Submitted by Kate Mitchell, MS, OTR/L
| Before | After |
|---|---|
| Extremely wiggly | Able to sit through an SLP session and complete all tasks, for the first time ever! |
| Difficulty with fine motor activities, including handwriting | Increased sustained attention and engagement in fine motor/table top activities |
This client is an almost 8-year-old girl who is currently undiagnosed, but has many of the characteristics of Down Syndrome, but tested negative for it when mitochondrial testing was completed. She is extremely wiggly, constantly on the move, displays difficulty with fine motor activities including handwriting, and struggled with nocturnal enuresis until the age of 7. When tested, she had a strong retention of her ANTR and Spinal Galant.
I elected to utilize Rhythmic movements 1 and 3 [from the Brain and Sensory Foundations course] as indicated by the retention of her two specific reflexes. We engaged in a variety of games including crawling while on her belly and the scooter board, playing inchworms, rolling, and balloon tapping in various forms. Immediately I was able to note an increase in her fluidity of midline crossing and attention to task.
When utilized consistently, in clinic and home settings, I found all of these techniques to be highly successful! Following one of our OT sessions, her SLP came to me and asked what we did during our session because that was the first session the child had ever sat through and accomplished all tasks presented. Both the client’s mother and I were elated to see an increase in her sustained attention and engagement in fine motor/table top activities and a decrease in her overall “wiggly-ness” during homeschool tasks.
This child has been in therapy for many years at various facilities and the family had never seen as much improvement as they have seen in the past 6 weeks. Keeping an open mind and allowing the child to direct the therapy by choosing what activities felt good to her was, in my mind, key to the progress she made. Truly fantastic results!
[Edited for length and clarity; emphasis added]