Trying to do everything with Leo at home that he would do in a week for Physical Therapy (PT), Occupational Therapy (OT), Speech, and school has become quite the challenge. He would do his PT and OT at our local children’s hospital and his Speech was done at school. So, continuing these sessions at home has become a constant battle trying to keep him focused and engaged. He is usually either distracted by one of his two siblings or is just not interested in whatever tool we are using. Add to this his short attention span, something that his therapists and teachers had been working on, and it’s a deathtrap for progress.
So, instead of trying to do everything with him and becoming frustrated easily when we fall short of our expectations, we’ve decided to try a different approach. Each week, we are going to set a goal and focus on one or two skills daily, even when Leo is running around like a wild child, which for some weeks happens to be every day. With this in mind, I’ve put together a list of activities/tools/toys that have seemed to keep him engaged while practicing whichever skill it is we are focusing on.
Let’s start with Physical Therapy. This one is pretty easy because Leo enjoys being active. The best physical therapy is when he is horsing around with either his sister or his dad, climbing over them or trying to tackle them down. As of late he has also been interested in bouncing on the Rody or twirling himself around a Little Tikes® twister. Both of these have been good in helping him with his balance.
OT, his least favorite, has been a bit more challenging. His Occupational therapist had come a LONG way trying to get him focused on the tasks she had planned for each session. With us, he has shown a bit of resistance, so we’ve had to get creative. We have been focusing on him using his pincer grasp, so we created a tool using the green Parmesan cheese containers with some cut up straws of different sizes or paper clips (this seemed to get him engaged because it’s not a traditional toy). The goal is for him to dump the items, grab each one with his two fingers, and place them in the small holes of the container. Another activity that was suggested by his therapist is taping objects to the table or the wall to get him to pull them off. He really enjoys this I think because he sees it as being destructive, his MO. Finally, he has shown interest in the Melissa & Doug® wooden puzzles. We have about three, so we switch them up to keep him from getting bored. We even incorporate speech and practice saying colors when he picks up certain pieces.
For speech, we were lucky enough to be able to buy a tool set that Leo’s speech therapist recommended to us. This set included different types of horns and whistles. Sometimes to spice things up we incorporate other objects found around the house like candles and bubbles, two things that mesmerize kids.
Leo has always enjoyed attempting to blow out candles or blow a bubble, even though he only recently was able to accomplish both. Go ahead and sing Happy Birthday a gazillion times so your child can blow out the candle, with supervision of course.
Leo can literally do this all day long. If you’re outside trying to shake off some cabin fever, bring some bubbles with you. His face of excitement every time he sees a bubble come out of the other side keeps him going for a while.
No matter how much your kid was doing before, remember we’re all on the same boat. Quality over quantity is a good motto to remember as we try to be therapists and teachers. As long as you give it your best shot, without sacrificing patience, we will get through to the other side, even if it requires a little bit of wine.
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