At Kid Sense

Do you have a child you are worried about but not sure how to help? We all know that "Knowledge is power". Armed with a little knowledge, children with developmental needs can get the help they need sooner, and their carers can actively help them to overcome their little challenges using engaging and useful activities to facilitate maximum skill development.

WORKSHOP TOPICS:

Kid sense offers a series of workshops held during the school terms.

Each workshop is held once a school term at Kid Sense, 90 Unley Road Unley. 7 pm to 8.30 pm, Cost $30 (incl GST).
Book on-line here. Certificated of attendance provided.

 

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTIONS

1) Sharpening up on Pencil Skills

Recognize when a child is struggling with pencil skills (tracing, drawing, colouring and writing) from preschool to high school, and learn some simple strategies to overcome these difficulties.

Pencil skills (including handwriting) are more complex skills than we often realize. The ability to colour within the lines, trace over a shape and draw simple pictures are the building blocks for writing letters and numbers. Mastery of these skills enables children to focus on the content of their writing rather than how they produce it (eg their pencil control, pencil grasp, and speed). However, given society's emphasis on, and haste to commence, 'academics' earlier now than ever before, we sometimes overlook the vital role these seemingly basic skills play in developing mature writing skills. Yet we expect children to demonstrate their knowledge on paper in order to assess their academic abilities.

Ideal pencil skill development relies upon mastery and integration of a variety of abilities including:

  • Postural control - how we position our trunk and limbs when using pencils, to maintain an upright posture at the table.
  • Pencil grip – how we hold (and subsequently move) the pencil determines the ease, speed and direction of pencil movements, as well how hard we press with the pencil.
  • Visual processing that helps us recognize and form letters, as well as plan where to draw/write on the page or to layout project presentation.
  • Knowledge of appropriate letter formation, orientation, sizing and alignment on the page.

Other topics covered in this workshop include:

  • Does it really matter if the child doesn't form letters correctly or hold their pencil properly?
  • What if the child's writing looks good, but they're awkward in the way they produce it?
  • Are children with poor handwriting better off mastering keyboard skills instead (as is often the suggestion) and does it really help them in the long term?

DO YOU NOTICE ANY OF THESE SIGNS OF PENCIL SKILL DIFFICUTILES ?

If you do, then this workshop will be of interest to you.
Does your child:

  • write/colour with slow speed and/or labour intensive
  • Tire easily
  • Become easily frustrated
  • Avoid pencil activities
  • Show quality that deteriorates over time
  • Fail to stabilise the paper with the non-writing hand
  • Reverse letters and/or numbers
  • Write with inconsistent letter sizing and/or spacing
  • Have difficulty staying on the lines (when using lined paper)
  • Mix case usage inappropriately
  • Use poor layout and/or spacing on page
  • Use an awkward pencil grip and/or holds pencil too close or too far away from the tip
  • Complain of a sore hand, stop to shake their hand, or have knuckles that turn white
  • Swap hands frequently whilst writing or drawing
  • Slump at the table during pencil tasks
  • Break pencil leads often or presses excessively hard
  • Form letters with incorrect starting point and/or direction of movement
  • Have difficulty copying from the blackboard and/or dictation
  • Need visual models for letter formation
  • Move their pencil from their shoulder or elbow, rather than their hand (wrist or fingers)
  • Move their hand across the page with a stop start (jerky) movement
  • Hook the wrist towards body when holding pencil
  • Watch their hand intensely whilst writing or drawing

 

 

2) Developing Control in Coordination

Develop an appreciation of the multiple underlying skills required for coordination, and learn some ideas to enhance coordination, endurance and physical functioning in everyday tasks, not just sporting activities.

As we kneel to build blocks, get out of the car of or step over other children to find a place at mat time, we are using coordination skills. For many of us, catching a ball, riding a bike and climbing the stairs comes easily and without conscious thought. As the term implies, coordination involves the simultaneous bringing together of many skills. Individuals with typical coordination often don't realize the number of skills that we rely upon to come together all at the same time, to support our coordination' including:

  • Body awareness (knowing where our body parts are without looking at them)
  • Strong muscles to allow us to hold a position (e.g. an upright trunk to kick a ball or holding arms up to shoot a ball into the basket)
  • Timing and sequencing of movements (to catch the ball before it hits you in the face)

Coordination skills are important in everyday activities and influence our success in play, self-care and academic tasks. Perhaps even more significantly for those effected, poor co-ordination can result in loss of self-esteem and social difficulties in the playground or on the sporting field with peers, or even just negotiating the school classroom without tripping.
Only by improving the underlying and hidden skills that influence our co-ordination can we actually improve it. In doing so, we can avoid the common mistake of practicing the symptom (the end product) of these hidden difficulties (e.g. catching a ball) rather than addressing the cause.

This workshop provides fun and easy activities to try at home, child care, kindergarten or school in place of frustrating and fruitless practice of activities that children find hard.
For more specific information about the outcome of coordination skills, consult a physiotherapist.

Booking - Sharpening up on Pencil Skills

DO YOU NOTICE ANY OF THESE SIGNS OF COORDINATION DIFFICUTILES ?

If you do, then this workshop will be of interest to you.
Is your child:

  • Clumsy and accident prone; bump into things, trip and fall over often.
  • Cautious in learning new skills or playing new games (e.g. swimming strokes, sticks to familiar games that he/she has mastered).
  • Take longer than expected to learn new skills or relies heavily upon visual input.
  • Perform tasks or movements in a more difficult or awkward manner than typical (e.g. ball throwing or catching that is poorly timed or have trouble following an obstacle course).
  • Unaware of other people/objects in the space around him/her so that they 'bull-dozer' through crowds and spaces.
  • Have difficulty maintaining an upright posture for long periods - may slump at the table, lean on things and people after only short periods or can't sit still.
  • Seem to have weak muscles and grasp, tire easily or appear lethargic. Take longer to recover from activity than others.
  • Prefer quiet, sedentary indoor play over active, outdoor play.
  • Walk on their toes.
  • Show limited awareness of pain and temperature; doesn't seem to notice when bruises occur or to notice when bumps/cuts self.
  • Have poor balance; e.g. have trouble bike riding, managing uneven surfaces such as escalators or hesitate when using playground equipment.
  • Become anxious or distressed when feet leave the ground or when turned upside down. May avoid playground equipment or only like it when they are in control.

 

 

 

3) Making Sense of Sensory Integration

Learn what sensory processing is, how sensory inefficiencies can present in children's skill development and behaviour, and the impact sensory processing can have upon a child's ability to successfully participate in everyday activities (including learning and attention).
The ability to process sensory information from the world around us builds the foundation for:

  • Coordination - we use information from our senses to judge the timing of our movements and the force that we apply.
  • Social skills - to effectively interact with others we must read their verbal and non-verbal signals accurately and adjust our responses accordingly.
  • Ability to pay attention - as we need to select what is important to pay attention to and what is not in order to learn.

Sensory Integration for most of us occurs easily whilst we are doing everyday activities. It is something that just happens without effort and without being aware of it. For some children and adults, sensory information doesn't get organised quite the way it should. The first sign that something is wrong tends to be 'bad behavior' or clumsiness in fine or gross motor skills. It is an easy mistake to focus on the outcome skill difficulties (e.g. poor writing or clumsiness) rather than on the hidden cause (ineffective sensory processing) that allows these skills to be carried out.
Whether in the classroom, home or social environment (eg restaurant), our sensory systems are never turned off. Efficient sensory integration provides the foundations for learning new skills. Children with learning or co-ordination difficulties, ADD/ADHD, developmental delays and Autism Spectrum Disorders often demonstrate difficulty processing sensory information that add to learning and behaviour challenges.

This workshop is the pre-requisite for managing attention difficulties using sensory strategies as explored in the "Getting Control of your Attention engine" workshop.

Booking - Developing control in co-ordination

DO YOU NOTICE ANY OF THESE SIGNS OF BEHAVIOUR DIFFICUTILES ?

If you do, then this workshop will be of interest to you.
Does your child:

  • Become overwhelmed with unexpected or loud noises (e.g. vacuum, hair dryer). May hold hands over ears to protect from sound.
  • Have difficulty concentrating if there is a lot of noise around; is easily distracted by sights and sounds.
  • Become easily overwhelmed with touch from certain types of clothes (e.g. tags, seams in socks). May become distressed during hair cutting or face washing. Constantly complains that clothes are too tight, too itchy or that they hurt.
  • Avoid eye contact.
  • Walk on their toes; seem to have weak muscles, tire easily or appear lethargic.
  • Seem accident prone or clumsy. Hesitate when using playground equipment.
  • Touch people and objects to the point of irritating others; show decreased awareness of pain and temperature; doesn't seem to notice when hands or face are messy.
  • Seek out all kinds of movement to the point that it makes completing daily routines difficult and/or take excessive risks that compromise safety.
  • Gag on or avoid certain textures that are typically part of children's diets. Limits self to particular textures (e.g. crunchy versus lumpy).
  • Become anxious or distressed when feet leave the ground or when turned upside down. May avoid playground equipment or only enjoys it when they are in control.
  • Express feeling like a failure or is unable to calm self when unsuccessful at a task.
  • Have poor organization and planning skills; do things in a more awkward way than necessary.
  • Have difficulty tolerating change in routine and expectations and/or has difficulty transitioning between tasks.

 

 

4) Getting Control of your Attention Engine!

Many factors contribute to attention and concentration difficulties, some related to sensory processing. Learn how to manage a child's alertness or "engine speed" using sensory strategies applicable to child care/preschool/school and home. This workshop assumes the sensory knowledge gained in Making Sense of Sensory Integration.

How often have you thought "when he pays attention he can do really well" or "if he would just sit still long enough he could…" . We often make the assumption that kids choose not to pay attention, when in fact attention and concentration are skills that are influenced by a number of factors that we often take for granted including;

  • Their reactions to sensory information in the environment
  • Motivation and self confidence
  • Endurance over the course of the day
  • The complexity of the task itself
  • Perception of task difficulty

For many of us, attending to task no matter how tedious or challenging, is relatively easy as we know how to talk ourselves into obtaining and sustaining the appropriate state of readiness (alertness) to carry out the task. Each task requires a different level of attention. For example, reading a book requires a very different level of attention to following the ball during a team sport.
For some children though(such as those with language, learning or developmental days), attending is made difficult by one of the following three factors; anxiety, frustration and distractibility. Influenced by these, children can find it difficult or impossible to 1) initially obtain the appropriate attention to task, 2) sustain attention long enough to complete the task, or 3) both. Whilst this can present very similarly to ADD / ADHD, it's origin (and therefore it's management) can be quite different. Where the origin is dysfunction of sensory integration, helping these children develop appropriate sensory strategies can help them develop better attention, and as a result enhanced learning capacity academically, socially and physically. Without it, children can be reluctant to participate in everyday tasks, become inappropriately frustrated very rapidly, refuse to persist in the face of a challenge and resist learning activities.

This workshop assumes knowledge of dysfunction of sensory processing, outlined in Making Sense of Sensory Integration which examines the role sensory processing has learning and behavior.

Booking - Make sense of sensory integration

DO YOU NOTICE ANY OF THESE SIGNS OF ATTENTION DIFFICULTIES?

If you do, then this workshop will be of interest to you.
Does your child:

  • Fidget, rock, cannot sit still
  • Appear not to have heard what is said (regardless of the reason)
  • Make noises (e.g. humming) while working
  • Miss details when copying
  • Seek movement to the point that it interferes with task completion
  • Touch people and objects to the point of irritating others
  • Find it difficult to adhere to the task long enough to complete it
  • Have difficulty screening out relevant from irrelevant sounds/information in the environment
  • Require threats to initiate tasks/activities
  • Day dream, appear lethargic or lack energy
  • Display low frustration tolerance
  • Have poor transitions between tasks/activities
  • Take a long time to complete tasks
  • Hard to motivate, appear disinterested
  • Avoid quiet activities
  • resist challenging themselves
  • Rock in desk / chairs / on floor
  • Can't complete tasks in busy/noisy environments
  • Fail to notice changes in the environment

Booking - Getting Control of your Attention Engine

 

 

 

5) Getting up to Speed - Improving Reading Fluency

Learn to recognise when a child is struggling to read and/or spell and learn some simple strategies to help a child to improve their reading fluency. Reading is an important skill needed to achieve academic success at school and university, but is also important in daily life because a lot of information available to us is presented through written modes (e.g. Newspapers, books, internet articles, signs, instructions). In order to access this information a person needs to be able to read. When children's reading problems are identified early, they are more likely to learn strategies that will raise their reading to grade level.

Ideal reading skill development relies upon the mastery and integration of a variety of abilities including:

  • Phonological Awareness- the awareness of what sounds are and how they come together to make words.
  • Decoding & understanding of spelling rules- the ability to break down words into individual sounds and apply spelling rules to help to decode words (eg. silent 'e' rule, vowel teams).
  • Comprehension- an understanding of what words mean to help in understanding what one has just read.'
  • Retention- the ability to remember what one has just read.
  • Reading fluency- the ability to read a passage smoothly and to incorporate the use of prosody (ie. intonation) to aid in the understanding what one has just read.

DO YOU NOTICE ANY OF THESE SIGNS OF READING DIFFICUTILES?

Does your child:

  • Guess words when reading
  • Memorise text
  • Rely on the pictures when reading
  • Have difficulty reading simple phonetic words (eg. c_a_t)
  • Have poor spelling skills (inability to spell unfamiliar words)
  • Lack of knowledge of the phonemic code (ie. sounds associated to letters, not just names)
  • Have difficulty 'sounding out' words
  • Have difficulty blending sounds together
  • Have difficulty remembering what they have just read
  • Have difficulty telling you about what they have just read
  • Have difficulty answering questions related to what they have just read
  • Read with a flat, monotone voice
  • Have slow, laboured, disfluent speech
  • Avoid reading tasks
  • Have difficulty solving written maths problems

If you do, then this workshop will be of interest to you.

 

 

 

6) Turning "Me Can't Know That" into "I Get It!" – Helping a Child with Language Delay

Does your child sometimes sound like they are speaking like Yoda from Star Wars? Does your child look at you blankly when you ask them to do something? If so, then your child may have a language delay.

Every time we want to ask for something, tell someone something or interact with others in a meaningful way, we are using language. For many of us, these skills come easily and we don't have to think about what we want to say or how we should say it. However, some children may feel like they are from another planet as they struggle to be understood by others and to understand what is being asked of them.

Language is a set of symbols, which are usually words or signs/symbols that are used in an organised way to communicate ideas and thoughts. It is made up of two components: receptive language (understanding of gestures, words, written words and language) and expressive language (the use of gestures, words, written words and language to communicate). A language delay occurs when a child's language develops slower than other children of the same age, but is still following a typical developmental pattern. A child can have a delay in their expressive language, receptive language or a combination of both.

  • A child with a language delay can have difficulties in the following areas:
  • Getting across their thoughts and ideas.
  • Understanding instructions required at kindergarten/school/home.
  • Accessing the school curriculum.
  • Interacting with peers.
  • Understanding expectations in the kindergarten/school/home environment.

DO YOU NOTICE ANY OF THESE SIGNS OF LANGUAGE DIFFICUTILES?

Does your child:

  • Appear to have their own language
  • Have difficulty following instructions
  • Have difficulty sequencing words in the correct order
  • Have difficulty expressing their thoughts and ideas
  • Have difficulty reading and writing
  • Have difficulty retelling events in a sequential order
  • Have difficulty making up stories
  • Have a small vocabulary
  • Not use gestures
  • Not use words to communicate
  • Have difficulties socialising with others
  • Have difficulties understanding rules of games
  • Use language that sounds immature for their age
  • Have difficulty completing school work
  • Lack confidence
  • Have difficulty attending to tasks for extended periods
  • Look at you blankly or appear to ignore you when you ask them to do something

If you do, then this workshop will be of interest to you.

 

 

 

7) School Readiness - Tick all the right boxes

In preparing our children for school start we often think of showing off the uniform to family members, buying a new lunch box and visiting the playground in the weeks before school. But starting school requires a myriad of skills that parents and teachers can develop well in advance of school start. As we only get once chance at making school start a success, a little more preparation can go a long way to ease the transition in the first year of school (not just the first couple of weeks).

This workshop is ideal for carers of children starting school or those that are early in their school journey.

Ideal school readiness skills include skills that fit into the 4 main areas of:

  • Physical - strength and endurance of the body and hands
  • Social – comfort with peer interaction and play skills
  • Academic – very basic number and  letter awareness, attention
  • Emotional – confidence and resilience

Topics covered in this workshop include:

  • What can I do at home to help skills develop for school?
  • What physical preparation for school materials can I do to set my child up for success?
  • What social and play experience sets my child up for good peer interaction?

Does your child have any difficulties with the following?

If you do, then this workshop will be of interest to you.

  • Consistent hand dominance and hand skills for writing/cutting
  • Whole body physical strength for playing
  • Appropriate endurance to sit up for a whole school day
  • Ability to open lunch box and items/ buttons for toileting
  • Helping self (asking for help, identifying a problem and possible solutions)
  • Emotion recognition (in self and others)
  • Self regulation of own emotions
  • Confidence and resilience
  • Ability to easily follow a routine
  • Basic number (1-10) and letter awareness (own name)
  • Sustained attention to one task for up to 10 mins
  • Utensil uses (scissors and pencils)
  • Understanding of the rules of literacy (eg look at book from front to page, written text has meaning)
  • Ability to plan and sequence (eg find all materials for a project) and sequentially copy a model), problem solving independently 
  • Interact with same aged peers
  • Play alone as well as with peers
  • Turn taking
  • Engage in imaginative as well as  constructive play
  • Accepting ‘losing’ in in play
  • Interact with peers
  • Know how to wait

 

 

8) Play - Your inner child:

Understand the importance of play and the global benefits it has for your child. Social, emotional, motor, language and cognitive development are all impacted by play. For this reason it is important that we assist with play development for those children that are not independent and to find ways to extend those that are independent. Learn about the common challenges related to play and how to set up successful engagement in play with your child.

Play skills are learnt through modelling from adults and other children as well as self discovery. It is therefore unrealistic for play skills to develop unless adults interact and play in a manner that motivates and teaches the child about the social conventions and their world around them. Mastery of play skills enables children to focus on set tasks which in turn will allow for better development in other areas of development.

Ideal play skill development relies upon mastery and integration of a variety of abilities including:

  • Language
  • Sensory processing
  • Social skills
  • Planning and sequencing
  • Executive functioning (higher level thinking)

Other topics covered in this workshop include:

  • The importance and benefits of play
  • Common challenges of play
  • Common mistakes when playing
  • Common play themes that can be used
  • ‘how to’ play with your child
  • Tips and tricks
  • Language and play
  • Types of toys to use

DO YOU NOTICE ANY OF THESE SIGNS OF PLAY SKILL DIFFICULTIES?

If you do, then this workshop will be of interest to you.
Does your child:

  • Not able to attend to task for any length of time
  • Become easily frustrated when others intervene
  • Display repetitive play
  • Reliance on others to lead or guide play
  • Playing only a very limited range of toys/games
  • Inability to transfer a theme or skills to an unfamiliar setting
  • Tipping toys out but not actively engaging with them
  • Difficulty collating the necessary materials or packing away
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