When homework is tricky

Sensory integration

﻿In today's lesson, we are still going to focus on the tactile sense, but we're going to look at homework and some strategies that we can do together to make homework easier when our tactile sense is over responsive or under responsive. We, as therapists, have tried to think of the best way to continue to support children, young people, and their families. We will be exploring topic areas that we regularly provide advice and support on across all ages and abilities. Each lesson will have ideas and activities that can be carried out at home or in school. This information is to be used alongside any specific strategies or resources which have been given by your child's school or therapist. If you have any questions or would like help tailoring this to your child's needs, then please contact your local therapy service. When homework is tricky, it can be really difficult for us to get work done that our teachers assign to us. So we're going to have a look at some things that we can make it easy, especially when our tactile sense is overactive or underactive. So let's have a look at what we're going to need today. So first I need you to pause the video here to get everything that you're going to need, and then we will carry on with the lesson. So you're going to need a paper and coloured felt tip pens. You're going to need a flannel, and you're going to need some ice cubes. Just make sure that there is something really cold available. So once you've got those things together, press play, and then we can carry on with the lesson. So being overly sensitive to touch can make it really hard to tolerate when people touch you. So when they want to give you a hug or a handshake, it can mean that you're more sensitive to pain, or that the seams in your socks or labels in your clothing can be really tricky to deal with. Having a shower can be really hard, especially with the water kind of in your face or even on parts of your body. And it can be really hard to tolerate creams and lotions on your body. So there's lots of things that can make touch really sensitive, and that can be something that can be really uncomfortable to you. So with homework, you may be over responsive. If you struggle to sit still, your hands don't like the feel of the paper or the pencil, and you don't really like to use glue, paint, or clay, or any messy things, and you struggled to kind of complete these odd projects. So how about look now at when you are maybe under responsive? So you may not notice when your hands or face are messy, and you may not be able to find things in your bag, and you may think you've left something at school, or you left something at home. And that can be really annoying when you're trying to find things in your bag and you just cannot get it. It may be that you like to touch other people, because you are not registering touch very well, and that can be quite annoying, or you'd like to kind of sit really close to people, because in that way, your tactile system is registering information a little bit better. It may also be that you fiddle a lot, and that can be annoying to the people in the house, or they may feel that you're not focusing on your work when actually all it means is that your sense of touch is under responsive and it needs more touch inputs to register information. So let's have a look at with homework that could be that you may be prone to bumping into things. So when you've got your desk set up, you may be the one who kind of move kind of with your hand. You didn't quite realise where your hand was, and you may knock over a drink, or you may knock your pencil case to the ground. It may be that when you engage in activity, you get paint and glue all over your hands and all over the desk. It may be that you move around on your seats a lot, because you are looking for more tactile input. So let's have a look at some of the things that we can do to help with this. So, first of all, we going to figure out what sensation you prefer. You're going to need to work with your parent or your carer with this, and we're going to use your arm. So, let's have a look at some of the movements that you may want to do. So one of the things, so this is my arm, I can maybe do some firm dabbing movements. This would be adapting movement. You may try to do some tickling movements and see what that feels like. You may ask your parents or carer to do some slow stroke movements on your arm and see what you feel about that. It may be that just having some constant pressure. So I'm not grabbing someone. You can see my thumb is really loose, but I am applying some pressure on my arm. It may be that you want to use cold compression. So that's where the ice cubes come in handy is where you add some ice cubes onto the flannel, and then you put the flannel onto your skin and see whether do you prefer that. And next you may want to kind of try half the flannel under some warm water. So make sure it's not too hot. And then you can also press that onto your skin and have a chat to your parent or carer to see what you prefer, which of these sensations do you like, because that will help when we talk about getting a plan together to make homework easier. So once you've done that, press play, and then we will carry on with this lesson. So here's a few tips that you can do. So for an overly sensitive touch system, you may want to do the dots and squeezes massage before you start. Now, I know we've done this in a previous lesson, but we are going to revisit it. So don't worry if you don't quite know what this means now. You may want to try wearing fingerless gloves, so especially the ones that bicycle riders use, because they may not be the woolly kind. They may be made of Lycra, And that may be something that kind of just keeps the palm of your hand and these bits of your fingers. It may just kind of help keep it together, and there's a barrier between your skin and whatever you're touching. So that may help, especially if you're very sensitive to touch. You may want to try out different things until you find one that really feels comfortable. One thing that I really prefer, I'm going to bring it a little bit closer, as you can see it's got a little bit of a soft bit there, and this is my absolutely... I love these pens, but you may find that there's different pen, and it's about trying out different ones, and then find one that feels comfortable in your hand. The other thing that you may want to think about when you're overly sensitive to touch is to cover the table surface with something that's more comfortable. So it may be something like a plastic cover. It may be a cotton cover. Try to find something that your hands will tolerate when you're doing your homework. Now, when you have an unresponsive tactile system, so that's where you're looking for more , more touched sensation, it may be that you want to use a small, soft brush to wake up your tactile sense, and then follow this activity up with the dots and squeezies massage. So I sometimes find that a little nail brush works quite well, or you may want to use something like just a sponge, a sponge that you would use to wash with. That may be something to just wake up your senses. And the way that you do it is you can just do little movements like that all of your skin. It doesn't matter where you start, and you can kind of go all the way to your shoulder, and then do the other side of your hand. So just try that. When you're unresponsive to touch, you may find it easier to sit in a chair with arms and a back rest, because that provides a little bit more support to your body, and it may help you to kind of keep focused and sit still. It may be helpful to have a little fiddly toy bag, especially when you have to watch some videos as part of homework. It may be that just watching something can be a little bit boring, and you may want to need something to fiddle with when you have to do some of these things as part of your homework task. So let's have a look now at dots and squeezie. So you may have seen this slide from before, and what are we're going to do is we're going to start with our left hand, and you're going to start squeezing the top pad of the left hand thumb really firmly. And then you're going to carry on with the top, if I'd use this finger, the top, the middle, and the bottom bit, and I will show you in a minute, we're going to do look at the video together of doing the whole programme. And then once you've finish, you squeeze the soft pads of your palm on your left hand. Then you're going to do exactly the same on your right hand. And then you're going to cross over your wrists, and you're going to firmly squeeze with both hands all the way up to your shoulders until you get here. And then you can kind of give yourself a little hug, and then the dots and squeezies is finished. So let's have a look at the actual video, and then you going to have a go at it yourself. Okay, so I'm going to show you how the dots and squeezies massage works. So this is what you're going to need. You're going to need your hands. And first of all, what you're going to do is you are going to use your left hand. So this is my left hand on this side, and you're going to start with your top of your thumb, and you're going to give it a squeeze. Then you're going to go to the next little soft paddy bit. If you're being do your finger, you can see where that soft bit is. So the top bit, and then you're going to squeeze the bottom bit. Now you're going to go to your next finger, and you're going to do the same. So it's the top and then the middle, and then right at the bottom. And you're going to do that with all your fingers just like that. There we go. And I'm doing it with this one. That's it. And now I'm going to use the big bit of my hand, and I'm just going to give it a nice little squeeze. There we go. Now you're going to do with the other hand. So the other hand, can't miss out. Now we're doing the top, bottom. So these are all the dots that we're doing at the moment. And this activity really, really desensitises our hands. And, again, kind of giving it a nice massage. You can use your thumb. That's quite a nice way to do it. Okay, now I'm kind of giving my hands a little squeeze and watch me what I do now is I kind of move my hands across here, and I'm giving it a squeeze. Can you see how I'm squeezing my arm? And I'm going to squeeze it all the way to the top of my shoulders. And when I'm here, I can give myself a really nice hug. So there we go. I'm giving myself a hug. Now it's going to be your turn. So you're going to, on the next slide, you're going to pause the video, and you going to have a go at the dots and squeezies massage. Brilliant. So now it's going to be your turn to pause the video here to complete your task. And with your parent or carer, have a go at the dots and squeezies hand game and massage, and then when you're finished, press play again, and then we will complete the lesson together. Okay. Well done. You've done great today. And I hope you found out a little bit more about your tactile sense. What are the things that you enjoy, so whether you enjoy kind of deep touch or kind of light tickly touch? And I hope that the dots and squeezies massage will be something helpful that you can use as well as some of the other tips that we've talked about. Have a great day.

When homework is tricky

When homework is tricky

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