Free Sensory Processing Disorder Information Booklet

This free Sensory Processing Disorder Information packet is a printable booklet of SPD info that can be passed on to parents, teachers, and anyone who works with kids with SPD. 

Sensory Processing Disorder Information

Sensory processing disorder free printable packet of information on SPD
 

Many times, parents notice something seems “off” about their child.  They might notice little quirks, or personality traits that just make them wonder if something is going on in their child’s mind.  


Other times, parents KNOW there is a sensory processing issue happening with their child.  They have seen sensory-related behaviors in action and know that their child needs help to address the underlying issues in order to communicate, process sensory information, and learn.


Parents who are just beginning to seek out information related to sensory processing disorder can run into a maze of confusing information.  It can be hard to know where to turn and what to do to start the process of understanding what makes their child tick.


Parents who understand their child’s tendencies and know what it takes to make days, nights, meals, travel, and education easier can run into a wall of teachers/counselors/babysitters/grandparents who just don’t “get it”.


Does any of this sound familiar?  Whether you are a parent who suspects sensory issues or a parent who is experienced with therapy, sensory interventions, and breaths a sensory life, this sensory processing disorder packet is for you.

When you sign up to get the printable booklet, you will also receive a small series of emails with information related to Sensory Processing Disorder, including another free printable. 
Sensory processing disorder printable packet for parents, teachers, or anyone who works with kids with SPD

Sensory Processing Disorder Information

Information on Sensory Processing Disorder in a compact, printable packet.

I am excited to share this Sensory Processing Disorder Booklet with you…and it is absolutely FREE.


This printable packet is a resource about sensory processing that professionals and parents can reference.

Free printable booklet about SPD for parents, teachers, or anyone who works with kids with sensory processing disorder


In the Sensory Processing Information booklet, you’ll find:

Information about SPD
Types of Atypical Sensory Responsiveness
Common Symptoms of Sensory Processing Disorder
Fundamental Facts about SPD
Key Points to Remember about SPD
Ways to Help
Resources related to Sensory Processing Issues

Facts about sensory processing disorder in a free printable packet of SPD information

 

Who will benefit from this Sensory Processing Information packet?

This collection of information is perfect for handing out to teachers, administrators, paraprofessionals, and classroom aides at the start of a new school year.  It’s a great resource for babysitters, camp counselors, neighbors, grandparents, aunts, uncles, concerned family members, or anyone who has recurring contact with a child with sensory processing disorder. 

Parents and teachers will love to pass on this free sensory processing disorder information booklet.



 NOTE: The booklet is in print order so the pages appear to be out of order, but they are actually just aligned for printing. There are page numbers on the bottom of the pages so you know which order to read it in on the document. The packet is 8 pages long.

 

This packet was written and created by Anabelle Alamangos, MOTS and Selena Bach, MOTS

Finding out information on Sensory processing disorder can be confusing! Get this free printable packet on sensory processing disorder information


Who do you know that would benefit from this free Sensory Processing Disorder Information?

This free sensory processing disorder information booklet is helpful for parents, teachers, and therapists of kids with SPD

Share this with someone who lives with, works, with, or loves a child with Sensory Processing Disorder! 

 

Free Sensory Processing Disorder Booklet

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    Ways to Use Sidewalk Chalk to Build Fine Motor Skills

    The summer months mean outdoor play! That doesn’t mean that the fine motor development needs to stop.  Today, I’ve got fun ways to build fine motor skills using a simple pack of sidewalk chalk.

    You can grab a pack of sidewalk chalk at the dollar store.  We love to buy up the end of year clearance sales and have new packs ready to go at the start of the summer months.  These fine motor activities are perfect for outdoor summer play while hanging out with the kids.

    Drawing on a sidewalk or driveway is a great way to encourage increased strength of the hands.  There are a few things happening when kids get down on the ground to play with chalk.  First, they are getting into a different position.  Whether in quadruped or sitting on the ground, the core muscles are engaged.

    Read more about core strengthening here.

    You’ll also be interested in our new Summer Occupational Therapy Activities Packet. It’s a collection of 14 items that guide summer programming at home, at school, and in therapy sessions. The summer activities bundle covers handwriting, visual perceptual skills and visual motor skills, fine motor skills, gross motor skills, regulation, and more.

    You’ll find ideas to use in virtual therapy sessions and to send home as home activities that build skills and power development with a fun, summer theme. Kids will love the Summer Spot It! game, the puzzles, handouts, and movement activities. Therapists will love the teletherapy slide deck and the easy, ready-to-go activities to slot into OT sessions. The packet is only $10.00 and can be used over and over again for every student/client!

    Grab the Spring Occupational Therapy Activities Packet HERE.

    summer occupational therapy activities for kids

    Try to encourage kids to draw big, so that they are really reaching out with their arms to support their upper body as well as putting weight through their supporting arm.  This is a nice way to add proprioceptive input, too.

    Use sidewalk chalk to build fine motor skills in kids

    Use Chalk to Build Fine Motor Skills

    This post contains affiliate links.

    Next, use that pack of chalk to get to work on fine motor skills!  You can use a box of regular chalkboard chalk, or you can use a few jumbo sidewalk chalk pieces.  The key with the jumbo pieces is to get them smaller for the hands to really develop the skills they need for holding a pencil and writing.

    One fun activity is to use a rock or a hammer to smash the chalk into smaller pieces.  All you need is a chunk of chalk.  Kids really get into this part of the fun, and it’s a nice upper body and heavy work strengthening activity, too.

    Once you have smaller pieces, use them in the following ways to develop fine motor skills:

    • Draw circles and color them in.  Drawing connecting lines on a resistive surface like the sidewalk promotes the visual motor skills needed for letter formation and line placement when writing letters.
    • Play word games like hangman, Tick Tack Toe (Use letters in place of “x” and “o”), and hopscotch with words in the boxes.
    • Get the chalk dust wet and draw with your fingers.  This is a great way to encourage finger isolation and separation of the two sides of the hands.
    • Use that wet chalk dust to create DIY liquid chalk paint.  Paint it on paper to promote tool use (paintbrushes of different sizes). Then, use bamboo skewers, lollipop sticks, or craft sticks to scrape lines and words into the paint.  Can you scrape your name in the paint before it dries?
    • Color with a small chalk piece onto rocks of various sizes.  What an activity this is!  Holding the rock in one hand while coloring with the small chalk chunk is a bilateral hand activity that provides heavy input through the assisting hand.  This promotes an awareness of the non-dominant hand while the dominant hand colors in the rock.  The rock will need to manipulated within the hand, allowing for arch development and intrinsic hand strength. (Developing fine motor skills in the non-dominant hand is important too!  Think about tying shoes, typing and other bilateral activities that require fine motor skill development in both hands.)
    • Write words on bricks and then move them to make crazy sentences.  We love the magnet word games that you can make silly sentences with on the fridge.  This outdoor version is just as much fun, but adds heavy work input that is calming and silly at the same time!  Work together for a fine motor (and gross motor) activity that the kids won’t forget!
    • Write on a brick wall.  Then squirt it with a squeeze spray bottle.  This is another fine motor powerhouse activity.  Writing on a vertical surface has SO many benefits.  From encouraging an extended wrist, to strengthening the arm, to promoting the whole body to look up for better posture, breathing, and lung capacity.  There is also the fine motor benefits: Promoting dexterity in the precision side of the hand and separation of the two sides of the hand.  Plus, writing on the bricks provides a resistive surface that promotes motor planning and strengthening for motor memory related to letter formation.  Write on bricks like cement block bricks as opposed to house bricks for better letter formation practice.  THEN, use a squeeze bottle to erase the words!  This promotes gross grasp strength of the power side of the hand, separation of the two sides of the hand, and visual motor integration as kids aim and squeeze.  This is one handwriting activity that kids will love!
    Use sidewalk chalk to work on fine motor skills

    What are your favorite ways to practice fine motor skills with chalk during the summer months?  Let us know on our Facebook page.  We would love to see them!

    Looking for more ways to promote development using chalk?  Try these motor planning activities that use sidewalk chalk.  They are the perfect addition to your summer days.

    These fine motor activities that use sidewalk chalk would be a great addition to our summer sensory handwriting camp.  Sneak those fine motor skills and handwriting work into sensory play fun this summer!

    Help kids develop fine motor skills using sidewalk chalk

    Want to take summer play to the next level? Be sure to grab your copy of the Summer OT Activities Bundle!

    Summer activities for kids

    Separation of the Sides of the Hand Activity

    This simple activity is one that is designed to promote motoric hand separation.  This is a skill that is necessary for so many tasks!  From holding a pencil to cutting with scissors, to zippering a zipper, motoric separation of the two sides of the hand is an essential skill when it comes to fine motor skills


     

    Separation of the sides of the hand activity for kids

    Separation of the sides of the hand activity for helping kids improve fine motor skills needed for many functional tasks like fastening buttons or holding a pencil
     
    This activity is one that kids will love.  The use of small sponge pieces promotes a tactile reminder to squeeze the individual fingers down into the palm, separating the ulnar side of the hand from the radial side.  
     
    When kids write with a pencil, they need to hold and move the pencil with the thumb, pointer finger, and middle finger.  This precision side of the hand is used for fine motor movements and dexterity. 
     
    Try this DIY Pick-Up Stick Activity to work on Precision Skills.
     
    When writing, we use the power side of the hand, or the strength side of the hand to stabilize the hand during it’s motions. 
     
    Try this Fine Motor Craft to work on Gross Motor Grasp Skills.

    This Separation of the sides of the hand activity is fun when working on precision of grasp and strength of gross grasp skills needed for tasks like handwriting and holding a pencil.


    Activity to Improve Motoric Separation of the Two Sides of the Hand

     
    This activity is such a fun one for kids!  You’ll need just one material (and it can be used over and over again.)
     
    (Affiliate links are included in this post.)
     
    We used a kitchen sponge and cut it into small squares.  We used two different colored sponges, but you could use the same sponge and the same color squares. 
     
    Simply cut the kitchen sponge into 1 inch x 1 inch pieces.  Next, wet the sponges.  Place one sponge square into the palm of the child’s hand.  Ask them to close their pinkie finger and ring finger around the sponge to hold it in place.  The sponge should not hold enough water so that it drips down the palm of the hand and wrist.  
     
    For kids that need more cues to hold the ulnar side of the hand with closed fingers, you can add more water to the sponge.  When they squeeze the sponge down with the ring and pinkie fingers, the water will drip out of the sponge.
     
    Next, use another sponge square in the remaining fingers (middle and pointer fingers and thumb).  The child can squeeze the sponge to remove water with just the precision fingers.  
     
    To make this activity more difficult, add water to just one sponge while keeping the other sponge dry.  Then, ask them to squeeze the water from the wet sponge with the appropriate fingers.  This REALLY draws attention to the separation of the two sides of the hand!
     
    Other ways to play with this activity while addressing separation of the sides of the hand:
    • Use a wet sponge to draw letters, numbers, or words on a large chalkboard.  
    • Draw with chalk on a sidewalk and then erase it with a wet sponge.
    • Water seedlings by squeezing water from the sponge.
    • Drip water designs on colored paper.
    For more precision and gross motor grasp development, try this precision building activity to separate the two sides of the hand.

    Separation of the Sides of the Hand Activities and Resources

    Want to know more about what’s going on with bad pencil grasps and how to incorporate separation of the sides of the hand into handwriting and pencil grasps? This is a big part of a functional pencil grasp and efficient handwriting.

    Join the Pencil Grasp Challenge to find out more on this functional skill.

    The pencil grasp challenge is a free, 5 day mini course and challenge. During the course of five days, I’ll be teaching everything you need to know about the skills that make up a functional pencil grasp. You’ll learn what’s going on behind the inefficient and just plain terrible pencil grasps you see everyday in the classroom, clinic, or home. Along with loads of information, you’ll gain quick, daily activities that you can do today with a kiddo you know and love. These are easy activities that use items you probably already have in your home right now.

    Besides learning and gaining a handful (pun intended) of fun ideas to make quick wins in pencil grasp work, you’ll gain:

    • 5 days of information related to pencil grasp, so you know how to help kids fix an immature pencil grasp.
    • Specific activities designed to build a functional pencil grasp.
    • Free printable handouts that you can use to share with your team or with a parent/fellow teachers.
    • You’ll get access to printable challenge sheets, and a few other fun surprises.
    • And, possibly the best of all, you’ll get access to a secret challengers Facebook group, where you can share wins, chat about all things pencil grasp, and join a community of other therapists, parents and teachers working on pencil grasp issues.

    Click here to join the Pencil Grasp Challenge.

    Colleen Beck, OTR/L is an occupational therapist with 20 years experience, graduating from the University of Pittsburgh in 2000. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. As the creator, author, and owner of the website and its social media channels, Colleen strives to empower those serving kids of all levels and needs. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.

    Pincer Grasp Fine Motor Activity

    This fine motor activity uses a material you might have in your house right now.  Finding easy ways to incorporate household items into developmental progression is important for therapists.  Parents can easily use those items to help kids develop the skills they need for handwriting, clothing fasteners, tool use (scissors, staplers, forks, knives, rulers, screwdrivers) more easily, allowing for increased independence and success during activities.  This pincer grasp  fine motor activity improves many areas (described below) but is a great way to help kids improve pincer grasp.

    Pincer grasp activity for fine motor skill development in kids

    Pincer Grasp Fine Motor Activity

    You’ll need just a few materials for this fine motor activity:
    This post contains affiliate links.

    Sticky tack (also known as removable poster putty)
    Small beads- We used alphabet beads
    The Flower Play Mat to hold the beads and to encourage in-hand manipulation skills

    What is Pincer Grasp?

    Pincer grasp is a skill that develops around 9-12 months of age.  At this time, children are typically able to pick up small items such as cereal with the pads of the thumb and pointer finger.  This pad-to-pad grip is called the pincer grasp.

    Pincer grasp is important for many fine motor tasks.  Any functional skill that involved holding items between the thumb and index finger are based on effective development of pincer grasp.

    There are things that can impair pincer grasp.  When a child holds their pencil or any small item such as beads with a squashed thumb web space, they are ineffective in in-hand manipulation, dexterity, and strength.  Try these activities to work on an open thumb web space.

    Use this FIne motor play mat for kids to help build and boost fine motor skills.

    To complete this pincer grasp fine motor activity, you’ll need to place the beads in a small bowl.  The partitions of the The Flower Play Mat are perfect for holding small beads.  The wells of the mat are deep, which required children to cup their palm into a curved arch.  This motion of the hand as they pick up beads with a pincer grasp allows them to use in-hand manipulation to squirrel beads away into their palm while strengthening the intrinsic muscles of the hand.  What a powerhouse set of tasks with just one single task of picking up beads!

    Use poster tack to help kids improve fine motor skills like pincer grasp.

    Next, use the beads to push into the sticky surface of the poster tack.  Children can use a pincer grasp to hold the beads as they press them into the resistive dough.

    This action further strengthens the intrinsic muscles of the hands, making those hands stronger for skills like pencil grasp, coloring, and manipulating items.

    We used the letter beads to spell words.  It was fun to see the impression of the letters in the sticky poster putty.

    Kids will love this pincer grasp fine motor activity that uses beads and poster sticky tack.

    Try a few of these other pincer grasp activities:

    Neat Pincer Grasp Fine Motor Activity Buttoning Tips and Tricks https://www.theottoolbox.com/2015/11/benefits-of-playing-with-stickers-occupational-therapy.html