Listening Game
Here is a fun listening game that requires following movement directions that are provided in code. Read how to play at YourTherapySource.com.
Loop Board
Here is a simple do it yourself project costing about $3.00. You can watch the video at YourTherapySource.com.
Brain Correcting Bumps To Body
An interesting study was published in Nature about how the human body corrects itself when knocked by an external blow. The scientists discovered that the pathway of the primary motor cortex provides this information for limb correction. One of the researchers states that “the corrective movement pathway works by limiting and correcting the domino effect […]
Motor Memory and Motor Planning App
There are constantly new apps coming out for the iphone and ipad. Here is a cute one that actually involves physical movement – Move Like Me. This game is suitable for young children to practice copying movement patterns and motor memory. Basically, the child picks a character. That character then performs a simple movement (hop, […]
Exploring Spaces and Body Awareness
Many pediatric occupational and physical therapists work with children who exhibit decreased sensory processing such as decreased body awareness, motor planning and proprioception. These difficulties of sensing where a child is in space can interfere with motor skill development, peer interaction and safety. We are all familiar with therapy sessions that focus on proprioceptive input, […]
Upper Extremity Work Out and Motor Planning on the Wii
Some people have the opinion that using the Wii is a work out. In many cases, very little movement is required for certain Wii games. For example, if you play Super Mario Brothers all you have to do is press the Wiimote buttons or tilt the Wiimote. Consider this, sitting down ice fishing burns more […]
Motor Planning in Toddlers
Child Development published research on movement planning in toddlers. Thirty five toddlers, ages 18-21 months, were observed building a tower with blocks or placing blocks into a container and kinematic measurements were taken. The kinematic measurements indicated that there was a longer decelerating phase when the hand approached the block for pick up versus putting […]
Hand Clapping Games and Motor Abilities
Would you like children to have neater handwriting, write better and have better spelling? A recent study suggests teaching hand clapping games to children to improve motor and academic abilities. For ten weeks, two groups of children, at different elementary schools, participated in either a music appreciation program or hand clapping songs training. According to […]
Autism, Proprioception and Visual Cues
The journal entitled Nature Neuroscience recently published research on how autistic children use proprioceptive information and visual information. The researchers concluded that autistic children relied much more on the proprioceptive information to learn new movement patterns rather than external visual cues when compared to typically developing peers. In addition, they found that the children who […]