Thanks so much for this beautiful, simple idea sent to us by one of our families.
Have you tried making and using a glitter-filled calm down bottle timer to help your little ones? It’s easy to put a Christmas theme into them by using festive colours and adding seasonal themed sequins or beads.
With so many versions on the internet, here is a blog post from my Crazy Blessed Life with tried and tested instructions to make your own. While Mama OT explains how the bottles can work by aiding self-regulation http://mamaot.com/sensory-calm-down-bottle/
Don’t forget there is still time for you to win a copy of Love Jean by entering our Christmas time book give away. Share your Christmas themed sensory ideas with our community… by leaving a comment on one of our Christmas themed blog posts or on our facebook page … before the 15th December 2018
ASI WISE was recently invited to deliver a presentation about Autism and sensory issues to a UK National Autistic Society meeting. Our presentations to the audience addressed the science and evidence behind autism and explored a families experience of sensory integration therapy.
Since the presentation we have had interesting conversations with some parents who attended. A common theme has been parents discovering that motor and praxis difficulties are part of sensory integration theory and therapy, and that ‘sensory’ in autism isn’t just about sensitivity.
Here is a great blog by an adult with autism who describes those sensory integration difficulties from visual scanning to actually doing.
Here are some great hand-eye coordination activities for clients across the lifespan – some are especially good for teens! Try these with tweenies and teens with difficulties with sensory-motor coordination, to get them off devices and outdoors over the summer.
Our seven senses are critical to early development. Watch this video below to see more.
Ayres (1972) defined sensory integration as “the neurological process that organises sensation from one’s own body and from the environment and makes it possible to use the body effectively within the environment”
When they do not work well, or the environment we live in does not allow this to happen, we can’t get the sensory information our bodies and brain need. This interferes with our development, learning and participation in all the activities of our everyday lives.
“Sensory integration difficulties can influence self-regulation, movement, learning and interaction with others.”
So I was just asked “Why didn’t Ayres consider and put more importance of the visual system? I was a bit perplexed and so explored this further with the therapist asking the question. The OT explained that she has been taught that Ayres did not consider the visual and auditory systems and that this means that for School OT’s where many difficulties link to visual processing deficits, learning the SIPT is not a useful and that therapists should instead use other tools linking vision to motor skills like the Bruinicks or Movement ABC alongside TVPS or VMI to ensure they understand and consider visual deficits.
This OT is not the first person to ask this question, so here is a bit more information about the visual system in Ayres’ Sensory Integration, and her understanding about the impact of sensory integration difficulties on academic learning.
” Those of us who study the overt behavior of children with academic deficiencies, and, at the same time, try to keep informed on related neurological research, are making an effort to interweave both approaches to knowledge into a theoretical structure which may be used as a provisional basis for treatment of children with learning problems.”
Ayres 1964 re-printed in Ayres 1974
The Sensory Integration and Praxis Test(SIPT) has 2 tests that are motor free and directly assess visual skills; Space Visualisation (SV) and Figure-Ground (FG), and 4 more that further explore visual skills in conjunction with other sensory systems and contribution to function; Manual Form Perception (MFP), Design Copy (DC), Constructional Praxis (CPr) and Motor Accuracy (MAc).
MFP 14 Recognition of forms held in hands; visualization
DC 4 Visuopraxis; two-dimensional construction
CPr 3 Three-dimensional visual space management
MAc 6 Eye-hand coordination; somatopraxis
Learning Assessments still includes the SIPT
Understanding Praxis
Jean A Ayres’ absolutely understood the importance of the visual system, her papers, books, and the SIPT manual make clear reference to this. Ayres did not consider vision just in terms of assessment, but also in how she recommended intervention approaches that would address deficits in the visual systems ability to support participation in daily life.
“Visual perception of the external world is at least partially dependant upon adequate perception of the construction of one’s own body or body scheme. The ability to perform complex motor tasks is dependant on mastery of the ability to do certain basic motor planning. Acquiring these two kinds of ablities occur sumultaneously and the acquisision is mutually dependant…
…any child who is severaly deficient in visual-motor function should begin…by learning to roll over, initiating motion by looking at a bright object placed at the side. This is an early step in ocular control…
…a recreational game through the ingenuity of the supervisor of the activity…
…The use of the eyes along with the body is essential, for it is the beginning of the dvelopment of one of the fundamental uses of the eyes – the guiding of total body action.”
Ayres 1961 in Ayres 1974
Research data from the SIPT and its predecessor, the SCSIT clearly showed the emergence of a pattern linking visual and movement difficulties called visuo and somatodyspraxia;
In her seminal work, Sensory Integration and Learning Disorders, Ayres 1972 discusses the importance of the development of Form and Space Perception, summarising the significant work of the time by Goins, Punwar, Frostig, and others. She describes the underlying neuroanatomy of visual perception, and it’s development in man. Ayres concluded the chapter exploring theories of dual modes of vision, advanced by Trevarthen, Gibson, and Held in the late 1960’s, before describing treatment approaches to develop form and space perception.
“…it is appropriate to close a therapeutic session which emphasized somatosensory and vestibular stimulation with task that focus on visual form and space perception. It is anticiapted that the earlier treatment enhances the capacity for visual perception and that sitting still while engaged in visual perception tasks helps quiet the child before he leaves the therapy area.” Ayres 1972
from Chapter 15 – Sensory Integration and Visual Deficits, including Blindness in the book Sensory Integration with Diverse Populations written by Smith Roley, Blanche and Schaaf published in 2001.
![ASI Wise & Sensory Project [Ayres Sensory Integration Education across Wales, Ireland, Scotland and England]](https://i0.wp.com/sensoryproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/cropped-Asi-wise_logo-01-1.jpg?fit=2362%2C2286&ssl=1){kind=logo}
“Sensory integration difficulties can influence self-regulation, movement, learning and interaction with others.”
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