencement of regulation and engagement (please refer to our previous posts), but social skills are dependent on a child’s ability to process sensory information internally and externally (from the world around them). This is completed through sound (middle ear), movement (vestibular system found within the ear), and the visual system (eyes), in conjunction with other systems in the body. Additionally these organs and sensory systems are all connected through cranial (head) nerves. When we are processing information, our sensory systems alert and motivate our body to carry this information through our nerves. Our cranial nerves are located on the face and in the brain, which allows us as young children to begin understanding non-verbal social cues. There are a lot of nerves that are connected to the mouth and eyes, from our ears, which when working together, create facial expressions and we then in turn use words to express ourselves, allowing us to socially interact with others using both non-verbal and verbal communications. 

If our children have challenges processing sound, visually tracking or moving their body, just their emotional regulation and social skill development can be impacted. Unfortunately children can’t always tell us what is going on inside their body with the use of words, but they can tell us with their behaviour. 

So let’s take 5 minutes to reflect on how your children have been over the last month. Ask yourself these questions:

How do they look? How are they feeling? Are they regulating through their emotions? Are they coping at school? How fatigued are they? When you are communicating and connecting with your children, are they seeing your facial expressions? Are they able to read your social cues in order to pick up on what comes next? 

If the answer to any of these questions is no, then please take some time to work on safety and connection with them. Support their regulation, calm their bodies and nervous systems. Pausing and giving time for their bodies to rest is optimal integration time to support gains in all development but also supports them in understanding demands socially through their sensory systems. 

So many of our children are easily overwhelmed by sounds, visual input, touch and movement. When they are not able to process these inputs optimally, it can greatly impact how they socially connect with you, as parents, their siblings, and additionally how they cope in the school and community environments, when connecting with their friends.

Which brings me to socialisation in schools. Is your child having difficulties socialising with their friends at school, is it becoming more of a problem now than in previous years? And how can you help your children more?

Please reach out and chat to us if you are worried about this! Each of your clinicians will have an understanding of your child’s needs and when we are working with them, we are developing their foundational skills to further support their social skills, or additionally we are specifically working on skills that can further expand their capacity to interact with peers.

Some strategies we work towards developing are:

  • Understanding their feelings.
  • Understanding others feelings through body language and facial expressions, such as happy face, surprised face, frustration or sadness.
  • Understanding whole body listening concepts and active listening when interacting with friends or a group of friends.
  • Developing group plans, negotiating and turn taking within these activities.
  • Expected, unexpected and flexible thinking when working with friends. 

At home there are things you can do to further expand your children’s social skills, such as:

  • Understanding which emotions your children feel or express to you. How many are there? (remember this will differ pending age and their self-regulation skills). 
  • Can they ask you what is wrong if your mood or facial expressions change?
  • Playing silly faces, can they guess emotions from facial expressions, such as sad, excited, surprised?
  • Play a game together that you all contribute to, each having an idea and adding everyone’s ideas together, to form a group plan and play as a family. 
  • Play boardgames that are chance related to expand on regulating through waiting their turn, winning and losing, as well as supporting each other as a whole family. 

As we are socially interacting with others in the community, school and different events, in order to further support your child’s tolerance in busy environments or supporting their reintegration into the community, you need to take notice of fatigue. Please consider different strategies that can support you and your children re-entering into the social world such as:

  • Reducing sounds, visual input and high energy movement to help them process the world around them.
  • Provide some visuals and plan for the day to support their understanding of routine and expectations.
  • When the days are not as busy, take your time or allow for transition times between activities.
  • Provide moments of deep pressure hugs, fetal positioning, ice chips, inversion activities, respiration or squishes to support their regulation and calming of the sensory system for increased engagement and interaction with peers.
  • Reduce time spent in the community or at events to support a transition back into the community and increase tolerance of high sensory inputs over an extended period of time.  

Allowing and providing our children with the best support in order to allow their sensory systems to engage socially and be present with others is paramount. It is vital in the current environment due to the reduction in time spent socialising during the last 24 months. Be kind to yourselves and to your kids, you have permission to take it slow. You do not need to say yes to everything! Think about what is best for you and your family, and focus on that!

We hope to continue seeing all of you venturing out into the communities, reconnecting with friends and expanding upon our children’s social skills. If you think we can further help you with these skills and expand on our support offerings, please don’t hesitate to contact me or your treating clinician.

Until next time,
Jess

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED APRIL 13, 2022

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