OT includes Nintendo Wii in "Playroom" Based Therapy

Children who perceive sensory input differently than their peers, often struggle at home and at school. These kids face difficulties in day to day life, struggling not only with self care activities like with dressing and feeding, but also with classroom tasks such as attending to classwork, manipulating pencils and paper and absorbing instructions. Lindsey Stamper, an occupational therapist in Paducah, Kentucky works with many kids with neurological impairments, helping them to "slowly expand their capabilities." She provides this help in a SENSORY PLAYROOM.
Using balance balls, swings, a padded floor and Nintendo Wii & balance board activities Lindsey helps kids improve their ability to process sensory input and to engage in activities of daily living with less difficulty.
An approach utilizing sensory integration techniques proves successful in mitigating problems in children who experience neurological processing deficits. Many Wii applications either independently or in conjunction with other sensory diet components enrich a child's sensory experience while helping the child reach processing goals. The Wii, an increasingly familiar video gaming system, contributes therapeutic opportunities to address proprioceptive, vestibular, tactile, auditory and visual needs in a non-threatening and fun fashion.
Are you a parent or therapist interested in sensory processing disorders and in helping kids who deal with the resulting problems? Please post a comment and start a discussion. How do you think activities using Nintendo Wii games -"wii-hab" - can help a child you know?

Intergenerational Value: Wii for Fun - Therapy in Itself

A child who visits his Grandma in an assisted living facility decides the residents need a bit of excitement. He raised funds and purchased a Wii system for that facility. Now the residents keep themselves busy with bowling and baseball.
In my workshops, therapists hear about ideas for finding funds to help them bring the benefits of Wii into their facilities. Just recently, the executive director of Twilight Wish Foundation spoke at a meeting I attended. She suggested that perhaps her organization could work with community groups, such as Little League Teams or other sports organizations, interested in helping to purchase Wiis for elders in group living arrangements. This idea promotes interaction between generations and communities.
The intergenerational benefits the Wii brings benefits not only to grandparents and young children but also to parents and children with special needs. The Wii provides a great tool for parents who strive to help their children who struggle with sensory integrative issues, social issues as well as motor challenges.
One motor skill that families can address using the Wii is balance. Challenge the child's balance skills by playing games they love while placing them in creative positions. Since many Wii games can be played while standing or sitting, Wii provides an activity many are able to enjoy. Whether for therapy or fun, Wii provides a way for members of various generations to interact, improving quality of life for each participant.

Sensory Processing Disorders (Part 3 of 3)

(More on sensory processing disorder…)

 

School-based therapists recognize the entwined nature of the sensorimotor performance components and program plan accordingly.  The Wii provides another tool for the therapists, allowing them to challenge and grade movement through space as well as encourage targeted actions.  Are any readers using the Wii in your setting? 

 

Therapists must also identify issues in other performance areas such as cognitive and psycho-social.   Manifestations of problems within the cognition and psycho-social arenas will be discussed in future posts.

 

Please post your experiences under the comment section because in sharing your experience, you help increase everyone’s knowledge base.

Sources:

·        The Sensory Processing Disorder Resource Center

 www.sensory-processing-disorder.com/sensory-processing-disorder-checklist.html

·        Kranowitz, CS., Miller, LJ. (2005). The Out-of-Sync Child.  New York, NY. Penguin Group.

·        Bhojne,U, Chitnis, A. (2002). VESTIBULAR DYSFUNCTION IN CHILDREN WITH PERVASIVE DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDER. The Indian Journal of Occupational Therapy. XXXIV(1).3-6. Retrieved from http://medind.nic.in/iba/t02/i1/ibat02i1p3.pdf

 

Sensory Processing Disorders (Part 2 of 3)

(Continued from last post…)

 

More on sensory processing disorder:

• Visual – Refers to the brain’s interpretation of what one sees
• Hypersensitivity – May be sensitive to bright lights and may have difficulty keeping eyes focused on work.
• Hyposensitivity – May have difficulty discriminating between similar shapes, like a square and rectangle or similarly shaped letters like “p”, “q”, “b” and “d”.  Visual processing deficits result in problems described in the previous post on perceptual processing manifestations.  
• Vestibular – Refers to the interpretation of information gathered from the inner ear about one’s position in space, movement and balance.
• Hypersensitivity – May be overly sensitive to motion, avoiding swings or slides.  May get car sick and may be fearful of escalators.   May also demonstrate poor postural control.
• Hyposensitivity – May crave motion.  May spin, jump, run into walls, or purposely fall without the expected negative reaction.  Again, look at the previous posts.  Deficits in this area are closely aligned to deficits classified as motor problems (see October 27,2008 post) as well as perceptual processing problems described in the October 31, 2008 post.
• Proprioceptive – Refers to the interpretation of information gathered from joints and muscles about one’s position in space, movement, pressure and weight.
• May use excessive force when interacting with objects, animals or other people.
• May seek out activities that provide sensory input, like jumping and banging objects. 

 

Please post your experiences under the comment section because in sharing your experience, you help increase everyone’s knowledge base.

Sensory Processing Disorders (Part 1 of 3)

Therapists working with the K-8 population, especially students with diagnoses across the Autism spectrum must be equipped to address sensory processing disorders.  Sensory processing problems impact all areas of function and must be considered on a case by case basis. Subtle differences between children’s abilities require the therapist to individualize treatment protocols.  Components included in the sensory processing performance area are:

 

• Tactile –  Refers to the interpretation of sensory input, including temperature, pressure, pain, and touch, collected from receptors located in the skin
• Hypersensitivity – Tactile defensiveness- may avoid touch
• Hyposensitivity -  Decreased responsiveness to touch- may seek repetitive tactile input
• Auditory – Refers to the interpretation of  sound
• Hypersensitivity – Auditory defensiveness- may be overly sensitive to background sounds
• Hyposensitivity - Decreased responsiveness to sound – may not respond appropriately when called by name, may not be able to locate the source of a sound, or may make repetitive noises for no reason.
• Olfactory – Refers to the brain’s interpretation of  smell
• Hypersensitivity- May be overly sensitive to smells which others may not notice
• Hyposensitivity – May not notice smells others complain about.

 

(Continued next time…)

 

Please post your experiences under the comment section because in sharing your experience, you help increase everyone’s knowledge base.

Using Mario Kart in Wiihab (Part 1 of 6)

Have you thought about using Mario Kart in therapy but are wondering what goals it can help your patients reach? This post is the first in a series of six on areas that Mario Kart can target for improvement as part of a rehab plan. Many of the areas that will be described in this series are important in conditions including pervasive developmental disorders and sensory integration dysfunction.


Photo by SMercury98 on Flickr

Post 1: Bilateral Coordination

Bilateral coordination is the coordinated use of both sides of the body at the same time, either in similar movements or in alternating movements. An example of a similar movement is using both hands to pick up an object or using both hands to throw a beach ball; an example of alternating movement is walking up the stairs or pedaling with the feet or the hands.

In Mario Kart Wii, players insert the regular Wii remote, which is rectangular in shape, into a wheel-shaped adapter. Because the wheel Wii controller is held and controlled with both hands, bilateral coordination is involved in playing the game.

Also, effective playing of the game can involve alternating movements, such as holding down the "2" button to speed up the kart while using the "b" button on the reverse of the controller to "drift" while in manual mode. (Manual mode is optional, and less advanced patients can play in automatic mode.)