Many parents bring their children for occupational therapy as an alternative to medication to manage the symptoms of ADHD. Often medication is recommended by their child’s school (although the teacher is not a medical professional). Here is an article from MedlinePlus, the publication of the National Institute of Health, with evidence that will come as no surprise to the skeptical among us: in a recent study conducted at Johns Hopkins 90 percent of the children taking ADHD medications continued to experience symptoms of the condition six years after their diagnosis and ongoing treatment. What has your experience been? Tell us in the comments.

Most children, especially those with sensory processing disorders, benefit from a structured morning routine. Unfortunately, once a morning routine is established, children rarely sleep later than their usual wakeup time. As much as you might fantasize about sleeping late on Saturday or Sunday, your children probably make sure that you are up as soon as they are. Here are some tips that might get you some extra shut-eye this weekend, without ever turning on the TV.

• Have breakfast easily accessible
  Pour the cereal into bowls and cover with a napkin.  Place the filled bowls and spoons on the kitchen table the night before. Pour just enough milk into cups and place on a reachable shelf in the fridge. You can have mini milk cartons available to prevent spilling. Children as young as 3 years old can manage this self-serve breakfast task independently. A bit of a mess is inevitable, but worth the extra sleep!

• Have specific activities set up
  Older children: Teach your children that after (or before) breakfast on weekends they can play on their own for a while. Have games that your child enjoys, has already mastered and can play with independently within sight, reachable, and organized enticingly.  For example, have a puzzle, Legos or a dress-up box ready in the middle of the play area.

• Younger children: Place enticing toys that your child favors between his or her room and yours. Hopefully your child will get distracted on the way to your room and start to play. If your child is still in a crib, setup crib toys that will keep your baby entertained for a while. Here are some suggestions:
  Baby Einstein Sea Dreams Soother
  Fisher-Price Luv U Zoo Crib ‘N Go Projector Soother
  Fisher-Price Precious Planet Kick and Play Piano
  Sassy Crib and Floor Mirror
• Children who can read and tell time:
  Set up a treasure hunt: This one takes a bit more preparation, but what wouldn’t you do for some extra sleep? Send your child on a treasure hunt that takes all morning. For example, start by leaving a note on the kitchen table saying “eat Cheerios, check the back of the box.” On the back of the Cheerios box tape a note that says, “Dump out the Legos a build a huge castle.” In the Lego box will be a note that says, “Draw a picture and hang it on the fridge with a magnet.” On the fridge will be yet another note. You get the idea. The last note can say something along the lines of “Clean up the playroom and at 9:00 am claim your prize from Mom.”

Everyone Wins!
You get some valuable sleep time while your children develop important skills including self-organization, independent play, imagination, creativity, and patience.

Submitted by: Ariela Warburg MS, OTR/L & Dr. Chaye Lamm Warburg, DPS, OTR/L, Director of P.O.T.S.

For many children, play dates are a skill to be mastered. For children with sensory processing disorders, play-dates can be a particularly challenging time, but a skill well worth investing time, money and creativity to foster.  Here are some tips for setting your child up for successful play-dates:

Start at your house:
To minimize sensory demands host the first few play-dates with a child at your house where your child feels most comfortable and secure. Children who are overly sensitive to touch, sight, sound or movement may become overstimulated and tend to avoid novel environments. The possibility of overwhelming or noxious stimuli may cause a great deal of stress and anxiety.  Children who crave sensation may be distracted by every novel sensory experience available. When a child is preoccupied with addressing his/her sensory needs, he/she cannot tap into the social skills necessary for collaborative play. Your house will eliminate the need for your child to attend to environmental novelty.

Less is more:

• Three is a Crowd: Stick to playing with one other child at a time while developing play date skills. Two or more children can feel like a chaotic experience for a child who with sensory sensitivities or a child who simply has not yet mastered play-date skills.
• Time is of the Essence: Keep the play-date to a maximum of an hour and a half to ensure that the play-date ends on a high note. If you wait until the children tire and their behavior deteriorates, your child is less likely to look forward to another one.

Plan:

• Advance Planning:  Advanced planning is essential for a successful play-date. Plan fun and novel activities that will entice both children to play. Fun engaging activities take the pressure off your child to entertain his/her play partner, while still fostering interaction.
• Be prepared to be part of the process: Remember, a play-date is a learned skill, and like all new skills sometimes children will need some assistance and practice.
• Establish the Rules: Prepare for the play-date by reviewing and rehearsing the rules of being a good friend—whether you are the host or the guest. Your child will walk into the play-date with more confidence and sense of control knowing the rules and what to expect. If an issue arises during the play-date, all your child will need is a gentle reminder.
• Hide the Treasures: Put away treasured toys, or anything you are unwilling to clean up. Everything else is fair game. This can be emphasized when reviewing the rules of being a good friend.
• Designate areas for play: Don’t let the children wander and flounder. Designate specific areas that are open for play, and close the ones that are too unstructured to benefit the children. The idea is to structure the play-date to encourage maximal interaction.

Sensory prep right before the play date:
Give your child the sensory input that he/she needs before the play-date begins to achieve a regulated state necessary for interacting with another child. For calming, provide proprioceptive input and deep pressure. Try giving big bear hugs or wheelbarrow walking. For a child who needs alerting, provide a crunchy snack and do some jumping jacks.

Clean-up is part of the play-date:
Transitions are difficult for most children and ending a play-date, especially a successful one, can be challenging. Clean-up is a great structured transition activity and clearly signals to the children that the play-date is over.

There is a big return on your investment:
Playing together with other children is an important part of social-emotional development. Children with sensory processing disorders often have a hard time interacting with a group of children in a school environment and miss out on opportunities to develop social skills in school. On parent structured play-date they have the opportunity to learn to successfully interact with individual children and establish solid relationships, which can pave the way to group interaction.

Submitted by: Ariela Warburg MS, OTR/L & Dr. Chaye Lamm Warburg, DPS, OTR/L, Director of P.O.T.S.