neurological warm-ups

Each time I explain the process of sensory integration in words to someone, I have to wrap my head around it all over again.  I explain it differently every time, which is ok because sensory integration is such a vast topic.  This time I was talking to special education teacher, so my explanation was tailored to her.  She asked me specifically how to use multisensory activities to assist her students with their work in class and I told her to think of these activities as a neurological warm ups.  

So think of sensory play tasks as NEUROLOGICAL WARM UPS for your child’s brain.  

Deep pressure/heavy work provides long-lasting input to the big joints, forcing the brain to coordinate with the entire body to complete the given task.  Tactile input to a certain body part (like hands or feet) forces your brain to focus all of its attention on that specific body part.  Visual motor tasks, like popping bubbles with your fingers or completing a puzzle, force the circuits between your eyes and hands to communicate with each other.  

So before you have your child sit down to do a non-preferred task like writing or a fine motor manipulative - let their brain warm up first.  You will see a difference.