Colleen Beck, OTR/L is a pediatric occupational therapist and the owner and author of The OT Toolbox website. She manages all of The OT Toolbox social media accounts and runs the popular newsletter.
Read about Colleen's experience and career as an occupational therapist, including how The OT Toolbox began on our About The OT Toolbox page: https://www.theottoolbox.com/about-us/
Colleen created The OT Toolbox in 2011 and since then has written thousands of blog posts designed to support therapy providers, educators, parents, counselors, admin, and caregivers in promoting the healthy development of kids.
Check out Colleen's blog posts below:
Let’s talk body awareness activities using proprioception, or heavy work to bring awareness to where the body is, how the body moves, and awareness of self. Proprioception is one of the senses that is involved with everything we do. This sensory system plays a major role in body awareness. Below you’ll find body awareness occupational therapy activities to support this motor concept.
Be sure to check out a related resource, our self awareness games blog post for activities to support overall awareness of self.
Take a quick moment to stop and consider the position you are in right now. Are you lounging back on a couch? Sitting at a desk? Bouncing on a city bus as you glance at your mobile device? Are you perched in an office chair with your legs folded under you? Are you hanging out at the playground and glancing at your phone while your kids run in circles?
Here’s one of my favorite OT tips for supporting proprioception and body awareness skills: If you need activities that provide proprioceptive input, and for quick grab-and-go options, our Heavy Work Activity Cards make movement breaks easy and visual.
What is Body Awareness?
The definition of body awareness is this… Body awareness refers to being aware of the body’s position in space at rest and during movement. This concept can be broken down into having an awareness of body parts by name, movement, discrimination of sides of the body, and movement throughout space.
Being aware of our body position is something that happens automatically and naturally. That body awareness occurs naturally. The proprioceptive sense allows us to position our bodies just so in order to enable our hands, eyes, ears, and other parts to perform actions or jobs at any given moment. Proprioception activities help with body awareness.
The proprioceptive sense sends information about our body’s position to the brain so that we inherently know that our foot is tapping the ground as we wait on the bus or that our leg is curled under the other on the couch even while we do other actions or tasks.
This awareness allows us to walk around objects in our path, to move a spoon to our mouth without looking at it, and to stand far enough away from others while waiting in a line at the grocery store. It enables a student to write without pressing too hard or too lightly on their pencil when writing, and it helps us to brush our hair with just the right amount of pressure.
Proprioception is essential for everything we do!
Sometimes, the proprioceptive system does not do it’s job.
When the proprioceptive system isn’t functioning properly, body awareness and motor planning can be a problem.
When a child needs to pay attention to where their body is in space at all times, they can not attend to other important information like what is happening in their world around them. He or she can not automatically adjust to environmental changes. The child then needs to visually compensate in order to adjust his or her body. This can result in a child being clumsy, fearful, are even scared in certain situations.
Examples of Body awareness
Below are two situations that describe a child with proprioception challenges. In both, imagine a child who struggles to know where their body is in space.
Body awareness navigating bleachers- Imagine you are sitting on a set of bleachers in a crowd of wiggly, moving, and LOUD students. There is a lot going on around you, whether you are at a sporting event or in a gymnasium.
But, you also notice the bleachers don’t have a bottom to the steps; that is, you can see directly down to the ground below you. Kids are standing up, sitting down, jumping, roughhousing, and you are SCARED.
Your body doesn’t know how to position itself in a safe manner. You don’t know what action will come next and you don’t know where to look. You don’t know where your feet are or if your hands are supporting you.
Climbing up and down the bleachers is downright terrifying! For the child with proprioceptive struggles, just sitting on a set of bleachers can be challenging and overwhelming.
Body awareness sitting at a classroom desk- Now think about the child who is sitting at their desk and is required to write a journal entry. For the child with proprioceptive challenges, this can be a task with many “self-checks”.
They need to look at their feet to make sure they are under their desk so they don’t get in trouble for almost tripping someone between the desk aisles. They need to make sure they are sitting upright in their chair and that their back is touching the chair’s backrest.
They need to hold the paper and the pencil like they were taught. They need to align the paper and the words and then think about how hard to press on the paper, how to make the lines for individual letters, and how to string together letters to make words.
What a workout it is just to get settled in and started on a writing task! By now they might have lost several minutes of the writing time and they still don’t know what they are even writing about!
Both of these situations happen on an every day basis.
For the child with proprioception difficulties, the ability to be aware of their body in space and plan out motor actions is very much a struggle. These kids might appear fidgety, unsure, overwhelmed, clumsy, awkward, uncoordinated, or lazy.
When children or adults struggle with awareness of body positioning or movement patterns during activities, functional tasks can be a struggle. Every day tasks are difficult or impaired.
Occupational therapists work with individuals of all ages on functional tasks that occur in all aspects of daily living. Movement is part of the daily task completion, so it is likely that if body awareness is an issue, there are functional impairments at play.
Occupational therapy professionals will focus body awareness goals on the functional task that is impaired.
OT goals for body awareness can be specifically focused on improving body awareness during those functional tasks. Activities that address those goals can include heavy work, attention to task, motor planning, fine or gross motor skills, sensory input in the way of organizing proprioceptive input or vestibular input, visual cues and prompts. There are many ways this skill area can be addressed and these goals will be individualized for the child or adult.
Additionally, OT goals for body awareness may focus on motor planning. Proprioception is very closely aligned with body awareness and motor planning.
Need more information on proprioception and the other sensory systems and how they impact independence? Grab this free sensory processing disorder information booklet and free email series on sensory processing.
In this blog post, we are specifically discussing how to use proprioception activities to help with body awareness.
The proprioceptive system is alerted through heavy work activities that involve heavy pressure, firm sensations, large, forceful motor movements, and pushing or pulling activities. These actions can be calming and organizing.
Try these proprioception activities to help with body awareness at home, in the classroom, or in play.
Proprioception activities at home
Carry full laundry baskets to the laundry area
Empty wet clothes into the dryer
Change sheets
Pull weeds
Pull garbage cans to and from the curve
Carry in grocery bags
Carry donations to the car
Wash windows
Scrub carpets
Shovel snow
Rake leaves
Mop floors
Vacuum
Rearrange furniture
Proprioception activities in the classroom
Carry piles of books
Rearrange furniture
Help gym teacher move mats
Carry bin of lunchboxes to/from the lunch room
Wall push-ups
Chair push-ups
Clap erasers
Stack books in the library
Place chairs on desks at the end of the day, pull them down again in the morning
Looking for more ways to add proprioception activities into play and therapy? Try the ideas below. Just click on the images to read more.
In the Sensory Lifestyle Handbook, we cover motor planning and body awareness concepts as they are deeply related to sensory processing. Much like the body awareness activities listed in this blog post, the book discusses how to integrate functional tasks within the day that offer organizing and regulating input through functional activities.
Not only are these activities regulation tools, they are also activities that support development of body position in space and awareness of the body’s movements.
The Sensory Lifestyle Handbook walks you through sensory processing information, each step of creating a meaningful and motivating sensory diet, that is guided by the individual’s personal interests and preferences.
The Sensory Lifestyle Handbook is not just about creating a sensory diet to meet sensory processing needs. This handbook is your key to creating an active and thriving lifestyle based on a deep understanding of sensory processing.
Body Scheme and Body Awareness
Another way that you may have heard body awareness phrased is “body scheme”. This is just another way to explain the awareness one has of their body and the various parts of the body. Body scheme allows us to be aware of the spatial relationships of where the body is in space in a given activity.
Body scheme involves proprioceptive awareness so that we can move and interact in the world around us.
We can define body scheme as the awareness of body parts and the position of the body and it’s parts in relation to themselves and to the objects in the environment.
When there are deficits in body scheme, we may see certain difficulties:
challenges with apraxia, or difficulty with purposeful movement in relation to sensory input, movement, and coordination.
The individual might not recognize body parts or the relationship between them. This is especially observed in neuromuscular disturbances such as a CVA (stroke)
Movements may be considered unsafe. We might see difficulties with intentional movement and problems navigating busy hallways, stadium steps, bleachers, etc.
There are typically related deficits related to body scheme or body awareness difficulties. These may include:
Body awareness challenges like moving and utilizing the body without looking at or thinking about how the body needs to move. This awareness of the body in space results in functional and efficient movements with coordination.
Challenges with body scheme may be a cause of brain damage or brain injury such as a neuromuscular impairment. However, difficulties with body scheme may be a result of other deficits as well, including visual-spatial deficits, sensory processing challenges, verbal, or conceptual considerations.
Using Heavy Work Cards for Proprioceptive Input and Sensory Regulation
Proprioception is the body’s ability to sense its position in space, and when kids engage in heavy work activities, like pushing, pulling, lifting, or jumping. These types of activities activate the sensory processing system. This input supports better motor planning, coordination, and self-regulation. Our Heavy Work Activity Cards are a simple way to offer proprioceptive input through movement-rich activities that can be done in short bursts throughout the day.
Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.
Did you know the important role that heavy work activities play in our ability to learn, focus, attend, and participate in everyday tasks? It’s true. We all need calming and organizing sensory input in the form of heavy work tasks that provide proprioceptive input through the muscles and joints. Here, we’ll cover what heavy work is, when heavy work is needed, and specific heavy work strategies that kids of all ages can do at home, in the classroom, or in their therapy session.
Heavy work can be so many things! Below you’ll find ideas for pushing, pulling, lifting, jumping, chewing, and other ideas for adding organizing proprioceptive input.
Want printable versions of these activities to use at home, in the classroom, or therapy? Try our Heavy Work Activity Cards for easy access to movement-based sensory input.
Heavy Work Activities
In a different world children would be ready to learn at all times. In an alternate universe children would not have temper tantrums or meltdowns in shopping centers. In another time and place all of us would be well-regulated all day and all night!
But that’s not how things work and anyone spending time with children will know that there are moments when they are out-of-sync and not quite with the program.
We all experience dysregulation at one point or another! We cover more on this in our recent blog on on the Alert program, which also has ideas for heavy work input.
And that’s all part of their journey of growing, developing and learning. You will be happy to know that when you are faced with these rather challenging times there is a powerful tool you can use to help children become more regulated…heavy work!
You can rely on heavy work to help you out to organize a dysregulated nervous system.
WHAT is HEAVY WORK?
Heavy work is activity that requires effort from our muscles and these tasks usually involve activation of the muscles and joints of the body through the proprioceptive system by movements such as pushing, pulling or lifting. The movement activities create resistance input to the muscles and this feedback is ultimately what calms and regulates the sensory system.
The sensory system that is activated during heavy work activities is called the proprioceptive system. The proprioceptive system receives messages when the muscles move to do work. These messages flow back and forth to the brain. The brain decides how much force a muscle should use based on the task at hand.
This allows children to use the correct amount of force when they need to hold something gently or when they need to lift something heavy.
It’s a complex system that is constantly adjusting to make sure the brain is getting the right information from all the joints and muscles in the body and as well as making sure the muscle output is appropriate to the task. This concept is also known as body awareness and allows us to know where our body is in space and how to move our body.
The take away message about the proprioceptive system is that it is a universal and powerful regulator.
By working with the proprioceptive system you can even out disturbances in other sensory systems. You can increase energy levels if you need to and you can reduce high energy levels to help children reach a calm, comfortable space to interact with the world.
So when is heavy work appropriate to support learning and participation in daily tasks?
WHEN TO DO HEAVY WORK
The beauty of heavy work is that they are really easy to incorporate at home, in the classroom and in therapy settings. Adding heavy work to a child’s daily routine will contribute to the development of their sensory processing.
Children will also gain valuable tools that they can use when the feel that they need to regulate themselves. How often you use heavy work input will depend on the individual child. Be guided by the child’s enjoyment and response to the activity that you introduce.
Consider including a heavy work activity in the morning before going to school and again in the afternoon when children arrive home from school. Heavy work can also be incorporated into bedtime routines to help the sensory system feel calm and restful.
At school, heavy sensory input for the whole class can be incorporated at regular intervals during the day. Incorporating heavy work (and other sensory system input) into daily functional tasks, or setting up a sensory lifestyle, are all concepts covered in the book The Sensory Lifestyle Handbook.
Strategies like pushing a ball or heavy basket, or wall push ups and chair push ups are some examples of heavy work. Heavy work offers effort from the muscles and joints and requires the proprioceptive sensory system. The resistance provides feedback through the receptors in the muscles, joints, and ligaments. This is what is calming and regulating because the movements are organizing.
Why Heavy Work?
If you look at the iceberg image above, you’ll notice that the image depicts an iceberg with activity words above the water level. These tasks depict the heavy work actions that we see in action.
Heavy work may include:
Pushing
Pulling
Lifting
Carrying
Chewing
Jumping
Carrying
Squeezing
Climbing
Pinching
Brushing
Any other actions that use the muscles and joints with weight of the body or object
Under the water level, you’ll notice words and phrases that depict underlying skills. These are the components of heavy work that you might not “see” in action, but they are occurring with and through heavy work.
These are skills that we need for everyday tasks. Heavy work involves these components, and are what makes body awareness and movement happen. These are the skills that contribute to the organizing and regulating capacity of heavy work. The potential of these underlying components to contribute to the effectiveness of heavy work activities.
Proximal joint strength and stability (elbow, wrist, etc.)
We like to say that it’s like the chicken and the egg saying. The underlying and contributing factors of heavy work contribute to the heavy work actions and the heavy work actions contribute to the underlying contributing factors.
How to use heavy work activities
Now you are ready to use heavy work sensory input to create happy, well regulated children!
Specific children may be given opportunities to engage in additional heavy work activities during the day if they are struggling with sensory processing and attention the classroom.
Some deep pressure work activities require no equipment and very little space. Others may require some props and a bit of space. Select your heavy work activity according to the space and items available to you.
And have a few options available. Each child has a different sensory make up and preference and will respond differently to the heavy work input that you introduce. You will soon discover the activities that they enjoy and the activities that help them to feel calmer and more regulated.
Pushing Heavy Work Activities
Pushing or pulling heavy objects, like a wagon, a weighted sled, or a suitcase, engages the muscles and joints of the proximal leg joints and the large muscle groups of the legs. These activities also engage the proximal joints and shoulder girdle of the upper extremity, as well as core strength and stability.
Wall push ups- stand an arm’s length away from a wall and place both hands on the wall at shoulder height. Bend your elbows and lean into the wall until your nose is touching the wall. Return to the original position. Repeat ten times.
Chair push ups- sit in a chair with you palms on the seat of the chair at either side of you. Push on your arms and lift your bottom and legs off the seat of the chair for a few seconds.
Pushing a box across the room- fill a box with books or toys and kneel in front of it. Push the box across the room.
Fill a laundry basket with laundry and ask your child to push it through the house.
Push a large therapy ball or medicine ball along the floor and up the wall as high as you can go
Pushing off a wall or object while on a sensory swing
Pulling heavy work activities include activities like some yoga moves, playing tug of war, doing pull ups, and more.
Pulling Heavy Work activities
Closely related to pushing, pulling heavy work uses the upper and lower extremities and the core.
Pulling on a rope- tie a rope to a tree, pole or secure door handle. Hold the rope and see how far you can lean back while pulling on the rope. You only need one person for this tug-of-war game!
Tug of war- if two or more children are available have a game of tug of war
Pull up bar- it may be tricky for children to perform pull ups but just hanging from a bar is great work for muscles.
Pulling and stretching a piece of theraband or stretchy material.
Wall push-Ups- Have children perform wall push-ups by pushing against a wall with their hands. This provides resistance and helps build upper body strength.
Jumping is a great organizing heavy work activity and ideas include using a trampoline, doing jumping jacks, rocket jumps, or star jumps, and other jumping games.
Jumping heavy work Activities
Jumping activities add heavy work through the hips, knees, and feet.
Trampoline- this provides endless hours of heavy work activity. Wonderful proprioceptive input while children enjoy the pleasure of jumping.
Jumping on a mattress on the floor or couch cushions placed on the floor.
Rocket jumps- crouch down and place your hands on the floor next to you. Count down from ten and leap into the air raising both hands up to the sky. Repeat the rocket launch a few times.
Star jumps / jumping jacks are great for co-ordination and heavy work.
Sitting on a small therapy ball and bouncing up and down.
Hopper balls with handles are also a fun way to bounce around.
Lifting heavy work activities include carrying a weighted backpack or stack of books, doing laundry, and yoga.
Lifting heavy work strategies
Lifting weighted items or carrying heavy objects such as books, backpacks, or baskets of laundry offer heavy work. In addition to holding weighted items, lifting can involve the body weight as well.
Carrying bags- allow children opportunities to carry bags of groceries or laundry at home
Weighted backpack- place a few magazines in a backpack and encourage your child to walk around with the backpack for a few minutes.
A message could be placed in the backpack and your child could deliver this message to a family member at home or to another teacher at school.
Carry a stack of books
Carry a full laundry basket
Carry a full tote bag
Weighted stuffed animal
Leg lifts, raising arms over head, holding a bridge position
Oral motor exercises and input through the mouth and face offer heavy work through the jaw, cheeks, tongue, and neck. These can be very organizing and regulating strategies.
Chew gum, dried mango, or other dry fruit
Drink think liquids through a straw e.g. yogurt, thick milkshake
Specially designed necklaces, bracelets and toys are available for chewing.
Chew on a straw
Blow through a straw
Eat crunchy snacks
Drink a smoothie through a sippy cup with a straw-type top
Use a “crazy straw” in a cup. The smaller opening is great for oral motor input.
Play “Simon Says” with mouth exercises: Suck cheeks in/puff cheeks out/Make a big “O” shape/Stretch out the tongue. Use these printable Simon Says commands to target oral motor skills.
Chew gum
Use a straw to suck and pick up pieces of paper. Transfer them carefully to a cup using only the straw.
Activities like bear walks, crab walks, or crawling like a snake can engage the muscles and joints while being fun for kids.
Climbing Activities
Encourage climbing on playground equipment, climbing walls, or indoor climbing gyms. Other ideas include using playground equipment for sensory input, or climbing up a slide, when safe and appropriate.
Climbing provides heavy work for the upper body and core muscles.
Squeezing Activities
Using stress balls, therapy putty, or hand squeezers can help improve hand strength and provide sensory input.
Another idea is using a regular blanket as a sensory burrito.
Yoga and Deep Pressure Poses-
Some yoga poses, like downward dog or child’s pose, provide deep pressure to specific body parts and can be calming for children.
You can also include partner yoga poses in small groups for added heavy work.
Digging in the Garden-
Gardening activities, such as digging holes or moving soil, engage the muscles and joints. Check out our post on sensory gardening for more information on these benefits.
Bouncing on a Therapy Ball-
Sitting or bouncing on a therapy ball engages core muscles and provides sensory input.
For a great resource filled with heavy work activity ideas, grab this set of heavy work activity cards that offer themed brain break cards, in 11 pages of themed heavy work activity cards, with 8 activities for each theme.
Creating an individualized sensory diet with scheduled heavy work sensory activities (and other sensory input as needed) is part of a sensory diet. Read this resource for what a sensory diet is and this resource on how to create an effective sensory diet.
You will quickly discover how powerful heavy work as sensory input is and how much fun the children have when they engage in these activities. In addition to heavy work, there are various other sensory based tools that you can use to assist children who may have more complex sensory needs.
Children with sensory processing difficulties benefit from sensory diet which introduces a variety of specific sensory experience that assist with regulation.
Want to use themed heavy work activities in therapy, home, the community, games, and the classroom? Grab the Heavy Work Activity card set:
Use these heavy work cards to help with building body awareness, motor planning abilities, proprioceptive input, or a movement activity as a brain break to pay attention between learning activities. Included in the pack are:
Trucks Heavy Work Activities
Insects Heavy Work
Sea Animals Heavy Work Exercises
Farm Animals Heavy Work Ideas
Jungle Animals Heavy Work
Woodland Animals Heavy Work Tasks
Superheros Heavy Work Exercises
Sports Heavy Work Activities
Monsters Heavy Work
Summer Heavy Work Ideas
Butterfly Life Cycle Heavy Work
Each activity page includes 8 movement and heavy work cards in that theme.
These heavy work strategies can be added to home programs, teletherapy activity plans, or used as brain breaks during learning and play.
Need heavy work ideas to use on the go? Need sensory strategies to offer to a parent or caregiver? Want to print this information so you can use the printed material to educate parents, caregivers, teachers? Want a printable list of heavy work activities?
Enter your email address into the form below to grab this free printable information packet.
Another great information graphic that I love is this way of describing self regulation strategies. Heavy work is one of the important ways to weave self regulation and emotional regulation into the day. Other ideas include play, imagination toys, and building an emotional vocabulary. This comes from our resource on self regulation strategies for preschoolers.
We all have sensory needs and heavy work is a great tool to have in your toolbox to meet these preferences.
I hope this resource has been a helpful way to better understand heavy work as a tool that we all need!
Printable Heavy Work Activities to Support Sensory Needs in Kids
Heavy work provides deep pressure input to the joints and muscles, which can have a calming and organizing effect on the nervous system. This type of proprioceptive input is often used in occupational therapy to help kids with regulation, attention, and body awareness. Our Heavy Work Activity Cards make it easy to implement these strategies. So, if you’re building a sensory lifestyle, supporting a child before transitions, or just looking for ways to help kids feel more grounded during the day.
Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.
For young (and old) children, a great calming classroom tool that supports learning, social participation, and school tasks is the calm down corner. A calming corner in the classroom can be a great sensory strategy to support emotional regulation needs in students. It’s a place to calm or re-organize in a personal bubble, meeting regulation needs so learning can happen. Let’s go over fun calm down corner ideas to support various regulation needs in the classroom.
As a pediatric OT, I love easy activities that I can use over and over again. One of my favorites are my heavy work activity cards that I can print off and use different themes based on the time of the year. Stock your calm-down corner with visual supports like our Heavy Work Activity Cards, which offer quick movement options for sensory regulation.
They are a great addition to calm down corner ideas like the ones below!
Calm Down Corner
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A classroom calming area can include a variety of movement and sensory based activities or tools.
A place to sit: A visual space for a child to sit in their calming area, that is large enough for one child only. This could be a bean bag chair, a cushion or a pillow. These soft spots will help make the cozy corner comfortable so children feel they can stay as long as they would like. There are so many options when it comes to Flexible Seating tools – bean bag chair, movement seat, deflated beach ball seat, couch, soft chair, floor mats, large pillows
Soft surfaces – yoga mat, gymnastics mat, or soft rug
Timer – visual timers with countdown options are great
Preferred sensory items such as tactile toys, chewing items, plushies, fidgets, etc.
Books: Looking through picture books of all kinds, helps to give children something to do, while keeping their minds calm. Most of the time that children are interested in using a cozy corner, is when they are feeling overwhelmed.These Zones of Regulation booksthat talk about different feelings and support regulation and processing through feelings such as sad, scared, angry and more. These empathy and friendship books are another tool to consider. Place the books in a basket or a shelf for easy access.
Emotional Supports: Visual and tactile supports help people of all ages, but it is essential to have a visual space in the classroom for preschoolers to retreat to when they need time to calm down. Soothing Sammymakes creating this area simple and makes it a positive experience for children. This adorable golden retriever has his calm down house which can be placed in the cozy corner, with items that help children calm down using their sensory system. As they calm down, they can use the visuals included in the kit to explain to other children and adults how they are feeling and what they need support with.
Stuffed Animals or Baby Dolls: When feeling lonely, sad, scared or overwhelmed, having access to baby dolls or adorable stuffed animals makes the space less lonely. Additions such as baby doll blankets, bottles and other caretaking tools, allow children to comfort others as they work on comforting themselves.
Personal space: Adding a privacy cover or even simply a boundary to the cozy corner space helps children not to be distracted by other aspects of the environment. Placing fabric, cloth or other child-safe covers over the cozy space allows children to feel like they are in charge of their own space. Some child care centers place the cozy areas in small tents, (Amazon affiliate links) canopies (affiliate link) or wooden privacy cube like this one. (affiliate link)
A feelings check in could be a great addition to this space. The child could enter the calm down area and identify how they are feeling and then use strategies to support those needs.
This list is just the beginning! A calm down corner can include any item from the list above or classroom sensory diet strategies, based on the needs of the individual student.
Calm down corners can be quiet soothing areas to decompress for certain learners, while others need a more active calm down area in classrooms.
How to Add movement to a calm down corner
There are many different ways that children can calm down. Movement is one of the most beneficial and complicated ways to manage feelings and emotions.
There are two different types of movement patterns that support the sensory system.
Both of these types of movement activities increase awareness of where a body is in space, calms the central nervous system and regulates emotions in an amazing way. Movement is complicated as it can be alerting and calming. Picking the right activity for the desired outcome is tricky, but effective.
Help your learner understand what they need for self regulation, rather than bouncing all over the calm down corner.
How is movement calming?
Have you noticed that children seem to pay attention longer after moving around for a while? This isn’t just because they are tired after completing an active task. Children and adults are able to attend for longer periods of time when movement breaks are embedded into their daily schedules due to the sensory benefits it provides.
For adults that have desk jobs, it is widely known that every 20 minutes, they should stand up. This not only helps blood flow, but also awakens the body. When children are engaged in circle time, implementing movement based activities within circle (like freeze dancing, jumping and marching) is beneficial to improving attention.
Movement has many benefits, including helping calm down when feeling overwhelmed with emotions.
When the sensory system becomes overstimulated due to internal feelings and frustrations, some people are quick to seek out movement activities to calm down. Adults may go for a walk or run, chew gum, lift weights or kick a ball. This strategy directly affects proprioceptive input.
There are many ways the body processes movement. This impacts the central nervous system in different ways.
Proprioceptive inputs is one of the ways the body processes movement. It tells the brain where the body is in space. Proprioception is guided by skin, muscle, and joint receptors in the body, to connect to the brain through the nervous system. In this way, a person knows where their body is in space, and what the body is doing, without needing to watch the body parts move. A great example of proprioception, is being able to walk down the stairs without looking at ones legs or feet
Heavy work, or tasks that involve heavy resistance, offers input to the muscles, joints, and connective tissue, and is essential to regulating the sensory system
In this article on neuroplasticity, evidence suggests the sensorimotor cortex that governs proprioception is not fixed, and can be changed through external manipulation.
Vestibular movement, like proprioception, also helps alert us where our body is in space. This system operates through the inner ear, passing information to the brainstem, affecting many areas of the body. If a person starts jumping, rocking to music, or dancing to calm the body, it activates the vestibular system. This article on vestibular activities does a great job explaining this system.
more about the vestibular system
Receptors in the inner ear, found in two structures (the otolith organs and the semicircular canals), respond to linear/angular/rotational movement, gravity, head tilt, and quick movement changes.
The receptors in the ear, provide information to the central nervous system about the body’s position in space. Information is used to:
control posture, eye, and head movements
correct the eyes with head and body movements
muscle tone and postural adjustments
perceive motion and spatial orientation, and integrates somatosensory information
Through the vestibular and proprioceptive systems, the body processes information about where it is space, interprets movement patterns, and recognizes touch and joint pressure. These senses greatly impact the ability to calm down by triggering pressure points through movement (such as rocking or swinging).
When a child (or adult) becomes upset or overwhelmed, it is helpful to utilize the vestibular and proprioceptive systems as intervention tools. This helps a person calm and self regulate, in order to process their feelings and problem solve.
Because children often need sensory strategies to self regulate, having a designated calm down area set up in the home/classroom makes redirecting children to the appropriate calming activities much easier.
The Soothing Sammy program is a great way to encourage children to take part in creating their own calm down corner through a story about a dog, Sammy, a golden retriever. As children help build Sammy’s calm down area to use when overwhelmed, they are gently taught that it is okay to have a variety of feelings. As children look through the book, they learn how to use objects in their calm down corner when needed, including drinking water, wiping their face with a cloth, jumping on a small mat (proprioceptive and vestibular input) and much more.
There are so many items that we can add to a calm down corner and every calm down corner will be different based on individual children’s needs. In the Soothing Sammy curriculum, there are recipes for lavender bubbles, slime, tactile fidgets, paint, and others.
Proprioception Calm Down Corner Ideas
Here are some great proprioceptive strategies to include in a calm down corner:
Calming Corner Printables- Print off the sensory stations listed below. These support heavy work needs (and vestibular input)
Jumping mat or small trampoline. When children jump, they put pressure on their joints
Weighted blanket. Weighted blankets provide deep pressure over the entire body, making this activity one of the an effective whole-body proprioceptive strategies to help children calm down
Watering plants. Lifting a watering can, can impact joints all over the body. As children stoop down to pick up the watering can, moving it over plants of different heights, they are getting great input
Weighted ball. Lifting and rolling over a weighted ball increases proprioceptive input in the hands, arms, shoulders, and core.
Play Dough. Squishing, squeezing and pulling apart playdough or clay, increases proprioceptive input in hands and small joints.
Some of these activities can be alerting or calming, therefore some trial and error may be needed.
Vestibular Calm Down Corner Ideas
Movement with changes in positioning can be calming as well. Think slow, rocking movements. Here are some Vestibular strategies to include in a calm down area:
Farm Brain Breaks – These simple, yet fun activities, provide visual ways to complete vestibular activities
Calming Corner Printables- Movement like yoga poses or those offering brain breaks can be just the calming input needed.
Swinging – Help your child move and sway in different directions with an indoor or outdoor swing. A Sensory Swing for modulationis an amazing way to provide an option to swing in a home or preschool setting
Trampoline – Provide a small trampoline for your child to jump on. (Amazon affiliate link:) This toddler trampoline with handle is perfect for indoors spaces
Dancing – Any type of movement to music, including freeze dancing or shaking instruments (such as a tambourine, bells, maracas) or using scarves, are wonderful additions to a calm down corner
Yoga Poses – There are several themed yoga poses perfect for children. Add a yoga book or cards like these Unicorn Yoga Posesto any calm down area
calming corner printables
One tool to add to a calming corner or calming space is a printable that offers a visual designed to promote calming and organizing self-regulation. These calming corner printables are easy to print off and start using right away.
Over the years, we’ve created seasonal sensory paths, or sensory stations that support regulation needs. We’ve received wonderful words of thanks and feedback letting us know how loved these sensory stations have been.
Check out each of these seasonal calming corner printable packets. Pick and choose the ones that support your needs in the classroom, therapy clinic, or home:
Additionally, other calming corner printables might include deep breathing posters. We have many free deep breathing exercises on the website, including:
Finally, a brain beak printable like our popular alphabet exercises makes a great wall poster for a calming corner of the classroom.
Keep in mInd about setting up a calming corner in classroom
Calm down areas should incorporate all the senses, as every mood, trigger, situation and response is different. Equally important is the co-regulation aspect, which relates to responding to the mood and behavior of those around us, or the peers that may be present in a classroom or home setting.
By utilizing a variety of calming tools in a calming corner, or calm down space within the classroom, children will be able to identify what they need, the moment they need it, while still engaging in active learning.
It can be daunting and complicated providing for the needs of all of your different learners, however, by incorporating vestibular and proprioceptive materials in a calm down corner, children are able to use these powerful movement strategies when they need them the most, all while taking a multisensory approach to academics.
Sensory Corner
We’ve covered ways to set up a calming area, but what if you really want to feature the cozy aspect of a sensory space in a classroom or home? A sensory corner is very much the same concept, with different terminology. The key to a calm down space is incorporating sensory components within these areas.
Research shows that having a designated space for children to have alone time in, during their school day, is a way to support emotional development and independence, while also teaching children that it is okay for their friends to take a break.
When combining visual, tactile and other sensory components into the design of a cozy area, children will independently seek it out when they need a break from their peers.
in the classroom is a cozy or quiet space for one child to spend time independently when they feel like they need a break from the regular commotion of a preschool day. This area can be used to take a sensory break, to calm down when they are feeling upset or overwhelmed, or to just take a break.
This area should be accessible for all children at any time of the school day. This area is best used when it is at the child’s level, is situated in an area of the classroom that is far away from the busier/louder areas of the classroom, and includes sensory supports to encourage calming and peaceful experiences.
Whatever you call your safe space, and however you set it up, what matters most is your intention.
Why Use a Sensory Corner?
A calming corner or a sensory corner may be used for many various reasons.
There are hundreds of reasons why children might need to take a break from other children in the classroom. They may feel sad, overstimulated or just need time to recharge.
This may include:
Feeling overstimulated in the classroom
Overwhelming feelings
Needing to recharge or refocus
Having a bad day
Changes in routines
Feeling “out of sorts”
Worried about a home situation
Worried about a friend situation or social situation
Worried about a test or project in the classroom
Sadness about home situations
Missing family or pets
Not sure what to expect or what is expected of them
Remember that the goal of the sensory corner is to offer a safe space, or to give children a place to calm down, feel safe, and regroup when they are overcome with big emotions at school.
One thing to consider is that a calm down area of the classroom can be effective at the start of the school year due to transitions in the classroom when a new classroom may mean a lot of unexpected sensory input. This is a great addition to back-to-school sensory activities that support students of all abilities.
Where to put a cozy area:
When looking at an indoor preschool classroom set up, there are many centers that are utilized by children throughout the day. The key is to avoid adding visual noise, or visual clutter when adding a cozy area to the classroom.
Some of the busiest areas include the circle time/gross motor area, the block area and the art areas. These areas tend to attract groups of children at once and aren’t the best spaces to put next to a calming area.
The library, dramatic play and animal/science areas, tend to be more quiet spaces in the classroom. Each of these spaces will support a calmer environment to build a calm down area. When deciding what wall or area to place the calm down spot, keep in mind the following environmental components:
Is there a window nearby that will give off too much light?
Are there large gross motor/sensory spots that are noisy?
How many pictures are on the wall, and are they soothing?
What are the colors of the walls by the calming area, and are they overstimulating?
Is the space adequate for one child, or will more children try to encroach on their alone time?
Can this space be easily visible by a teacher doing active supervision?
Is this space near high traffic areas, like the entry door or bathroom?
Many spaces may feel like the perfect spot for a calm down space inside the classroom. You know your kids the best and where they spend most of their time. As the school year progresses, there may be times where you want to move your calm down area to a better spot, and that’s okay!
Outdoor Sensory corner Ideas
Don’t forget about the outside as an option for a calm down space! We know the many benefits of outdoors as a calming area, so simply going outside is a great option for calming the mind and body while organizing (or regulating) the sensory motor systems. The outdoors is one way to add free sensory motor options to the classroom.
Kids need quiet spaces while they are playing outdoors also. When setting up an outdoor learning environment, make sure to incorporate some independent areas in a shady area of the playground. These spaces could be near the garden, near a book reading area, under a nice shade tree or near a swing. You can even add an outdoor sensory swing as a calming option.
When setting up an outdoor area as a sensory corner for classroom breaks, consider what science says: Research on outdoor sensory play tells us that playing outdoors supports development, but there are emotional benefits as well as benefits to learning.
Some components to think about when setting up your outdoor calm down area include:
Is it sunny or shady?
Is it near an area where children will be running quickly?
Is it near a highly trafficked area, like a parking lot, walkway or door?
Quiet cozy areas should be available for children at all times. It isn’t a punishment corner, rather a space that children can “take a break” when they need it.
Here are 5 simple ways to incorporate cozy spaces outdoors so children have the opportunity to play on their own when needed.
1.Place to Sit: The first step to creating a safe space is for children to have a space to be on their own. You can create this in a similar way with an area rug or cushion like the indoors, or you can create something with more of a visual “splash” like these calming spaces in children’s swimming pools.
2. Gardens: Nature is a great accessory to a cozy nook area outside. Consider creating a cozy nook with a variety of plants. Adding trellis’s and arches where different vegetables and flowers and grow over a child’s safe space, incorporates natural colors and healthy foods into the safe space that children will spend their time. Sensory gardening is also a great option for a sensory break from the classroom that fosters learning!
3. Swings: Attaching a child safe swing to a tree provides a sensory rich safe space where children have the opportunity to have quiet time and self soothe. There are so many sensory swing options including a hammock swing and a platform swing.
4. Individual Art Space: Child initiated process art in nature can be a calming and essential experience that supports children when they are overwhelmed or overstimulated. A simple way to create this individualized space is by attaching an easel to a fence and offering different mediums to use with the easel (markers, paint, chalk.) Some of these creative painting ideas are fun to try in a sensory calm down space.
5. Sensory Table: A small sensory table or a sensory bucket is a wonderful way to encourage individual calming time while outside. You can add a variety of different materials to the sensory tub, or offer options of 5 or six sensory buckets. This could include bubbles and wands, sand, goop or some more of these sensory bin ideas. Another idea is to set up a nature table. You could even use a picnic table with a sand writing tray on top where users draw in the sand on the table surface.
Best Practice for Calm Down Corners
No matter what you call them: calm down corners, cozy corners, or sensory corners…and no matter where they are located: indoors or outdoors, in the home, or in the classroom, these sensory spaces are a valuable tool for promoting self-regulation and emotional well-being.
They provide a dedicated space for students to practice calming techniques and engage in activities that help them manage their emotions. Calming corners may include tools such as breathing exercises, visual aids with coping strategies, mindfulness activities, and calming sensory items like stress balls or visual timers…or any item that offers a sense of peace.
The key is to create an environment that is quiet, comfortable, and free from distractions, allowing students to recharge and regain focus when needed!
If you are setting up a calm down corner for your classroom as you gear up for a new school year, be sure to check out our resource on back-to-school sensory activities as an addition to your classroom calming area.
Heavy Work Activities for Calm Down Corners and Self-Regulation
Including heavy work in a calm-down corner can help children reset their bodies and minds during times of dysregulation. The resistance and pressure involved in heavy work helps to activate the proprioceptive system, which is known to reduce anxiety and improve self-regulation. Use our Heavy Work Activity Cards in your calm-down space to give kids structured, calming options they can choose independently.
Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.
In this blog post we are covering all things vision impairment and occupational therapy. Visual Impairments such as convergence insufficiency, impaired visual saccades, or other visual problems like blurred vision can present as a problem in the classroom. Students with visual impairments will flourish with effective classroom accommodations for visual problems. Below, you will find strategies that school-based occupational therapists can use as accommodations for addressing visual needs while meeting educational goals.
Be sure to check out our resource on vision as a starting point.
Visual impairment can mean a lot of things. Basically, this is any vision disability where eyesight is impacted. Vision impairment is a term used to describe any reduction in a person’s ability to see that cannot be fully corrected with glasses, contact lenses, medication, or surgery. It can affect one or both eyes and may involve difficulty with visual acuity (clarity), visual fields (peripheral vision), or how the brain processes visual information.
Vision impairment includes a wide range of conditions, from mild vision loss to complete blindness. It can impact daily activities such as reading, writing, navigating environments, recognizing faces, or participating in school and work tasks. The World Health Organization defines vision impairment as a presenting visual acuity worse than 20/60 in the better eye, and blindness as worse than 20/400.
In occupational therapy, vision impairment is considered in the context of how it affects function, independence, and participation in meaningful activities.
Types of Visual Impairment
Occupational therapy works with an enormous variety of diagnoses and conditions. There can be many reasons for a visual difficulty. These can occur in childhood or at any age.
Here’s a list of diagnoses and eye conditions associated with visual impairment:
There are so many ways an occupational therapy professionals can help with vision needs. We have a full list with more examples below.
Adapt tasks and environments (contrast, lighting, positioning).
Use tactile, auditory, and kinesthetic compensatory strategies.
Incorporate vision-related goals into play, self-care, school, and leisure tasks.
Collaborate with vision specialists (e.g., Teachers of the Visually Impaired, Orientation & Mobility instructors).
Promote safe mobility through environmental modifications and task adaptations.
Build strength, balance, and core stability through play or movement-based interventions.
Support motor development with hands-on guidance and tactile cues.
Collaborate with physical therapists and orientation & mobility specialists as needed.
Encourage self-advocacy and confidence in movement through supportive, success-based activities.
Offer large print options
Work alongside a behavioral optometrist or vision rehabilitation professional like vision therapy
Training in various devices and supports in various environments
Work with a mobility specialist
Visual Impairment Accommodations for the Classroom
The fact is, vision impacts learning. When visual problems exist, it can be be helpful to next address what to do about those problems to maximize learning. Often times when vision is discussed as a concern, a parent or caregiver may push back saying that the child has had their vision checked, and that they can see fine. Despite education, and handouts, the parent still resists getting a more in-depth vision evaluation for their child. Now what? Good news is that there are some accommodations that can be made in the classroom to assist the child. These strategies are also great for kiddo’s who already have glasses but are still struggling.
What are accommodations for visual problems?
Accommodations are strategies set forth that allow a student to change the method of how learning happens. Accommodations for visual problems can address visual needs through changes in seating, presentation of visual information, test information, or classroom activities without modifying what is tested, completed, or taught.
The visual accommodations listed below are means for addressing visual problems without changing classroom expectations for learning.
Preferential Seating
Preferential seating means a lot of different things to every professional. Typically, it mean that the kiddo is placed at the front of the room, closest to the teacher where they can receive an increased level of support from the teacher. However, this is not necessarily the best for a child with vision deficits. There are a few keys points to preferential seating for kiddos with vision deficits that should be considered.
● Proximity to the board ● Direction in which the child is facing in relation to the board or main work area ● Level of visual distractions around the room including posters, boards and other children ● Is the goal of seat work and need for use of board to achieve completion of work?
Proximity to the Board
Being closest to the board is not necessarily the best position for a child facing vision challenges particularly if they are not acuity based in nature.
For instance, a child that is struggling with saccades and tracking may not succeed in a front and center position. This would challenge their eyes constantly to look in all directions for information. A better position for them would be to the left or to the right in the first 2-3 rows. This would limit the amount of tracking to either side that would need to be completed.
This position would also benefit a child with who struggles with filtering visual information and needs information to be limited on one side.
When recommending a seat based on proximity to the board, it is important to think about what challenges the kiddo is facing visually and to recommend a seat that promotes success.
Face the Front
Is the Child Facing the Board?
There are a lot of classroom set-ups these days that have children not facing the board or at an awkward angle. This is okay if the child is not expected to copy work from the board or utilize information from the main learning space.
When it doesn’t work, is when the child needs to utilize this information. It is best to have the child facing the board straight on or with a slight angle if they are not seated in the center. Limit turning of the head over 45 degrees to prevent eye strain and an increased chance of the child losing their place when copying.
There are times that it is appropriate to have the child’s back to the board and main learning space. I will get to that in just a moment.
Reduced Visual Distractions
Limiting visual distractions and over stimulation is a large part in helping kids with visual deficits. If there is too much information in front of them or around them, they are more likely to get lost visually, leading to more time needed to complete tasks and increases in errors when copying or missing written steps.
This is one of the few times that it is okay to have a child’s back to the board or main work area. Especially, if the child does not need to see the main area. Typically, this is the case for lower levels of education such as kindergarten through second grade, or when the curriculum begins to focus on board directed teaching.
Other ways to limit visual distractions are to keep the main learning space clear of extraneous posters, charts or decorations, along with conscious choices for seating the child. Having the child’s back to busy walls and a large portion of their peers can be helpful.
Most people think that windows are distractions for kiddos, but for a child with vision deficits, sitting near or facing a window can give a much needed visual “break” from stimulation. So don’t rule out a window seat yet!
Increased White Space
Worksheets can be very overwhelming for a child with a visual deficit. They may have a hard time reading a busy worksheet, completing a math worksheet or miss parts of multi-step directions.
One way to help avoid this is to provide increased white space. White space refers to the amount of blank or void areas on a piece of paper. The higher the amount of white space, they less likely a child with vision deficits is to struggle.
This means limiting the number of math problems on a page from 6 to 3 for example. Or utilizing the Handwriting Without Tears lined paper versus traditional triple lined paper.
Sometimes changing the handout or worksheet is not an option and other strategies need to be utilized. The use of an extra sheet of paper to block out extra information can be helpful in creating the white space that is needed.
Decreased Visual Distractions
I touched on this in preferential seating section in regards to the overall placement of the child in the room. However, visual distractions can also come from items in the child’s work space. Distractions may include name tags, behavior systems, letter lines, a peer across from them and even work to be completed. These visual distractions may cause the kiddo to feel visually unorganized leading to the appearance of sloppy work and poor time management, and even signs of anxiety.
One way to help eliminate visual distraction within the workspace is to limit what is on the child’s desk. Keep the kiddo’s work space limited to a name tag and one other item. If other items are needed on the desk or workspace, have them arranged so that they are not in the child’s direct line of sight while working.
For instance, crayon boxes and utensils may be shared at a table or grouping of students. Have the items place to the left or right of the child so that their direct line of sight is clear.
Also limit that amount of ‘work’ that is place in front of the kiddo. I say ‘work’ lightly as most ‘work’ for kids are worksheets and craft projects. By presenting one item at a time, it can help the child’s visual space remain clear and help them stay visually organized and on task.
Visual Structure for Reading and Writing
Sometimes limiting visual distractions is not enough support for visual organization. Sometimes, the child needs even more structure to support successful learning patterns and work completion.
One strategy is to provide the child with graph paper to write on. This is very structured and provides concrete boundaries for letter orientation, sizing, and spacing. It also provides visuals for completing math problems in straight lines.
Other forms of visual structure include colored lines to indicate top and bottom of the lines for writing, along with highlighted “spacer” lines for completion of longer work.
Color coding can also be a helpful tool in providing visual structure for older children. It be as general as a different colored folders/notebooks for each subject to allow the child to quickly scan and find what they need, to as complex as writing parts of a math equation in different colors. Or even going as far as to writing the parts of a paragraph in different colors.
Visual structure can be as simple, or as complex as it’s needed to be to meet the kiddo’s needs.
Each child is different and finding the right visual supports is a trial and error process that takes time and patience to work through. Evaluating the child’s weaknesses will help to determine the best supports and path for success in the classroom despite their visual challenges.
More resources that can help with understanding and advocating for visual impairments:
Now what? When vision problems are suspected after a screening by the OT, it is best practice to refer the family to a developmental optometrist.
A developmental optometrist will complete a full evaluation and determine the need for corrective lenses, vision therapy or a home program to address vision concerns.
As occupational therapists, it is imperative that we rule out vision problems before treating handwriting or delays in visual motor integration, to ensure the best possible trajectory of development and success for the child.
Occupational Therapy Vision Screening Tool
Occupational Therapists screen for visual problems in order to determine how they may impact functional tasks. Our newest Visual Screening Tool is a useful resource or identifying visual impairments. Visual screening can occur in the classroom setting, in inpatient settings, in outpatient therapy, and in early intervention or home care.
This visual screening tool was created by an occupational therapist and provides information on visual terms, frequently asked questions regarding visual problems, a variety of visual screening techniques, and other tools that therapists will find valuable in visual screenings.
This is a digital file. Upon purchase, you will be able to access the 10 page file and print off to use over and over again in vision screenings and in educating therapists, teachers, parents, and other child advocates or caregivers.
One thing about a visual impairment that we don’t often think of at first is the body awareness and orientation aspect. These areas can really impact functional skills, which our primary goal in occupational therapy.
There are other things we want to consider as well when we work with the child with a visual challenge. These items are listed below and they can be part of our evaluation as well as treatment interventions. We’ll want to add these factors to our documentation of therapy treatment sessions when we are offering our accommodations or rehabilitation services because each area listed might impact quality of life and life skills.
Because the school based OT helps with the child’s educational performance and participation, these are areas we should be aware of when creating treatment plans.
Peripheral vision
Vision loss or level of challenge
Visual acuity
Low vision and resulting needs
Visual fields
Visual tracking
Visual attention
Visual memory
Occupational therapy Evaluation for Visual Impairment
Occupational therapy plays a key role in supporting individuals with visual impairments by addressing how vision affects daily function and participation. When working with children or adults with visual impairments, OTs consider several key areas as part of an OT evaluation:
Visual Acuity
Clarity or sharpness of vision.
Affects reading, writing, recognizing faces, and seeing details in the environment.
Visual Fields
The entire area a person can see without moving their eyes or head.
Peripheral field loss can affect safety, mobility, and spatial awareness.
Visual Tracking (Oculomotor Skills)
The ability to follow a moving object or maintain focus on an object while the head moves.
Impacts reading fluency, copying from the board, and ball skills.
Visual Scanning
The ability to scan a space or environment efficiently.
Important for locating objects, navigating spaces, and reading.
Visual Attention
Focusing on relevant visual information while ignoring distractions.
Affects classroom performance, self-care routines, and task completion.
Visual Discrimination
Telling the difference between similar-looking objects, letters, or shapes.
Impacts handwriting, reading, and puzzles.
Visual Memory
Recalling visual information after seeing it.
Essential for spelling, following directions, and remembering routines.
Visual Figure-Ground
Distinguishing an object from a background.
Important for finding items in a cluttered space or reading text on a busy page.
Depth Perception
Understanding spatial relationships between objects.
Crucial for mobility, stairs, catching a ball, and pouring liquids.
Eye-Hand Coordination
Using visual input to guide fine motor tasks.
Affects handwriting, dressing, cutting, and feeding.
Visual Motor Integration
Coordinating visual perceptual skills with motor output.
Impacts drawing, writing, and tool use.
Occupational therapy plays a key role in supporting individuals with visual impairments by addressing how vision affects daily function and participation. When working with children or adults with visual impairments, OTs consider several key areas:
1. Visual Acuity
Clarity or sharpness of vision.
Affects reading, writing, recognizing faces, and seeing details in the environment.
2. Visual Fields
The entire area a person can see without moving their eyes or head.
Peripheral field loss can affect safety, mobility, and spatial awareness.
3. Visual Tracking (Oculomotor Skills)
The ability to follow a moving object or maintain focus on an object while the head moves.
Impacts reading fluency, copying from the board, and ball skills.
4. Visual Scanning
The ability to scan a space or environment efficiently.
Important for locating objects, navigating spaces, and reading.
5. Visual Attention
Focusing on relevant visual information while ignoring distractions.
Affects classroom performance, self-care routines, and task completion.
6. Visual Discrimination
Telling the difference between similar-looking objects, letters, or shapes.
Impacts handwriting, reading, and puzzles.
7. Visual Memory
Recalling visual information after seeing it.
Essential for spelling, following directions, and remembering routines.
8. Visual Figure-Ground
Distinguishing an object from a background.
Important for finding items in a cluttered space or reading text on a busy page.
9. Depth Perception
Understanding spatial relationships between objects.
Crucial for mobility, stairs, catching a ball, and pouring liquids.
10. Eye-Hand Coordination
Using visual input to guide fine motor tasks.
Affects handwriting, dressing, cutting, and feeding.
11. Visual Motor Integration
Coordinating visual perceptual skills with motor output.
Impacts drawing, writing, and tool use.
OT Considerations
Adapt tasks and environments (contrast, lighting, positioning).
Use tactile, auditory, and kinesthetic compensatory strategies.
Incorporate vision-related goals into play, self-care, school, and leisure tasks.
Collaborate with vision specialists (e.g., Teachers of the Visually Impaired, Orientation & Mobility instructors).
In addition to sensory processing and perceptual aspects, visual impairments often come with physical challenges that occupational therapists must consider. These physical issues can impact mobility, posture, coordination, and overall independence. Here are key physical areas related to visual impairment that OTs address:
Postural Control and Stability
Children or adults with visual impairment may adopt compensatory postures (e.g., tilting the head, leaning forward) to optimize remaining vision.
Poor postural control can affect sitting balance, endurance, and core strength, limiting participation in seated tasks like handwriting or meals.
Gait and Mobility
Visual impairment may lead to cautious, unsteady walking, wider stance, or shuffling.
Individuals may avoid movement altogether due to fear of falling, leading to decreased physical activity and muscle weakness.
Balance and Vestibular Integration
The visual system plays a large role in maintaining balance.
Without reliable visual input, individuals rely more heavily on vestibular and proprioceptive systems, which can be underdeveloped or dysregulated.
Motor Planning (Praxis)
Difficulty visualizing actions before performing them can lead to trouble with sequencing, initiating, or completing motor tasks.
This affects dressing, navigating environments, and tool use (like scissors or utensils).
Spatial Orientation and Body Awareness
Visual cues help us understand where we are in space and how to move around obstacles.
Visual impairment can lead to reduced spatial judgment, making tasks like reaching, climbing, or navigating stairs more difficult.
Delays in Gross and Fine Motor Skills
Infants and young children with visual impairments may miss out on visually-motivated movement (e.g., reaching, crawling, walking), leading to motor delays.
Fine motor skill development can also be impacted due to limited visual feedback.
Fatigue and Overuse
Individuals with visual impairments may experience increased fatigue due to constant physical and cognitive effort to compensate.
Overuse injuries (especially in the neck, shoulders, and hands) can result from repetitive adaptive strategies (e.g., leaning, squinting, using mobility aids).
Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.
We’ve created a sensory processing disorder checklist as a tool for sensory processing needs. Having resources like this sensory processing and self-regulation checklist will support sensory needs in individuals of all ages.
Sensory processing disorder is a condition where the brain misinterprets sensory information so that the body responds in atypical ways. Sensory processing disorder can be broken down into different categories, but one thing is clear: interpretation of sensory input is “off”.
Printable Sensory Processing Disorder Checklist
Below, you will find a list of common sensory responses that might be seen with sensory processing disorder. Use this sensory processing disorder checklist to better understand responses to sensory input. It will be helpful to read this sensory processing disorder chart to get a bigger picture on this umbrella term.
I see evidence of sensory processing challenges everywhere. Though not all of them should be classified as disorders. Sometimes it is ok to be a seeker or an avoider for our safety, wellbeing, career, or comfort. A person who is sensitive does not necessarily have a disorder until it affects their daily life. I do not like a lot of textures, however, I am functioning well in my day to day life.
Here are a few other examples of sensory red flags that are not damaging:
Certain athletes feel a drive to exercise. They must do it for their well being. Perhaps their arousal level is off, and exercise provides the modulation they need.
Football players love crashing and bumping. Is it possible they are sensory seekers, driven to engage in this sport?
Goldilocks had a hard time finding the right porridge, bed, and chair. Maybe she was sensitive to texture, taste and temperature. Eventually she found the right situation that suited her needs. She did not have a meltdown or shutdown in the process.
In The Old Hat, New Hat Book Papa Berenstain had a hard time finding the right hat. Too twisty, too twirly, too beady, too bumpy. In the end he decided on his familiar hat. This might be classified as a disorder if he “needed” a new hat and could not get one. We see this often with children having to get new shoes. Change is hard.
What professions can you see might be tactile seekers? Gardeners, artists, potters, masseuses, and chefs?
Who is likely to be avoiding stimuli when choosing their profession? People who choose to work at home, solitary workers, librarians, a spa manager, or an accountant?
Is it fair to say that people who choose high energy jobs are seekers or sensory integrated? Nurses, teachers, taxi drivers, OT/PTs? Maybe. Perhaps like me, they are not seekers or well integrated, but driven to help. I am exhausted mentally and physically at the end of the day. My profession is probably toxic for me, but important enough that I keep going.
When looking at all the red flags in diagnosing others, it is important to judge the impact the difficulty is having on life. This level of difficulty will determine who needs sensory processing treatment, who needs accommodations, and who is doing just fine.
The picky eater who lives on two foods and is not getting adequate nutrition is worth taking a look at. A child who is so sensitive to textures that he can not find anything to wear to school, or gets naked everyday in public, is struggling. The child whose meltdowns are so significant, they interfere with their daily life, needs some intervention.
In my career I have seen the whole spectrum of sensory processing difficulties. I have worked with children so impacted that it is a wonder they are surviving. On the other hand, I have evaluated children who are just quirky, not atypical. I remember trying to explain this to a parent. Her son was just quiet and introverted. He liked chess and robotics. He had a small social circle, but had friends and was doing well in school. Not everyone needs treatment or “fixing”. We all are not suited to be gardeners, football players, or electricians.
When looking at sensory difficulties, we need to focus our attention on the impact. This is why our goals are not often simply “improve sensory processing”. In the examples above with the picky eater and the child who will not wear clothes, the goals would focus on increasing food intake, and decreasing tactile aversion so the student can wear something to school.
Sensory Processing Disorder and Early Intervention
I talk a lot about education and early intervention. Help stem the flow of a problem before it gets too big. Educate large groups of people about a topic and treatment, so it can have a trickle down effect. One of the key factors in working with people is understanding. In my book, Seeing your Home and Community with Sensory Eyes, I spend time in each chapter helping the caregiver or recipient of the information understand what is happening with sensory struggles. I describe why your child may be screaming, kicking, refusing, or melting down in each setting. Then we look toward communication, treatment, and accommodation. It is available here on the OT Toolbox, in digital format or on Amazon (affiliate link) in print if you prefer.
Sensory processing Disorder Test
Using a sensory processing disorder checklist is just one step in completing a SPD test or assessment. It’s important to start somewhere and getting information from parents, educators, and others who know and love the child or individual is a key step in moving in the right direction with a sensory processing disorder evaluation. We want to see what’s really happening and what’s impacting function so the checklist portion is really important.
A checklist for sensory issues can be part of a screening tool. This gathers so much information and can really drive the evaluation process.
Other sensory processing assessment tools include observation, questionaries, and then the standardized assessment performed by an occupational therapist. The evaluating OT will use one of several sensory processing assessments to create a clinical picture that is part of the skilled evaluation process for SPD.
Sensory Processing Evaluations
Here are some of the most common evaluations that can be used to assess sensory processing. These sensory processing disorder tests do can be used along with other sources of information to get a bigger picture of what’s going on.
Sensory Integration and Praxis Tests (SIPT)– This test is appropriate for children aged 4 months through 8 years, 11 months. It’s a very comprehensive assessment. The SIPT does require extensive training to administer.
Sensory Profile 2– This assessment is appropriate for birth-14 years, 11 months. It is a comprehensive evaluation and it has a school companion form for the child’s teacher to complete.
Sensory Processing Measure-2 (SPM-2)– This evaluation is appropriate for children aged 4 months-87 years. It is a quick assessment and it has a home and a school form that can be used for a comprehensive look at the child across environments.
Evaluation in Ayres Sensory Integration® (EASI)– This evaluation is appropriate for children aged 3 years through 12 years. It’s based on Ayres Sensory Integration® and it’s a very comprehensive eval. Examiners do need to be trained in order to do this evaluation.
Structured Observations of Sensory Integration (SOSI-M)– This assessment is appropriate for children aged 5 years to 14 years.
Here are a few other sensory processing assessments to be aware of:
Short Sensory Profile (SSP): 3–15 years
Sensory Experiences Questionnaire (SEQ 3.0): 5 months – 6 years
Diagnostic Interview for Social and Communication Disorders (DISCO): All ages
Adolescent/Adult Sensory Profile (AASP): Adolescent and adult ages
Working in the sensory realm is difficult and confusing. There can be 1001 combinations of reasons a person is having difficulty, and just as many possible solutions. Once you find a solution, it may only work a handful of times. Broaden your OT Toolbox with treatment ideas, checklists, and resources.
Speaking of OT Toolbox, our website is packed with valuable resources. Yes you can go onto AI and get a quick answer, but it will not be full of resources, hands on activities, and fun!
With sensory processing disorder, input from each of the sensory systems can be interpreted by the brain in different ways. Kids can hyper-respond or overreact to sensory input. Or, they can hypo-respond, or under-react to sensory information.
Sensory processing disorder can be seen in children or on adults.
Sensory Processing Disorder Checklist
Putting it all together – Let’s look at all of the sensory systems in a list:
Visual System (Sight)
Auditory System (Sound)
Tactile System (Touch)
Gustatory System (Taste)
Olfactory System (Smell)
Proprioceptive System (Position in space)
Vestibular System (Movement)
Interoceptive System (Inner body)
Typically, sensory dysregulation within these three systems present in many different ways. A child with sensory difficulties may be over- or under-responsive to sensory input. They may operate on an unusually high or unusually low level of activity. They may fatigue easily during activity or may constantly be in motion. Children may fluctuate between responsiveness, activity levels, and energy levels.
Additionally, children with sensory processing differences typically present with other delays. Development of motor coordination, fine motor skills, gross motor skills, social-emotional skills, behaviors, executive functioning skills, language, and learning are all at risk as a result of impaired sensory processing.
Sensory Processing Disorder Symptoms
It can be overwhelming when you start looking into various symptoms in sensory processing disorder. But if you are wondering about specific signs of SPD in your child, it can be helpful to have a comprehensive checklist of various areas that impact learning, play and functioning.
The comprehensive list of sensory signs and symptoms listed below are helpful to spot an issue in your child, but more so can help you pinpoint a starting point with helping your child so you can support their needs.
red Flags for Tactile Dysregulation
Tactile defensiveness, or what is sometimes described as tactile differences, refers to differences in how an individual experiences and responds to touch-based sensory input. This can include avoiding certain textures or, for some, actively seeking out tactile sensory experiences.
When we use terms like disabilities, dysregulation, differences, or challenges, or our goal is not to label an individual as having a deficiency or to pathologize sensory differences. Sometimes you may even hear the term dysfunction. When these terms are used, the goal is to describe sensory preferences and needs that may be impacting participation in everyday activities.
It is important to recognize that sensory processing is a spectrum of diverse experiences. Some sensory responses may create barriers to functional skills, such as self-care, play, or learning, not because there is something “wrong” with the person, but because their sensory system may require additional support or accommodations. Using this lens allows us to be neuro-affirming: we are not trying to “fix” or “normalize” an individual’s sensory experiences, but to understand and support their sensory needs so they can engage meaningfully in their environment.
Tactile defensiveness refers to avoidance of certain textures or the seeking out of tactile sensory input. These indicators can mean a sensory issue with the tactile sensory system.
Consider the sensory checklist based on the tactile system:
Hyper-responsiveness of the tactile sense may present in a child as over-responsiveness or overreaction to tactile sensation. This looks like:
Overly sensitivity to temperature including air, food, water, or objects
Avoidance to messy play or getting one’s hands dirty
Avoidance of finger painting, dirt, sand, bare feet on grass, etc.
Clothing preferences and avoidances such as resisting shoes or socks
Annoyance to clothing seams or clothing textures
Resistance to hair brushing
Over-reactive to unexpected touch
Overreactions to accidental or surprising light touches from others
Avoids affectionate touch such as hugs
Avoids washing hands at the sink
Difficulty with clothing fasteners like buttons, zippers, and belts
Challenges in the shower or bathtub with soap, washcloths preferences, and soap textures
Refuses to use glue
Hypo-responsiveness of the tactile sense may present in a child as under-responsiveness or under-reaction to tactile sensation. This may look like:
Seeks out tactile sensory input
Bumps into others
High pain tolerance
Stuffs food in mouth
Licks items or own skin
Not aware of being touched
Seems unaware of light touch
Startles easily when touched
When getting dressed, doesn’t notice clothing that is twisted
Tendency for self-abusiveness: biting self, rubbing self with heavy pressure, head-banging, pinching self, etc.
Doesn’t notice a runny nose, messy face, or messy hands
Puts items in the mouth
Lack of personal space
Runs into other children without noticing
Has difficulty maintaining space in line; bumps into others without noticing
Falls out of chair
NEEDS to touch everything
Uses a tight pencil grip on the pencil
Writes with heavy pencil pressure
Tears paper when cutting with scissors
Unintentionally rough on siblings, other children, or pets
Always touching others or things
Seeks out messy play experiences
Prefers to rub or feel certain textures
Difficulty with fine motor tasks
Craves touch
Doesn’t seem to notice unexpected touch
Constantly playing in the soap or water at the sink
red Flags for Proprioception Dysfunciton
The Proprioception Sensory System is the recognition and response to the body’s position in space with an internal feedback system using the position in space of the joints, tendons, and muscles. This sensory system allows the body to automatically react to changes in force and pressure given body movements and object manipulation. The body receives more feedback from active muscles rather than passive muscle use. Related to the proprioception system is praxis or motor planning. Individuals are able to plan and execute motor tasks given feedback from the proprioceptive system. Praxis allows us to utilize sensory input from the senses and to coordinate hat information to move appropriately.
Hyper-responsiveness of the proprioception sense may present in a child as over-responsiveness or overreaction to proprioceptive sensation. This may include postural insecurity. This may look like:
Uses too little pressure when writing or coloring
Prefers soft or pureed foods
Appears lethargic
Bumps into people or objects
Poor posture, slumps in their seat
Poor handwriting
Inability to sit upright when writing or completing desk work; Rests with head down on arms while working
Challenged by clothing fasteners ( how much force to use with fastening buttons, zippers, and belts, or snaps)
Hypo-responsiveness of the proprioceptive sense may present in a child as under-responsiveness or underreaction to proprioceptive sensation. This looks like:
Uses excessive pressure when writing or coloring
“Jumper and crasher”- seeks out sensory input
Can’t sleep without being hugged or held
Bumps into people or objects
Seems aggressive
Grinds teeth
Walks on toes
Chews on pencils, shirt, sleeve, toys, etc.
Prefers crunchy or chewy foods
Cracks knuckles
Breaks pencils or crayons when writing or coloring
Pinches, bites, kicks, or headbutts others
Difficulty with fine motor skills
Poor handwriting
Poor awareness of position-in-space
Stomps their feet on the ground when walking
Kicks their chair or their neighbors chair in the classroom
Frequent falling
Clumsiness
Poor balance
Constantly moving and fidgeting
Poor attention
Uses extreme force
Has unexpected bruises
Seeks out wrestling games
red Flags for Vestibular Differences
Vestibular dysregulation refers to differences in how an individual perceives and responds to movement, balance, and spatial orientation. This may look like avoidance of certain types of movement (such as swinging or climbing), or an increased need to seek out movement experiences (like constant spinning or jumping). When describing vestibular needs or sensitivities, it is important to approach this language with care. When we see red flags related to vestibular challenges, we can acknowledge that these sensory differences may affect a person’s comfort, safety, and ability to participate in daily activities.
Recognizing vestibular differences through this lens allows us to support each individual’s unique sensory profile without the goal of “correcting” or changing who they are. Instead, we aim to create environments, strategies, and opportunities that honor sensory needs and promote functional engagement. A neuro-affirming approach respects that sensory processing differences are part of human diversity, and that with the right supports, individuals can thrive in their own way.
The Vestibular Sensory System is the sense of movement and balance, and uses the receptors in the inner ear and allows the body to orient to position in space. The vestibular system is closely related to eye movements and coordination. Vestibular sensory input is a powerful tool in helping children with sensory needs. Adding a few vestibular activities to the day allows for long-lasting effects. Every individual requires vestibular sensory input in natural development. In fact, as infants we are exposed to vestibular input that promotes a natural and healthy development and integration of all systems.
Vestibular dysregulation and problems with the Vestibular Processing System can present as different ways:
Poor visual processing
Poor spatial awareness
Poor balance
Difficulty with bilateral integration
Sequencing deficits
Poor visual-motor skills
Poor constructional abilities
Poor discrimination of body position
Poor discrimination of movement
Poor equilibrium
Subtle difficulties discerning the orientation of head
Trouble negotiating action sequences
Hyper-responsiveness of the vestibular sense may present in a child as over-responsiveness or overreaction to vestibular sensation. This look may look like:
Experiences gravitational insecurity
Overly dizzy with motions
Resistant to moving activities such as swings, slides, elevators, or escalators
Fear of unstable surfaces
Unable to tolerate backward motions
Unable to tolerate side to side motions
Illness in moving vehicles
Avoids swings or slides
Gets motion sick easily
Appears “clingy”
Refuses to move from the ground (i.e. jumping or hopping activities)
Difficulty/fear of balance activities
Refusal to participate in gym class
Refusal to try playground equipment
Fearful on bleachers or on risers
Fear or dislike of riding in elevators or escalators
Fearful of movement
Dislike of spinning motions
Avoids chasing games
Overly fearful of heights
Nauseous when watching spinning objects
Poor posture
Easily fatigued
Poor coordination
Low muscle tone
Poor motor planning
Fearful when a teacher approaches or pushes in the child’s chair
Clumsiness
Poor attention
Difficulty or fearful on stairs
Fearful during situations of constant motion
Struggles or fearful on ladders
An extreme dislike of high places
Refuses to sit on or try a bike
Hypo-responsiveness of the vestibular sense may present in a child as under-responsiveness or underreaction to vestibular sensation. This may look like:
Constant movement including jumping, spinning, rocking, climbing
Craves movement at fast intervals
Craves spinning, rocking, or rotary motions
Poor balance on uneven surfaces
Constantly fidgeting
Increased visual attention to spinning objects or overhead fans
Bolts or runs away in community or group settings, or when outdoors or in large open areas such as shopping malls
Difficulty maintaining sustained attention
Impulsive movement
Constantly getting up and down from desk in the classroom
Walks around when not supposed to (in the classroom, during meals, etc.)
Loves to be upside down
Head banging
Hypermobile or all over playground equipment
Leans chair back when seated at a desk
Loves spinning
Rocks self-back and forth when seated
Poor posture
Poor coordination
Poor motor planning
A deep need to keep moving in order to function
Frequent falling
Clumsiness
Poor balance
Poor attention
Always in constant motion
Prefers being in high places
Red Flags for Visual SYSTEM Dysregulation
Visual dysregulation refers to differences in how an individual processes and responds to visual input, such as light, movement, patterns, or cluttered environments. Some individuals may be more sensitive to bright lights, busy visuals, or fast-moving scenes, while others may seek out visual stimulation through watching spinning objects or moving their eyes in specific ways. When we use the term dysregulation to describe these sensory experiences, it is not to imply a problem or deficit, but to acknowledge that visual processing differences may influence an individual’s comfort, attention, and participation in everyday tasks.
Taking a neuro-affirming perspective, we recognize that sensory differences, including those in the visual system, are a natural part of human variation. Our goal is not to “normalize” visual responses but to support individuals by adapting environments, offering accommodations, and providing strategies that help them engage meaningfully in their world. By understanding and respecting visual sensory needs, we can better empower individuals to navigate their surroundings in ways that feel safe and supportive.
Eighty percent of the information we receive from our environment is visual. When perception of this information is not processed correctly, it can create an altered state that influences many areas: eye-hand coordination, postural reflexes, and vestibular processing are all influenced and reliant upon the visual system.
The visual system is the sensory system that most individuals rely upon most heavily for daily tasks. Visual information is perceived by cells in the back of the eye. These cells (rods and cones) relay and transfer light information into information that is transferred to the central nervous system. These photoreceptors are able to perceive day time vision and night time vision, with adjustments to sensitivity of light intensity. They are able to respond to different spectrum of color and differentiate color information. The rod and cone cells, along with the retina, process a great deal of visual information in the neural structure of the eye before transmitting information to the central nervous system.
The relay of information from the eyes to the central nervous system are made up of three pathways. Pathways project to different areas of the brain and allow for:
Processing and recognition of faces/shapes/motion (the “what” and “where” of objects)
Integration of information in order to coordinate posture and eye movements
Oculomotor adaptation.
Hyper-responsiveness of the visualsense may present in a child as over-responsiveness or overreaction to visual sensation. This may look like:
Complains of lights being too bright
Unable to tolerate certain lighting such as fluorescent overhead lights
Struggles with sudden changes in lighting
Challenged by bright or flashing lights
Colorful lights “hurt” the eyes
Complains of headaches in bright light
Complains of the “glow” of unnatural lighting
Distressed by light sources
Sensitive to light
Sensitive to certain colors
Distracted by cluttered spaces
Avoids eye contact
Trouble with puzzles
Frustration at the movies
Difficulty reading
Difficulty finding objects in a busy drawer
Hypo-responsiveness of the visual sense may present in a child as under-responsiveness or underreaction to visual sensation. This looks like:
Attracted to spinning objects
Difficulty with visual perception
Difficulty with eye-hand coordination
Difficulty with reading and writing
Holds or presses hands on eyelids in order to see flashing lights
Squints or presses eyelids shut
Flaps hands or objects in front of eyes
Holds eyes at the movies
red Flags for Auditory SYSTEM Dysregulation
Auditory dysregulation refers to differences in how an individual perceives and responds to sounds in their environment. This may include heightened sensitivity to certain noises, difficulty filtering out background sounds, or a strong preference for certain auditory experiences. Some individuals may cover their ears, avoid noisy environments, or become overwhelmed in spaces with unpredictable sounds, while others may seek out calming or repetitive auditory input. When we use the term dysregulation in this context, it is not to suggest that there is something wrong with the person, but rather to acknowledge that their auditory processing needs may impact comfort and participation in daily life.
A neuro-affirming approach recognizes auditory processing as a diverse experience, not a flaw to be corrected. Our role is to honor and support each individual’s auditory needs by offering accommodations, adapting environments, and providing tools that help them engage in ways that feel safe and manageable. By understanding these sensory differences, we can foster inclusion and respect for all sensory profiles.
Receptors for the auditory system are located in the inner ear and are responsible for receiving vibration from sound waves and changing them to fluid movement energy. Information is projected to the central nervous system and transmits sound frequency as well as timing and intensity of sound input. The auditory system is integrated with somatosensory input in order to play a role in controlling orientation of the eyes, head, and body to sound.
Hyper-responsiveness of the auditorysense may present in a child as over-responsiveness or overreaction to auditory sensation. This may look like:
Startles easily to unexpected sounds
Dislikes noisy places
Overly sensitive to speakers on radios
Fearful of smoke detectors, overhead speakers
Shushes others or asks others to stop talking
Holds hands over ears
Sensitive to certain sounds such as lawnmowers or the hum of the refrigerator
Easily distracted by sounds and background noise
Hums to block out background noise
Hypo-responsiveness of the auditory sense may present in a child as under-responsiveness or underreaction to auditory sensation. This looks like:
Seems to be unaware of sounds
Holds radio speakers up against ears
Doesn’t respond to alarms
Makes silly sounds at inappropriate times or frequently
Mimics sounds of others
Talks to self
Difficulty locating sounds, especially when in a noisy environment
Hums in order to hear the sound of humming
red Flags for Gustatory System Dysregulation
Gustatory dysregulation refers to differences in how an individual experiences and responds to taste and oral sensory input. This can include strong preferences or aversions to certain flavors, temperatures, or textures of foods and drinks. Some individuals may seek out intense flavors like spicy or sour foods, while others may avoid specific textures or have a very limited range of preferred foods. When we use the term dysregulation in this context, it is not intended to pathologize sensory preferences, but to describe how these differences may influence eating habits, nutritional intake, and participation in mealtime routines.
Viewing gustatory processing through a neuro-affirming lens allows us to respect individual sensory needs and preferences without the goal of “fixing” them. Instead, the focus is on understanding how these sensory differences impact daily life and finding supportive strategies to promote positive mealtime experiences. This might include offering a variety of sensory-friendly food options, gradually expanding food exploration in a safe and supportive way, and working collaboratively with families to honor each child’s unique sensory profile.
The gustatory system perceives input through the tongue. Taste cells in the mouth perceive five sensations: salty, sweet, bitter, sour, and savory. The gustatory system is closely related to the sense of smell and proprioception. How we perceive taste is deeply influenced by the sense of smell.
While many children with sensory needs have a tendency to chew on their shirt collars or pencils as a sensory strategy in order to seek proprioception needs, the behavior may occur as a result or as a reaction to under-responding to oral input. Other children may seek out intense taste sensations and in that case put non-edible items into their mouth to satisfy that sensory need. Still other children may over-respond or under-respond to certain flavors or taste sensations. For those children, it is common to experience food refusal related to texture or taste.
Hypersensitivity to oral sensory input may present in a child as over-responsiveness or overreaction to gustatory sensation. This looks like:
Dislike of mixed textures (cereal in milk or chunky soup)
Avoids temperature extremes (unable to tolerate hot or cold foods)
Prefers foods that do not touch or mix on their plate
Use of only a specific spoon or fork or no utensil at all
Intolerance to teeth brushing.
Anxiety or gagging when presented with new foods
Drooling
Hypo-responsiveness of the gustatory sense may present in a child as under-responsiveness or underreaction to gustatory sensation. This may look like:
Licking objects
Bites others
Chews on clothing
Hums all the time
Prefers a vibrating toothbrush
Prefers spicy foods
Stuffs food into cheeks
Prefers food very hot or very cold temperature
red Flags for Olfactory System Dysregulation
Olfactory dysregulation refers to differences in how an individual perceives and responds to smells in their environment. Some individuals may be highly sensitive to certain scents and may become overwhelmed, nauseous, or distressed by everyday smells such as perfumes, cleaning products, or certain foods. Others may seek out strong or specific scents as a way to self-regulate. Using the term dysregulation here is not meant to label these sensory responses as a problem, but to acknowledge that olfactory processing differences can affect comfort, attention, and participation in daily routines.
A neuro-affirming perspective recognizes that variations in how we experience smells are part of natural sensory diversity. The goal is not to eliminate these differences, but to provide support that respects individual needs. This might include adapting environments to minimize triggering scents, offering preferred calming smells, and helping individuals develop strategies to navigate scent-rich settings more comfortably. By understanding and honoring olfactory sensory needs, we can foster more inclusive and supportive environments.
The olfactory system, or the system that enables the sense of smell, has receptors in the tissue of the nose that are connected by pathways to the brain. Connections occur via two pathways, one being a direct route to neurons in the brains and the second being a path that passes near the roof of the mouth. This channel is connected to the taste of foods.
There is some evidence indicating that the sense of smell is more associated with memory than the sense of vision or the other senses. The connection of the olfactory sense to the emotional part of the brain and previous experiences, as well as hypersensitivity or hyposensitivity to smells can cause anxiety or sensory related breakdowns in children with sensory processing difficulties.
Hyper-responsiveness of the olfactorysense may present in a child as over-responsiveness or overreaction to olfactory sensation. This may look like:
Overly sensitive to smells
Notices smells others don’t
Anxious around certain smells
Holds nose in response to certain scents
Challenged in the shower or bathtub, with overwhelming preferences and disliking certain scents
Hypo-responsiveness of the olfactory sense may present in a child as under-responsiveness or underreaction to olfactory sensation. This may look like:
Smells unusual items like paper or certain materials
Prefers strong scents
Red Flags for Interoceptive System Dysregulation
Interoceptive dysregulation refers to differences in how an individual perceives and interprets internal body signals, such as hunger, thirst, fatigue, pain, temperature, or the need to use the bathroom. Some individuals may have difficulty recognizing or responding to these signals, while others may experience them as overwhelming or confusing. When we describe interoceptive dysregulation, it is not to suggest a deficit or problem within the individual, but to acknowledge that these sensory differences can impact self-awareness, self-care, emotional regulation, and participation in everyday routines.
A neuro-affirming approach respects that interoceptive experiences vary widely among individuals and are a natural part of sensory diversity. Rather than aiming to “correct” these differences, the goal is to provide support and tools that help individuals better understand and respond to their internal cues in a way that feels right for them. This may include using visual supports, developing body awareness activities, or building self-advocacy skills. By honoring interoceptive needs, we can help foster greater comfort, autonomy, and engagement in daily life.
The interoceptive sensory system is an area that most people are not as familiar with. This system is connected to amygdala, the emotional system, the limbic system, our emotional awareness, our feelings, and subconscious arousal. Receptors for the interoceptive system are in our organs and skin. The receptors relay information regarding feelings such as hunger, thirst, heart rate, and digestion to the brain. This is the foundation to sensations such as mood, responding to the moods and emotions of others (co-regulation), emotions, aggression, excitement, and fear and in turn, promotes the physical response of our bodies.
Physical responses include functions such as hunger, thirst, feelings, digestion, heart rate, and body temperature.
Hyper-responsiveness of the interoceptivesense may present in a child as over-responsiveness or overreaction to interoceptive sensation. This may look like:
High pain tolerance
Distracted and overwhelmed by feelings of stress
Distracted or overly sensitive to sensations of stomach digestion
Distracted or overly sensitive to sensation of heart beat
Always hungry or thirsty
Eat more and more often to avoid feelings of hunger
Unable to sense the feeling of being full; overeats or overdrinks
Overwhelmed by feelings of sadness, anger, happiness, etc. and unable to respond appropriately
High urine output
Use the bathroom more often than necessary to avoid feelings of a full bladder or bowel
Distracted by changes in body temperature
Distracted and overly sensitive to sweating
Overly sensitive to feeling ticklish or itchy
Overly sensitive to cold or heat
Overly sensitive to signs of illness
Fearful of vomiting
Hypo-responsiveness of the interoceptive sense may present in a child as under-responsiveness or underreaction to interoceptive sensation. This may look like:
Low pain tolerance
Poor or low response to interoceptive stimuli
Doesn’t know when to go to the bathroom
Never says they are hungry or thirsty
Does not drink or eat enough
Difficult to toilet train
Never complains of being cold or hot (always wears shorts in the winter or pants in the summer)
Never complains of sickness
Difficulty falling asleep
Unable to identify feelings of stress
Unable to identify specific feelings and appropriate responses
Sensory Checklists, explained
There is a lot to think about here, right? Taking a giant list of common sensory processing disorder lists and knowing what to do with that list is complicated. What if you had strategies to address each sensory system’s over-responsiveness or under-responsiveness so you could come up with a sensory diet that helps kids function?
Sensory processing is broken down by sensory system so you can understand what you are seeing in the sensory responses listed above. Then, you can use the lists of sensory activities to help the child complete functional tasks while they get the sensory input they need to focus, organize themselves, and function.
The sensory activities are presented as meaningful and motivating tasks that are based on the child’s interests, making them motivating and meaningful.
You can get the Sensory Lifestyle Handbook and start building a sensory diet that becomes an integrated part of each day’s daily tasks, like getting dressed, completing household chores, school work, community interaction, and more.
In young children, sensory issues can present leading to the early intervention process. Having a sensory processing disorder checklist on hand can help relieve some of the questions parents have about development and whether a behavior or action is typical or not.
Characteristics of sensory issues show up during these young years. You may see frustration or meltdowns due to unexpected touch.
You may identify tactile defensiveness even in the infant years when babies pull away from heavy input of a cuddle or wrapped blanket. You may notice sensory preferences in the way of seeking out a pacifier for comfort (long beyond the typical pacifier stage). You may even identify distress with certain aspects of sensory input as listed in the sensory processing checklists above.
A few helpful resources are listed below:
Meltdowns– This blog post covers temper tantrums verses sensory meltdowns.
Sensory integration at the playground – Exploring different sensory input areas at the playground can help identify sensory challenges in young children.
A Final Note on Examples of Sensory Processing Dysregulation
This extensive list of sensory red flags is meant to act as an educational tool for parents, educators of children.
As occupational therapists, we strive to support children and their “team” of parents, caregivers, family, and educators with resources and information that will serve the individual child so that they can function in everyday life tasks.
The purpose of this sensory processing disorder checklist is to help parents and professionals who interact with children become educated about particular signs of sensory processing differences.
A checklist is not to be used as the absolute diagnostic criteria for labeling children with sensory processing disorder. It is simply a resource to be used as a starting point when identifying distress symptoms to explore further.
If you have difficulty understanding your child’s sensory preferences, sensory avoidances, use this sensory processing disorder checklist as a starting point and reach out to a pediatrician and pediatric occupational therapist.
For a comprehensive look at sensory processing throughout every day activities, try our Sensory Lifestyle Handbook.
Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.
Having a summer bucket list that keeps kids from the inevitable summer boredom is essential…but a summer bucket list that actually helps kids develop skills and gain stronger bodies is powerful! This list of Summer things to do with kids and families this summer is a list of therapist-approved activities that help promote stronger core muscles, refined fine motor skills, and the very skills kids need to learn, play, and develop.
I also updated this blog post to add a big list of daily tasks that kids can do this Summer that are daily life skills tasks. These are important because these life skills are ones that happen during the day and are important to building functional skills in our kids. They also really facilitate executive functioning skills! I love to use a list like this along with a task tracker or a daily chore checklist type of printable because you can have your child do the tasks that contribute to the family household and they are learning at the same time. You could also use this list along with our screentime checklist where kids need to do a certain number of items from their list before they earn screentime for the Summer day.
Summer Bucket List
Need things to do this summer with the kids? Need therapist-approved activities for the whole family, that actually help kids develop motor skills, get off the screens, and build stronger kids? This printable list of summer activities for kids and families is just the thing to battle the boredom this summer!
I am a mom of four. I have heard, “I’m bored!” 4,000 times. Each summer. This summer might look a little different that most years, and because of that, I wanted to come up with summer activities for kids that are therapy-approved. These are summer things and active play ideas. You might call this an adventure challenge. You might call it a therapy home program. What this list of summer activities is for certain, is a way to get the kids active and off the screens. This list of 100 summer things (actually 104 summer things) costs little to no money, use the items found around the house, and meets the needs of kids. It’s part of our Wellness Challenge (More info on that coming next week!)
100 Things to do this summer
There is just something fun about creating a summer bucket list with the kids. But, what if you could hand-pick the very summer activities that help kids gross stronger muscles, gain sensory input that helps with regulation, and motor activities that improve balance, coordination, strength, and endurance? What if your summer bucket list not only built a summer of family memories, but also stronger and more functional minds and bodies?
This printable summer bucket list does just that!
Well, here we are at the tail end of another school year. This is the time that most parents and teachers celebrate the end of school and the start of summer…maybe more than the kids. With the end of the school year, it’s a time to celebrate lazy, hazy days of summer. This year is a different. Parents are celebrating the end of distance learning. Teaching kids at home through distance learning, while working from home is simply not a sustainable task for most. The list below is 100 things to do this summer. These are activities to keep the kids (and the whole family) active, and enjoying time together in play. Play is healing. Play is a learning opportunity.
For pediatric occupational therapists, we know that play is the primary occupation of the child. Play is therapy and therapy is play. These summer activities for kids are designed to boost skills, while helping children emotionally, physically, and mentally.
Kids NEED active play. They NEED to move. Kids need to create, think outside of the box, and they need to be bored. With boredom comes creativity, interest-based thinking, and innovation. This list of 100 things to do this summer might be an idea starter.
The activities on this list fall into six categories: outdoor activities, indoor activities, water activities, games, creative “maker” activities, and imagination activities. Each summer activity challenges movement and is a summer activity that can be added to home programs.
When the kids say they are bored, send them to this summer bucket list checklist and ask them to pick something on the list. With 104 ideas, there is something for each day this summer.
Summer Bucket List for Occupational Therapy
The activities on this summer activity list inspire active play for kids. They build heavy work to add proprioceptive input. They add movement for vestibular input. They add tactile input. The activities are calming or alerting. They are sensory-based movement activities.
Use this list as a home program. The list can be sent home to parents to inspire active play each day. Or, post it on your fridge and when the kids say they need something to do, ask them to pick one activity. Your challenge is to complete as many of the activities as you can. When boredom strikes, add these activities.
Outdoor Active Play for a summer bucket list
Obstacle course
Nature walk
Climb a tree
Kick a ball
Driveway chalk
Go for a hike
Roll down a hill
Make a hideout
Draw the clouds
Run around the house
Pick flowers
Do jumping jacks
Fly a kite
Draw with chalk
Go swimming
Ride a bike
Watch the birds
Indoor Activities for a Summer BUCKET LIST
Animal walks
Couch cushion course
Balloon toss
Bowl plastic cups
Indoor balance beam
Freeze dance
Yoga
Build puzzles
Hand clapping games
Board games
Catch socks
Write in a journal
Wheelbarrow walks
Army crawls
Wall push-ups
Dance party
Play with stickers
SUMMER BUCKET LIST Water Activites
Water sensory bin
Spray bottle art
Squirt gun painting
Paint with water
Swim
Play in a sprinkler
Make a sensory bottle
Make sponge balls
Play in the hose water
Water flowers
Wash a car
play in the rain
Water table
Water balloons
Play in soapy water
Bubbles
Sink or float tests
Summer Bucket List Games
Red rover
Play tag
Hide and seek
Play Uno
Play cards
Soccer
Catch a football
Board games
Hopscotch
4 Square
Basketball
Relay Race
Charades
7 Up
Mr. Wolf
Tug of war
Lawn tic tac toe
Bean bag toss
Creative Activities for Summer
Torn paper art
Make play dough
Build with LEGO
Finger paint
Make a fort
Make a recipe
STM project
Make lemonade
Paint rocks
Leaf resist art
Coffee filter butterfly
Toilet paper roll craft
Paper bag puppets
Make bird treats
Create a song
Write a letter
Bake cookies
Draw
Imagination Play for summer
Think of a goal for you to accomplish
Dress up
Make up a play
Invent something
Make up a dance
Act out a story
Write a story
Imagine a cardboard box is something unique
Pretend to be something or someone else
Think of a new ending to a movie
Imagine all the things you are grateful for
Imagine you had $1,000. What would you do?
Think of a random act of kindness. And do it
Imagine you were…whatever you could do or be. How can you get to that point? Make a list of the steps.
Get this list in a printable format below! Print it off, hand it out as an occupational therapy home program, or hang it on the fridge and when the kids say they are bored, direct them to the list!
Life Skills List for Summer
I also wanted to make a list of life skills tasks that kids can do this Summer. These are great to add to a Summer list, especially for daily tasks that kids do before doing something fun like playing outside with their friends or heading to the pool. Yes, it’s ok (and good!) to make kids do a short list of basic chores before they head out for the day.
Help with meal prep (cutting, stirring, measuring)
Plan a picnic
Follow a recipe
Set the table for dinner
Sort mail with a parent
Budget and spend allowance money
Create and stick to a summer reading plan
Pack and unpack a travel bag
Choose clothes for the next day
Organize art supplies or craft materials
Make a cleaning checklist
Plan a family game night
Clean out a closet or drawer
Track the weather and dress appropriately
Keep a daily journal
Plan a backyard scavenger hunt
Check and refill household supplies
Make a summer calendar with events and activities
Plan a DIY project or craft
Keep a daily hydration log
Create a quiet-time routine
Use timers to stay on task
Write a packing list for a sleepover
Take inventory of school supplies
More things to do this summer
For more therapist-approved things to do this summer, use the Summer OT Bundle to work on all things handwriting, hand strength, fine motor skills, puzzles, scissor skills, and function in FUN and engaging ways.
If you are a therapist who just doesn’t have it in you to reinvent the wheel this summer, the Summer OT Bundle is for you.
If you are a parent who wants to work on the skills kids NEED to develop so they can write with a pencil and use scissors (but you’re tired of hearing the complaining about doing these activities), the Summer OT Bundle is for you.
If you need resources and tools to fill home programs, extended year programs, summer camps, or to have the babysitter do with the kids, the Summer OT Bundle is for you.
It’s 19 different products, resources, activities and guides to help kids gain the very motor skills they need to thrive. Read more about the Summer OT Bundle here and start having fun in effective ways this summer!
Grab a copy of our Summer bucket list and send it home with therapy students for low-prep activities that support skill development. We wanted to select activities that are low budget and can be done over the Summer months. This is a great home program for carrying over skills…in a low effort way.
I love that these bucket list items are in a checklist format too…you can have your kids check off as many tasks as they do, without using a calendar that limits the students to a specific task each day.
This printable is found inside The OT Toolbox membership club (Level 1 free downloads) and Level 2.
Enter your email here to get your copy:
Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.
School-based OTs are often-times looking for occupational therapy activities for the end of the school year. Here, you’ll find fun occupational therapy interventions for the end of the year! We all need a little boost at the end of the school year to get through to the summer, especially after a year like this one! Whether your kids were in person or online, they deserve a fun and engaging activity that will help them transition into summer break. Before we get into Summer bucket list making, it’s important to get through the end of the school year (and that IEP goes on hold for the summer break)!
end of school year ot activities
End of the school year is a time to celebrate everything that was accomplished during the school year, and in the therapy room, that can be a huge progression! Simply by comparing beginning of the year OT samples to end of the year OT samples, and you can see the progression that was made over the year. This is a great time to look at the progress a child has made!
We have some great end of the school year OT activities to make this time of year both fun, and skill-building. Sometimes therapy sessions can go right up to the last day of school, and making sessions extra fun is essential!
An end of the school year OT must-do…Wherever you treat your clients, treat them to a super fun last day of therapy with a party! Rip up tissue paper to make confetti, blow up balloons, pick sprinkles out of putty, and make a quick fun-fetti cake in a mug. They can eat their dessert with the perfect grasp on their utensil of choice. Did you notice all the therapeutic benefits in that list? Because they won’t!
Some extra-fun ideas to change up the therapy routine:
Make a craft- We have many occupational therapy crafts that support a variety of motor skills, sensory needs, fine motor skills, scissor skills, and more.
Sidewalk chalk- Grab some sidewalk chalk and head outside. Drawing on the sidewalks around the school is a great activity and one where you can target a variety of skills. Draw a sensory path, a hopscotch board, tic tac toe, or just draw for fun. There are so many benefits to sidewalk chalk.
Make a bead bracelet- Ask the student to select a word that represents their school year. Words like happy, proud, growing, or learning, or many others can be used. Then use letter beads to thread onto a pipe cleaner or string. Here is a list of student strengths to help come up with encouraging words.
Make a sensory bin- Sensory bins can be used to target a variety of skills and they are fun to play with! Kids love to walk into the therapy room and see a sensory bin ready for them. Materials like dry corn, beans, cotton balls, sand, shaving cream, pool noodles, or any materials! Here is a list of sensory bin bases ideas to get your creativity started.
Use paint brushes to paint water on a chalkboard on a vertical surface.
Play dough and cookie cutters- There are many benefits of play dough and you can target so many skills. Pull out a few cookie cutters for an open-ended play activity that builds motor skills. Make the play dough activity extra fun by cooking up an extra large batch of homemade play dough. Then, hide small objects or coins in the dough for a fun surprise.
Make a Tie-Dye T-Shirt-How long has it been since you’ve tie-dyed? For me, it’s been over a decade, but I still remember the excitement of creating wearable, one-of-a-kind art. Depending on what the child’s needs are in therapy, you can use this tie-dye activity to address their needs.
The first step for tie-dying is to get your material wet and ring out the access water. My OT brain jumped for joy at the opportunity to have my clients ring out a wet shirt! This action recruits the gross grip strength and bilateral coordination required to move the wrists in opposite directions. Not only that, but they have to hold the position and continue twisting as necessary for the water to be released – what a perfect activity for action-reaction!
The second step is to form the shirt into a design. Fine motor coordination and finger isolation can be encouraged by using only the index finger and thumb to begin twisting the shirt. Eventually, the twist will become too thick to reach with one hand, and that’s where bilateral coordination comes into play once more. Maybe do this a few times until the twist is just right!
Now my favorite part – breaking out the rubber bands. Rubber bands are often used in therapy for fine motor strengthening and bilateral coordination. This will be such a fun, new way to use them in your sessions! Use different resistance rubber bands based on their abilities, and use as many as you’d like. This task is also great for developing ADLs that require strong, coordinated fingers, like donning socks.
Squeezing the bottles of dye can be a great workout for small hands! Use a fine-tipped bottle to increase the challenge and decrease the mess.
Once the process is complete, they will have followed multiple steps and benefited from sustained attention and practice with proper sequencing.
Nail Polish: Could your client benefit from visual motor integration and fine motor coordination? Have them paint your nails! Or, save your fingernails and offer them a small wooden car to paint – either way, it will be a blast.
Gardening: Working on self regulation, social skills, or sequencing? Planting is a perfect time to have conversations with your client, all while doing a refreshing, seasonally appropriate activity.
STEM: Have a little scientist on your hands? Use recycled materials to engineer catapults, cars, mazes, and more! Adjust the craft based on their therapeutic needs. You can learn all about recycled STEM ideas here.
Fresh Air: Is it a beautiful late spring day? Take therapy outside and let everyone soak up the good-feeling of vitamin D. Here are some great outdoor sensory ideas.
Online Therapy Activities for the end of the school year
Show and Tell- If you haven’t done this already, a great way to encourage engagement during telehealth is to have the child give you a tour of their home. Most kids love to show off their things, and you can get a better sense of what items and space they have for planning their home programming. This time can be used to work on social interaction skills, descriptive skills, and you can address their deficits by having them interact with specific items they may find.
Scavenger Hunt– Another way to boost motivation in telehealth is to do a scavenger hunt! Ask them to find something blue, something yellow, something rough, something soft, something long and something short… you get the picture!
Make Play Dough– Making play dough with students is a great way to work on following a recipe and build skills. Then, each student can get their own set of play dough to send home at the end of the year for summer fine motor activities. These play dough recipes have you covered. Pair the play dough with some of these free play dough mats:
Easy Cooking- Lots of kids love to make things, but arts and crafts can get boring when it’s all they do in school or therapy. They need new ways to create by the end of the year, and that’s where easy cooking comes in! Check out the many cooking with kids recipes including easy recipes, kid-friendly recipes, and even alerting and calming recipes! When kids cook, they are working on ADLs and IADLs (Instrumental Activities of Daily Living), and building skills like fine motor skills, sequencing, direction-following, executive functioning, and more!
Tiny Sandwiches with peanut butter and jelly, bananas and honey, nutella and strawberries, hummus and cucumber – the possibilities are endless!
Interactive Slide Decks for the end of the school year
Bored with your current selection of Boom Cards? Check out these spring and summer themed slide decks! Staring at the screen just got way more therapeutic.
Collaboration with Teachers and Parents at the end of the school year
We all know that carryover of skills requires practicing OT strategies at home. The end of the school year is an opportunity for occupational therapists to collaborate more closely with teachers and parents.
Sharing simple activity ideas that can be carried over into the classroom or home environment helps reinforce therapeutic goals and create consistency in expectations. For example, therapists might create a take-home activity kit or suggest classroom-based brain breaks that align with a student’s OT goals.
Sending a brief end-of-year summary sheet or email with strategies has worked really well for me. It’s a good way to ask parents to do a Summer home program to work on therapy areas over the Summer.
This way, we can help parents make sure progress made during the school year is acknowledged and carried forward into summer routines.
We also have a selection of Home Program tools inside The OT Toolbox Membership (Level 2).
Transition Planning
Transitions happen after each school year. It might be the student will be going to a new grade, a new classroom, a different school, or new support services in the Fall. This upcoming change can be challenging for many students. Occupational therapists can play a key role in supporting smooth transitions by addressing both emotional and practical needs.
Tools such as social stories, transition countdowns, or visual schedules can help students understand what to expect and reduce anxiety. Therapists can also facilitate meet-and-greets with incoming staff or provide sensory-friendly orientation materials.
For students with higher levels of need, practicing routines they’ll encounter next year (like navigating the new school layout or organizing a locker) can build confidence. Thoughtful transition planning empowers students with tools to adapt and succeed in new environments.
These are strategies that can be considered for a Summer program or for parents to think about over the Summer months.
At the end of the school year, this might be a topic that the OT professional spends consultation time to educate parents on strategies.
Printable Certificates or Awards
Recognizing students for their hard work and progress is a meaningful way to end the school year on a positive note. Printable certificates or awards can be tailored to occupational therapy goals, such as “Super Scissors User,” “Handwriting Hero,” or “Flexible Thinker”. This is such a fun and affirming end of the school year activity!
Therapists can personalize certificates to reflect each student’s achievements, giving them a tangible reminder of their growth. Sharing these with parents and teachers also helps highlight the impact of therapy throughout the year.
We have some printable certificates for occupational therapy inside the Level 2 Membership.
Do any of these end of the school year activities sound fun for your occupational therapy sessions?
Sydney Thorson, OTR/L, is a new occupational therapist working in school-based therapy. Her background is in Human Development and Family Studies, and she is passionate about providing individualized and meaningful treatment for each child and their family. Sydney is also a children’s author and illustrator and is always working on new and exciting projects.
Have you ever thought about running a camp program as part of your therapy offerings? Maybe you work at an outpatient therapy clinic and are looking for summer camps to offer to kids for a cash-based service. Perhaps you are looking for themed ideas to add to summer therapy sessions. Maybe you want to offer a therapeutic summer program that hits on specific skill areas. Or, maybe you are wondering how to set up a DIY backyard summer camp for your kids. A therapy camp may be just the way to build skills in a fun way this summer.
Before we jump into HOW to actually do this, be sure to check out the resource we’ve added to our shop: Create Your Own Summer Camp Side-Business. This is a printable workbook that walks you through every step of setting up a paid Summer Camp. You can use this process for year-round paid playgroups, handwriting tutoring, or any themed group.
The Summer Camp & Tutoring Side Business Workbook gives you everything you need to plan, price, and launch your own skill-based program, perfect for OTs, PTs, and SLPs who want to use their expertise in a fun, flexible way.
Setting up a space camp, handwriting camp, or sensory camp as a supplemental activity resource is easy and requires just a little planning. In this post, we’ll discuss how to set up a camp program as a side income, a supplemental service to therapy clinics, a summer therapeutic camp, or DIY home program.
How to start a therapy Summer Camp
The steps below will help you decide how to run a summer camp at home or as a therapy camp that supplements summer programming.
The first thing to consider (prior to deciding on a theme or goals of the summer camp) is to determine the scope of your therapy camp. Is it a supplement to therapy where therapy goals will be addressed generally across a group of kids? Will insurance need to be involved? Will you be using your therapy license to make clinical decisions? Or, will the summer program be a supplement to therapy where goals are not specific to each child and each child moves through the same set of activities without individualized adjustments? Will the camp be a cash-based activity type of program, designed to prevent summer slide in handwriting or pencil grasp skills? Or will the summer camp act as a developmental play sessions? All of these are important to questions to consider before making other decisions on the program.
Decide on the summer camp theme
First, you’ll want to decide on the theme of your summer camp. Will your theme be based on an interest area? Some ideas include pirate theme, outer space theme, water theme, sports theme, fairies theme, and more. The options are truly limitless when if comes to a summer camp theme. The best thing about a themed summer camp program is that kids are typically highly motivated if the theme interests them.
Summer camp theme ideas
Summer camp theme ideas can be as specific or general as you like.
Summer camp themes can be based on skills: fine motor, gross motor, handwriting, cursive writing, executive functioning skills, cursive writing, shoe tying, etc.
Summer camps can also be based on the activities that will be done: play dough, science experiments, gardening, cooking, dancing, acting, writing, or messy sensory play.
Or, the summer camp theme ideas can be based on a general theme like princesses, pirates, fairies, pretend play, cooking, nature, hiking, obstacle courses, camping, or anything! There are so many ways to incorporate interests and meaningful, motivating themes into a summer camp theme.
You can find lots of weekly theme ideas here. These are tailored toward using a set theme in occupational therapy sessions, but are designed to be open-ended so that they can be adjusted to meet a variety of needs and skill levels like in a typical therapy caseload. The thing about a summer camp program is that the activities are not therapeutic or individual in nature. Rather, they are a set of specific activities and so the weekly themes you find in this resource will be quite helpful in planning themed activities.
When I ran a cash-based program, the first thing that I decided on was the theme. We had a 4 week session with one class each week. The theme of the entire program was a Dig into Spring! theme. By deciding to first cover the overall theme of spring, I was able to come up with specific activities designed on the various skills being covered in the camp program.
Decide on the Skills being addressed in the therapy camp
Next, decide on the specific skills you are targeting. With a therapy camp, you likely won’t address specific goals. Rather, all of the participants will go through the activities as a supplement to build strength, sensory participation, or practice functional tasks. Are you going to cover sensory participation? Handwriting? Motor skills? Learning? Executive functioning skills? There are limitless options when it comes to skills being covered in a summer camp program.
Make these skills as specific or general as you like. You’ll also need to consider the age of the child and general child development.
Back to my Dig into Spring! camp…After deciding on the theme, coming up with the skills was next. I knew I wanted play and sensory activities to be predominant. Sensory based play is not an easy home program for some families to set up for children. Between the mess and the materials needed for sensory experiences, it can be hard to set up many activities that are so needed and powerful tools for building other underlying areas of development. I took the overarching skills of sensory participation and added fine motor work, core motor strength, balance, coordination, and handwriting.
The nice thing about planning your own backyard summer camp (or summer camp program at a therapy site), is that you can tailor the activities to meet the needs of the kids you serve. An outpatient setting may want to set up a handwriting camp that gets children involved in fine motor strengthening activities with a mix of handwriting. Another group may include executive functioning tasks for high school aged students. Whether you want to highlight fine motor skills, sensory activities, or executive functioning, the sky is the limit when it comes to a diy summer camp.
In a summer camp for kids, all of the children will participate in the activities at the same level. There won’t be specific goals being covered or adaptations or modifications. Now, if a child has a therapist or a support person that is involved in the activities who is able to modify the specific tasks and perform them as part of a therapy goal session, that is a different topic. For the discussion here, we are just covering the set-up of a therapy supplemental program or play group.
If you are setting up a camp as part of an adjunct to a clinic or a therapeutic summer camp program, there may be additional liabilities, payment or insurance considerations, and goals that need to be established.
Therapy Camp LOGistics
Next, decide on programming. How would you like to run this camp? Is it going to be one activity per day? For a backyard camp, keeping things open-ended at first can be beneficial for the whole family. Decide on one activity to address each day. For a more organized camp such as those being held in a therapy setting, perhaps you have a list of activities to run through each session.
Some tips include:
Have more activities available.
If children work through the activities quickly, you will want to have other ideas available.
Have extra “busy time” camp ideas ready.
For the students that arrive early or leave a little later than other students, you can set them up with extra activities.
Decide how you will set up the various activities.
Will the whole group work through the activities together in a centers type of set up? Will you break the group up into smaller groups? Will kids rotate through the centers a different times? All of this depends on the number of participants in the group as well as the help that you have available.
Will parents remain with children during the camp or will they drop off the students?
Be prepared with background information.
Be sure to get contact information and background information such as allergies, background information, and any other information needed.
Create a check-in/check-out system.
Create a system to allow for safe check-in/check out, especially if the camp set-up is drop-off style. Depending on the nature of the camp and location, this may require some extra thought and preparations.
Set up Summer camp disclaimers.
Be sure to indicate in several places that the activities completed in your summer camp will not be therapeutic in nature. If you are a therapist, the activities will not be therapy! They are developmentally appropriate play-based activities that allow children to explore motor skills, sensory input, and are not a substitute for therapy. You may want to have this disclaimer in writing which parents of camp attendees agree to in writing.
Another important disclaimer to include is write out a form for parents to sign which indicates safety and liability issues. This is a form that you may want to have written up by a lawyer, specific to your state and your particular summer camp programming activities.
Establish social distancing or other safety measures.
Another consideration is regarding current situations in the way of health and safety. This consideration also requires forethought and planning depending on your situation and summer camp.
plan the summer camp activities
Now comes the fun part. Once you have a theme and skills decided on, you can begin to plan out your activities.
Gather your ideas and your programming. Do a search on The OT Toolbox to look for activities for various themes and skill areas. We’ve got a lot of ideas here, so there should be something for every topic and skill.
Finally, start filling in the programming with your activities. Summer camp activities may include a warm up activity, a gross motor activities, fine motor space activities, sensory activities, and more. Perhaps you a have a writing portion to incorporate handwriting in fun and “non-handwriting” way. Ask kids to check in or write their favorite thing you did that day as a way to incorporate writing without asking them to sit and actually practice written work.
One great tool to incorporate into any therapy camp is our Summer Sensory Stations. The printables can be used to support mindfulness, self-regulation, coping skills, motor coordination, and strengthening. But best of all, they are a great transition tool to use in therapy camp activities.
Summer camp ProGram Ideas
Sensory Summer Camp – Set up a backyard summer sensory camp that incorporates messy play experiences and motor skill development through play and interaction with friends.
Sensory Handwriting Summer Camp- Helping kids with handwriting? Use the ideas in this sensory handwriting camp to help with letter formation, sizing, spacing, and pencil grasp using sensory play-based activities.
Typing Camp- If you’re looking for an out-of-the-box idea for a summer camp program, how about a keyboarding club that helps kids improve typing skills, keyboard use, and typing speed?
Summer Cooking Camp– A cooking camp is a fun way to spend the summer cooking up recipes, creating summer memories, and helping with problem solving, creativity, executive functioning skills, and motor development. Try the recipes in our cooking with kids recipe collection (an A-Z Recipes collection)!
Cursive Writing Camp– Use the activities and ideas in this 31 days of cursive to teach cursive writing skills, letter formation.
Fine Motor Summer Camp– Work on fine motor skills through play. Set up activities with various materials each day of the summer camp:
Play Dough Summer Camp- How fun would it be to make play dough and explore textures, while strengthening fine motor skills? Try of the sensory dough recipes of our best homemade play dough recipes.
So, what summer camps are you thinking of?
Set up Your Own Summer Camp
What’s next? Actually taking the steps to create your own Summer side-gig! If you’re ready to take the leap and turn your camp idea into something real, the Summer Camp & Tutoring Side Business Workbook is your perfect next step. Created specifically for OT, PT, and SLP professionals, this printable guide walks you through everything you need to set up and run your own skill-based summer program. It walks you through everything you need to know about this process, from planning and pricing to registration forms, waivers, and activity templates.
Whether you’re thinking about a handwriting bootcamp, sensory playgroup, or life skills club, this workbook helps you put your ideas into action, on your schedule, with your expertise, and without the overwhelm.
This workbook was inspired by my own experience starting a sensory playgroup while juggling work and mom life. I built it on my own terms, brought my kids along, and created fun, meaningful experiences that supported real skill development, and made extra income while doing it.
…and everything you need to confidently launch a camp, playgroup, or tutoring program this summer.
Whether you want to run handwriting bootcamps, sensory skill groups, or one-on-one sessions, you don’t need a full course or new certification. You just need a starting point. This is it.
Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.
Summer camp is an exciting experience for most kids, but what if you could create a custom sensory summer camp that supports sensory processing for all needs? Summer is a time of learning, fun, and new adventures over the lazy days of summer. Summer camp in the traditional sense is a time of themed activities that build character for a child.
However, it’s not always possible to sign up for a week of summer camp. Summer camp is expensive. Parents work or have busy schedules that make a week-long summer camp just not feasible. A backyard DIY summer camp experience is a way to save money while creating a summer learning experiences right in the backyard.
Be sure to check out this resource on how to run a therapy camp for tips and strategies with sensory summer camp planning.
Also be sure to check out the resource we’ve added to our shop: Create Your Own Summer Camp Side-Business. This is a printable workbook that walks you through every step of setting up a paid Summer Camp. You can use this process for year-round paid playgroups, handwriting tutoring, or any themed group.
The Summer Camp & Tutoring Side Business Workbook gives you everything you need to plan, price, and launch your own skill-based program, perfect for OTs, PTs, and SLPs who want to use their expertise in a fun, flexible way.
Sensory Summer Camp
One great addition to a sensory summer camp is our free summer sensory path! It’s a free sensory printable you can hang on a wall to add sensory motor, mindfulness, and sensory coping tools with a summer theme.
I’m joining several other bloggers who write about sensory processing ina Sensory Summer Camp at Home backyard summer camp experience.
Scroll through the links below to find enough sensory summer camp themes and ideas to last all summer long. You’ll find themed activities touching on all of the sensory systems to create an environment of learning through the senses.
Looking for a sensory camp that supports specific needs? No worries! The activities below support and challenge sensory touch!
You can find so many summer sensory activities here on the website to address various sensory motor considerations.
Specifically, these summer occupational therapy activities support development of skills across the board while focusing on the primary job of kids: play!
These sensory summer camp experiences are perfect for the child who craves or resists sensory input and can be modified to meet the needs of every child with sensory processing disorder. While these sensory summer camp ideas are perfect for kids with sensory processing disorder, they can easily be used in traditional summer camps. So, take a look at each of the camp themes below and get ready for a summer of sensory fun and memories!
Looking for activities and ideas to use in summer programming? You’ll love 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!
Hole Punch Cards for matching upper case and lower case letters
7 Roll and Write Play Dough Sheets – Apples, Bees, Bugs, Buttons, Donuts, Play Dough, and Unicorn themes
Summer Fun Pencil Control Strips
Summer Lists Writing Prompts
Summer Number Practice
Summer Visual Perception Pages
All of the Summer OT activities include ideas to promote various developmental areas with a Summer-theme. Activities guide and challenge development of handwriting, eye-hand coordination, bilateral coordination, body scheme, oculomotor control, visual perception, fine motor skills, self-regulation, gross motor skills, and more.
Use these activities as warm-ups to your therapy sessions, or add them to the homework page below to create a home program.
Occupational Therapy Summer Camp
I love the play-based sensory and motor activities in the summer camp ideas listed below. Each would be a great summer camp theme for using in an occupational therapy summer camp.
OT professionals know the power of play. But occupational therapy supports development, and while a traditional occupational therapy summer camp may not be an individualized process, there is still skill development happening even in a group setting.
An occupational therapy summer camp can focus on an area of function: sensory play experiences, handwriting, shoe tying, use of typing programs, or social emotional skills. The sky is the limit this summer when it comes to OT camps as a tool and resource for kids and parents.
However, because an OT camp might not be focused on individual needs and goals of the camp participant, a summer occupational therapy camp can integrate play, sensory experiences, and any summer theme you can imagine.
These summer sensory camp ideas below can get you started with brainstorming:
What’s next? Actually taking the steps to create your own Summer side-gig! If you’re ready to take the leap and turn your camp idea into something real, the Summer Camp & Tutoring Side Business Workbook is your perfect next step. Created specifically for OT, PT, and SLP professionals, this printable guide walks you through everything you need to set up and run your own skill-based summer program. It walks you through everything you need to know about this process, from planning and pricing to registration forms, waivers, and activity templates.
Whether you’re thinking about a handwriting bootcamp, sensory playgroup, or life skills club, this workbook helps you put your ideas into action, on your schedule, with your expertise, and without the overwhelm.
This workbook was inspired by my own experience starting a sensory playgroup while juggling work and mom life. I built it on my own terms, brought my kids along, and created fun, meaningful experiences that supported real skill development, and made extra income while doing it.
…and everything you need to confidently launch a camp, playgroup, or tutoring program this summer.
Whether you want to run handwriting bootcamps, sensory skill groups, or one-on-one sessions, you don’t need a full course or new certification. You just need a starting point. This is it.
Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.
The Sensory Lifestyle Handbook walks you through sensory processing information, each step of creating a meaningful and motivating sensory diet, that is guided by the individual’s personal interests and preferences.
The Sensory Lifestyle Handbook is not just about creating a sensory diet to meet sensory processing needs. This handbook is your key to creating an active and thriving lifestyle based on a deep understanding of sensory processing.
