2. "OT and Teachers: The Sensory
Approach to maximizing students’
potential”
1. The important societal changes of play and how
this affects our children
2. Is it Sensory or is it Behavioral
3. Meltdown vs Tantrums
4. Creating a Sensory Classroom
5. Favorite products and strategies that can be used
in a classroom setting
6. Benefits of Play
PLAY is FREE EXPLORATIVE PLAY
• Mind in action. Take in information from their environment and learn!
• Learn their own preferences
• Learn how to keep themselves busy
• Learn to make choices
• Problem solving
• Trying social roles (mommy, daddy)
• Socialize (negotiation, compromise, share)
• Patience
• Empathy for others (win/loose)
• Manage their own emotions
• Sensory exploration
• In touch with nature when they play outside (nature is naturally healing)
• Risk assessment (safety awareness)
• Physical activity benefits (active lifestyle)
• IT’S FUN!!!!
8. Play in Today’s Society
• Less out door play due to safety concerns
• Less sensory play (less hands on)
• Adult supervised play (play dates, sports)
• Toys that don’t foster creative play
• Parents are busy
• Electronics!!!!
9. The Effect on Children
• Depression and anxiety in children has
quadrupled since the 1950s! (partly due to
play deficit)
• Obesity is on the rise
• Sensory Processing difficulties is on the
rise
• ADHD,ADD, SPD, ASD is on the rise
10. The Increased Value of School
• School is becoming more and more the
place where children have the chance to
free play!
• To explore their sensory environments
• To explore friendships and relationships
13. Is it Sensory or Behavioral
• Most likely than not, it is BOTH!
• Sensory and behavior are directly linked at
all times. We take in information from the
environment through our senses in order
to then give a behavioral output.
14. Play Detective!
• By playing detectives I mean create a little
journal or a mental note of 3 things:
1- what was the antecedent
2-what is your child's reaction
3-what helped them calm
15. Behavioral
• If something is more behavioral in nature:
1- it's usually purpose driven
2-the child can turn it on and off at will
3- usually stops once they get their way
4-responds well to clear boundaries,
structure
16. Sensory
If something is more sensory in nature:
1- it's outside of your child's control
2-a child cannot turn it on and off at will. On the
contrary you give in to the request and they still
can't calm
3-takes longer to calm
4-does not respond to behavior modification
techniques alone
5-responds well to flexibility of the sensory situation
within a structure and routine. Ex: earphones in
the cafeteria
17. Reality Check ;)
• Many many times what I have seen is that
it is a combination of both! So you will
have to use sensory strategies as well as
behavioral modifications!!
• A lot of strategies will be trial and error.
There is no cookie cutter approach that
works best because every child is different
and responds differently.
19. Tantrum vs Meltdown
Tantrum Meltdown
Attitude is EVERYTHING!
Remain Calm. Consciously decide not
to buy into it.
Attitude is EVERYTHING!
Remain calm. No need to change it
but experience it with your child
Safety first Safety first
Learning experience. Boundaries,
making requests, frustration tolerance
Cathartic experience come out of it
happy. Let them channel that
frustration
IGNORE!!!! Walk then through it words kind and
gentle soft music song preferred you
item
Anything heavy
Ask yourself. What do I want my child
to learn.
Get clues as to input seeking. Provide
the environment that supports and
encourages to calm.
21. Creating Sensory Smart
Classrooms
(Environmental Modifications)
• Goal is to create an environment that takes
into consideration the sensory needs of all
children. Try to find ideas that will benefit all
children.
• Sensory children have difficulty organizing
their bodies from the inside out. Our goal is to
try as much as possible to create a
classroom that helps them find balance from
the outside in.
22. Classroom Organization:
1. Set up your classroom in stations and
make sure you have a quiet area where
kids can calm and regroup if needed
when class get too loud.
2. Make sure the quiet area has lots of
book, heavy blankets, pillows. Bean
bags, earphones.
24. Visual Schedules
• Use visual schedules at the beginning of
class that “maps” out the children’s day.
This helps kids transition more easily from
one activity to the next and can keep them
more organized.
26. Classroom Activities:
1. Use songs to help children transition such as “Clean up…clean
up…” or flick lights.
2. Make sure your schedule allows for movement breaks as well
as table-top activities. Brain Breaks are great.
3. You can begin all table-top activities with a little “chair exercise”
program that allows all the children to get their state of arousal
at the same level. Ex: prior to commencing a handwriting task.
Sing a song with the children that wakes up the arms, legs,
stretches etc…
4. Consider having a “treasure box” with a variety of sensory toys.
You can send a child to pick a sensory toy that helps them calm
and become centered/organized. Ex: Put stress balls, fidget
toys, body brush, lotion, etc…
28. Circle Time
Sensory Perspective Social Perspective
•Visual spot where to sit.
•Keep the children that have a harder time
keeping still next to you or make sure you
give them something to hold like a puppet.
Or give them a fidget toy to hold on to or
even a weighted lap pad.
•Make a “bean bag snake” using a sock and
dried beans. The over-aroused child can put
it on his shoulders or lap to help calm during
circle time or at table-top.
•Provide fidget toys such as tactile balls,
“stress” balls.
•yes/no paddles to answer questions to a
story, make the story time more interactive.
•create game related to story
•discuss the behavior or characters in the
story
•utilize stories that discuss social
appropriateness
•Social Detective - We Thinkers series
31. Centers
Sensory Perspective Social Perspective
•Try to plan activities that incorporate as
many sensory components as possible.
Ex: finger paint on textured surfaces.
•Realize that some will need tactile
sensory activities prior to handwriting to
”wake up the body/hands”
•Foster independence through visuals and
checklists
•Collaborative Play
•Lego or building - assign roles a parts or
materials suppliers, designer and builder
•Limited amount of material fostering
sharing, waiting and tolerance
•Games- matching, bingos
33. Playground
Sensory Perspective Social Perspective
•Outdoor activities are an all around
wonderful sensory experience
•Nature is a healer
•Some kids just need to walk around
disconnect
•Playground- structured play
•relay races
•rings/cones
•jumping rope
•bean bag game
34. Sensory Smart Classrooms
Sensory/Arousal:
1. For children who need to calm, use deep pressure such as pressure with
your hands to his/her shoulders
2. Another great way to calm is to give a child heavy resistive work to do ex:
carry heave books to the table, push/pull heavy cart.
3. For children who need increased arousal, have them do a few jumping
jacks, wall push ups etc… or use light touch from your finger tips or a feather
to awaken their senses.
4. For children who touch other peers during circle time, consider sitting them
against a wall or bookshelf for extra grounding and trunk support, give them
a fidget toy to hold
5. Touching others can be an indication that the child needs tactile input to his
hands. You can brush the child’s hands, have him play with playdoh/other
resistive mediums, play hand clapping games, crawling or wheelbarrow
walking,
6. For a child who has difficulty transitioning from one activity to the next, allow
him/her to hold on to an object that they like (aka. A transitioning object)
This helps them “keep it together” during the transition. You can also assign
a task to the child such as “helper” (ex: he holds the cards you will be using
and brings them to circle time)
The Sensory Approach to maximizing your child’s learning and socializing potential
Society has changed and it’s not to point the finger and blame but to become aware of what children are experiencing as they grow.
Free exploration play. No division between play and learning
So you can see how tricky it can get to delineate decipher between the both.
You're gonna start seeing a pattern that comes up because we are all creatures of habit.
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Challenge that many teachers have is implementing these ideas. The goal is to make sensory activities part of your routine. Or have a “bag of tricks” you can use and refer to when you need Many activities are actually naturally occurring in the school environment.