Evaluation & Therapy Services

Sensory Integration, identified by Dr. Jane Ayres, in the 1960’s, is the neurological process that organizes sensation from skin (tactile), eyes, gravity, balance (vestibular), joints and movement sensory receptors (proprioception) for efficient use. Sensory Integration focusses on the crucial relationship between healthy sensory processing and regulation of arousal, learning capacity and social-emotional development. Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD), identified by Dr. Lucy Miller, is a common diagnostic term used when children have problems with sensory processing. It describes a condition in which sensory signals are not properly organized into appropriate responses, which disrupts a child’s daily routine and activities.

Behaviors typical of children with Sensory Processing Disorder:

• Over-reactivity to touch, movement, sights, or sounds
• Under-reactivity to touch, movement, pain, sights, or sounds
• Distractibility
• Difficulty regulating arousal level
• Unusually high or low activity level
• Difficulty with emotional regulation
• Difficulty making transitions
• Poor body awareness
• Clumsiness, lack of motor coordination, or inefficient motor strategies
• Poor core strength
• Delays in speech or language processing
• Academic delays
• Problems with social interactions
• Seeking sensory stimulation such as jumping or crashing
• Inability to self-soothe
• Poor impulse control
• Difficulty dressing, eating, sleeping, and/or toilet training

See more at: https://www.spdstar.org/basic/about-spd

The SOS (Sequential Oral Sensory) Approach to Feeding is an effective way to address problematic feeding behaviors. The SOS Approach, developed by Kay Toomey, holistically assesses a child’s developmental level, motor control, sensory processing, oral-motor skills, learning, behavior and cognition, nutrition and environment.

The SOS Approach focuses on increasing a child’s comfort level with food by exploring and learning about the different properties of food. The program allows a child to interact with food in a playful, non-stressful way. Moving in a series of graduated, sequential steps, children start by developing comfort with being in a room with food, until they are ultimately able to chew and swallow food.

See more at: http://sosapproach-conferences.com/

NDT, also known as Bobath, is a holistic clinical practice model that emphasizes individualized therapeutic handling based on movement analysis.  It was originally developed to treat children with Cerebral Palsy but has been expanded to treat a broader range of conditions of motor impairment. An in-depth understanding of typical and atypical development and expertise in analysis of postural control, movement, and activity form the basis for evaluation and intervention.

Shula Spivack, the owner of Sensory Play, is an NDT instructor.

See more at: https://www.ndta.org/

In Myofascial Release, the therapist applies gentle sustained pressure into the myofascial connective tissue in order to restore range of motion. It is used to treat children with motor impairment that results in muscle tension and restriction in range of motion. Myofascial Release is particularly useful in treating babies with torticollis.

Astronaut Training helps children with sensory processing disorder, coordination disorder, poor eye contact and deficits in visual motor integration. This treatment provides precise input to vestibular receptors along with auditory and visual input to create a comprehensive treatment protocol that integrates these three sensory systems.

See more at: http://www.vitallinks.net

Integrated Listening Systems

Integrated Listening Systems (iLs) is a multi-sensory program for treating children with autism, SPD, ADHD, and learning disabilities. Children improve their sensory processing through comprehensive stimulation to the auditory system and through bone conduction delivered via headphones. The treatment adds balance board activities and body movement exercises to enhance sensory processing. Further stages of treatment focus on complex cognitive functions, including language, self-expression and social skills.

See more at: http://integratedlistening.com/

Therapeutic Listening

Therapeutic Listening is a sound-based intervention, best used as part of a comprehensive Sensory Integration approach. This intervention uses different auditory inputs to help children effectively use sensory information from their body and the environment. High quality music, recorded specifically for Therapeutic Listening, is altered to exaggerate the sounds that naturally capture attention and tap into the parts of the brain involved in regulating bodily functions, relating to others, and organizing behavior.

Therapeutic Listening combined with Sensory Integration has a positive effect on:

• Focus and Attention

• Regulation of Activity Level

• Noise Tolerance

• Sleep
• Visual Motor Integration

• Handwriting

See more at: https://vitallinks.com/therapeutic-listening/

Intelligence Integration, developed by Moshe Elbaum, works on integrating the motor, cognitive and emotional systems to treat children with learning difficulties, attentional deficits, and coordination problems. The program begins with an evaluation of the coordination present in a child’s motor and sensory systems — followed by exercises that target four sensory-motor areas: gross motor, fine motor, ocular motor (eye movement), and graphomotor skills. This program helps children develop multi-tasking and executive functioning abilities.

Handwriting is the process of forming letters or symbols on paper. Both drawing and handwriting are complex motor tasks which rely on the integration of a myriad of underlying skills including: core strength, posture, hand strength, fine motor coordination, eye movement coordination, language and visual perception. Handwriting is one of the primary reasons children are referred for occupational therapy.

At Sensory Play we use a multi-sensory approach to handwriting. Specific programs used are Handwriting Without Tears and Benbow’s Loops and Other Groups.

Handwriting Without Tears is multi-sensory approach to teach handwriting to children developed by Jan Olsen.  It is developmentally based and employs visual, tactile and manipulative tools to help children learn and form letters, words and sentences using correct orientation.

Loops and Other Groups is a kinesthetic writing system developed by Mary Beanbow to teach cursive hand writing. It uses groups of letters that share common movement patterns combined with visual and auditory input. These approaches teach good motor habits for writing, emphasize appropriate posture and help with eye-hand coordination.