Re: How do I improve visual motor Integ (VMI) in 5 year old?

[Guest guest]

Hey !!

I know I have more in the archives but wanted to share the following for now to

see if it can help as Kim covers so much. Also please check out

http://www.pursuitofresearch.org as we are seeing across the board surges in not

just motor skills and don't know if you heard about nutriiveda yet (call me if

you want to talk):

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As for what we are doing to help my kids, I would just like to give the

disclaimer that I am by far not an expert. I'm just another mom looking for

answers. Fortunately I have been lucky enough to find a few helpful ideas

(though I continue to search). But if there is any chance my info will help

anybody else, I am more than willing to share. You should understand, though,

that I homeschool and incorporate hours and hours of therapy into our day every

day. I don't know if I could do it any other way. However, many of the things

we do could be worked in before and after school if you and your child are super

motivated.

One of the books we have gleaned many, many therapy/exercise ideas from is

called A Perceptual Motor and Visual Perception Handbook of Developmental

Activities for Schools, Clinics, Parents and Pre-School Programs. (How's that

for a title?!) It is by Belgau of balance board fame, but relatively few

of the exercises in this handbook actually involve balance boards. It is 82

full size pages long and packed with hundreds of exercises to improve balance,

coordination, crossing the midline, strength, visual perception, left/right

awareness, tracking, body awareness, interaction between brain hemispheres, etc.

We still haven't even tried all the exercises! We incorporate at least some of

these activities into our therapy every day. Most of the exercises are very

easy to do and many require little to no special equipment. Some things you

will probably want to make or purchase are beanbags, a chalkboard, a swinging

ball (we just threw a volleyball in a mesh laundry

bag and hung it from our swingset), a balance board (you can get these at

Target) and/or balancing stones, and a good playground ball. We happen to have

a trampoline which is used for some of the exercises. Anyway, there is a lot to

choose from and you could easily make this program work on a tight budget. The

book itself will run you about $37. Here is the link:

http://www.balametrics.com/products/handbook.htm

We also do a lot of things which aren't in the book. Here is a very

brainstormed list which probably isn't complete but will give you an idea:

AUDITORY PROCESSING:

- The Listening Program - 1 hour every day - If you don't have an approved

therapist to order this for you but feel your child would benefit, I have seen

this sold on e-Bay occasionally. It isn't much cheaper, but at least you can

get your hands on the program. We use the basic program (as per what the

therapist recommended) but I know Janice uses a newer version.

- Brain Builder (digit spans) - 2 sessions per day auditory and preferably 2

visual, but often just 1 visual (because my son HATES it and I'm pushing the

auditory more)

- Earobics by Cognitive Concepts

- At night we do " copy reading, " which is of our own invention I suppose. I

read a passage to him and he has to repeat it back. He has gotten much better

at this of late, but to be perfectly honest, it is probably due to the digit

spans.

- Games where he has to work hard at listening and following directions - keep

this light and fun. Lately I've been rather maxed out on time so I count all

the instructions he has to follow at horseback riding and karate for this. He

is doing great in this area!

- In the car and at night we listen to books and stories on CD - anything to

work those ears.

- We read to him every day.

- We also do 60 beats per minute classical music whenever we can.

- We used to do the mood/Belle program, but quite frankly, it is very

time intensive and I'm a little short on the time commodity right now. It is a

good program, though, and I hope to be able to pick it up again some day (or

just not need it anymore ). I should probably make a greater effort to get

it out because it would probably help with speech issues, as well.

EXERCISE PROGRAM:

- My husband and I take turns running with Garrick each morning.

- Throughout the day I have him do exercise periods, usually about once an

hour.

- Aerobics is great for kids with dyspraxia issues! We do this as often as

possible in our living room.

- We also try to swim as often as possible, ride bikes, skateboard, scooter,

jump on the trampoline, go across monkey bars, roller or ice skate....anything

to keep him moving in a productive way!

DIET:

- Garrick is on an all-natural (no chemicals), high protein, GFCF diet (due to

leaky gut syndrome and dairy sensitivity).

- Like just about everybody else here, we do lots and lots of supplements,

many of which I've already seen listed on the boards. One we use that I haven't

seen mentioned as often is magnesium. This is a good one for those dealing with

sensory integration problems, especially bed wetting. You also need extra

magnesium if you are doing extra calcium. Selenium is also good for nerves/the

brain. The guide we initially started using for supplements came from the book

Children with Starving Brains. I still think this is a great place to start

when looking at supplementing for neurological issues.

SENSORY INTEGRATION:

- Pressure and light touches on the joints, arms, and legs.

- We also do therapy on his head, ears, and bladder because these are problem

areas with Garrick. This has been very successful.

- We try to do all of this twice a day, but very frequently only get it in

before bedtime.

- Weights and pressure, like heavy blankets, weighted vests or neck massagers,

etc. He hasn't needed this lately, but they are still great for sensory

integration.

HANDWRITING/DYSGRAPHIA:

- We use Write from the Start, which was designed with dyspraxic kids in mind

- Along with Garrick's other chalkboard activities from the Belgau handbook, I

also have him do the lazy 8 alphabet from the Brain Gym book in hopes this will

help with his letter reversal problem. Haven't seen much improvement yet, but

I'm trying to be more consistent with this.

- Lots of fine motor skill work, like scissor cutting, mazes, peg boards,

tracing, Legos, etc. - anything to work on his fine motor skills and strength.

In all honesty, we are still struggling with the speech apraxia the most,

which is why I joined this group. Like I said, I am still searching for answers

just like everybody else.

In regards to motor development/strength/coordination, I would just like to

say we try to keep all of our activities as fun as possible and I'm always

looking for fun, new ideas. For instance we play

crawling/creeping/marching/galloping/skipping tag all over the house and have a

blast. We also play follow the leader with these activities or I make up some

silly scenario to get the kids to fall in line behind me to do these exercises.

I bought a cheap dance mat at Toys R Us to work on gross motor/coordination

skills. We play Monkey in the Middle (or Keep Away) with beanbags to practice

catching and throwing. Karate has been wonderful for all of my kids'

coordination and they practice at home as well as attending class twice a week.

They love it! One of their latest favorite activities is kicking a target while

swinging, which is an idea I got from the DyspraxiaFamilies group. I am

hoping this helps both with language and visual issues. The jury is still out

on the effectiveness of this one, but they sure have a good time doing it. The

bottom line is keep it as fun as possible! If you asked my son how many hours a

day he spent doing therapy, he would probably tell you he just does his

listening (The Listening Program) and Brain Builder (which he continues to

hate). Everything else is just play to him or time he gets to spend alone with

Mom or Dad. With 4 kids in the house that is a great bonus!

Anyway, this post has gotten unbelievably long. I guess the bottom line is we

have made " therapy " a way of life for our family. Fortunately it is a way of

life we all enjoy. I hope somebody can glean a few ideas from all this. Thanks

in advance for letting me pick your brains in return!

Kim with 4 cuties

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