Upcoming Calgary Meeting on October 20th

Notes and Next Meeting in Calgary

A Pediatric Interest Group meeting was attended by 9 people on Sept 8, 2017 at Spring OT, hosted by the owner, Trish Williams, whom some will know from her instruction of courses at the Calgary campus of the UofA OT program. We toured her sensory integration and fine motor rooms.

Jen Bodiguel (New Heights School) shared information from a course by Barry Prizant on the SCERTS program,  brought to her workplace at New Heights. The SCERTS® Model is a comprehensive, team-based, multidisciplinary model for enhancing abilities in Social Communication and Emotional Regulation, and implementing Transactional Supports for children and older individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and their families, a model which is great for developing goals such as “does the child explore sensory environment”

www.scerts.com

An article in the New York times was eye opening for those writing IPP goals for people on the spectrum:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/31/well/family/looking-into-the-future-for-a-child-with-autism.html?mcubz=3

Another resource mentioned was:
http://asensorylife.com/index.html

For explaining vestibular to families:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEbILhUc1Pc

We discussed vestibular strategies. The idea that vesibular input could improve printing by increasing tone was discussed. The wiggle pen (or z-vibe with pen attachment, or time with vibrating tooth brush from the dollar store) was suggested as a direct effect on tone in the hand – with the reminder to always include proprioceptive input such as playing in a bin of beans. Many more strategies were suggested to improve tone in general and especially in the shoulder girdle and postural core.  
Favorites included:
-       Platform swing
-       Scooter boards
-       Log rolling
-       Mini trampolines
-       Physio balls
-       Standing on a bocce ball in eyes open and eyes closed
-       Lycra swing or any old blanket held on each end by two adults, child is swayed/ wiggled
-       The Ikea egg was a favourite for the Low Registration (Eeyore type kids).
Stop and go was suggested for preventing over-stimulation. Stop and do something functional, then spin again to make use of the organizing effects of vestibular input. A few times one direction then a few the other to prevent habituation to the input in one direction.
We were reminded:
-       To explain vestibular strategies in such a way that parents will be able to use by just talking about head movements.
-       That the saccule and utricle are tonic (always firing) –thus causing tone, helping develop core strength.
-       “You have to know where you are but your body is not always in motions.”
-       Spinning (rotational movement, semicircular canal activation) is alerting but linear movement (otolith activation – based on gravity)  is calming.
-       Semicircular canal problems can cause otolith problems therefore if a person is getting dizzy when turning one direction, stop rotational input and move to the floor (play Jenga, LEGO) and do plenty of proprio
-       Change the plane throughout a session/day
-       It takes 5 trials to build a motor engram
-       Start where they are: find out what is being avoided (runs because static posture is too hard), and build from there.
-       Monitor for signs of too much vestibular input: wobbly head, fight or flight (wide eyes).


Next meeting: October 20 at 5:30 at the Ability Hub in the Green Room
 Re: Thinking about adulthood potential during childhood. All are welcome. Come to share case examples of volunteer work and early jobs or activities such as childhood chores and here about the difference between the IPP and the adult version, ITP

Save the date:
A tentative date was set for Jen Bodiguel to host at New Heights in the Currie Barracks on:
January 19 at 5:30