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Sensational Tamariki Paediatric Occupational Therapy, Johnsonville, Wellington (2025)

15/05/2022

Are you concerned about how sensory difficulties may affect your child's future? This is an inspiring video about Aviva's experience of SPD treatment and whe...

29/01/2022

29/01/2022

09/11/2021

https://wolpertlab.neuroscience.columbia.edu/videos

Through The Wormhole with Morgan FreemanProbabilistic models of sensorimotor controlProbabilistic models of sensorimotor control (CCN 2017)Internal Models for Sensorimotor Control and Decision MakingPublic Lecture: Athens Science Festival edit videoTopics: No resultsThere are no videos with the prov...

15/10/2021

Meet Owen. He’s 4 years old. He loves monster trucks, running, his iPad, and his Mom and Dad. Owen has a new baby brother and spends lots of time with his grandparents on the weekends. His favorite activity is going for vanilla ice cream in a cone with his Grandpa on Sunday afternoons.

15/10/2021

Children in preschool & kindergarten across the globe are struggling to live up to expectations from their teachers and are finding it difficult to succeed within their classrooms. Last week we shared Owen's story, who experiences a significant brain-body disconnect and feels his brain gets hijacked by impulses.

Dyspraxic children like Owen, are not yet able to come up with their own ideas about play, to organize their body successfully for new games or new play equipment, or to follow multi-step instructions, often get in trouble for bad behavior. Many do not know how to recognize what is happening, ask for help, or exert any self-control when these impulses happen. These expectations are beyond their capacity at the moment.

In 2016, a study showed that 250 children per day were being expelled or suspended from preschool in the USA. That was on average. In Colorado alone in the 2017 to 18 school year, more than 5,800 students faced such punishment. That's about three suspensions for every 100 students in grades K-2. And this is a global phenomenon.

There's so much readiness necessary for success at school, and in most cases, children are expected to just come to school with these skills in place. Even though we know that development is very different from person to person, and rarely follows a neat and orderly line.

In , parents are told that there is no Kindergarten place for him in his school district. He is put on the waiting list for a special school and offered 40 hours a week of therapy to shape his behaviors. That is his parents' only option.

Owen’s Mom and her sister decide to do a little investigating, and they speak to their local Early Childhood Mental Health Center. The nice psychologist at the center suggests that Owen might need help just being in his body, in space, with other people. She recommends he spend time in a therapeutic classroom before he tries to go back to school.

Owen spends his days at the School Readiness therapeutic classroom learning to master the rhythms of the school day, to slow his body down, to recognize when he needs to go for a walk or ask for help. He enjoys visiting the office of the school principal when his body gets too overwhelmed. She has a magical empty jar on her desk that is full of energy. Owen breathes in the energy and is ready to go back to the classroom. These little regulating, sensory breaks help Owen be successful and build classroom confidence. He is beginning to learn how to stay in his body and use his thinking brain even when he is tired, stressed, or excited. He is starting to believe that he is a good, likable kid and that he can make a positive contribution at school.

Does Owen’s story sound familiar to you? For support with school readiness and/or sensory integration and processing assessment, reach out to your school, local sensory-focused occupational therapy practice, or contact us at STAR Institute and we'd be happy to guide you.

Catch up on , as well as all our other sensory stories here: https://bit.ly/STAROwen