My son finally qualified for speech services through our school district. That's a story in itself. He also showed enough deviation from the norm to qualify for OT for Sensory Integration.
Does anybody know what kinds of things they'll do?
Thanks,
Ame

By Pamt on Monday, May 23, 2005 - 04:21 pm:

They'll expose him to all sorts of different textures---have him play with play-doh, paint in pudding or funny foam, finger paint, dig through beans and find small hidden toys, etc. They may also using brushing therapy which is when they use a small plastic bristled brush to brush the skin and desensitize it. Lot's of touch and feely stuff.

Is he a kid that hates to get dirty, is easily bothered by tags and seams in clothes, and/or hates to go barefoot? These (and food aversions based on texture) are key symptoms of SI problems.

By Amecmom on Monday, May 23, 2005 - 05:51 pm:

He actually is not the kid who has a low touch threshold, he's the opposite. He can't get enough touch. He constantly hugs, and has to touch everything!
Also he's really bad with understanding personal space. His fine motor skills are great and he loves to get dirty!
His clothes can be all twisted and he wouldn't care.
He had sand in his eye for hours and didn't seem to feel it at all!
Ame

By Kaye on Monday, May 23, 2005 - 06:11 pm:

Then thy will work on things like having him listen to quiet music or tapes. Still doing a lot of the things pam mentioned, but also having him step barefoot onto differnt textures and telling him the difference. I think when they are under sensory they use a lot of comparison type things, feeling soft and hard, listening to quiet and loud to "teach" him they are different.

For a great book, look into "the out of sync child" It is all about sesonry intergration disorder

By Feona on Monday, May 23, 2005 - 07:52 pm:

They do arts and crafts... Cutting and drawing lines and circles and triangles. Gluing.

They are doing handwritting without tears now for a few letters.

Swings - different kinds of swings.

Learning to do two things at once. Crawl through the spandex tunnel and put a puzzle piece in the puzzle. Come out and get another puzzle piece. Take the heavy ball into the tunnel and put it in the box at the other end.

By Feona on Tuesday, May 24, 2005 - 06:55 am:

They try to build up the child's strength and endurance too for desk and other tasks.

By Feona on Tuesday, May 24, 2005 - 06:57 am:

They have putty which is hard to mold - in different hardness. Make stuff out of that. exercise hand muscles with that.


Depends on the ot person.

One ot had the kids write their name every session on the black board.

By Lauram on Tuesday, May 24, 2005 - 08:53 am:

Read The Out of Sync Child. It explains it really well. They *should* develop a plan that is individually tailored to his needs. My son actually did not have any tactile issues. Those are the most common, however. My son's major issues were with propriception and some vestibular. He particularily has difficulty with loud noises and lots of visula stimulation.