Thursday, May 28, 2009

Standing on top of horse


This little guy loves riding the horse so much he will continue on after turning age 3 years and leaving the early intervention program to ride with the preschool aged kids (typically developing children).

His strength and motor planning have improved so much over the past year - he can transition into standing on the horse by himself and balance as he pulls little toys off the bottle and inserts them inside. I help him to listen and follow directions since he tends to be easily distracted. This type of activity forces him to focus and do the task on hand. Of course, he is also very proud of accomplishing this. After all, how many of his peers can stand on top of a horse?







Barbara Smith, M.S., OTR/L author of, The Recycling Occupational Therapist
Horseot.com

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Valting at Divinity Farm


I did vaulting at my riding lesson today. Here I am with the lovely Bianca.

I have been working during the past 2 years with a little girl, now 6 years old who has Charcot tooth syndrome. She has weakness in her core and legs and is so tight that she is only able to sit in a cross legged position for a couple of minutes.

To increase strength and flexibility in her hips and legs I have her sit with one leg flexed in external rotation and the other leg hanging as I am doing in the top picture.




I really would prefer if she worked with a physical therapist since her issues center around decreased leg strength and flexibility. However, since that isn't happening and she is adorable (so I am lucky to still be working with her) I hope to eventually get her to sit with both of her legs crossed.








Barbara Smith, M.S., OTR/L author of, The Recycling Occupational Therapist
Horseot.com

Monday, May 18, 2009

Weight bearing using squeaky ball

Many successes today but one of my little early intervention kids is turning three and leaving, so sad. One little guy who has been crying for about 6 weeks is finally starting to enjoy the sessions. I thought that he was so terrified I suggested that he stop but am now glad his mother persisted. He is singing along with me, imitating animals sounds and tolerating position changes.

This little guy is showing me that he is strong enough to push down on the ball to make it squeak. He actually can do this, but I often help kids with the squeezing, using the activity to motivate weight bearing and have fun while sitting facing backwards. It also works on balance since they are pushing on such a small area.


I came up with a great jig for teaching how to string donut shapes. The photos didn't come out well, so hope to have another go at it soon.
Barbara Smith, M.S., OTR/L author of, The Recycling Occupational Therapist
Horseot.com

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Tactile Activity Using Rice



I am finding many benefits to using this magnets/cook sheet activity. In this case the magnets are buried inside a container filled with rice. The children don't seem to mind this texture as much as the fake easter grass. This child has just about learned how to place the magnets with the correct side up. But I am going to add stickers to the correct side so that I can cue with i.e. "lets see the dog picture" .
Here I placed the cookie sheet in front to make it easier. I place the sheet behind children after they understand what to do and I ask them to do it with the horse moving if they have pretty good balance. Stretching with the outside hand while walking the horse in a circle really works the trunk muscles as children places magnets on the cookie sheet. (When the horse walks in a circle, the outside hand and foot face the outside of the circle)

I discovered a neat trick during an evaluation yesterday. I asked a child to put the yogurt container lid on really securely. He tends to do a less than thorough job on these types of tasks. Then I tested him by turning the container over (above the cookie sheet) to see if anything fell out. He seemed to understand the test results since no spills. Yeah!


Barbara Smith, M.S., OTR/L author of, The Recycling Occupational Therapist
Horseot.com

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Massachusetts Association of Occupational Therapy



I just got confirmation that Monica Wu and I will be presenting (on hippotherapy, of course) at the Massachusetts Association of Occupational Therapy Conference on October 2, 2009.

More information about my upcoming events is listed on this page:
Courses, Workshops, Seminars

Read more about Monica Wu and her work at:
Reinbow Therapy



Barbara Smith, M.S., OTR/L author of, The Recycling Occupational Therapist
Horseot.com

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Vaulting page


I have started a page on my web site with photos of the vaulting moves I am learning. During this lesson I worked on holding the "riding seat" position. I was surprised with how hard I had to squeeze my thighs to keep my balance while stretching my arms in different ways. I was able to control Bianca with my legs to move to the right and left and also stop by sitting down open and relaxed. As a novice I find it exciting to control the horse in that way without reins. I can think of a few of my hippotherapy kids who can learn these concepts.



Barbara Smith, M.S., OTR/L author of, The Recycling Occupational Therapist
Horseot.com

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Tactile Activities


I placed some colorful magnets in this fake orange grass so that the children would have to dig through to find them. Most of the kids hated touching the grass due to tactile defensiveness.

I am going to try this again with some sand in a container and see if they find the sand less aversive or maybe I can make some type of easy to manipulate goop. In any case, they enjoyed attaching the magnets to a cookie sheet after they found them. these magnets are colorful plastic on one side and magnetic on the other side so they have to learn to position them correctly in order to attach.



This girl is cleaning the fake grass off the pad and pony, a great tactile activity!








Barbara Smith, M.S., OTR/L author of, The Recycling Occupational Therapist
Horseot.com

Monday, May 4, 2009

Walking over Poles


Now that we have nice weather I am spending more time outside and able to have the horses walk over poles. This gives the child some up and down vestibular stimulation. I am teaching the children to post or maintain a half seat position as the horse walks over the pole. This activity seems to help them to visually attend since they are trying to go up at just the right time. The kids find the idea of "jumping over poles" very exciting. They actually aren't jumping, we are all walking, but it sounds cool. Maybe some of them will learn to do this at the trot.




Barbara Smith, M.S., OTR/L author of, The Recycling Occupational Therapist
Horseot.com