Bonnie's Blog

Summer Camps and Programs

The staff at Emerge has been busy planning our summer programs.  Summer is a wonderful time to offer your child an intensive therapy experience.  We offer a wide variety of programs designed to enrich children's lives and develop new skills.  The fliers will soon be up on the website, but in the meantime, please feel free to call or email us and we will happily send you information about any programs that you might be interested in.

Capable Kindergartners - Developing fine motor skills through fun art activities

Ready Writers - Developing fine motor and handwriting skills for rising 1st and 2nd graders

Preschool Power - Developing social and language skills

Staying Cool - Helping children develop strategies to reduce anxiety

How Does Your Engine Run - Helping children learn regulation strategies

Recipe for Fun - Developing fine motor, social and language skills while having fun cooking

Horse Sense - One week day camp integrating horses and other sensory-motor strategies

What is Therapeutic Listening (and can it help my child)?

Therapeutic Listening®  combines a sound-based intervention with a sensory diet to impact a child's sensory processing and behavioral organization. Therapeutic Listening can impact sensory modulation, attention, behavior, postural organization, and speech and language difficulties. Therapeutic Listening employs electronically altered compact discs that are used in a home program, providing parents the opportunity to significantly enhance their child's sensory program on a daily basis  Ceck out the  Vital Links website for more detailed information, including a four page parent handout.

At Emerge, we have found that therapy outcomes are improved and the length of time in therapy is often reduced when the child is on a consistant Therapeutic Listening program.  Therapeutic Listening is started during therapy sessions and then if it seems to be a good match for the child, headphones and CD can be loaned for a two week trial.  After that, parents puchase the headphones and join the Emerge Therapeutic Listening library so that they can take advantage of a wide array of CDs.  Each CD provides a somewhat different impact on the nervous system, depending on the style of music and instrumentation.

Case one:  A seven year old boy who had been receiving occupational therapy for four months prior to starting Therapeutic Listening.  Each week his teacher sent home a checklist of negative behaviors this child demonstrated during the school week.  Typically it included 16-18 negative checks.  After one week of therapeutic listening (and without informing the teacher), this child brought home a report with only 3 negative checks.

Case two:  A four year old boy who had severe auditory defensiveness, to the point where he would vomit when a fire drill occured at school.  Additionally he would become so overwhelmed at school, that he would growl at other children and attempt to bite them.  After a few weeks of Therapeutic Listening, he was able to just cover his ears in response to the fire drill and was able to appropriately interact with his classmates.

Interactive Metronome

Summer is a great time to undertake an Interactive Metronome® (IM) program for your child.  IM is a neuro-motor assessment & treatment tool used in therapy to improve the neurological processes of motor planning,sequencing, rhythm and timing. IM ‘trains the brain’ to plan, sequence and process information more effectively through repetition of interactive exercises.

The IM program provides a structured, goal-oriented process that challenges the child to synchronize a range of hand and foot exercises to a precise computer-generated reference tone heard through headphones. The child attempts to match the rhythmic beat with repetitive motor actions. An auditory-visual guidance system provides immediate feedback measured in milliseconds, and a score is provided.

The IM program has been shown to produce significant results in children and adults with a wide range of physical and cognitive difficulties including ADHD. The March/April 2001 issue of the American Journal of Occupational Therapy identified five core areas of statistically significant improvements gained through the IM training program:

• Attention and Focus
• Motor Control and Coordination
• Language Processing
• Reading and Math Fluency
• Ability to Regulate Aggression / Impulsivity

Ongoing studies continue to validate correlations between Interactive Metronome and academic achievement in mathematics, language, reading and attention to task. The IM program has also proven to be a powerful tool for improving both the physical and mental aspects of athletic and musical performance.  IM is useful not only with children (or adults) experiencing specific attention, learning or motor challenges, but also as a tool for improving skills in typically developing children. 

An occupational therapist on our national list serve shared this experience with Interactive Metronome: "I have had two students who had Interactive Metronome through a private occupational therapy clinic; both are first graders. The mother of the boy said it "turned her son's life around", and he is doing much better academically. The teacher of the girl is seeing academic improvement, as well as the ability to sit and focus for longer periods of time. I also work with a PT whose daughter was having difficulty with motor
skills, and struggling academically. She completed a course of IM and now works at grade level, and began ice skating during the winter."

While Emerge offers this program year-round, the summer is often the best time to do it, due to the program's intensity.  It is typically a 15 session program completed over the course of 5 weeks.  While it can sometimes be adapted for use with younger children, it is typically used with children aged 7 and above.  If you are interested in exploring Interactive Metronome as an option for your child, please call Michelle @ 489-7333.

The Importance of Play & Self-Regulation

Please read this article!!  It may make a significant impact on how you structure your child's time.  And how they spend their time has a profound impact on their future success.

On Friday morning, NPR aired a program entitled "Old-Fashioned Play Builds Serious Skills" in which the over commercialization and regulation of play and the impact this has had on the development of children.  Of particular concern was the decrease in children's ability to self-regulate.  "Sad because self-regulation is incredibly important... In fact, good executive function is a better predictor of success in school than a child's IQ.  Children who are able to manage their feelings and pay attention are better able to learn."

The article notes that children today spend a lot of time watching television, playing video games and taking lessons, none of which help them develop self-regulatory skills.  (Note:  Children with sensory processing difficulties often have poor self-regulatory skills.  They need extra help to improve sensory processing to build a foundation for the development of self-regulation skills.) Recommended alternatives in the article included: complex imaginative play and activities that require planning.  Familiar activities at Emerge.  We have a strong commitment to the concepts of Floortime when working with children.  Therapy activities are often based in play, often imaginative.  Children with specific developmental challenges, such as dyspraxia, poor sensory modulation, or autism spectrum typically need support from therapists, parents, and teachers to develop their play skills.  As children become older and more skilled, we invite them to become active designers of their therapy session.  The art of therapy is in providing the environment, support, and subtle direction so that the child makes adaptive changes towards mastery of of themselves and their environment.