Terry Aizen – Director of Kornmehl

School readiness

On Tuesday night, we had the privilege of listening to Occupational Therapist, Carla Port, who spoke to her audience of Pre-school parents about school readiness, sensory processing and self-regulation.

Key points from Carla’s talk covered the following areas:

Fine motor skills

Children need to have an established hand-dominance before starting school.

A mixed dominance at this age will impact negatively on:

• Handwriting (letter formations, reversals)
• Reading (scanning from left to right)
• Left/right discrimination
• All bilateral skills (catching, cutting, supporting page when writing, construction toys, tying laces).

Gross motor skills

• To develop bilateral integration for:
  • Crossing the midline to develop a dominant hand
  • All motor planning
  • Ball skills
  • Scissor/pencil tasks
  • Reciprocal arm/leg movements
  • Riding a bicycle
• To develop balance skills in preparation for: hopping, skipping, climbing, galloping and marching.
• Examples of gross-motor activities – completing a puzzle or drawing while lying on their tummy, negotiating stairs with alternating feet, catching a ball and balancing for five to ten seconds. 

Visual motor skills

• To develop visual motor control to be able to: trace, cut, colour in, copy, thread with accuracy
• To be able to copy all shapes, especially diagonal lines (/ \ x) in preparation for early letter and number formation
• Examples of visual motor activities – colouring in, lacing, weaving, stringing beads, peg board patterns, cutting out shapes, copying a design of three steps using cubes, joining up dots, tracing around your own hand and copying shapes or sequences 

Play/social skills and self-care skills

• To develop confidence/self-esteem in their ability to perform or attempt all tasks
• To understand social cues, rules and limitations
• To initiate new friendships and interactions with peers.
• Eating and dressing independently.
  • For school excursions
  • Changing for sport
  • Sleeping at friends
• Examples are dressing and undressing independently, toileting independently, understanding rules of games and being able to participate in games meaningfully, taking turns and sharing.

Cognition is important

• To develop pre-academic skills for reading/writing
• To organise themselves and their belongings.
• To develop visual perceptual skills (especially memory) for:
  • Spelling, reading and writing
• To develop sequencing skills for:
  • Following instructions
  • Early mathematics.

Sensory processing is how we interpret incoming sensory information.

Sensory Processing Disorder is the inefficiency in our central nervous system to process incoming information or stimuli. Difficulties in processing can lead to numerous problems such as disrupted motor co-ordination, sleeping, eating, concentration, learning, behaviour and social/emotional functioning.

Self-regulation is a person’s ability to adjust or control their energy level, emotions, behaviours and attention.

Appropriate self-regulation means adjustment and control is conducted in socially acceptable ways.

Behaviours to look out for include:

• Fidgeting
• Restless/rocking in chair
• Knocking into people/objects
• Difficulty sitting upright during floor time
• ‘On the move’, easily distracted.
• Seeking/avoiding touch
• Wrapping legs around legs of chair
• Aversion to change
• Dislike of music time
• Unpredictable behaviours
• Feeling overwhelmed during outdoor play
• Sucking on clothes or objects.

Important points to remember in preparing your child for school

• Provide your child with spontaneous learning experiences (colours, shapes, how things work)
• Look for opportunities to teach in every day experiences
• Make school exciting – talk positively about school and this new adventure that they are embarking on
• Minimise after-school activities, especially in Term 1
• Make reading, writing and other homework tasks an enjoyable experience
• Give your child positive reinforcement and praise for effort
• Encourage independence (dressing, eating, bathing, packing their bags, putting on school shoes, opening lunch containers and looking after their belongings).

Other points

• It’s OK for children to be bored at times. This allows them to use other parts of their brain as well as their imagination.
• Limit screen time for your children during the week.
• Put your toys at home on rotation. Don’t have them all out at once as this gets overwhelming for children.
• Encourage your children not to sit with their legs in a “W” shape, as this is not good for their knees and hips, but most importantly it weakens their core muscles and postural tone and limits their ability to interact in the environment.
• Children tend to avoid activities they find difficult. Be positive, give them lots of praise and encouragement to build up their confidence to try things that might be challenging for them.
• Teaching your child to breathe deeply is a great strategy for helping them to calm down.
• Early intervention is important to address any issues or concerns.
• Carla also spoke about a steady dose of Vitamin N – saying NO. Children are suffering from over-indulgence and are expecting to get everything for nothing. Children need protection, affection and direction. Children need to hear their parents say NO more often. In the process of trying to protect children from frustration, parents have turned reality upside down. www.prageru.com/referrers/youtube