exercises to help sitting still and concentrating

[Eva]

Hi,

 

today my son's OT gave us a 'sensory diet' for J - that is a list of exercises that he could do throughout the day to help improve his concentration, sitting still, and all that sort of thing. For example, before going to kinder we should do for 20-25 mins stuff like wheelbarrow walking, pushing a washing basket full of wet clothes around, bouncing a large hard ball up and down and over and over, play wrestling with lots of pushing and resistance and pulling objects tied to end of a rope. During the day there's other things like bouncing on a mini tramp and running up and down stairs (gee, I should be doing that, not J ).

 

Before going to sleep she suggested a pillow fight, head stands on the bed, firm body hugs and sniffing lavender oil.

 

Does anyone else's kids do these sorts of exercises? Do they help? Are there any other ones which are good, (and preferably doesn't involve me wrestling with my son? ).

 

Regards,

Eva

[lollypocket]

Sounds interesting. I would be worried about doing wrestling/pushing/pillow fights with my Son as I think it could easily get out of hand. Hope it makes a difference for you

[LittleRae]

Hi

 

Yes, we were recommended to do the same for our DS. Have to admit that though we started off with great intentions, they rather fell by the wayside after a few weeks. Must resurrect them again as he really enjoyed them - It's just the time commitment that's the problem. Definitely the early morning stuff was a no-no for us. It was difficult enough to get him to school on time. Didn't notice any particular improvement in concentration, but then I actually thought it was to improve muscle tone, so wasn't particularly looking out for that!

 

Must speak to DH and start it again - the wrestling is definitely his department!

[darky]

yes! i do them with my daughter and they do help. with my daughter, it a case of "firing" up her muscles before she tries any acedemic work, and shes been perscribed a cusion to help her "ground" herself and keep correct posture, and they have been told she will need frequent breaks.

some of the vestibular ones we do, have a tendancy to make her hypo, so we tend to do them in moderation.

bought a great toy in toys r us, its a wobble board, it has 2 footprints for correct positioning and it has 5 pads on with different colours, numbers and musical intruments. the first is freestyle allowing the child to move on it making music, the next one is colours in sequence like it will say "red" and the child has to move to red, then the next level does like more complicated sequencing like "red blue yellow yellow" and the child has to move right to get the correct sequence, and then it gets more complicated and it calls colours, numbers and the instruments together. its made by "kids active" and gives great vestubular and propioceptive input as well as teaching them sequencing, short term memory. its ?30 they also do a mini trampoline that does similar.

[summertime]

we haev produced a series of exercises for our classes to do every morning that are supposed to help with concentration, these mainly involve limbs crossing the cental line, so for instance the left arm would reach acroos to the right or the left foot would cross over the right foot.

we use things like bean bags too so they would throw the bean bag under the right leg to be caught in the left hand etc

sounds a bit boring but we do it to music and the children love it and it does settle them down in the morning

 

btw thats KS1 so 4 -7 years mainly NT

[jen]

yes they do help with preparing the child for school and getting them ready to learn. It can be simple things like getting them to run upstairs to get there bag. Encouraging them to carry a heavy bag to school. Bouncing a ball. My child is taken out at 10am every morning to do 5 mins of exercises which help with his concentration. These exercises are things like walking and down steps 20 times. Hanging from the climbing frames. Exercises to reduce his sensory overload.

 

 

Jen