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PLAY Pen Article
Welcome To Holland
The classic article by Emily Perl Kingsley about becoming the parent of a child with a disability. Read it. You'll be glad you did.
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Crystal Drop Ball: Sensory Integration and Balance
By: Renata Bursten, Dragonfly Staff
Try sitting the child cross-legged on a ball. Hold their hips firmly, and slowly roll the ball from the center out in the forward directions on a gentle angle. Watch to see how (and if) the child compensates for the new angle of their trunk. We want to see the chin tip back towards level with the floor. This signifies the understanding that "upright" is not always determined by the position of the hips relative to the floor, but rather is cued by the relation of the inner ears to the floor. Prompt the child to "sit up straight" both with verbal and demonstrative cues. Once the rolling forward is mastered, work on backwards, side-to-side, and in a gentle circular motion. The see-through ball adds extra fun!
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PLAY Tip
Aids for Daily Living: Teaching How To Turn Lights On
Play can be serious business as the Light Bulb & Switch demonstrates. Before trying to teach how to control lighting with a regular switch on the wall try working with this training device on a table top. It can help teach that up means on and down means off as well as the fine motor skills needed to activate a regular sized wall switch.