Family Learning Solutions Blog - Learning & Education

The Beginning of The End

nospam@example.com (Family Learning Solutions, LLC) — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 18:54:00 -0500

After Easter, we will be beginning the last grading period of this school year. While most of us are in the mindset that it is almost over, in reality there are 9 weeks of school for our children to still get through. Some tips to help you through in the next few months:

Take this opportunity at spring break to get new folders and clean out your child's backpack together.

File papers in an expanded file folder.

Label one folder a homework folder and discuss with your child putting all homework to be done and to be turned in in this folder.

Buy a small notebook and encourage them to write assignments in here.

Reinforce their efforts to be more organized- offer an organization prize each day or week (a small treat, a dollar, a Blizzard, etc).

Reorganize the homework area.

Buy some new pens and pencils, even crayons and markers to spice things up.

Begin planning for summer now. We will offer a study skills group this summer. Let us know if you are interested as we begin planning.

More Sensory Integration

nospam@example.com (Family Learning Solutions, LLC) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:26:31 -0600

Different senses and sensory integration problems show up in different ways. To fully learn more about each sense and the behaviors that indicate a sensory issue, read The Out of Sync Child. This author also has a book for teachers that is composed of checklists and examples of strategies to use in the classroom. It's a great gift to give your child's teacher!!

One red flag I look for to indicate possible sensory integration issues: a child who has meltdowns frequently and has a difficult time getting it back together or being consoled, or whose meltdowns seem really intense and extreme for the incident; a child who is bouncing around the room, throwing everything hard, jumping off of everything, running into things, knocking blocks over, making lots of noise with the toys, moving frequently- these are signs of a child craving deep pressure activities.

Deep pressure activities include: carrying a backpack of books or heavy items around, pushing a laundry basket down the hall or carrying it, pushing or pulling a wagon loaded with heavy items (rocks, a bag of soil, bags of garbage or leaves), moving books in the room, putting chairs on desks, carrying the garbage out, pulling the garbage cans down the driveway, clapping erasers, erasing the board, walking up and down steps with a backpack on your back, push-ups against the wall, jumping jacks, jumping on a trampoline ( or a small exercise one) bouncing on a hippity hop, bouncing and throwing a ball.

Provide your child with the sensory "diet" they need- look for the activities that give your child the sensations and information their body iis seeking.

Sensory Integration: A Missing Piece to the Puzzle

nospam@example.com (Family Learning Solutions, LLC) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:21:02 -0500

I see so many children all the time for behavior issues at home and school: temper tantrums, not focusing at school, impulse control, anger issues, loud, social problems and so on. Many of these children have already been identified as ADHD, ODD, bipolar, or Autism Spectrum Disorders and are being treated for such by medical doctors and/or psychiatrists. However, an additional piece of the puzzle is often the sensory integration piece which is frequently overlooked.

Most of us think of our senses as those having to do with seeing and hearing. But we also have the sense of touch, a sense of balance, a sense of taste, a sense of smell, and a sense of the placement of our bodies in the space around us. All of these senses take in information from the world around us and help us make sense of it. These senses work together to help us remain in control of ourselves and to understand and process what is going on in our environment. When these senses do not work well together, either by being underresponsive or overresponsive, we feel dysregulated or "out of whack" so to speak.

Often our children who exhibit huge meltdowns and cannot be consoled easily or who are bouncing all over the place and can't settle down, or who are loud and boisterous, clumsy, hard on toys, rough with others, who sit and don't like to move much and are underactive, are demonstrating signs of sensory integration problems. Understanding behavior from this perspective allows us all to look at the environment differently and help these children by controlling what we can in the environment and providing the external framework they need to regulate themselves.

This is a newer areas that many teachers and doctors are still learning about but it is a key element in working with many of these children who are struggling. I'll write more about this later with ideas of strategies to help. For a quick resource, check out the suggested books under Resources on my website. I highly recommend The Out of Sync Child books by Carol Stock Kranowitz for a better explanation than I can give and for activities you can do at home. Also I found this link on Facebook which looks interesting to check out as well http://shop.sensorytools.net/ .