Perth OT

Are you aware that you have 2 different muscle types?

Slow (🐌) and fast (🐆) twitch muscles define each of our body movements — from walking to running and sprinting we’re activating a range of different muscles 🏃‍♀️

Find out more about these two types below 👇

Fidget toys are small toys that can be used for fidgeting. Typically, they can fit in the size of your hand 🖐 and have the ability to be stretched, pulled, or moved in some way.

Over the past few years, they’ve seen a surge in popularity. With fidget spinners setting off the trend in 2016 — the toy industry has been disrupted with pop its and fidget cubes hitting stores 🪀

But are they actually useful? Is there any benefit to fidgeting?

Below we cover some of the top bonuses that fidget toys offer 👇

Weighted products are products which have been made heavier by adding small weights (typically poly pellets or glass beads) to provide soothing sensory input 😌

These products usually come in the form of blankets, vests, lap pads, or occasionally wearable animal shapes and toys 🧸🦺

Weighted products come with a long line of benefits, many of which stem from their ability to provide deep pressure touch simulation (DPTS), a firm sensory input that can stimulate the release of serotonin in the brain.

In the below article Happy Dots takes us through all the specific benefits of DPTS as well as some extra benefits of weighted products such as it’s ability to help manage symptoms of autism.

Benefits of Weighted Items - Happy Dots Weighted items are increasing in popularity nowadays because of their benefits for children with Sensory Processing Disorder, Autism, ADHD, ADD, and other mental health issues.

Are you familiar with sensory play? 👃🖐👂

Sensory play is any play that stimulates the senses. This means the five senses of smell, touch, taste, sight and hearing as well as movement and balance.

Sensory play helps children to learn more about the world around them 🌏

Sensory play is said to:

1. Assist in cognitive development

2. Help with fine and gross motor skills

3. Calm anxious or frustrated children

4. Teach children about sensory attributes (wet/dry, dark/light, etc.)

5. Enhance memory

We’ve put some examples of sensory play down below, is your child doing some of these already?

The image below is not fully complete — you can see parts of the skirt, face and door are missing but even so the Alice illustration is clear 🗝

Our brain has a special capability to fill in the blanks when it comes to images like these. It’s the same skill we exercise when completing jigsaw puzzles and reading smudged or messy handwriting.

Visual closure is what we call it. It’s our brain’s ability to fill in the blanks when it comes to missing aspects of familiar items, objects or words 🧩

It helps us to read fluently, recognise objects quickly, and recall letters and words.

Poor visual closure might lead to trouble finding items, putting together jigsaw puzzles or slow reading or recall 📖

Have you heard of the Beighton scoring system?

The Beighton scoring system is a system used to screen for hypermobility (joint flexibility outside the normal range) and assesses joints around the knuckles, thumb base, elbows, knees and spine 🖐

Using the pictures below as a guide, you can follow along and see where your ‘double-joints’ may be lingering 👀

A. Spine -Bend forward with your hands and feet flat on the floor, if you can keep your legs straight then add one point 🧍‍♀️

B. Elbows -Stretch out your arms, does your elbow extend past 180 degrees? Yes? then add one point for each arm

C. Thumbs -With the arm out straight, and palm facing down, can your thumb be pushed back to your forearm? If yes, add one point for each thumb 👍

D. Knees -Standing with knees locked, does the lower part of your leg extend more than 10 degrees forward? If yes, add a point for each side 🦵

E. Pinky Finger -Rest your palm and forearm on a flat surface, are you able to extend your pinkies back past 90 degrees? Then add one point for each hand

How did you score? 🤔

Please note: Hypermobility can only be diagnosed by a trained professional. If you have a high Beighton score, and show other symptoms of hypermobility such as joint pain, it may be worth reaching out for an official diagnosis.

Fellow occupational therapist Vicky Robinson on Minute Mum talks about the importance of letting children move around while learning in her article “Sit Still and Listen!” 🪑

Vicky talks us through a common parenting misconception — that because a child is moving, they’re not focused 🚫🏃‍♀️

But children moving around while working on a tricky task is completely normal and helps expand their (short) attention spans.

This doesn’t mean that children have to be running around the living room while trying to read, movement can be much simpler than that. Vicky talks about how even a change in position can help with your child’s restlessness, whether that be moving to standing up or having them lie on their back.

Thank you for the insightful article Vicky! ☀️

“Sit Still and Listen!” by Vicky Robinson - Occupational Therapist | Advice + Tips | Five Minute Mum Hi all, I’ve decided to do a little series of five minute guest blogs. When I started this blog it felt a very solitary affair. Just little old me, writing about our five minute games. However one of the lovely surprises I have discovered through the building follower numbers is a wonderful commun...

School-based PD helps teachers and students work towards the best they can be 👩‍🏫🧑‍🎓

Through our school-based professional development teachers and staff can:
•Increase their current knowledge on important topics ✅
•Find clarification in areas of child development they are confused or uncertain on ✅
•Experience increased confidence in their current abilities ✅
•Know that their knowledge is up-to-date at an industry standard ✅

Each session can be tailored to the specific needs and wants of your school, allowing for improvement to occur where most needed and educating the staff in their areas of interest 📚

Form constancy makes up an important part of our visual perception and we think toolbox provides a fantastic explanation of what it is and why it’s important! 👁👩‍🏫

Try these ideas to address form constancy:

http://www.theottoolbox.com/2016/06/How-to-use-tangrams-improve-visual-perception-skills.html