House of Krause

If there is one thing I’ve learned in the past year, it is to think like an occupational therapist at every opportunity! There are so many activities you can do right in your own home.  In three days I will be left to my own creativity in regards to Luke’s O.T and play therapy time. I am excited to continue to work with him and have enlisted the help of my sister who is a teacher. I want to share some easy ideas I have learned this past year watching Luke’s wonderful therapists.

We do this activity utilizing the stairs. Luke thinks it’s just fun stuff. His task is to reach down low and grab the blocks, then reach up high and stack them on the stairs. But there’s a catch. See that black disk below his feet. It’s a balancing disk. It has a red ball in the middle that makes it a little more tricky.

Usually after he stacks them all on the stairs, he goes up the stairs to retrieve them. We also use the stairs for many things. Like working on that jumping. Just from the bottom step to the floor (no crazy super man stuff). And of course we are always right there with him.There was a time when we would just practice stairs while holding hands just for balance and coordination. Standing on this balancing disk uses tons of muscles.  I think a couple of pillows under his feet might work well also.

Love this game. Sorting by color. Sorting by animal type. Which ones are little, which are big?? Mommy and baby. Making animal sounds. Luke’s therapist has used this game for 20 years. You can find similar manipulative’s at Lakeshore learning store.

I was very excited when I came back from a bike ride to find Dad helping Lily with her home work, and Luke with his. This is my favorite oral motor toy. A green crocodile that has big yellow eyes. You blow and the eyes pop out. Luke loves this one. O.K. So I know it was kind’a dirty to be doing oral motor toys on the drive way. But what can I say. Sometimes things like this happen when my husband is left with the kids. I’m a firm believer in dirt anyhow, so what the heck!

Among other things, we have train whistles, kazoos, vibrating star, teething ring, bumpy rings that are really great for dipping in sour stuff. Pucker -up!

Ready, set, blow!

Meeee!

Let’s start at the beginning.  Do your remember the song…Head is connected to the neck bone…Neck bone connected to the shoulder bone…shoulder bone connected to the arm bone… so on and so on…you know the rest. Well that’s just the thing, our bodies are wired and it’s all connected!  Luke has a play therapist and and Occupational therapist(OT) in addition to speech. People have wondered why have those services when Luke has a speech problem? Yesterday made me realize the true importance of an O.T, and how it all works.  If we can improve our large motor skills then transition to improvement in fine motor skills, this can help us to develop the finest of the fine motor skills- TALKING! Think for a second, what most of us take for granted. To move lips and the tongue to the precise position to form an exact sound within a split second. Then having to change that position 3 and 4 times, depending on a word with more syllables. Not easy when you have a motor planning disorder. Not easy at all. So getting to that point, being able to make sounds, may be best started with an Occupational therapist. If muscle weakness is an issue O.T’s can help work on oral motor strategies. Strengthening the muscles around the mouth, cheeks, tongue. Again think about if your child has never were really been a talker, there might be a good chance those muscles haven’t been worked out much!  They can help children become more aware of their bodies. Nancy said yesterday some children are not even really aware that they have a mouth. There’s definitely things you can do as a parent too. If you think your child is having muscle weakness and other difficulties. Luke used to have issues of packing food in his mouth because it never felt full until he was gagging. (Below are some posts about oral motor strategies) Of course it’s best to let an OT help you out, but I just know how long and frustrating it can be  waiting for help!  Play therapist/ OT can help get your child get to the point of being ready to use those fine, fine motor skills!

SIGNING

Also, I wanted to say that sign language is an invaluable tool! I am convinced that Luke would be a totally different, frustrated child if he had not begun signing.  I can’t imagine his frustration levels by this point.  And rightfully so! Just a few basic signs is so beneficial.  And if you think back to the connection process, using more motor skills is going to help the brain just make more connections. Nancy Kaufman talked about K and K sign and say. It’s an approach of pairing sign language with spoken words. It looked like a wonderful program that was being used with lots of different children; Autism, Speech Apraxia, Downs syndrome.