It has been my observation, with 30 years of experience, that there are an increasing number of children who are bright and athletic, but face difficulty with organization of their behavior and attention as well as their belongings, time and thoughts.  There appear to be no learning disabilities, however, the child is frustrated in school trying to remember where things are, getting assignments completed in class, staying focused on homework, writing their thoughts on paper, and a resulting frustration tolerance.   Writing book reports and organizing thoughts on paper has been particularly difficult for these children.  When able to verbally provide information they are quite successful, however, when a pencil is in their hand, they seem to shut down.    The child may seem to be easily distracted, unable to maintain focus on a task as it is too frustrating.  Social skills and ability to comfortably participate in sports or leisure activities may also be impacted, such as not being able to predict or organize themselves in space.

Treatment is based on developing an understanding of the child’s processing strengths and weaknesses as related to internal organization.  The vestibular system, our sense of movement as related to gravity, is the foundation of our balance, muscle tone, and body awareness, and also our development of internal organization for time and space.  As a child is better able to process movement input, organizational tasks are presented and the development of strategies for organization emerges.  See further suggestions with Organizational Strategies.

Parent Support

Unfortunately our children did not come with directions, and each child is a unique individual, with processing strengths and weaknesses which may be due to a variety of reasons.  Often children appear to inherit specific traits from parents or are experiencing processing weaknesses due to a medical diagnosis.  Whatever the cause, as much as we love them and want them to be happy and successful, they can present us with challenging and emotional situations.  It is our job as therapists to determine your child’s processing strengths and weaknesses and to help you develop an understanding of them in order to develop the appropriate strategies which will be successful for you and your child.  Often, as the parent we are emotionally involved and have difficulty stepping back in order to observe behaviors more objectively and therefore unable to discern the appropriate strategies to implement.

Parent Support Meetings:  As needed we provide monthly support meetings for parents to discuss their issues and concerns with a therapist as well as to learn from other parents.

Parent Education seminars: A variety of topics have been available for parents through seminars, such as “Sensory Integration”, “Is it Sensory or is it Behavior?”, “Tummy Time”, “Behavior and Discipline”, “ABC’s of Behavior”, “Sensory Processing and Play”, and other topics as parents indicate a need.

Parent Consultative Services:  Kim is available to meet with parents and/or teachers as needed to discuss behaviors, organizational strategies, the development of sensory diets, classroom concerns and strategies, eating issues, dressing difficulty, transitions, and home programs.

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