Paediatrics

An interesting prototype of a "intelligent" toy can be seen here.

"When children play with toy cars they tell stories; they provide their own narration, voice-overs, and special effects - rolling cars over and over in slow motion and making dramatically stretched crashing noises.

The HotCam is a manual control (not remote control), toy car with an onboard (driver’s view) video camera and microphone. The HotCam car enables children to record certain ”˜scenes’ in their own stories. The children can then ”˜play’ their captured scenes through a television. In this way HotCam stories can be shared with parents, siblings and friends, and children can re-experience their stories."

Seems like a fantastic opportunity to observe and monitor children during play in real-life situations - unhindered by adults standing over them, or by going to an unfamiliar room with a huge black one-way mirror (observation room I mean!). Note the footage shows not only the child at play but also the social interactions with his sister. Although it is just a prototype Mattel did take on the original designer as an intern so you never know it may be hitting the shelves soon (at a ridiculously high price I dare say)

via Make

Find below my rather rapidly put together handout on Sensory Integration. Please note the disclaimers regarding referencing at the bottom! (Full post, )

Sensory Integration (SI)

• Quick History & Theory
• Terminology
• Sensory Integrative Dysfunction/Sensory Procesing Disorder
• Signs/Symptoms of Sensory Procesing Disorder
• Treatment
• Inteventions
• Research
• References

I promised some time ago to publish the quick play therapy presentation me and a few others did so here it is in brief. Note that along side this goes the mastercards with flickr game. Please at the very least email me if you ever would like to use some or all of this..

This presentation was brought to you by the letter “C”: Adil Chernajovsky, Caroline Milne, Christina Eraclides, Emma Belton, Hannah Connery, Nick Holland-Smith, Will Wade, Kate Harvey, Catherine Bensberg & Lisa Fallon

History

• During the late 1800s it emerged that play was important and it was considered to be a meaningful behaviour
• It was not until the early part of the 20th century that play became prevalent in OT literature and became an integral part of OT intervention with children. Play was viewed at this time as connecting the body towards wellness by acting as a diversion from any thoughts of illness

Definitions:

• Although many agree on the value of play there is little agreement on its definition (Turner, Foster & Johnson, 2002)
• Many definitions exist including “play is action on humans and non-human objects” (Florey, 1971)
• Play is used as a context for learning and practising adaptive responses in a variety of settings including schools e.g. schools for children with learning difficulties.
• Play is viewed as the main occupation of childhood (Ziviani, Boyle & Rodger, 2001) OT’s consider play to be an important vehicle for the assessment of children & help to ensure play is varied, developmentally appropriate and fun

Why Do We Play?
Reasons for play are complex and uncertain but have been described as :-
Ӣ An opportunity to develop and learn physical, social and emotional skills
Ӣ A way of learning skills in concentration, problem solving and judgment
Ӣ Opportunity to perform for the process or feeling rather than the product
Ӣ A mechanism for exploring and defining motivation
Ӣ A foundation for interpersonal relationships
Ӣ An arena for learning role behaviours
Ӣ Play behaviours may be lost or limited if a child experiences physical limitations e.g. they are on a ventilator or if there is low availability of peers and playmates and perhaps due to a child being placed in a special school or different classroom

its fun!

OT is used within schools for those children requiring additional support which isn’t covered by the curriculum such as ADL skills, personal hygiene and extra preparation for moving on after school. Since “play” is seen as one of the crucial occupations to a child’s development, particularly in their formative years, OT uses play therapy as part of a intervention plan.

Refs:
for web based material see http://del.icio.us/metaot/play
for books and documents see: http://www.citeulike.org/user/willwade/tag/play-lecture