Pennsylvania Autism Action Center

Despite all the snow we’ve just experienced, spring is right around the corner and a perfect opportunity to get in some extra sensory play While vegetable gardening often looks like a work in progress, a flower garden really only puts on a show for a few weeks a year, an herb bed, or even a planter, is a thing of beauty all year long and offers multiple learning experiences. Horticultural Therapy can offer a wealth of benefits to those looking to develop their fine and gro...ss motor skills through the act of planting and watering as well as provide opportunity to develop speech to share discoveries while playing in the soil. And as the herbs grow from seed to sprout sensory experiences can be taught and shared as the child physically sees the plants grow, smells the herbs as they ripen, and feel the differences between the plants as they learn to harvest them for cooking or holistic uses. Some benefits include: hand manipulation of small seeds hand strength in gripping the shovel hand eye coordination with watering schedule planning with water schedule Experiencing nature improves physical, sensory, social, and emotional health and wellbeing and a garden is an ideal space to engage with nature. It might just be thyme for you to start your own herb garden!

You’ve heard about the five senses (touch, taste, sight, smell, and hearing), but what about the Vestibular sense? The Vestibular sense contributes to our ability to maintain balance and body posture. Located next to the cochlea in the inner ear, Vestibular organs are fluid-filled and have hair cells, similar to the ones found in the auditory system, which respond to movement of the head and gravitational forces. When these hair cells are stimulated, they send signals to the ...brain via the vestibular nerve. If you’ve ever had an ear infection and felt dizzy, or if you were to experience vertigo and you might feel like your entire body was spinning in space and be unable to walk. This is because of the Vestibular sense. In addition to maintaining balance, the Vestibular system collects information critical for controlling movement and the reflexes that move various parts of our bodies to compensate for changes in body position. It helps us maintain an upright posture and helps keep your head and neck muscles steady so your eyes can track an object or information in front of you. Activities like jumping, climbing, spinning, swinging, skateboarding, or riding a bike are all linked to developing your Vestibular sense. Looking to refine your child’s Gross Motor Skills and work on their ‘gravitational insecurity’? Call (570) 992-6720 and ask about our Occupational Therapy Programs!

You won’t need luck to complete this sensational St. Patrick’s Day activity! YOU’LL NEED: a few marshmallows your favorite green paints... a paintbrush a plate some paper This activity is great for sensory play as well as fine tuning hand motor skills. (PRO-TIP: practice squishing the marshmallows with your hands first so you can test how hard you have to press to maintain the heart shaped leaves.) Have fun and remember to look at the end of every rainbow

Music is a motivating way to repeat words with target sounds over and over. Songs have a lot of repetition and it’s perfect bite sized text makes it doable in therapy while still age appropriate for the child. So how do you utilize karaoke as a therapy tool? First, read the lyrics with your child focusing on the words themselves and highlighting those words containing the target sounds. Read through these lyrics with them a couple of times and when they can read the l...yrics all the way through without errors, it’s time to release their inner rock star The key is to do the song a few times. As the session progresses, the child improves and can increase their tempo to match the song and start to mimic the pace of speech in real life. And remember, the catchier the song the better! Here are some song suggestions for those who would like on their SH sounds: Under Pressure By Queen/David Bowie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFD2IRBG35c Shallow Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nHT_k9Rswc Ocean Eyes Billie Eilish https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqF-W9QBHUQ Revolution The Beatles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPLNB5dvOmY Should I Stay or Should I Go? The Clash https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Odqq5zC9bmQ Blue Suede Shoes Elvis Presley https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FQJYBftfg0 Enjoyed this activity? Comment below what target sounds you’d like song suggestions for next

PAAC has done so much for my daughter. Her coordination has improved tremendously. She can now tie her shoes when I thought it was going to be years before she would accomplish that. She is socializing more and knows how to conduct conversations because of their social group program. And she can sit in a classroom all day and get her work done due to the efforts of the PAAC behavioral therapists. I will not leave the state just because I know I can't find another place lik...e it. I thank the staff for everything they have done in helping my daughter navigate this world a little better. (testimonial)

A child can memorize labels and words but it only becomes functional when they learn to generalize them in everyday common uses Natural Environment Teaching (NET) is a teaching method that uses the same principles found in other ABA methods but focuses more on your child’s everyday environments and daily activities. NET is frequently used as a way to help with generalization skills, and typically looks like play. Generalization is when a child is able to apply the skills t...hat they learn in one setting to other settings, even new or unfamiliar environments outside of therapy Being able to perform a skill in a controlled setting is a great first step for development and learning, but being able to take that skill and perform it outside of this setting is a huge step in promoting the increase of independence for your child.