Welcome to Inclusion Matters. Produced by the Center for Inclusive Child Care, aka, CICC. We are located at inclusivechildcare.org.
Welcome to Inclusion Matters a podcast of the Center for Inclusive Child Care. I'm Cindy Croft, executive director of the Center and I'm here with my colleague, Priscilla Weigel, assistant director. Hi, Priscilla.
Hi Cindy.
And we are concluding our series on occupational therapy, and particularly talking about sensory processing. But other needs that children have, that an occupational therapist would work with and benefit as they grow and develop. So we're here with Gina Gibson, who's an occupational therapist with Frasier, serving Minnesota families and children. So thank you for being with us.
Thanks for having me.
It's been so interesting.
It really has
So many great stories. And it's very, very interesting. So for our last, did you want to introduce the cert?
Oh no, go ahead.
So for our final podcast on this week, we have had some interest at the Center for Inclusive Child Care around weighted kinds of objects. And, and so we had actually some questions even from our state licensing department around, you know, what should childcare providers be thinking about when they use weighted blankets? Or, you know, should they be using weighted clothing for children. And so we just really wanted to get information right from occupational therapy to make sure we were giving good information. And so we have come to you to give us some guidelines on what providers should be doing when they know there are some sensory needs. But maybe an OT isn't right there to share program with them.
Yeah. So I think overall, kind of talking about why that deep touch input is helpful would be a good place to start. So deep touch and deep pressure is that proprioceptive input that's really calming and organizing, and it helps to kind of increase our rest and digest system and decrease that fight or flight response. So it's kind of related to why people like to get really big bear hugs, that kind of just releases those neurotransmitters that help us feel calm and happy and kind of takes the edge off of things. There are a lot of ways that we can give our body that deep touch input. And one thing that's important to know is really keeping an eye on how the child is responding to the input. Because everyone responds to things differently. Some things might be helpful for one person and not helpful for another. So you want to kind of even keeping like a log of how long you use the weighted item or that deep pressure input, what the response was, and then kind of what even happened once the item was taken away. Sometimes we'll see if you use a weighted item for a little while, and then you take it away, you might see kind of a rebound effect, where then the child is really seeking out even more input because they're feeling like they, their body is needing more and now it's it's removed. So that can be something to keep an eye out for.
Yeah, I think to just with as you were saying in some of our earlier portions of this series, just because of that unique response by each of us as an individual, what one child might think a bear hug is great, another child might be really uncomfortable by that. And it might even just be the beginning of the bear hug when skin is touching skin or clothes or rubbing again, you know, that light touch might be the trigger. And so it making sure and I think that this is, as you were noting to just really cueing into kids, what their what their response is, and that that's all about safety. Right?
Yeah, and ultimately, the goal is that we want kids to be able to figure out what their body is needing and be able to provide that for themselves. So it's great when a child is kind of able to do some of those maybe big hand squishes or even kind of giving themselves a bear hug because then if the adult is not around the child has figured out how to give their body that sensory input without needing to rely on another person.
And I think we talk a lot with the folks that we work with in childcare, providing opportunities for that independence. So having a quiet area for kids to go to when they're overloaded or having those, I think one of the earlier ones, you talked about the noise cancelling headphones or ear cover ear protection, having a basket of those off to the side, so kids can go grab those if they need it. Just things that provide opportunities. So a little mini tramp, you know, jumping could be good. What are some other things that you've noted or you know, would be useful things to just have around?
Yeah, Chewies are always a really helpful type of sensory tool. They provide heavy work input for the child's mouth. If they are a child who's old enough to use gum, gum can be a really great resistive input that can help with increasing attention span. And then some of those weighted items can definitely be helpful. But those are things that you want to make sure the child is supervised while they're using something like a weighted blanket, or a weighted vest, ankle weights, those are all things that provide great proprioceptive input, but you have to watch out for kids getting fatigued while walking around with something heavy on their body. You want to make sure they don't get overheated. And you always want to make sure that they are able to discontinue use of any of the items if they are done with it. Or if it's something that is a little bit distressing to them.
We know that a pupil can order these items online, what do you think about that?
Ya, I think that it's definitely beneficial to have the input from an occupational therapist, because you wouldn't want to be buying something that's too heavy for the child. So a lot of the weighted blankets that I've seen that they're even selling on Amazon might be like a 20 pound weighted blanket. And we typically recommend that you don't exceed between five to 10% of the child's body weight. So if a 40 pound child had a 20 pound blanket on them, that would be way, way too heavy. And then I think it is helpful to also keep in mind some of those things to look out for. If a child's body temperature is getting too warm, they're going to end up being a lot more dysregulated than they would have been without the weighted everyone.
Yeah, that's really a good point. And I think that really the rule of thumb is to really seek professional support. We've, Gina and Fraser has helped us put together a wonderful tip sheet with just some guidelines for weighted materials. And so that's available on our website, and also these podcasts to just really educate those of you listening on just what's best for children that might have some needs in this area that might be causing distress, and you can help them in some of those, it to help calm some of those things. And then if the interventions that you're providing don't seem to be doing the trick, that might be a reason to have a conversation with parents to say, maybe you should seek out a more thorough evaluation.
Yeah, definitely. And I think it's also important to note that there are so many deep pressure things that you can do without needing any sort of tool and without needing any occupational therapist input, things that are helpful for all kids to do. So you could make an obstacle course and maybe one of the steps would be rolling across some pillows, and then you might do a bear walk across the room, and then maybe an army crawl underneath a hurdle. So all different ways that you can just move your body to give your body some of that deep pressure input without needing those sensory items that need to be really monitored.
That's a great point. Great reminder,
I think then, as providers are listening, there's there are many things they can do. And then as they work sort of off the continuum with children, they want to bring in the experts to work on children who really need more of an intervention, but having that whole global approach in their program to meeting the needs of all kids. That's what we want to see. So yeah, thank you again, Gina. This was just excellent with many, many great ideas.
