extra-curricular success for children with special needs

Ensure Extra-Curricular Success for Children with Special Needs

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Often parents of children with special needs are worried and fearful about the ability of their child to succeed in extra-curricular activities such as sports, boy scouts, dance, art class, etc. Parents often fear the worst and are afraid of how the child will behave or act in such circumstances.  I would recommend that parents utilize several tips in order to help ensure success with each out-of-school activity, as these activities have many proven benefits for a child’s self-esteem.

Tips for Working with Coaches to Ensure Success for Children with Special Needs in Extra-Curricular Activities:

1. Be frank with the coach or director of the activity. Inform him or her about the child’s concerns. These are often individuals who volunteer to help children and more times than naught have the child’s best interest in mind.

2. Let the individual know what types of behaviors the child has exhibited in the past. What happened in school when parents were away, etc?

3. Create a list of accommodations that have proven to be beneficial for the child. Let the coach or instructor in on some of the modifications that have been helpful in the academic setting, as he may be able to apply the modification to the activity setting.

4. Be present, or within immediate reach, for the first few sessions.

5. Have the child go and see the building and room will the activity will occur. If possible, meet the instructor to form a relationship in advance.

Ultimately the main goal of after school activities is to increase socialization while teaching a skill, activity, or sport. The above tips should help provide some strategies to ensure the maximum success for children who have special needs in such situations.

Arm with kinesiotape

What is Kinesio® Tape and why is it used on children?

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Physical therapists and occupational therapists often use Kinesio® Tape on their clients as an adjunct to therapy. So what is Kinesio® Tape? You might have seen this colorful tape on Olympic athletes in various locations and various patterns. It is an elastic tape that has multiple purposes depending on where and how it is applied. It is often used to reduce pain, swelling, improve strength, encourage optimal alignment, and decrease muscle fatigue.  Kinesio® Tape can be used at full tension like regular athletic tape. However, it is the elastic qualities of Kinesio® Tape that make it therapeutic.

Properties of Kinesio® Tape:

-Latex free
-Variable tension depending on function
-Adhesive is medical grade acrylic and heat sensitive
-Allows for free movement instead of restricted movement like regular athletic tape
-Similar elasticity as human skin, so it can stay on for days to maximize its full effect

Purpose of Kinesio® Tape:

-To hold a joint in optimal position to help an overstretched or overworked muscle to rest and return to its most efficient length.
-Keeping a body part in better alignment helps the muscles contract and work in a less stressful fashion during daily activities.
-To increase input to the skin around a specific muscle or joint. With this new proprioceptive input, more awareness of that body part leads to more strength.
-To help relax an overused muscle which helps reduce pain and swelling
-Improve lymphatic flow and reduce edema and bruising, allowing for accelerated healing

Who can benefit:

People with a variety of orthopedic, neuromuscular, or medical conditions, such as:

-Cerebral Palsy
-Conditions with weakness or paralysis of a certain body part
-Down Syndrome
-Gross Motor Developmental Delay
-Children with gait abnormalities such as toe-walking, flat feet, hyperextension, etc.
-Low muscle tone
-Decreased coordination
-Brain injury
-Torticollis
-Lymphedema
-Painful orthopedic injury
-Poor posture
-And many more…

Not only is Kinesio® Tape safe for use on children, I have found Kinesio® Taping to be extremely beneficial and valuable to my clinical practice.  This elastic tape can be left on for 3-4 days after application. Often times, I put it on at the end of a session to help my clients retain the gains we made during the session. In a way, it improves carryover from week to week, and brings the physical effects of therapy home. With babies, this “reminder” is especially important, as they are still working on their neuromuscular control and cannot make a conscious effort to contract a certain muscle or hold a specific position during their play activities. With children, the colorful tape gives them a fun visual cue to increase use of a certain body part and strengthen those all important neuromuscular connections.

Reference:

Kase, K, Martin, P, Yasukawa, A. Kinesio®Taping in Pediatrics. 2006. Kinesio® USA , LLC. 16-19.

6 Health Benefits of Basketball for Children

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Ever wonder which team sport keeps boys and girls busy no matter their age, skill level, or the season? I recently had the opportunity to watch one of my clients play basketball with his middle school team, and it was so rewarding to see him transfer skills we worked on during physical therapy to the court.  Basketball is a high-intensity, high-agility activity that teaches children coordination, concentration, and cooperation.

6 Health Benefits of Basketball:

  1. Endurance: As with any high intensity sport, there are many cardiovascular benefits of basketball.  Between bouts of running, jumping, dribbling, and bouts of rests, kids are participating in total body interval training without even realizing it. Interval training boosts aerobic capacity, energy levels, and metabolism, which in turn helps kids concentrate more in school.
  2. Motor Control: The ability to control our limbs in space may come naturally, but being able to pass and shoot with precision during a basketball game takes special training and repetitive practice.  Performing drills on and off the court with a basketball enables children to grade their muscle forces, control the position of their bodies in response to an opponent or a pass, and plan out successful movement sequences.
  3. Ankle Stability: All the agility training, cutting back and forth, multidirectional running, pivoting, and turning within a basketball game are great ways to challenge our lower body muscles and joints, especially the structures surrounding our ankles.  Organized basketball teaches kids safe and successful ways to block, pass, steal, jump, and run without hurting themselves or others.  Ball sports such as basketball are great for reinforcing kids’ balance reactions and balance strategies and prevent future injury.
  4. Balance/Coordination: As with most team sports, basketball requires upper body coordination, total body coordination, and hand-eye coordination. Dribbling, catching, passing, and making baskets require planning, precision, and quick reactions. Walking backwards, turning, or running while dribbling a ball and at the same time paying attention to other players is a challenging but interesting exercise for coordination and body awareness.
  5. Agility: Basketball is a fast paced sport where athletes have to think fast on their feet and respond quickly to plays that could change momentum and direction at any minute.  Young athletes are working on mental drills in addition to physical techniques. Basketball enhances children’s agility due to the swiftness needed to dodge other players and make aggressive plays.
  6. Social Skills: The great thing about team sports is the level of discipline and communication needed for success at the games. Young athletes learn from an early age how to work in a team atmosphere, pay attention to others, and respond accordingly. An athlete needs discipline to attend practices and pay attention to the rules of any game.  Team sports prepare children for necessary social interactions later in life.  Through these sports, children understand shared responsibility, team work, how to deal with triumph and defeat, all of which are applicable throughout life.

Click here to read about the health benefits of another fun winter sport: hockey!

Top 5 Winter Sports for Children

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Winter is the perfect time to explore cold-weather sports and introduce children to fun activities they can do individually or with a group.    Being outdoors has been known to decrease anxiety, stimulate the senses, and improve concentration. Not only will these winter sports help beat the winter blues, they will also help build strong muscles and bones.

Top 5 Winter Sports for Kids:

  1. Snowshoeing-Easy to learn, with little risk of injury, and relatively inexpensive, snowshoeing has been gaining popularity in recent years. It is a great cardiovascular exercise, and hiking through the snow burns more calories than regular hiking. The resistance provided by the snow and the balance required to walk will strengthen core and leg muscles. There are different types of snowshoes based on skill level and terrain.
  2. Skiing-Both cross-country skiing and downhill skiing have many health benefits.  Downhill skiing uses short bouts of energy and cross-country skiing is more of an endurance sport. Both types of skiing work our major core muscles and large muscle groups including the abdominals, the glutes, the quadriceps, hamstrings, and biceps/triceps. Skiing also improves our balance skills on variable terrain and helps train our postural muscles.
  3. Skating-Skating is a sport that provides something for everyone. Between speed skating, recreational skating, and figure skating, this is an activity that one can participate in as an individual or group. Skating is a low-impact exercise that trains balance, agility, speed, muscle endurance, lower body strength, and flexibility. It teaches kids about weight-shifting, grading their movements, and the stability required to balance on one foot, which is important in their gross motor development.
  4. Snowboarding-In a sense, snowboarding is like surfing on snow.  It requires snowboarders to use their quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, and calf muscles to steer the board and use their abdominals to control their balance.  Getting up and down from the snow is an exercise in itself for young children. Snowboarding is a great core exercise and kids become more aware of their body mechanics as they advance their skills on challenging terrain.
  5. Hockey-Ice hockey is a high-intensity sport that builds teamwork, strength, coordination, balance, endurance, and agility. It challenges little bodies and minds by incorporating skating skills with running skills and hand-eye coordination tasks. Click here to read about more benefits of hockey!

So bundle up, put on protective gear, and head outside for some fresh air. Winter sports are healthy, fun, and promote quality time outdoors for you and your family.


Health Benefits of Hockey for Kids

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Many parents often ask me about the best sport to enroll their children in during the winter time. Hockeythe health benefits of hockey always comes high on my list of recommendations. Children as young as 5 years old can participate and benefit from this total body work out.

Health Benefits of Hockey:

Endurance

Hockey is a high-intensity sport that has many cardiovascular benefits. Between bouts of running, skating, and bouts of rests, kids are participating in interval training without even realizing it. High-intensity interval training has been known to boost aerobic capacity, energy levels, and metabolism. Read more

Steps to Prevent Injury in Youth Sports

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Winter is upon us and with it comes a new sports season. As your children prepare for the start of a new season, help ensure  them a season without injury. According to Campbell 2006, “Children need proper physiologic conditioning, strength and flexibility to participate safely in an organized or recreational athletic endeavor” (p 519)[1]. So what does this mean for your children when they’re playing sports?  Read on for tips to keep them injury free.

Tips to Prevent Injury during Kid’s Sports:

  • Proper Warm-Up: Ensure that your child warms up their muscles with a light jog prior to stretching. This ensures that they can get a good stretch, preventing  muscle strains and pulls. Read more

Gross Motor Skills and Dance

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Dance has always been a fun and exciting recreational activity for children of all ages. Along with the enjoyment of dancing to upbeat music and the social experience, dance is also a great way to help develop your child’s gross motor skills. Read on for 4 aspects of your child’s motor skills that can be facilitated with dance lessons and performance of any style.

4 Gross Motor Benefits to Dance:

  1. Balance-Many dance moves incorporate balancing on one leg, standing with feet right next to each other or standing with one foot in front of the other. All of these positions are challenging for your child’s balance systems, which help to strengthen her balancing abilities.
  2. Coordination-While learning to dance, your child will begin by learning different dance moves and positions. Most positions involve different placement of all 4 limbs, which requires a lot of coordination. Also, once your child learns a dance routine with multiple dance positions sequenced together, she will need to coordinate the entire routine. Read more

The Benefits of Ride-On Toys

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Today our guest blogger, Full Throttle Toys, Inc. owner Matt Westfallen, gives us the 411 on benefits of ride-on toys.

Around Chicagoland, summer is in full swing. Along with the extra hours of summer fun and sun comes the worry thatfull throttle our kids are losing the skills they acquired during the school year. Worksheets and flash cards will help, but there is another fun way to help kids with some of the “intangibles” of learning.

When used safely and properly, battery operated, ride-on toys have been proven to provide children with opportunities to practice many early learning skills that are rarely taught in school yet are vital for balanced growth.

Skills that Can Be Developed by Using Ride-On Toys:

  • Gross and Fine Motor Skills: Battery-operated, ride-on toys provide many ways to develop gross and fine motor skills. By operating the vehicle on various types of terrain, opening and closing doors or manipulating the dashboard, children will be using both fine motor skills and gross motor skills.
  • Exercise and Exploration: While playing with a ride-on vehicle toy, not only will children be burning calories, they’ll be outside exploring their world.
  • Sense of Balance: While operating ride-on toys, children will also develop an improved sense of balance. Children who have played with ride-on toys find it easier as they grow older to ride bikes, and to use roller blades and roller skates, because they have learned to distribute their weight while operating vehicles on various surfaces.
  • Spatial Play: It is also important to note that spatial play is stimulated when your children are out exploring the outdoors in a ride-on vehicle. This type of play will improve observation skills and stimulate their imaginations. Read more

Zumba for Kids

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We all know the many benefits of exercise for people of all ages: physical fitness, endurance, strength, coordination, and zumba for kidsmotor planning.  However, making physical fitness a regular part of daily routines can be a real challenge not only for adults, but also for children.  Many children who live more sedentary lifestyles require more motivation to get moving, since it has become their habit to be still.   So what is the trick to increasing kid’s enthusiasm for fitness and getting sedentary kids off the couch?  It’s simple: FUN!  Fitness for children, just like any other children’s programming, should be fun, socially appealing and inviting!

A common activity that many families find enjoyable for all ages is Zumba!  Zumba is a dance-fitness combination that includes culturally diverse music and various elements of dance and cardio, including Hip Hop, Latin dancing, and traditional aerobics.  Zumba is a wonderfully unique fitness program that is set off by its enjoyable, party-like scene.  The bright, bold wardrobe colors, loud music, and rhythmic beats create an energetic and enticing place to get fit.  Zumba is also great for kids! Read more

Concussions are More Common in Teens than Once Thought

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A research letter was published in the Journal of American Medical Association on Tuesday, June 25 which concussionsummarized findings from a recent Canadian study examining concussions in teenagers.  The Canadian research team found that concussion rates in adolescents are much higher than previously thought.

What is the prevalence of concussions in teens?

1 out of every 5 teenagers completing the research project indicated that they had sustained a concussion.  These numbers are high, and there are some flaws with generalizing these numbers to the population as a whole.  This was a survey research project in which the examiners asked teenagers a series of questions about head injuries and academic performance.  Although the likelihood of 1 in 5 teenagers having sustained a concussion is probably not realistic, it is known that head injuries are quite common at rates that are greater than suspected in the past.

Why is it important to know the incident rates of concussions?

The importance of knowing about the incident rates of concussions is that there are numerous known behavioral and emotional variables associated with head injuries.  Adolescents who have sustained a head injury are at risk for learning problems, substance abuse, and emotional concerns.

What does this mean as a parent or teacher?  If you notice a teenager exhibiting a sudden change in academic performance, behavior, or emotional regulation, you want to have an evaluation immediately.  Speak to your child’s pediatrician about a possible neurological or neuropsychological evaluation in order to help determine the possible cause for the changes, as one possible reason might be a sustained head injury.

To read the full Chicago Tribune article on this study, click here.  To learn more about North Shore Pediatric Therapy’s Neuropsychology Diagnostic Program for children and teens, click below.