Usborne Educational Products in Therapy & Home School

Using Usborne Educational Books and Products in Conjunction with Pediatric Occupational Therapy and Home School Educational Consulting.
Written by: Shelley J. Dostie, OTR/L
Pediatric Occupational Therapist
Home School Educational & Movement Consulting

I have been practicing Occupational Therapy for almost 13 years, all of those years in Pediatrics, ten of which have been in Private Practice. Approximately a year ago, I was introduced to Usborne Educational Products . I decided to purchase several books for use in Home Schooling my daughter and for use in therapy sessions with some of my Home Schooled clients with special education needs. At the time, I had no idea of the impact Usborne was going to make in my home or my therapy sessions.

For the last few months, I have been struggling with how to put into words the benefits of these products to my clients and to my own daughter. It has been very difficult, as nothing I wrote could adequately describe what I have been seeing on almost a daily basis in therapy. The only way to really explain to a person how this might work, is to open a window and let the reader look in on a typical therapy session. In the following case study, names and specific circumstances have been changed or created as fictional, for client privacy issues.

I work with a boy named Frank, 11 years of age, who is diagnosed with High functioning Autism, ADHD, and Sensory Integration Disorder. Secondary to significant difficulty coping in the public schools, he is home-schooled full time. I am one of several therapists and educational consultants that work with him on a daily basis. Frank's strengths are: he is very high-energy young man, has a great imagination, great memory and love of historical facts and geography, and has an extraordinary love and interest in Wildlife. His weaknesses in a therapeutic sense are: he has difficulty sitting still and focusing on a subject for any given time, he has significant difficulty with his visual perception skills (i.e. visual tracking, figure ground etc.), difficulty with reading and reading comprehension, difficulty with many Activities of Daily Living Skills, delays in fine motor skills, low frustration tolerance and can get lost easily in his imagination, making it difficult to connect with him sometimes during a therapy session. With the help of his parents, we combed through the Usborne catalog, considering all of Frank's interests and all the areas that he has difficulty with. We developed a great resource area filled with Usborne products.

On a given day, when I arrive for therapy and academic work, Frank is fully engaged in imagination play with his stuffed animals in the world of "The Medieval Knight". All of his animals are in full costume and Frank is busily drawing pictures of different battles that the Knights have been engaged in. I attempt to connect with him to pull him away from this play and engage him in some therapeutic activities. I am not successful. I then go to the Usborne resources and may pick up any one of the following books in the library: "The Official Knight's Handbook", "Knights and Armor" (which is internet linked) or possibly "Knights and Castles".

I would start to read to myself quietly but in Frank's line of vision. I may occasionally ask him a random question or for help with a subject in what I just read. Nine out of ten times, this will draw him out of his world slightly and he will begin to have meaningful interactive conversation with me about the subject. He may even come over and take the book out of my hands and start reading himself. Once we have reached this point, the sky is the limit as to where Usborne can take us. If the book we choose is Internet linked, (meaning each page in the book has an area that lists several child friendly websites that can be linked to directly just by typing in the name of the book and what page is being referred to), I will immediately suggest we go online. We then work within those websites, thus expanding our study of the subject for cognitive skills, working on his typing skills, visual perception skills and A.D.L skill of working with technology. If the book is not Internet linked, I may get either the "Children's Encyclopedia" or the "Encyclopedia of World History", look up Knights and/or Castles and go online from that point. Usually the internet linked books can then help us move on to other topics, such as: breeds of horses used by knights, specific armor used by knights, body parts protected by armor (we can then open up an Anatomy book and go to internet link sites for that), how castles were built and many more subjects then we can list here in this brief review.

So let's say for example, I was not able to get him interested enough in looking at the books and information that is Internet linked. What can I do then, still keeping my subject matter the same? I could try another book in the beginner social studies series, such as, "Castles" or "Knights". I could possibly get him interested in a Young Reader book about "King Arthur". If reading didn't seem to be an option on this given day, I could then turn to some of Usborne's awesome game type books, including: "The Great History Search" or "The Great Castle Search" or "A 1001 things to spot from Long ago" or "The Knight Quest Search Books". We could make a game out of looking for all of the hidden pictures. If that doesn't work, I could pull out the "Castle Jigsaw book" or the "Big Book of Picture Castle Puzzles" and work on his fine and visual motor skills. All of the books and ideas described also provide a child with a multi-sensory and kinesthetic experience for the learning process.

There is always a chance that any one of these tools can open up a door to other subject matter as well. Subjects such as: Horses, World Geography or Human Anatomy. If that happens, I would just go through the same process as I did with the subject of "Knights". Ultimately, the sky is the limit with kids like Frank with the Usborne products. The use of the Usborne products still allows the therapy session to be "child - directed" by being geared to what the child is really interested in. However, it also opens many doors for the therapist or the teacher, to attain their goals and gives the therapy or learning session more concrete structure.

I have used a variety of the Usborne products with many of my clients to achieve a variety of goals. These books are extremely multi-functional and allow one book to be used for a variety of objectives. I will give a few other examples of how these products may be used in a therapeutic learning environment. Usborne lends itself well to working within goals for Speech, Language and communication skills, through both books such as: "First 100 Words", "First 1000 Words", "Everyday Words", "Easy Words to read", and a variety of language books. Usborne products also lend themselves well to working with early reading skills, with books and series such as: "The Usborne very first dictionary", "help your child learn to read", the first learning activities series, and the phonics board books. Many of the books come with two reading levels on the same page for beginning and more advanced readers. Visual perception skills are addressed in any of the Usborne Search Series, "The Big Book of things to Spot", "Where’s the Duck", and The Farm Yard Series. There are a variety of Usborne products that promote Kinesthetic learning including: The Learning Palette series, Spin and Match books, Learning Wrap Ups, and Finger quizzes. Fine and visual motor skills can also be addressed with: any of the Sticker Learning Fun books, slot books, "The Big Book of Playtime Activities" , Science for Beginners, the cooking books and any of the Kid Kit activities.

Obviously, you don't have to be a therapist to achieve what I described above. All you have to do is know the child you are working with well enough to know what their interests are. Usborne books really lend themselves well to these types of "subject" or "platform" learning style. They are so much more then just books, and I would recommend them to be included in all aspects of learning, whether it be for a child with special education needs, a home schooled child or in a traditional school setting. With Usborne, learning is fun and the child can feel as though they are in control.

Enjoy the process of learning along with your child! It can be very fun and exciting! Using the Usborne educational products may be one of the best thing you can do done for your child.

Copyright: Shelley Dostie, OTR/L
Crossroads Therapeutics, LLC
Reproduction may used ONLY with written authorization by writer

Does my Home School Child have a Sensory Integration Issue?

As mentioned in my previous post, I am also a home school mom. I didn't mention that my child is amazingly brilliant :) (smile...smile), but she also has some sensory integration issues. When I keep these issues in mind during our learning time, the difference in her ability to learn and focus on the given task is utterly amazing!

It has been really great to see what has been happening in the home school community when it comes to teaching our "unique" children. However, I unfortunately still find that there are many families that home school their children have been so "burnt out" by the public school system, professionals and for fear of labeling their child, they do not look at outside therapists as a beneficial part of the home school environment. (okay, that was a major run on sentence...sorry:))) I don't mean this as an offense at all to anyone, as I see how it is easy to close the doors on the public school system and any services that they may offer. However, there are so many relatively easy techniques, environmental adaptations and tools that can assist your child within their home school environment. By utilizing this information, your child's home school education and the level of your teaching can be greatly improved. In this post, I would like to "define"/explain the terms Sensory Integration Dysfunction or Sensory Processing issues. I will also be adding some links for several AWESOME books and resources that further defines the dysfunction and provides a wide array of activities that can assist children with these issues.

Do you see any of these signs of Sensory Integrative Issues in your child?

Overly sensitive to touch, movement, sights, or sounds

Under reactive to touch, movement, sights, or sounds

Easily distracted

Social and/or emotional problems

Activity level that is unusually high or unusually low

Physical clumsiness or apparent carelessness

Impulsive, lacking in self control

Difficulty making transitions from one situation to another

Inability to unwind or calm self

Poor self concept

Delays in speech, language, or motor skills

Delays in academic achievement

What is sensory integration?

The senses work together. Each sense works with the others to form a composite picture of who we are physically, where we are, and what is going on around us. Sensory integration is the critical function of the brain that is responsible for producing this picture. It is the organization of sensory information for on-going use in almost all tasks in our lives.


For most of us, effective sensory integration occurs automatically, without effort. For some of us, the process is inefficient, demanding effort and attention. When this occurs, the goals we strive for are not easily attained. Sensory experiences include touch, movement, body awareness, sight, sound, and the pull of gravity. The process of the brain organizing and interpreting this information is called sensory integration. Sensory integration provides a basic and necessary foundation for more complex learning and behavior.


For most children, sensory integration develops in the course of ordinary childhood activities. Motor planning ability is a natural outcome of the process, as is the ability to adapt our responses to incoming sensations. But for some children, sensory integration does not develop as efficiently as it should. When the process is disordered, a number of problems in learning, development, or behavior may become evident.


You may know a child who, although bright, has difficulty using a pencil, playing with toys, or doing self-care tasks, like dressing. Maybe you have seen a child who is fearful of movement; that ordinary swings, slides, or jungle gyms will generate extreme fear and insecurity. Maybe you have observed a child whose problems lie at the opposite extreme; uninhibited and overly active, who often falls or runs headlong into dangerous situations and has tremendous difficulty sitting still or focusing on a task. In each of these cases, a sensory integrative problem may be the root cause or at least an underlying factor.


Here is a very, very un-scientific explanation of how I see Sensory Integration Dysfunction. Please don't judge my un-scientific terms or descriptions, as this is the best way I have found to describe this disorder to parents. Imagine for a minute that our brains are filled with parking spaces, in which cars (sensory input and movement output) must move freely around the brain highway and park where ever is appropriate. Then imagine that a person that has a typical system, there is a very mature & experience traffic cop directing all the "cars" to the right spots. For example: The vision cars goes to the vision parking lot, the touch cars goes to the touch parking lot, the movement cars goes to the movement parking lots. All is well and good. Sensory Integration and Motor output occurs correctly.


Now imagine that in a child, they may get a Rookie Traffic Cop, who has no clue what they are doing. This Rookie has no idea at all which way to direct the traffic or when to know when a parking lot is either to full or completely empty. Complete havoc is wrought in the brain highway and parking lots. So as an example, I will use the touch parking lot. Tactile input is coming into the body constantly throughout the day, and the Rookie keeps sending the "cars" to the touch parking lots. However, imagine that the parking lot gets full, and instead of putting up a sign that says "LOT IS FULL", he keeps directing traffic there. Eventually, the parking lot is in complete chaos and can't fit even one more sensation in there. Then you as a parent, try to brush your child's teeth or put on a shirt with an itchy tag, and they go WILD with a full "flight or fight" reaction. As the "parking lot" can't handle even one more sensation, the brain sends a signal to react by crying, screaming, biting, hitting or running from the input. This un-scientific explanation would be called tactile defensiveness. The same idea would hold true for kids who are postural insecurity or can't handle movement at all. The parking lot is so full from the normal daily movements, it can't handle any more, so it sends out the message to react in flight or fight when the child is on a swing or slide.



On the opposite end of the spectrum, are the parking lots that the Rookie Cop forgets to drive cars too. So the input cars come in to the brain but are sent around to different areas and never park in the right place. This leads to the "non-registration" of sensory input. The brain is expecting a certain amount of input should be taking place for normal daily activities, but it isn't finding it in the parking lots. So the brain sends a signal out to get as much sensory input as humanly possible. This may look like: a child who can't sit sit, fidgets all the time, rocks or spins self frequently, hangs upside, one who puts non-food objects in mouth or chews on things, a child who has to touch everything and everyone in their space. This child may appear not to be paying attention to anything going on in the environment around them. However, the child may actually be paying attention but can only do so with the "EXTREME" amount of input going in the body.

To further visualize a child craving to fill these empty parking lot, try to remember the last time you were at a really long boring meeting or class. Do you move around in your seat, switch the legs that are crossed, twirl your hair, chew your nails or on a pencil? These are all natural un-conscious strategies that we use to help us maintain our attention and focus. Children with "empty sensory parking lots" need to do what we do naturally and then 10 times more.

Obviously, I have used extreme examples here and again I say: UN-SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATION!!! Please don't quote me to the medical profession :)

So the far reaching effects of a sensory processing disorder can interfere with academic learning, social skills, even self esteem. Research clearly identifies sensory integrative problems in children with developmental or learning difficulties. Independent studies show that a sensory integrative dysfunction can be found in up to 70% of children who are considered learning disabled by schools.

Early intervention can improve sensory integration in these children, minimizing the possibility of failure before it occurs. By interrupting the vicious cycle of failure, intervention to help children with sensory integration and learning problems may also prevent serious social problems later in life.

I am certainly NOT saying that all schools will be able to assist a parent in identifying an underlying sensory processing issue. The only benefit I could say would be that most schools staff an OT, PT or special education teachers who would pick up on some of the sensory signals demonstrated in a classroom. However, for the home school family, they may never be exposed to a professional who may recognize a child's "behavior" as being a sensory integration issue. The child may be falsely thought of as having ADD, ADHD or a learning disability. A home school mom may become extremely frustrated because her child will not sit for even brief lessons, has to move themselves and touch everything while doing lessons. Thus, is the reason for this blog. Sensory integration is a pretty key phrase out in the world today and most people may have heard of it. However, if there is one home school mom out there that reads this and sees her child in the description, and can be directed down a path for more information, my purpose is achieved.

There are many awesome support groups on line now covering sensory integration and a wide array of special needs. I will be recommending several excellent books that are parent friendly, that will help a parent to better identify sensory issues in their own child. I hope this post helped someone out there in "blog world:)!!!" Tune in next blog for "What you can do for your child if you suspect a sensory processing issue". Until then!!

home schooling, occupational therapy and how to combine the two

Hello. Today is my first post on the blog - so a brief introduction and my plans for this site are probably in order. I am a first and foremost a Christian mom that home schools her only child, who has mild sensory integration issues! I am second, a Pediatric Occupational Therapist, who has a vast array of experience working in public school settings, private schools, and with children who are home schooled.

I have been pouring over websites and home school magazines to get a feel for the "Special Needs Home school Community". There is a ton of information that seems to have suddenly appeared on the home school scene. I am thrilled to see all the amazing stories of parents who have made the commitment to home school these AWESOME and Unique gifts from God.

I remember looking into this subject about 5 years ago, and found very little in regard to homeschooling special needs children. When I first attempted to venture into the "home school arena" with Occupational Therapy, I must admit that was met with a great deal of resistance. At the time, my daughter was only one years old and I was not a "home schooler". Now that I am a home schooler, I understand the resistance to my involvement a little bit better. Almost all of the families that I have met in this venture have left the public school world behind and saw me as part of that world. The benefits that are available by consulting with an OT were clouded by the belief that one would be tied to the school system in some shape or form. So my initial purpose of this blog is to try to dismantle that belief. However after spending several days scouring through articles and websites, I realized that for the most part the belief has already been dismantled. YIPPEE....

There are so many HUGE benefits that an occupational therapist can offer to a homeschooling family. It may be for the family that has a child with Special Needs, ADHD, or Sensory Integration Dysfunction. It may be for the family that has a child that is having significant difficulty learning to read or learning to write. Many readers may be familiar with the program called "Handwriting Without Tears", which was created by an Occupational Therapist. So in this blog spot, I hope to discuss concepts for the homeschooler that may have been resisted in the past. My topics will at a minimum cover: Sensory Integration techniques, Handwriting concepts, Visual Perception Issues, Reading issues, environmental adaptations to the home school classroom, the child with ADHD, the child within the Autism Spectrum and more. I will also be including a variety of books and products for your review and consideration in your own home school classroom. I will also be included some of the great resources I have recently found on the web. I look forward to exploring this further and pray that my blog will be of some benefit to a family trying to decide if homeschooling their UNIQUE child is for them.

Stay tuned for more! I have just gotten started! Please let me know what you might be interested in seeing here!

Shelley

Until I have an opportunity to add specific products on this blog, please feel free to visit my site and click on the store!