Craving Vestibular Stimulation

An almost three year old I work with is terrified of changing his position to sit facing sideways or backwards and won't reach at all out of his base of support to touch toys on the mane, croup or at his sides. He was also upset when I stopped the horse to try basketball and placing hoops over the cone for some hand activities. So we trotted over and over again. He said "fast", "more", "fast please" and "go please" whenever we slowed down and then cried when the session ended because he wanted more. It was nice to see him asking for what he needed but sad that he is so gravitationally insecure. I was mostly inside on this wet and dreary day and it was rather exhausting!
Barbara Smith, M.S., OTR/L author of, The Recycling Occupational Therapist
HorseOT.com

The Horse | The Therapy Horse: An Integral Player

The Horse | The Therapy Horse: An Integral Player

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Spring Toy to Promote Reaching

I discovered this toy in the arena. It is sort of a doll with a baseball head and the feet are attached at the end of a spring. I had been wishing for a toy like this so that the children could have something fun to pull while reaching on the mane. This was more fun than telling children to touch the pony's ears or mane. It also worked well when held on the croup so that children rotated to reach and pull on those feet (shown on left side of photo).



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

Whooppee Cushion to Promote Posting

This whooppee cushion caught my eye while shopping. Like all of my activities there is a lot of trial and error but so far two children loved posting up and down in order to make the weird sounds when sitting. The horse joined in making his own sounds along with it-so it was quite a funny scene. It also works well as just a weight bearing cushion while a child sits facing sideways opening the palm while bearing weight on the cushion.


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

Therapies in the Schools Conference Success!

I spoke for 3 hours straight (with a sore throat) but think the audience enjoyed my presentation about evaluating, treating and designing objectives for students with severe to profound disabilities. I gave a short plug for hippotherapy. I am always spreading the word about how children both benefit and enjoy hippotherapy.
Barbara Smith, M.S., OTR/L author of, The Recycling Occupational Therapist
HorseOT.com

Weight Bearing on Weaker side

This little girl's right side is weak so I love to have her bear weight on it while facing sideways. I help her open up her palm and maintain the position. I have the horse walk uphill so that gravity helps put weight on that right arm. I sing songs like "If Your Happy and You Know it" to encourage touching the tail, giving high fives, touching my head with that same right arm while her left hand is busy grasping the handle. She also did a pretty good job of maintaining the quadruped position, another great way to make her use both hands as she grasps the handle. Actually the quadruped position is just overall great for endurance, building core strength, balance and motor planning.
The mom took this picture and put it on her blog.
Since I am not allowed to show identifiable pictures from work, I blurred her beautiful face and background.
Barbara Smith, M.S., OTR/L author of, The Recycling Occupational Therapist
HorseOT.com

Tactile Activity

One of the other therapists left out a container filled with rice and little hidden animals in it so I decided to use it. My children love new activities. One child squatted while removing the toys and stood on top of the horse to insert them into the small basket I held up high.
Another child who loves fine-motor activities tolerated one hip externally rotated with the other abducted while facing backwards as he searched for the toys to put into the basket. The basket was attached to the handle so he had to do nice trunk rotation to insert them. I love when my kids will face backwards and rotate toward the front of the horse to insert objects in containers. This same child also tolerated long leg sitting, stretching his hamstrings while doing a lacing activity. I held the shapes near his feet so he did pretty good reaching to grasp them. We did this first with the horse stationary and then walking.
Barbara Smith, M.S., OTR/L author of, The Recycling Occupational Therapist
HorseOT.com

Home-made Hoops

The hoops at work keep disappearing and they are a bit too large for some kids to manage. So I made smaller rings by rolling up newspaper and shaping it into a circle. I wrapped strands of plastic around them (the strips that are used for trash bag knitting) and then connected rubber bands and wrapped these around. The result is a hoop that is slightly flimsy so that children need to grasp it with both hands but strong enough to work. They are round and fit inside the hand more comfortably than the flatter hoops (such as the orange one in the picture). My hoops are just large enough to require using both hands, but small enough to be easy. I like having toys that are all different to do trial and error and see which the kids prefer or use most easily. Most of my kids like placing hoops over tubes such as this one . This tube has a squeaky dog toy attached to the top. I use this tube in a variety of ways that all involve reaching and squeezing, although sometimes I squeak it just to get someone's attention.
I admit these ring took a good hour to make which is why I only made two, but they kept me from munching on potato chips during a movie.
Barbara Smith, M.S., OTR/L author of, The Recycling Occupational Therapist
HorseOT.com

ICYou Health Care Videos

I found this great site with health care related videos. Two of mine have been added: http://www.icyou.com/topics/diseases-conditions/autism/adapted-sensory-peg-board+

Melody Stands on Top of Horse while Wearing Prosthetic Legs

This amazing little girl is a double amputee but can still stand on top of a horse!
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Special Education Articles

Two new published articles on developmental disabilities:
The Profoundly Multiply Handicapped Child: How to Adapt Activities to Promote Fine-Motor Skills

Teaching Children with Developmental Disabilities and Vision Impairment

Improving body Awareness

I have been thinking a lot today about how to increase body awareness so that the children help move their legs while transitioning from facing forwards, sideways and backwards. Some of them don't understand what I want even after I have moved their shoulders and hips, shifted their center of gravity and all they need to do is finish swinging their leg over.
Today I had the opportunity to use the larger arena and tried having the horse make tight turns in ways that would get momentum and gravity to help them swing their leg over. I also had the horse do tight turns to help them readjust and center their bodies while leaning to the side- If the child's body is sliding toward her left side-turn the horse sharply to the left and the feeling that she is falling off will increase body awareness so that she readjusts to sit in the middle.

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