Heather From Golden Reflections

I am very excited to be a guest poster today! Thank you Karren for opening up this opportunity for me!

My name is Heather and I blog over at Golden Reflections. I started blogging in 2008, mainly as a way to share what was going on in my life. Over the years it has become a place for me to share my photography, love of cooking, organizing, and also Occupational Therapy tips! I have worked as a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant since 2006 and in the public school system since 2009. I knew as soon as I graduated that I wanted to work with special needs children in the schools and as soon as I was able to find a job, I took it. I love working with the kids and I also love sharing my OT Tips every Thursday on my blog!

You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, and Youtube.

Today's activity idea works on a ton of different areas! This idea came from Christi, a Physical Therapy Assistant I co-treat with on Wednesdays. It actually wasn't our plan for the day, but we lost our room to a classroom needing to use it, so we ended up in a resource room and hallway for the day. So Christi came up with this idea that she use to use a lot in one of her other buildings. We added a fine motor component to it so that the kids could benefit from both therapies at once.
 

• Scooter board *
• Color Floor Dots *
• Foam balance beam *
• Whiteboard (Found mine at Target in the dollar isle last week!) 
• Dry Erase marker 

Directions for Activity: 

• This activity can be done with multiple children and done as many times as you like. We had each child go through it 2 to 3 times. 
• Set up your course as pictured above – foam balance beam, floor color dots, scooter board, and then leave a large space in between the scooter board and white board on the floor. (Pictured below) 
• Give the first child the dry erase marker to hold and start them on the balance beam. They should use a  reciprocal gate on the beam (one foot in font of the other). This size board allowed for 4 steps. 
• Next, jump onto each color floor dot using two feet and bending at the knees. 
• Lay on tummy on the scooter board and use arms and feet to push to the white board on the floor. They should be using bilateral movements (both sides of the body and lower and upper board together – will look like an army crawl). 
• While laying on the scooter board, have them write their name on the top of the white board. Make sure they use proper grasp (2 or 3 finger grasp). Be sure they form the letters correctly (top to bottom formations), letters spaced appropriately and on the writing line. Have them erase and start over if they do not do this correctly. 
• Have them turn around on the scooter board and go back to where the floor dots start. 
• Stand up and jump on each colored floor dot with two feet together, bending at the knees (no straight knees while jumping!) 
• Walk on the balance beam with reciprocal gate (one foot in front of the other) about 4 steps. 
• Hand off the dry erase marker to the next child and continue. (If working with multiple children, you will need more than one white board). 

• Add more components to the course. For example, after writing, they could continue on the scooter board to a throwing station and practice ball skills throwing at a target. 
• Increase the amount of turns each child takes to one or two. 
• Increase the amount they need to write. 

Skills worked on: 

• Fine Motor Skills/Handwriting 
• Bilateral Coordination (using both sides and top/bottom of body together – scooter board)
• Balance (Balance beam) 
• Jumping Skills 
• Visual Motor Skills 

Thanks again for coming by today! Feel free to pin this activity to your Pinterest board!