Over my many years of working with children and families I have been privileged to be taught a great deal about human spirit and it’s ability to overcome great odds, most commonly from my young clients.  So while my life is over-scheduled with my own busy children, a business to run, OT students to teach and client families to support, I am driven to share some of these stories with you, in the hope that it will broaden understanding of people and children who have all ranges of abilities.

Yet, I am overwhelmed by the idea of just sitting down and writing, until recently a colleague said to me, its a shame you can’t just record some of your conversations with children, parents, teachers and us and blog that! And so my series of ‘Conversations with Suzie’ blogs begins here!

Something that strikes me regularly and with great intensity is that while most folks are very open to full inclusion for all abilities, there remains a strong undercurrent of misunderstanding of difference in Australian society that isn’t often spoken about but plays out in our daily news – the recent incident with the James Milne being refused entry into a JB Hi-Fi store because he supposedly looked like another young man with Down Syndrome speaks to this ignorance (and I remain very disappointed with the lack of remorse from the store manager when called as this response indicates true prejudice).

Still, most Australians saw the wrong in this series of actions and stood our ground for the underdog and for this I feel proud to be an Australian. But what about events in our everyday lives that interfere with full inclusion for all? That stuff is just on the news, right? This is an extreme example yes, but what about the ‘milder’ yet persistent misunderstandings that happen for many children with individual differences?

Let me give you an example.  I’ll call him Todd.  He’s 8 years old and in year 2 at a local primary school. He doesn’t have a diagnosis, but he is a very active child!  He cannot sit still, and when he does quiet his body, his mouth talks and talks and talks…you get the picture.  Behaviourally, he is observed to frequently bump into furniture, children and knocks over their materials in class. He talks and wiggles and talks and wiggles and talks while his teacher is speaking, while the other children are working, he even distracts himself from working. He is not confident on the playground or during sport, and has limited social success with his peers.  If his teacher does not have training in individual neurological differences it would be easy to see this child as disruptive – the teacher tries all the usual behavioural strategies they are taught at university, and are very effective for many children, but they don’t work with Todd.  Todd’s not getting his own work done and is also stopping other children from getting their work done.  Sometimes other parents complain that the child is too disruptive and/or rough and they want him removed to another class! It is very stressful for Todd, his family and his teacher.

When I assessed Todd, I found his balance and postural (vestibular) and body awareness (proprioceptive) sensory systems are under-active.  This means he must move his body more frequently and intensely in order to know where his body parts are in relation to one another and spatial within his immediate environment.  Our subconscious brain is driven to have this body and spatial awareness to both keep us safe and also allow us to build motor competence so we can do things like play sport, produce legible handwriting and sequence motor actions so we can complete tasks with more than 1-2 steps.  So Todd is not doing this sensory seeking on purpose, or to annoy his peers, teacher or family, he is doing it to try and improve his performance. Todd simply cannot learn while sitting quiet and still. Its always wonderful to see the changes that both parents and teacher can make on their own when they understand this neurological basis of a set of behaviours that have been interfering with function for so long.

So what helped Todd to settle down to work in class?

Here’s a few strategies for the over-active child that will likely help if there is reduced activation of the balance and postural (vestibular) and body awareness (proprioceptive) sensory systems:

• Provide collaborative education and discussions to build an understanding for Todd, his parents and teachers that he is moving his body to try and improve his performance.
• In OT sessions, we talk about Todd becoming the boss of his body and brain and helping him use more efficient ways to build body and spatial awareness, often using activities and exercises to help build this underlying ability, and building ways to do this that improve positive participation in (rather than interfere with) daily activities at home and at school.
• Find ways for Todd to move his body intensely and at regular intervals during the day. Walk, scooter or ride to school, or get to school 10 minutes early and encourage him to run a few laps of the oval or do an ‘obstacle’ course on the playground equipment.   Encourage him to play physically during lunch and recess.  Enrol him in community activities that he can succeed at and give him intense movement input (e.g. gymnastics/tumbling/circus classes, martial arts, general fitness groups).  Do some intense movement play after school, e.g. 15-minutes of stunts in the trampoline.  Do whole class, or whole family, yoga – moving meditation is fabulous stress relief and grounding for all!
• Build movement into everyday activities where possible: Have him be the ‘monitor’ that gives out the books for each task – the act of getting up and walking around carrying a heavy box of books will help. Give him other heavy work options at home and school – sweep the floor, vacuum, push/pull/carry (e.g. a library trolley or bag).  Create a standing desk for Todd – it should be the height of his elbow when standing – it can help to have a floor ‘spot’ (like used in PE) or hoop for him to define his standing space.  Have him ‘warm up’ his hands with a stress ball during ‘listening’ tasks in class.

[Note: Each child and classroom is different, and over activity in a child may be due to several reasons.  Please see these as some starting ideas and use some trial and error to get the right match for your child.  Collaboration between teacher and parents is essential.   If these strategies don’t help but you still feel there are body and spatial awareness concerns be sure to see a specialist paediatric OT for professional assessment and advice.]

So, that’s the chat for today.  Please let me know your stories and questions and always, always be kind to each other.  In this job, I have learnt clearly that we all have reasons for our behaviour and often the most help we can provide for others is to simply make space and be there for them.

“Everybody is a genius.  But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” – Albert Einstein

All the best,

Suzie

As a paediatric occupational therapist I have been lucky enough to work with many children, families and communities that have both inspired and motivated me.  I feel privileged to be a part of these lives, walking for a little with them while on the journey of life, influencing both my life and theirs, just by collaborating and learning from one another.

Through my new blog, I wish to share some of the insights I have learnt both in my career as a paediatric occupational therapist and as someone who has been lucky enough to share this journey with hundreds of families and their teaching teams.

Some of my blogs will be about strategies that will be relevant to children with specific concerns, others will address general parenting and teaching questions and others tell a story to inspire and motivate.  At the end of the day though, it has been my experience both as a mother and occupational therapist that a little TLC for all parents, teachers and carers is all important to the work (paid or unpaid) we do each and everyday.

With this in mind, today I start with a few practical ideas for self care for ALL, the TLC we all need to keep us going in this crazy, busy world we live in!

1. Start at the beginning by setting a small goal for this week!  It can be hard to find quiet time to set goals and priorities.  Yet by creating these, our day to day decision making becomes much easier, as does our resolve and motivation to do all the little things we need to to attain these goals.  Start simple and small.  I will talk more about this in future blogs and ways to do this in the family group and classroom, but for now, the focus is on YOU, so please write down one small goal you would like to achieve for  you this week and post it on your fridge!  Share here too as when talking about this with many different, people I find we often overlap in our basic goals.
2. Make a little time for yourself now!   If you parent as a couple, making time for both of you individually, as well as together, is essential.  If you are a single parent this means real ‘time out’ for you. Take a yoga class, go for a walk on the beach, read a book in the sunshine, go out for a special meal, have a coffee with a friend who makes you laugh!   I love the idea of an imaginary ‘love jug’.  This is like an internal ‘bank account’ of love and care that every individual has.  Whenever we care for others we pour out of this special jug and unless we take regular time to refill our own love jug it will sooner or later become depleted.  Making time to restore the ‘love jug’ inside us not only makes the job of parenting easier it also builds happiness and a sense of gratefulness and satisfaction with our lives, all of which has been shown to improve wellness outcomes in research.  Again I will talk about this more in future blogs, but for today write down one thing you will do for yourself this week and make it happen.  Be sure to add a reminder to your calendar so it really does happen! Share your ideas in the discussion below, if it might work for you, it might inspire another parent!
3. Start a gratefulness diary and start to celebrate the little things that bring you joy. Choose a journal that is attractive for you.  Be sure it is of a size that it can be in your bag each day so as you think of things you can jot them down immediately.  To start, make at least one entry everyday of something that you were thankful for, that made you or your child(ten)/students smile or laugh, or that you simply want to remember.  All children, with special needs or not, are full of inspirational behaviours for this sort of journalling.  This helps you change the lens from being the parent or teacher of a child with some challenges to focus in on all the joys and laughter this child brings to you.  It also documents all the little gains this child has makes over time and can provide comfort during periods of time when development is plataued or there are larger challenges looming.  I have encouraged many parents and teachers to keep such journals over my career and have only ever had positive feedback from them about both the process and the benefits.  Again, please do share your ideas in the discussion below, I would love to help celebrate as many of these thankful moments as I can, and I am sure other readers would also be interested in these amazingly simple, yet joyous stories!

All the best for now!

Take care,

Suzie