Helping Hands: Life hacks by Rosellen Ryals, OTR/L Physical Therapy Services

Life Hacks for Continuing Therapy at Home Our children with Autism spend their lives in one therapy or many therapies. What can be done at home?

Time Spent in a Week in the Life of Autism A typical week in the life of a neurotypical child : Eat 21 hrTherapies 0 hr Sleep 70 hr Computer/TV 7 hr School 35 hrPlay 30 hr Homework 5 hr vs A typical week in the life of an Autistic child : Eat 14 hrTherapies 35 hr Sleep 35 hrComputer/TV 30 hr School 30 hrPlay 7 hr (or less due to: pulled for therapy including speech, OT, counseling, etc; pulled for school help; pulled for OSS, ISS, ASD, RTI) Homework or home program 10 hr (with much of it in parent effort)

Types of Therapy Occupational Therapy Speech Therapy Physical Therapy ABA (Applied Behavioral Analysis) Counseling (aka “talk therapy”) Doctor appointments

Putting the Pieces Together Therapy is done by trained professionals but the lower percentage of the child’s time is spent in the clinic; therefore, true success is done at school and home. familyteachers therapistsfriends Who puts the puzzle together???

Hacks If so much of your child’s time is spent outside of the clinic, learn to carry over the progress and training Assess the what, where, how and why

Need for Sensory Calming? Crash pad: make it with 2 sleeping bags, sew the openings, and stuff with foam ( JC bedding saved me mattress scraps when I contacted them). Need Weighted vest? Consider a fishing vest with sand in the pockets Compression shirts – body underarmor ½ size or size smaller

Weighted toys: Take a fun stuffed animal (even the $5 charity ones at kohls). Pull out 3/4 of the stuffing and put in 2 -3 lbs of dried beans, rice, or corn. Sew it shut.

Sensory bins: Fill Rubbermaid type tubs with dried beans, corn, rice, packing peanuts, sand, whatever...and add a few fun toys to dig for. Swings: at home or at a playground

Meltdown corners: Fix a "cave" that is their safety - a corner of an empty closet, a corner behind a couch.... Put a beanbag chair, a blanket, a weighted stuffed toy, books they like. Let them escape for several minutes with no talking at them or interaction. Regroup areas: Does not need to be fancy, just a quiet area that is theirs alone, including a pop up tent (this is good because it is portable - school, home, grandma’s, travel, etc)

Seating Sit on exercise balls Exercise peanuts (sit on it alone or with you behind and around the child) Beach balls with very little inflation or sand to sit on them on a chair (be aware of safety)

Squiggle wiggle writer (vibrating pen I get from Amazon) Vibrating hair brush or vibrating toy Catchable or touchable bubbles Body sock

Sand box or ball pit: Small plastic pools from Walmart, sand from Lowes, balls from oriental trading co or Rhode Island novelties

Smell Put smell on: a sweat band on their arm A rubber bracelet or necklace Smells can be Calming: Vanilla and lavender Alerting: Pine, citrus

Social stories: Have them help write them on the computer, use clip art or actual pictures. Write what you want them to do and the "happy" version NOT the "do not" version.

Help your child when they NEED help….. But make sure they DO Let them learn and allow them to make mistakes DO NOT DO EVERYTHING FOR THEM

Tools are freely given, share ideas as they were shared with me. Therapy is a tool to give you guidance, YOU are what makes your child GREAT. The best for our children is Learning common sense

Remember Through your Adversity stay determined Through your Adversity strive for strength Through your Adversity achieve greatness