Holiday craft

This week the students in our SMI classroom did a fun project of making wrapping paper.  It was something that everyone could do and the end result was beautiful!  We have done this in years past and many of the families look forward to wrapping their gifts with their child's artwork. 

Using pine tree branches I wrapped the end in tape to avoid sap and needles getting on their hands.  For the students that have a weak grasp I added a foam grip.  We dipped the branches in 2 to 3 different green paints and the students tapped the branches on butcher paper.  After the paper is covered in green they then put their thumb or index finger in red paint and make "berries" all over the paper!

Sensory Room

Our district finally has a sensory room (make that 2)!  I have set both sensory rooms up in 2 different elementary schools and it has been quite an experience.  We have 5 stations: oral, visual, auditory, touch and movement.  We continue to gather equipment and supplies and I have used several websites to gain insight into what may be needed for the space.  I have included the links below.

We plan to have the sensory room be used in 3 ways: students have scheduled breaks through out the day prior to academics that are difficult for them or require sitting/concentrating for a long period of time, providing breaks when it appears they are beginning to feel frustrated or anxious before demonstrating negative behavior and it will be used as a reward for good work.

When entering the sensory room the student checks in by retrieving their own sensory card that will have the 5 stations on it, they will pick one of the stations, take the visual cue to the station area and remain there for a determined amount of time.  When their time is up they can chose to leave the area and return to class or chose 1 more station.  The student will only visit up to 2 station for each visit in the sensory room.  When they return again that day they will need to chose whatever stations remain on their card until all 5 stations have been visited.  At that point their card can be reloaded with all 5 stations.  This encourages exploration of all stations and a variety of activities.

Staff that accompanies the student to the sensory room will chart each visit by date/time/initial, what station they visited and the students response.  This will help us track what is effective for the student in preparing them for learning and in calming them.

I have also set up a communication board between staff to learn about the curriculum, "How Does Your Engine Run" where I will post a "tip of the week", new sensory room activity ideas and a "parking lot" for staff to leave questions and comments for me and/or others.

I took pictures of the sensory room at one of our schools, it still looks a little bare but it is in the early stages of the project and we hope to get more equipment soon!  (When there is money, and we all know how little of that there is!  Time for ingenuity!)

Occupational Therapy Innovations

Teaching Learners with Multiple Special Needs