Blank Picture Frames Freebie

 

Get 10 free blank picture frames to print to create some collaborative artwork and promote wrist extension.  Go to YourTherapySource to get the free frames to print.  

Active Videogaming and Children

A recent study in the Journal of Pediatrics indicated the benefits of exergaming for children.  The researchers studied 15 children, ages 9-11 years old, participating in high intensity exergaming, low intensity exergaming and a graded exercise test on a treadmill.  The results indicated the following:

• high intensity exergaming (Kinect hurdles) was equivalent to moderate intensity exercise
• low intensity exergaming (Kinect bowling) was equivalent to low intensity exercise
• high intensity exergaming significantly reduced flow mediated dilation (vascular response) 
• high intensity gaming increased heart rate and the amount of energy burned.

Reference:  Andrew Mills, BSc, Michael Rosenberg, PhD, Gareth Stratton, PhD, Howard H. Carter, BSc, Angela L. Spence, BSc, Christopher JA Pugh, PhD, Daniel J. Green, PhD, and Louise H. Naylor, PhD. "The Effect of Exergaming on Vascular Function in Children," The Journal of Pediatrics, DOI 10.1016/j.jpeds.2013.03.076

5 Make and Take Ideas for Summer

Here is a fun idea - have kids create their own activities to do over the summer break.  Start now during part of a therapy session to assemble and teach students some games or activities that they can do over the summer for carry over of therapy skills and to keep them busy.  Once you have created an activity and reviewed how to play it set it aside to give to the child the last day of school.  Hopefully, by the time that day comes the child will have created several activities for over the summer.  Here are some suggestions:

1.  Rock Tic Tac Toe - Go outdoors and collect 10 small rocks (or head to Dollar store to buy a bag of river stones for $1).  Paint 5 'X's and 5 'O's on the rocks.  Using sidewalk chalk draw a tic tac toe board.  Play tic tac toe with the rocks - either place the rocks in a square or toss them from far away.  Place the rocks and the chalk in a plastic bag to send home.  Maybe include other games to play with the rocks - hopscotch, hide and find, etc.

2.  Journals - Cut apart a recycled cereal box.  Using two large pieces of cardboard cut two rectangles to make the front and back covers.  Glue colored paper over the cereal boxes.  Cut out 10 pieces of paper the same size.  Punch holes in the paper and covers.  Tie a string through the holes to assemble the journal.  Include several story starter ideas.  Need it easier than this?  Print out Doodle Diaries, staple and ready to go! 

3.  Activity Idea Book - At each session ask every child for an activity idea to do over the summer.  Perhaps a trip to the library, blowing bubbles, hide and go seek, etc.  Once you have documented everyone's answers write or type them all together on a sheet of paper.  Add this hand out on Physical Activities for the Summer.  Makes copies for each student to add to their summer bag of make and takes. 

4.  Printables from Your Therapy Source - Print out fine motor, gross motor or visual processing ebooks activities or from the free stuff page all sorts of activities.  Put out suitable activities on a table.  The child can go through the activities and select some to put in a folder to bring home for summer.

5.  Play Dough - Make large batches of home made play dough.  Give each child a small container of play dough and activity ideas to do with the play dough.  Need activity ideas - check out Creative Clay Activities or Play Clay Mats to print and send home.  

Another "Get Moving" App for Kids

Here is another app to add to the list to encourage physical activity in children - Big Cat Race (and its free!).  Basically you pick an avatar - lion, leopard or cheetah.  You pick a level - easy, medium or hard.  Then you pick a race - either number of steps, timed or free run.  Then get ready to race.  When the iphone says go the child runs holding the phone (the iphone screen goes black while the race is on so be sure to tell the child there is nothing to watch while they run).  Then when the race is over you get to see how long it took, how many steps you took and what your speed was.  It saves your times based on the profiles you create.  You can even play back the race and watch the animals.

This was a fun app that got a 7 and 8 year old running all over outdoors to see if they could beat the big cats.  We found that if you really want to win the race try the 10 step race.  They seemed to win that race consistently.  Occasionally they did get frustrated because they ran as hard as they could on the two minute race but did not even come close to winning when they watched it playback.  

This app certainly got the kids up and moving!   

Strength Training and GMFCS IV

Developmental Neurorehabilitation published a case study to evaluate functional strength training (4x/wee x 10 weeks) for a 9 year old child classified as a level IV according to the Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS).  Data was collected using an isokinetic dynomometer, the Gross Motor Function Measure and the Timed Up and Go test at baseline, 5 weeks and 10 week post intervention.  The results indicated the following:

• improvements were found in hip, knee and ankle muscles strength
• increase in GMFM-88 score
• decrease in time for TUG test performance.

Reference:   Dos Santos AN, da Costa CS, Golineleo MT, Rocha NA. Functional strength training in child with cerebral palsy GMFCS IV: Case report. Dev Neurorehabil. 2013 Apr 25. [Epub ahead of print]

Social Skills and Early Powered Mobility

Assistive Technology published research on social skills and early powered mobility.  The participants included 23 children with physical disabilities between the ages of 18 months and 6 years of age.  Data was collected at wheelchair evaluation, wheelchair delivery, and approximately 6 months later.   The following results were seen:

• significant increases were found in parental perceptions of positive social skills for younger children after receiving a wheelchair
• slightly older children showed improvements in social skills before the wheelchair was received
• no changes were found in negative social skills
• parental ratings also indicated a significantly greater difficulty remaining engaged in tasks after receiving a wheelchair
• a significant increase was noted in the number of mobility activities during indoor free play but no difference was seen in interaction with toys or objects
• improvement in the qualitative level of outdoor interactive free play was reported but there was no change in verbal interactions. 

Reference: Guerette P, Furumasu J, Tefft D. The positive effects of early powered mobility on children's psychosocial and play skills. Assist Technol. 2013 Spring;25(1):39-48; quiz 49-50.

Beach Ball Therex Games

Head over to YourTherapySource for three suggestions to play with a therex beach ball.