Movement activities stimulate the vestibular system , which locate in our inner ear helps the body to know how it’s moving and how fast it is moving. These vestibular activities have the ability to calm and soothe the child, as well as improve many aspects of developmental skills such as balance, coordination, attention and other skills essential for academic performance.
Sensory and motor system has to go hand in hand for the better development of a child. Sensory integration therapy helps the children to process the sensory information from all the senses. When a child is able to process the sensory information appropriately, better is their motor skills. Sensory integration therapy helps for children on the autism spectrum, ADHD and sensory processing disorder. Simple sensory movement activities like walking and crawling on different surfaces, obstacle course, wheelbarrow walking, jumping games can be given with the advice of an occupational therapist.
Examples of sensory based movement activities
- Trampoline jumping
- Sitting on gymball/ rocking chair
- Riding a rocking horse/ scooter board
- Climbing ladder/ tree
- Standing on balance board
- Walking across balance beam
- Moving across monkey bar
- Inverting the head
- Animal walking (bear walking, duck walking)
- Bilateral activities (jumping jacks, cross crawl(brain gym))
- Cycling
- Swimming
- Dancing
