Supporting Families’ Mental Health

By: Easterseals DuPage & Fox Valley Social Services Team

Easterseals DuPage & Fox Valley’s family services team provides information, education, and support that address the concerns and stressors that may accompany having a child with a developmental delay or disability. In the past eleven months, these services and support for families were more vital than ever.

As we all gathered as much information about the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) as we could, it still left many unanswered questions, especially for children and caregivers, on how to communicate the potential illness changes. Social Worker Yvonne D. Anderson, LCSW, CADC, CODP II, shared many short stories to introduce resources and bring clarity and comfort to young children while their everyday routines are disrupted.  Our team quickly pulled together resources on wearing masks, social stories for a number of situations, and indoor activity ideas. Many can be found here.

Mental Health Needs

We also helped parents and caregivers of children with disabilities face overwhelming demands and difficult decisions based on the pandemic, stress of remote learning and loss of usual supports. As a recent NPR story shares, “(Lindsey) is one of almost 3 million children in the U.S. who have been diagnosed with a serious emotional or behavioral health condition. When the pandemic forced schools and doctors’ offices closed last spring, it also cut children off from the trained teachers and therapists who understand their needs.”

We know there will continue to be elevated needs and all of our clinicians, parent liaisons and social workers are participating in specialized training to broaden our mental health support services and help keep children and their families emotionally strong.

Clinical Successes

June* is a 9-year-old girl who has been treated for the past four years for anxiety through monthly social work visits.  Monthly visits were adequate to meet her needs and keep her anxiety at a level that did not affect her daily activities.  However, due to continued difficulties with school, it was recommended that June obtain a Neuropsychological evaluation.  The family had just completed the evaluation when the pandemic hit and home quarantine began, turning June’s world upside-down.   (*All children’s name or other identifying information has been updated.)

In March 2020, June began receiving weekly social work services to reduce her feelings of anxiety and to cope with staying home, remote learning and separation from her grandparents. June shares a close relationship with her grandparents and was used to seeing them daily, and suddenly she was not allowed to see them at all. June went to school every day, but her school shut down when quarantine started, and she began remote learning. Remote learning intensified her difficulties at school, and she began to resist attending school. Then June started to have nightmares about her family contracting COVID and dying, resulting in difficulty sleeping.

In April 2020, June increased to social services twice a week, and her treatment focused on reducing her anxiety. The results of her Neuropsychological evaluation were received, and she was diagnosed with dyslexia and severe dyscalculia. June’s parents were assisted in finding tutors for June to help with her reading and math delays and working with her school to adjust her expectations. June attends a private school and did not have access to having an individualized education plan initiated. Her school needed to be educated on these disorders and understand how they affected June’s ability to comprehend math and reading.

June continued to work with social work services twice a week from May through December 2020, working on adjusting to her new diagnoses and how it impacted her school performance, reducing her anxiety, coping with COVID, and being separated from her extended family and friends.

With a lot of hard work, adjusting home and school expectations, developing safe ways to visit her grandparents and implementing new coping strategies, June has reduced her counseling visits back to once a week. Her Easterseals social worker has been a big part of her success. The social worker, school, tutors, and parents, all worked together to advocate for changes and help her apply coping strategies to reduce her anxiety. 

Support for Virtual Learning & Socialization

Additionally, we found ways to assist families struggling to provide socialization and educational supports during their time at home. In one situation, a five-year-old with autism struggled with virtual learning and a new visual schedule helped the family manage school Zoom calls and other activities. By pairing mask wearing with screen time, it helped him get used to wearing a mask in order to successfully return to in-person learning.

Another child, Megan, needed support with safe socialization opportunities during the pandemic. By problem solving and working with the family, Megan was able to schedule virtual play dates, outdoor socially distanced scavenger hunts with neighbors, and more.

Support for Loss, Diagnosis and Care

One of the more difficult but vitally important aspects of caring for a child or adult with disabilities, is planning for care should something happen to a caregiver. During the pandemic, as parents realized their vulnerability in potentially contracting covid-19, we helped with guidance and resources to solidify care plans. While difficult, one set of parents planned for scenarios such as isolation from their seven-year-old medically fragile son if one of them became sick. Having a plan in place, helped ease the anxiety and the unknown of a virus we were all still learning about.

Many of our families have a large network of friends and family to support one another while caring for a loved one with disabilities. The pandemic cut off many of those support systems or diminished the ability to safely gather and care for one another in different households. Then, when a beloved grandparent ended up in the hospital for one of our families, they needed coping strategies to help with the inability to see their family member and more support after his passing. We were able to create new rituals for visiting virtually, help with saying goodbye and finding meaning in this difficult loss. These are tough concepts for any child and hard to understand when these visits and goodbye is virtual.

While a loss of a family member is difficult to process for all, we understand the loss of a job can also bring similar feelings of grief and anxiety to a family. As the primary wage earner in his family, when Josh was fired from his job, he felt lost and overwhelmed on how to help his family’s many needs. With the help of the social work team at Easterseals, he was connected with various resources from rent assistance, food pantries and free internet service to enable his children to attend school virtually.

One resource that has been helpful for families is Internet Essentials from Comcast, a low-cost, high-speed internet at home. During the stay-at-home order, a home Internet connection was more essential than ever for families. Comcast provides the Internet service and computers along with free training for the family. Families can get approved if they qualify for programs like the National School Lunch Program, housing assistance, Medicaid, SNAP, SSI and others. Learn more at: https://www.internetessentials.com/apply.

More than ever, we are reminded no one is truly alone at Easterseals. We fostered connections between families and found virtual opportunities to connect. We help reduce the many difficult child care decisions in a pandemic and find solutions that fit each family’s unique needs. Visit eastersealsdfvr.org or stay tuned to our Facebook page for more resources, parenting webinars and support in transitioning children back into school.

How to Ensure Greater Videoconferencing Success for all Hearing Abilities

By: Karyn Voels Malesevic, AuD, CCC-A, Audiologist & Manager of Audiology

Living under the conditions of COVID-19 has many of us becoming more reliant on Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or other video conferencing apps than we ever thought we would be. Between conference calls for work, children learning at home, or catching up with friends or family, it’s apparent that these programs are here to stay. Using these video conferencing tools for an individual with a hearing impairment can be challenging. Below, I have a few headphone and room setup recommendations to make the experience successful for all. 

Considerations for those with Hearing Impairment

Using headphones with hearing aids

If you are the person with hearing loss and you need to videoconference, built-in speakers and mics are generally not going to cut it. When determining what headphones are right for you as an individual with hearings aids, you first need to recognize what type of hearing aids you use. Hearing aids are separated into two main categories, behind the ear (BTE) and in the Ear/Canal (ITE/C) hearing aids. Some ITC aids fit entirely in the ear canal and are known as Completely In the Canal or (CIC). These are the smallest and least visible hearing aid types. 

ITE/C and CIC hearing aids may give you the most flexibility when finding a pair of headphones. According to Audiologist, Brian Fligor from a consumer reports article, “BTEs are especially finicky because the microphone, which picks up outside sounds that are then processed by the hearing aid, is outside the ear canal.” “If you have a headphone that doesn’t sit up and over that, then you’re not going to pick up any sound through the hearing aid itself.” In either case, there should be an option that works for you and your specific style of hearing aids that can be found after some trial and error. 

According to Fligor “the key is to find a pair that’s comfortable and holds the headphone speakers a reasonable distance from the hearing aid microphone in order to avoid feedback. Fligor says a distance of 1 centimeter, if not a little more, is usually a safe bet.” It’s also important to note that some people who wear ITC aids may also comfortably wear on-ear headphones, which are typically lighter and more portable. For some users who wear CIC aids, which are the smallest, they may even be able to wear earbuds depending on the fit of their hearing aid. The end process will likely come down to experimentation as each individual, and their preferences will vary. 

The articles below share more information on the topic of hearing aids and headphone’s and will provide recommendations for specific headphone models.

https://www.consumerreports.org/hearing-ear-care/headphones-and-hearing-aids/

https://www.healthyhearing.com/report/52907-Using-headphones-with-hearing-aids

General Tips for Hearing-Friendly Video Conferences

Setup and Communication Style

Photo by Julia M Cameron on Pexels.com

The Hearing Journal addresses the importance of a successful video conference setup and recognizing communication styles. As a bonus, many of these tips help foster a better video conferencing atmosphere for everyone, not just those with a hearing impairment. The authors share:

1. Secure a strong internet connection and a reliable visual setup to enhance non-verbal communication. Turn on your camera and sit in a well-lit space to brighten your face and avoid backlighting, such as light shining through a window behind a workstation. Sit reasonably close to the webcam with the top of the head to your elbows seen on camera.
2. Foster high-quality audio and eliminate background noise. Use a high-quality microphone, headset/microphone combo, or earbuds. When you’re not speaking, put your microphone on mute to reduce background noise.
3. Practice respectful communication etiquette. Speak in turn and state your name before speaking. Project your voice succinctly and articulately, and avoid fillers such as “so” and “um.” People with hearing loss have a hard time keeping up with spontaneous discussions and details, so try not to sway from the agenda and type your questions or clarifications in the chat feature of the videoconferencing tool you are using.
4. Suggest these communication facilitation tips to the meeting host: Publish and stick to an agenda, request that questions, links, contact information, and other logistics be typed in the chat box that is visible to all participants, inform participants when the topic has changed, and give everyone, including the person with hearing loss, time to process the information and formulate a response.

For individuals with hearing impairment, adding real-time closed captioning can make a tremendous difference in their video conferencing experience. Many videoconferencing providers such as Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and Skype now include an automatic live captioning feature.

Your hearing needs are important and our Audiology Department can help. Hearing loss is one of the most common conditions detected in infants, children, and older adults. We welcome people of every age, from newborns to adults, and offer a wide variety of services from basic hearing tests and evaluations to hearing aids and hearing aid fittings, all using leading-edge technology. For more information on our audiology services for all ages and help for hearing aid , please visit: https://www.easterseals.com/dfv/our-programs/medical-rehabilitation/hearing.html.

Prepare Your Child for Kindergarten During the Covid-19 Pandemic

By: Katie Kwiatek, Pre-Kindergarten Teacher at The Lily Garden Child Care

Will your child be five years old before September 1st, 2020? If so, get ready to send them off to kindergarten this Fall!

But, wait!

Since schools and day cares have closed, I’m afraid my child will have a tough time transitioning back to a school setting. What skills do they need in order to be kindergarten ready? There are so many new procedures for children to learn too! How can I help?!

Here’s what you can do to prepare your little one!

Create a daily schedule that mirrors the average school day.

It can be a rough transition from quarantine life to a school schedule. It’s so easy to fall in to the habit of staying in pajamas all day, being a couch potato, eating right when you feel hungry, etc. Once your child goes back to school, they will have to follow a schedule of: when to eat, when to play outside, when to sit still, when to be silly, and when to be serious. For everybody’s sake, create a structured schedule for the typical work week and keep weekends open and fun!

To mirror your child’s average school day, contact the teacher! They’ll be more than happy to send you an outline of a typical day. Make sure to keep your schedule consistent! Children need structure and consistency! They like to know what comes next and what is expected of them. If your child tends to feel nervous/anxious, having a consistent schedule will help ease them. Let your child know before you implement a new schedule- explain the new routine, make a chart together! Here is a resource for parents about creating structure and rules.

For all children’s success in this current pandemic, practice wearing masks at home and getting comfortable with wearing them for extended amounts of time. Practice frequent, good hand washing and reminders to limit touching of their face. We know this is easier said than done! Check back on our blog and social media for upcoming tips and resources around mask/face coverings and remote learning.

This is a challenging time for families and it is hard to know what the school environment and year will be like for your child. With some careful preparations and conversations, your child can have success. By sharing a positive attitude surrounding school, the new rules and the big change to Kindergarten for your child, it will help him/her feel ready to learn and ease some anxiety.

Work on social and emotional skills at home. 

Social and emotional skills are a key ingredient for kindergarten readiness. Your child needs to learn how to express and cope with their emotions appropriately and form healthy relationships with their peers and grown-ups. How can you work on social and emotional skills at home? Its very simple! Do your best to keep your own emotions in check and talk, talk, TALK!

Remember, your child is always observing your behavior. Think out loud, show them your thought process when you’re upset. When your child is upset, describe their face & body language, label the emotion, and provide a solution,  “I see your body is tense and your eyebrows are drawn. You are frustrated. Lets take 2 deep breaths and do 3 hand squeezes together.”  While reading a book or watching a TV show, describe the characters and ask questions, “That man is yelling at that girl and his face is red. He is very angry. How do you think she feels?”

Here is a resource about building social & emotional skills at home:
https://www.naeyc.org/our-work/families/building-social-emotional-skills-at-home

Click this link for a list of books about emotions:
https://www.pre-kpages.com/books-emotions-preschool/

Encourage your child to be independent! 

Being independent and having self-help skills is another key ingredient for kindergarten readiness. Your child will likely be in a classroom with over 20 students and 1 teacher and keeping distance between each other. This requires your child to be as independent as possible.

 

Here is a resource about self-help skills:
https://childdevelopment.com.au/areas-of-concern/self-care/self-care-skills/

Click this link for the self-help development chart:
https://childdevelopment.com.au/resources/child-development-charts/self-care-developmental-chart/

To promote independence and improve self-help skills at home, work on these tasks:

• Picking out clothes for the day

• Getting undressed and dressed independently

• Putting dirty clothes in a laundry basket

• Brushing teeth & hair

• Take off & put on shoes

• Put on a jacket and zip/button it up

• 100% bathroom independent (potty trained & wipe independently)

• Properly wash hands

• Hang up a jacket & a backpack on a hook

Allow boredom 

Why do you want your child to be bored? From boredom comes imagination and creativity! Its essential for every child to have a lively imagination, to think outside of the box, and to express themselves creatively. They’ll be able to carry this trait through school to adulthood. Keep your child’s imagination alive! Provide them with art materials and encourage open-ended art, have them express themselves through music with pots & pans (put on headphones if you’re working from home 😉), encourage them to create puppets and put on a puppet show! Even chores can provide great lessons in executive functioning.

Here is a parent resource to fire up your child’s imagination:
https://www.parenting.com/activities/kids/10-easy-ways-to-fire-your-childs-imagination-21354373/

Make learning fun!

Each kindergarten has different standards and academic requirements prior to starting. Contact your local school district to get more information. Typically, your child should be able to copy upper & lowercase letters, recognize some-most letters, know numbers 1-10, classify objects by shape & size, and be able to use scissors & glue with ease.

Here is a resource of more skills your child should know:
https://www.scholastic.com/parents/school-success/school-life/grade-by-grade/preparing-kindergarten.html

With many kindergarten screenings cancelled this summer, you can use the Easterseals FREE child development screening tool, the Ages & Stages Questionnaire, to help measure and keep track of your child’s growth and development. This is a great tool to provide your teacher and child’s doctor on areas they may need assistance to grow.

How to make learning fun?

Create a pretend classroom for your child to play teacher and you play student! This area can serve as your child’s remote learning area too. This is an opportunity to grow your child’s love of learning. Give them assorted classroom materials: clipboards, pencils, paper, books, alphabet & number cards (use whatever you can find in the house or find free printables online). Are there certain letters, numbers, or shapes they have trouble with? Don’t focus so much on worksheets- instead find fun hands-on activities!

Click this link for letter activities:
https://www.pre-kpages.com/alphabet/
Click this link for number games & activities:
https://www.pre-kpages.com/counting-games-activities-preschoolers/
Click this link for shape activities:
https://www.pre-kpages.com/shapes-activities-preschoolers/

We know how agonizing the decisions for the next school year are for your family. If your child receives school therapy services, is unable to wear a mask, or if remote learning is not an option for your family, it can feel especially challenging. Whatever decision you make, we are here to support you. Contact our Social Services team for support and resources at socialservices@eastersealsdfvr.org. We will have more information on our blog around these important subjects in the months ahead.

We remain committed to providing the highest quality services to improve the lives of children and those who love and care for them. We understand that a child’s needs to succeed look different for each family. For over 75 years, our clinical team has provided individualized therapy plans to best achieve a child’s goals and support healthy families. This pandemic only solidifies our commitment. Let us know how we can help you in the comments.

Understand and Boost Your Immune System

By: Manager of Nutrition Therapy, Cindy Baranoski MS, RDN, LDN

Better Immunity is Achievable

What better time than now to start building your defenses against illnesses? With coronavirus or COVID-19 here, there is a lot of fear and a feeling of helplessness to do anything. But you should know that there are things you can do to help protect yourself and your family’s health overall.

As a human we are bound to become ill, but how that illness manifests in us, how extreme are the symptoms, how long does it last, when does it go away, and can we get it again, can be under a bit of our control if we do the right things to keep our body’s immune system and defenses strong.

What Protects Us From Illness

Many components make up our defense system, some we can control and others we cannot. A human body contains trillions of microorganisms or microbes that outnumber our cells by 10 to 1. The term ‘microbiome’ refers to the genetic material all of these microbes contain, and their total genetic material is 200x more than the number of genes in a human body. Many of these microbes are pathogenic, or able to cause disease, but coexist with a human body never causing disease. Consider that two to six pounds of a 200-pound person would be bacteria!!

The immune system

Our immune system is made up of cells that perform the ‘immune response’ to foreign invaders, such as disease causing bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites or any other foreign matter. B cells, T cells and Memory cells are all mobilized in some manner when they determine there is an antigen – a toxin or foreign substance – that has entered the body. The response is antibodies matched to an antigen, like a key in a lock, helping to neutralize or destroy the antigen.

Physical protection from foreign invaders

Our body has many physical systems in place to keep us healthy and protect us from foreign microbe invaders, or the ones living within us, from causing disease.

• Skin – is a physical barrier, with a pH that discourages growth of organisms, and our secretions of sweat and oil can kill many bacteria.
• Stomach – acid in the stomach can kill organisms.
• Tears – will wash away any foreign matter and contain enzymes that kill bacteria.
• Saliva – helps clean microbes from our teeth, tongue and oral area.
• Respiratory tract – including our nose, which contains fine hairs to trap foreign matter, mucous lining the system to trap invaders, and cilia to sweep away trapped organisms.
• Large intestines – contains bacteria that help keep invaders in check. This ‘gut microbiome’ makes up 70% of our immune system.
• Bladder – urine washes away microbes from the area leading to the outside world.

What we Have Limited Control Over

Chronic noninfectious conditions, such as cancer, diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, heart disease, inherited genetic conditions all play a role in diminishing the defense system of the human body. Those that are most notable include the following –

Heredity – is one of the greatest factors that influence our noninfectious disease risk. Our genes play an important role in what conditions, such as diabetes, cancer, hypertension, may occur in our lives. These conditions impact our immune system, and can leave us more susceptible to disease.

Age – after 40 years of age the human body is more vulnerable to chronic diseases, though very young children whose immune systems are still developing, or those over 65, are especially vulnerable.

Environment – and the ability to have clean, sanitary living conditions is key to keeping us healthy. Though our bodies need to be exposed to microorganism to help our immune systems develop resistance. Too clean doesn’t allow our systems to recognize good and bad microbes. Additionally, conditions that include the presence of drugs, chemicals, pollutants, waste in food and water, or the absence of medical care, increase risk for disease.

Microorganisms – severity of or resistance to pose challenges as well. For some, only one cell is needed to create drastic illness in the human body. Bacteria that become resistant to antibiotics from overuse by us have mutated to be able to bypass the antibiotic’s effectiveness.

What We Have Control Over

Though we cannot see most of the microbes that cause sickness, they are there, and we can create an environment within and outside of our body that prevents them from causing illness. Stress, personal hygiene, nutrition, fitness, sleep, substance use, environment, and behaviors are all under our control.

Stress, such as what we are experiencing right now diminishes our ability to fight disease. When we are stressed our body will divert its energy away from nonessential functions to those that are essential – the Fight, Flight or Freeze response. Our blood is redirected to muscles to run or fight, breathing is faster, heart rate increases, pupils dilate, and hearing is keener, ready to take on the Sabre Tooth Tiger that generally doesn’t exist. What our body prepares to fight remains invisible, but it is prepared at all times. This leaves body functions required to exist in an unstressed state diminished in their ability.

Reducing Stress

If you’ve not already received numerous emails or suggestions from friends, there are many ways to manage your stress. Any one of these should be done with care, intent, and in such a gradual manner a snail could pass you by. Safety is key, to not create an injury or situation that will cause you more stress.

Exercise is one way, and has more than just stress reduction benefits. A workout club or gym may not be available to you, but you have so much in your home that is available!

Walk out your door for 15 minutes, turn around and come home. You’ve just walked for 30 minutes.

Turn on some fun music and simply march or walk in place for 20 minutes.

If you live in a condo or apartment building, do the stairs (taking precautions with social distancing and face masks right now.)

If you don’t have weights, you can use cans, bottles, something of weight that you can use for dumbbells.

Floor exercises that are easy, safe and you do not over do such as sit ups, leg raises, push ups. You only need to do a few, or even just one.

Yoga can be done on your own, without one piece of equipment. There are recorded and live streams of yoga all over the Internet today. As a yoga instructor, I can share that anyone can do it! Yoga is not just for bendy, flexible, skinny-legged sweaty 25-year-olds.

Chair yoga is amazingly beneficial, and is done by 85-year-olds around the globe.

Restorative yoga is one of the most relaxing forms of yoga, where you are supported by props, which increases your parasympathetic nervous system, slowing your heart and relaxing your body.

The yoga many are familiar with regular upright movement, is a wonderful stress reliever-though remembering if you’ve never done yoga, it may contribute to more stress.

And if nothing else, just laying on the floor, on your back, legs and arms out on the floor (or knees bent), known as savasna, is one of the most important poses in yoga. Lay there for 10 minutes.

Meditation may sound all “woo woo,” but it is more than just crossing your legs into a pretzel, closing your eyes and chanting ‘ommmm’. Meditation is simply anything you do to direct your mind to become focused on one thing, taking you away from this world momentarily. It reduces the physical reactions to stress mentioned above, slows your breathing, quiets your organs, increases your parasympathetic nervous system, and quiets your racing mind. The benefits of meditation are not IN the meditation, but in your body’s response when not meditating. By helping to maintain the ‘quiet’ your body should be in, your immune system can work it’s best.

Reading a book, gardening in the yard, coloring, drawing or painting, and praying are all forms of meditation.

Traditional meditation takes practice, and yes, sitting quietly, not moving, eyes closed, is what many think of. Try sitting still for 1 minute with your eyes closed. You’ve just started meditating. Now, get comfortable in a supportive seated position, and try it for 5 minutes. This is how you start to meditate with intention to do so, knowing it can only help.

Numerous meditation apps exist now, with timers, streamed and recorded meditations from 1 minute to many. Examples include:

• Headspace
• The Mindfulness App
• Calm
• Insight Timer
• 10% Happier
• 21 Day Meditation Experience

Laughter should not be discounted by any means. Laughter is the best medicine! It can decrease stress hormones, relax muscles, and decrease pain. Ten minutes of laughter is better than any drug!

Sleep is a time when our body heals, rests, and prepares for our next day. Restful sleep is often not possible when we are stressed. 7-8 hours a day for an adult, and more for children and teens. There are many activities that can impact restful sleep, including technology, alcohol, eating before bed, and stress. Helping reduce your stress will promote restful and restorative sleep. Aim to create a bedtime routine for you and your family with no technology, eating, bright lights, noise – good sleep equals less stress, and less stress equals good sleep.

Personal Hygiene is something we take for granted. We have soap, water, tooth brushes and toothpaste, showers, baths, shampoos, hand sanitizers and hand soaps. Just so many forms of how we can keep ourselves clean on a daily basis. We forget this is not available to everyone in our area or the world. But keeping ourselves clean is something we can do, easily, by washing our hands routinely – especially now.

Improving Personal Hygiene

The greatest source of infection is our hands. We touch everything, then ourselves, transmitting to someone or us, germs and potential antigens. Wash your hands – for 20 seconds – with soap and water, between the fingers, back side of the hands, under the nails and wrists.

Tweet

When you cough or sneeze, cover up! Most of the time we have on shirts, right? Pull it over your nose and mouth, use your elbow and sleeve, and if you use your hands, wash them after.

And now we have face masks. So treat your face mask like you do your underwear –

only wear it if it’s clean

don’t touch it or adjust it – especially in public

don’t lend it to anyone

don’t borrow anyone’s

make sure it fits well

wash it after wearing

if it’s stained or torn, throw it away I

From A Chalkboard a Day

Nutrition is one of the key contributors to the immune system. Remember, we are built on what we consume and do with our bodies. The ingredients for a great body include what we consume, and if all we eat and drink is lacking in nutrients, then that is who we become. Under nutrition or malnutrition is not reserved exclusively for poor families and children who are skinny and wasting away. Malnutrition is found in obese individuals as well as healthy weight ones too. http://www.MyPlate.gov shared by the USDA gives a basic outline of what should be consumed for variety of all the nutrients, including Carbohydrate, Protein, Fat, Calories, Fluid and 29 known vitamins and minerals. We are what we eat! To learn more about helping a child with nutrition or feeding issues, visit: https://www.easterseals.com/dfv/our-programs/medical-rehabilitation/nutritional-therapy.html.

Improving Nutrition 

• A balanced diet containing of all the different food groups is the starting place. Review your family’s diet, and see if you have foods representing Fruits, Vegetables, Protein, Dairy (animal or plant), Grains (whole) as well as fat. Is there enough fluid each day? Are there vitamin/mineral supplements taken already. Are there nutritional drinks being consumed each day, and what might these be replacing or supplementing if they are used regularly. What about processed foods, high sugar, fat and salty foods that are being consumed more than they should be. Are fresh foods represented well? And is one food group consumed in a much greater quantity than it should be? You need to review your diet before you know what to change to make it better.
• Protein is one of the most important nutrients, helping make antibodies of the immune system. We all need varying amounts of protein, but we also don’t need as much as we think we need. An average adult needs about 50 grams of protein a day, and consumes about 100 grams a day in the US. Children need less than this, yet often consume more than they need as well. Main food sources include meat, fish, poultry, egg, legumes, dairy.
• Malnutrition and under nutrition exists in this country, and includes lack of calories and protein, but often times our society consumes more than enough of these two nutrients, however, lack many vitamins and minerals. A recent government study shows potassium, calcium, Vitamin E, C, A, D and magnesium are all less than optimal in our diets. All vitamins and minerals are ingredients of our immune system.
• A few nutrients identified in research as key to the immune system and it’s response, that you should be sure you are receiving adequate amounts of, include the following –
  •  Zinc – found in tuna, beef, poultry, pumpkin and hemp seeds and dairy. Caution, over consumption of zinc, or taking large supplements, can interfere with copper balance in the body.
  • Selenium – found in Brazil nuts, tuna, sardines, salmon, chicken egg, brown rice.
  • Vitamin C – found in acerola extract, rose hips, camu camu, black currents, guava, lemons, limes, oranges, strawberries. Though higher doses can cause loose stools.
  • Vitamin D – does not have many great food sources. Fortified animal and plant milks will contribute when consumed in the right portions. Short periods of exposure to the sun without sunblock allows for production of Vitamin D beginning in the skin. However, with the concerns for skin cancer, sun exposure is limited. Supplementation of Vitamin D3 is the most reliable source.
• Probiotics are beneficial for the human body. Studies have shown their benefit to the digestive tract, and ultimately the immune system, by ensuring the line of defense in the gut microbiome is balanced and working well. They are found naturally in some foods, and more common are manufactured supplements taken orally. ‘Prebiotics’ are food for the probiotics and are found naturally in our gut through consumption of fiber, but can also be found along with probiotic supplements.
  Important Note on Vitamins, Minerals and Probiotics – Taking large amounts of any supplements, or consumption in large amounts of any individual or multivitamin/mineral supplement is not advised. If you are choosing to do this for you or your child, you are directed here to speak to a physician or dietitian.

Environment and Behaviors could be discussed in so much more detail than this post can provide. But know your behaviors are under your control. What you do impacts anyone and everyone, including our world. The environment is not just something that happens, but is changed by everything we do. Being thoughtful of ourselves is so important, but if we become so self absorbed and focused in the long run, our world will become more skewed from what it should be, which ultimately comes back to our ability to be healthy in this world.

In summary
Creating a place in your world that is safe, clean, nutritive, and supportive of your immune system is totally within your reach, taking time and attention. The scary world of viruses and diseases that are out of your control can be managed, and the impact it has on health – yours, your family’s, friends, and society – is pretty significant. There is so much more, but I hope some of the thoughts and ideas mentioned here might stir you to rethinking your role in this world of immunity.

I wish you and your family the best health. For more information on our nutrition services, please visit: https://www.easterseals.com/dfv/our-programs/medical-rehabilitation/nutritional-therapy.html.

Short Stories to Explain the Coronavirus to Children

By: Yvonne D. Anderson, LCSW, CADC, CODP II, Bilingual Licensed Clinical Social Worker

The current pandemic of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is a difficult time for everyone and leaves a lot of unanswered questions, especially for children. The following short stories are great resources to bring some clarity and comfort to young children while their normal routines are disrupted. The stories below vary in length and detail ranging from very short to slightly more detailed. I hope you find a story or two that will be helpful for your specific child’s needs!

Caroline Conquers her Corona Fears

By: Kellie Camelford, Krystal Vaughn, & Erin Dugan

This short story answers some of the many questions young children may be having about Covid-19 and why their normal routines are so different. A simple breakdown of social distancing and safety procedures are talked about to help young children understand why certain actions are in place. Overall the story is informative, positive, easy to read, and is a great resource to calm uncertainty and confusion for children. When printed out, the book doubles as a coloring book and includes a page for parent’s and children to write out a simple schedule.

Story Link: https://alliedhealth.lsuhsc.edu/clinics/docs/CarolineConquersherCoronoaFears31820.pdf

Coronavirus: A book for children

By: Elizabeth Jenner, Kate Wilson & Nia Roberts

What is the coronavirus, and why is everyone talking about it?

Engagingly illustrated by Axel Scheffler, this approachable and timely book helps answer these questions and many more, providing children aged 5-10 and their parents with clear and accessible explanations about COVID-19 and its effects – both from a health perspective and the impact it has on a family’s day-to-day life.

With input from expert consultant Professor Graham Medley of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, as well as advice from teachers and child psychologists, this is a practical and informative resource to help explain the changes we are currently all experiencing.

Story Link: https://nosycrow.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Coronavirus-A-Book-for-Children.pdf

Dave the Dog is Worried About Coronavirus

By: Nurse Dotty

A book for children about coronavirus that aims to give information without fear.

With everything that is going on at the moment; big changes to children’s routines and lots of stories on the news it can be a really scary time for children.

This book opens up the conversation about coronavirus and some of the things they might be hearing about it and provide truthful information in a reassuring and child friendly manner.

Story Link: https://nursedottybooks.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/dave-the-dog-coronavirus-1-1.pdf

Hello! My name is Corona Virus

By: Manuela Molina

Summary from the author: I have created this short book to support and reassure our children, under the age of 7, regarding COVID-19. This book is an invitation for families to discuss the full range of emotions arising from the current situation. It is important to point out that this resource does not seek to be a source of scientific information, but rather a tool based on fantasy. My recommendation is to print this material so children can draw on it. Remember that emotions are processed through repetitive play and stories read multiple times. Share COVIBOOK and help ease kiddo’s anxiety all over the world. 

Story Link: https://660919d3-b85b-43c3-a3ad-3de6a9d37099.filesusr.com/ugd/64c685_0a595408de2e4bfcbf1539dcf6ba4b89.pdf

I’d rather go out!

By: Deborah Woods

This short illustrated story highlights the use of imagination as a means of dealing with stressful times.

Story Link: https://www.magneticmoms.com/userfiles/481350/file/I%20would%20rather%20go%20out%20story%20(2).pdf

My Hero is You

This book was a project developed by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Reference Group on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings (IASC MHPSS RG). The project was supported by global, regional and country based experts from Member Agencies of the IASC MHPSS RG, in addition to parents, caregivers, teach-ers and children in 104 countries. A global survey was distributed in Arabic, English, Italian, French and Spanish to assess children’s mental health and psychosocial needs during the COVID-19 outbreak. A framework of topics to be addressed through the story was developed using the survey results. The book was shared through storytelling to children in several countries affected by COVID-19. Feedback from children, parents and caregivers was then used to review and update the story.

Over 1,700 children, parents, caregivers and teachers from around the world took the time to share how they were coping with the COVID-19 pandemic. A big thank you to these children, their parents, caregivers and teachers for completing the surveys and influencing this story. This is a story developed for and by children around the world.

Story Link: https://interagencystandingcommittee.org/system/files/2020-04/My%20Hero%20is%20You%2C%20Storybook%20for%20Children%20on%20COVID-19.pdf

Also, please don’t hesitate to reach out to anyone in our Social Services department if you and/ or your family need support, resources, etc. We are happy to help. Our staff completes comprehensive assessments to pinpoint what a child and family need to be able to succeed. Working with the entire family, our staff can identify each child’s unique strengths and challenges and then tailor a treatment plan to meet those needs.

Our Social Work and Counseling services can help children and their families learn to grow together. Contact us at socialservices@eastersealsdfvr.org or 630.620.4433.

Staying Sane while Staying Home

By: Kelly Nesbitt, MOT, OTR/L, Occupational Therapist

Response to Coronavirus (COVID-19) 

Kids are finishing up the school year, you are still going to work/working remotely, running your home, and keeping your kids entertained during their summer! All this change can be very disorienting and stressful for everyone.  I wanted to put together a list of some suggestions that are “occupational therapist-approved” to help you navigate staying sane, keeping a good routine, carving out “family time”, and receiving therapy services remotely while being stuck inside the house! 

Routines

Probably the largest disruption to all of us at this time is that all of our daily routines are completely changed! Daily routines help provide structure to our lives, whether you are a child or an adult. Research by Ruth Segal, OTD and Assistant Professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy at New York University, reports that daily routines give families as sense of identity, organization, and provide socialization opportunities (Segal, 2004). Our kids are used to having a predictable day involving school, extra curriculars, play dates, and therapy appointments which help them organize their days and have meaningful interactions with family and friends. With this change to e-learning and staying home, it’s completely understandable that kids may feel stressed, anxious, and aimless without their routines. This stress may be more exacerbated for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Children with ASD can be heavily reliant upon predictability and routine, which have been thrown off because of the Coronavirus. For both neurotypical and children with ASD alike, using visual schedules, timers, and social stories may be good techniques to help your child cope with a new routine. 

Visual Schedules

Visual schedules can be as complex or simple as you need; they can be simple drawings on a piece of paper, an excel spreadsheet, or printed words/pictures from an online generator. For some of my clients, they are comforted and reassured when I draw 3 pictures of activities we are going to do in OT.

Honestly, whatever works for your kid and helps them feel organized is correct.  Whatever way you decide to create a visual schedule, it’s important to build in both structured and unstructured time for your children. They should have time built in for their academic work for school as well as a few hours for play time that is completely unstructured. Some kids may want to put a sticker next to an activity they completed, erase it on the whiteboard, cross it out, or just put a checkmark next to it. The sky’s the limit! Below are some examples of visual schedules and who it may be appropriate for:  

(Written schedule with times, appropriate for older elementary children who can tell time) 

(visual picture or words, as they are able to read. You can draw your own pictures or just print some off for younger children who cannot read.)  

More resources at: Free Templates for Daily Visual Schedules 

Timers

In conjunction with visual schedules, it can be helpful to utilize timers (sandtimers, timer on the microwave, on your iPhone, etc.) to help your children keep organized. The timer you use will have to be dependent upon your own child’s level of development as well as what they personally need to feel supported. Apps you can use: 

1. Children’s Countdown App: Great, free time app on smart phones that shows a picture countdown on the screen. The coundtown clock can be set for any amount of time and children do not need to understand how to tell time or have understanding of numbers to comprehend it.
2. Timed It! App: App for older children in which you can put in personalized tasks in minute increments and the app will help the child count down until they need to move on to the next task.
3. Timer on smart phone: just about all smart phones have a “clock” application in which there are capabilities for setting a timer. This would be good for older children who have a better sense of what an hour, minute, second is. Although, some younger children will understand the concept that they are only “all done” when the timer makes a sound.

Social Stories

For some children with ASD, social stories are a good way to help explain why their routine has changed or what the “story” of their day. Social stories are third person stories in which the child is the main character and different themes can be explored. Ask an Occupational or Speech therapists for help creating a social story, if needed. 

Here’s a link to example social stories and one of the final links on this page has a social story template: https://www.andnextcomesl.com/2018/07/free-social-stories-about-transitions.html.  

Reducing Stress Activities

 In this uncertain time, it’s important to have some outlets for both you and your children to decompress and still have fun together. Building in sensory activities into your daily routine will help your child remain calm and regulated throughout the day.  

Physical Activities and Heavy Work

Taking movement breaks throughout your day will help both you and your child stay sane while you are cooped up at the house.  Occupational therapists often discuss the benefits of heavy work and how this push, pull, or carry input (or proprioceptive input) to the muscles and joints has a regulating and calming affect. There are a multitude of heavy work activities you can do indoors. Such as:

1. Build a pillow fort with blankets, pillows & stuffed animals
2. Pull siblings on the hardwood floor while they are sitting or laying on a blanket
3. Do animal walk races across the room (bear walk, frog hop, crab walk, etc. Make up your own silly walk!)
4. Jumping Jacks or jump on a trampoline
5. Pull siblings in the wagon around the block
6. Have a wall push-up competition and find out who is the strongest in your house
7. Play towel tug-of-war
8. Plant flowers in the backyard or help with yard work (using little shovel, pull weeds, dig in the dirt)

My helpful tip to parents is, if the activity includes pushing, pulling, or carrying something; that’s heavy work! Get creative and come up with your own ideas!

Family Game Night/Nightly Mealtime Tradition

Keeping special family routines will be important to make sure kids feel safe and supported when everyone is kind of stressed. Set aside time in your routine where you can all sit down and have a meal together with the television off. A family tradition at my house growing up was to play “Pot Boils Over” where one member of the family starts a silly story and after a few sentences says “pot boils over” and “passes” the story-telling to another family member to add on as they please. It’s a simple game that gets all family members involved, laughing, and thinking creatively.

Another mealtime routine I have heard of, is going around and saying one thing each family member is thankful for, what the best part of their day was, share a good joke, etc. This is also a great time for families to all sit down together and have game nights. You are going to be all home together, why not build some special memories and encourage social learning. Here are a few favorite games that can be played with multiple people, for different ages:

1. Games for younger children: Shoots and Ladders, Simon Says, Twister (help them with right and left), Follow the Leader, Go fish, Memory (match pictures by turning over cards), Jenga, Kerplunk
2. Games for Older children: Twister, Uno (each color you play can correspond to a fun activity such as “Make up your Own Dance Move” or “Do 2 Pushups”), Clue, Scrabble and Scrabble Junior, Telestrations (like telephone, but with drawing pictures), Apples to Apples, do a 200+ piece puzzle as a family, Guess Who?

Here’s another resource with more games: Our Favorite Board Games for Kids

Unplug

I am personally feeling inundated by COVID-19 news and I can get overwhelmed quickly, so I can imagine you and your children are feeling the same. I think it’s healthy to be aware of the evolving situation and current precautions, however it’s beneficial to “unplug” every once and a while when you are at home with your kids. Your children are very perceptive and can pick up on your stress and anxiety as they read your non-verbal cues and affect. Young children especially need their parents to “co regulate,” meaning they read your affect, mood, facial expressions and adjust their own regulation accordingly. If you exude a calm, cool, collected attitude when they are anxious, this will help them calm down and feel secure.

Therefore it’s important to turn off the news at some point and focus on having quality and uninterrupted play time with your kids. Do finger painting, make a fort out of blankets, play board games, read stories by flashlight, sit together and do a puzzle or color! Even just being available to your children, not distracted by technology or work, can be extremely beneficial to your kids.

As May is Mental Health Awareness Month, the CDC also recommends to take time to pause and breath during stress. Notice How you Feel. Take Breaks. Make time to sleep and exercise. Reach out and stay connected. Seek help if you are feeling overwhelmed or feeling unsafe. If you or your child needs help, our social work team can help.

Tele-Therapy Services

COVID-19 does not have to stop your child’s progress toward their goals! Your child can still receive therapy services remotely via tele-therapy.  Tele-therapy is a unique service delivery method in which your friendly Easterseals therapist will arrange a time and will send you a link via the Microsoft Teams app. From there, you just click on the link at your pre-arranged appointment time and you can have a video call with your therapist. Your therapist can then work on therapy goals with your child with you, the parent, being the therapist’s “hands” in the session. An occupational therapist will help coach you through appropriate handling techniques, sensory strategies, exercises, fine motor activities, feeding session and more remotely!  

All our therapists adopted this technology so your child will continually receive services with minimal interruption. It is our hope to keep providing exceptional therapy services to all of our clients during this difficult time. If you have any questions or concerns regarding tele-therapy, please reach out to one of your therapists or contact us at 630.620.4433.

Also stay tuned to our blog for more resources and tips from our therapists on helping families cope with increased time at home during COVID especially during the summer.

Sources:

• Segal, R. (2004). Family routines and rituals: A context for occupational therapy interventions. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 58, 499–508.
• And Next Comes L Website link: https://www.andnextcomesl.com/2018/07/free-social-stories-about-transitions.html
• The Many Little Joys Website link: https://www.themanylittlejoys.com/gift-guide-our-favorite-board-games-for-kids/
• A Day in Our Shoes website link: https://adayinourshoes.com/free-printable-visual-schedules-for-home-and-daily-routines/

Heavy Work and Movement Activities for Sensory Regulation

By: Anna Bieschke Midwestern University Occupational Therapy Doctoral student and Linda Merry, OTR/L

Being stuck inside for this long of a time is certainly not fun, especially for little ones who are used to spending their day going to school, seeing their friends, playing at the park, or venturing out into the community with their families. When your child is cooped up indoors, they may not get as many opportunities to climb, jump, lift, pull, or move as much as they typically would. For many children, especially those with sensory processing difficulties, this heavy work and movement helps them to remain calm and alert throughout the day.

Your child’s ability to remain calm and focused during their daily activities is known as sensory regulation. This occurs when your child can respond appropriately to the information they take in from the environment through their senses (tasting, smelling, hearing, seeing, etc.). When a child is presented with too much or too little sensory input (like in the case of being stuck indoors with little exercise and movement), they may have a difficult time managing their emotions and behaviors.  This is called sensory dysregulation.

Some Signs Your Child is Dysregulated

• Becomes distressed when required to sit still
• Is easily distracted by objects or people in the environment
• Reacts defensively to certain textures, smells, sounds, or foods in their mouth
• Repeatedly and vigorously shakes their head, rocks back and forth, or jumps up and down
• Becomes frightened when they are in close contact with other children
• Runs away or becomes aggressive towards sensory input that makes them uncomfortable
• Hides or retreats to a quiet spot
• Appears extremely wild and/or engages in dangerous behavior

Why is Sensory Regulation so Important?

Helping your child stay regulated is important because it lays the foundation for the child to grow and develop new skills. As seen in the house diagram below, all the senses make up the base of the house. Without a stable base, your child’s coordination, language, attention, engagement in daily activities, and academic learning, among other skills, can be impacted. Just think how difficult it would be to sit and pay attention to an at-home school lesson if your distracted by the need to move around or are visually distracted by objects in the room.

Image Retrieved from: https://www.pinterest.com.mx/pin/75294624990224433/

Sensory Breaks with Heavy Work and Movement

One way to support your child’s sensory regulation while limited to being inside is to provide your child with sensory breaks, particularly with heavy work and movement. Heavy work is a form of proprioceptive input. Your proprioceptive sense lets you know where your body is in space and involves any activity that requires pushing, pulling, lifting, or squeezing. Proprioceptive and heavy work activities help ground the child and slow their bodies down to make them feel organized and calm. Movement activities can also be incorporated to help break up seated activities to support your child’s alertness and attention. Here are some fun ideas for heavy work and movement activities:

1. Indoor Obstacle Course
   • This activity is great because it allows you and your child to get creative. Use everyday items throughout your house to build an obstacle course that allows your child to jump on, climb over, crawl through and crash down. Pots and pans can serve as cones, pillows can be crash pads, and chairs can serve as tunnels or hurdles. Get your child more involved by having them help you choose objects and set it up. Remember, any lifting or pushing of objects can add an extra heavy work component to this activity.
     • Example of indoor obstacle course can be found here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCYBkNht_j8)

2. Build a Fort
   • Take whatever theme your child loves and run with it! Whether it’s a princess castle or a lion’s cage, have the child use their imagination to make a playful space. Help your child push furniture together, grab heavy blankets or pillows, and lift boxes or baskets to really provide them with that organizing and calming input. When the fort is made, it can also serve as a quiet and secluded place for your child to take a break if needed.
     • Example of a blanket fort can be found here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajcDcaNsFRY)

3. Catch Bubbles

• It’s pretty safe to say that many kids love bubbles. For this activity, blow bubbles towards the child and have them pop them by clapping both their hands together. Encourage the child to press their hands firmly together when clapping to increase the proprioceptive input to their joints. Blow the bubbles high to encourage your child to jump or low to encourage your child to squat down. Try to provide as many opportunities for different movements as possible.

4. Play a Movement Video
   • YouTube has many great movement videos for yoga, dancing, and animal walks that can engage your child in movement form the confines of your home. Clear some place in the living room and use your electronic devices to stream the videos. With this activity, it’s more about getting your child moving instead of making sure they are doing the movements perfectly.
     • Cosmic Kids Yoga (https://www.youtube.com/user/CosmicKidsYoga): This is a YouTube channel that provides yoga and mindfulness activities specifically designed for kids. This one is especially fun because many of the yoga themes follow along to your child’s favorite movies.
     • GoNoodle (https://www.youtube.com/user/GoNoodleGames): This is a YouTube channel that offers many “Get Moving” videos with silly dances for your child to follow along with.

5. Putty Play
   • Whether it’s play-doh, resistive putty, or thick cookie dough, have your child smash, pound, pull, and press the putty into various shapes. Use cookie cutters or other tools that encourage your child to press firmly down to make different shapes and cuts. To add an extra movement component, have them form the putty into balls and roll the putty to others at the table or toss it into a wide container. You can also hide small objects (beads, marbles, coins, etc.) into the putty for the child to pull out. All this pulling, pressing, and pounding will provide some heavy work to the arms and hands.
     • Here’s a video of how to make homemade play-doh! Have the children help you stir to add extra heavy work. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAIAm6BF0fs)

6. Push-O-War
   • This game follows the same concept of tug-o-war except now the children will be pushing objects instead of pulling. To play, place a piece of masking tape or painter’s tape in the middle between your child and another child to create the center line on the floor. Put an object in between the two children (could be a garbage can on its side, a large pillow, big ball, etc.) and have them both push the object at the same time to see who can push it over the center line first.

7. Wagon Rides
   • Have the child pull their smaller sibling or favorite toys in a makeshift wagon. Place a laundry basket or larger bin on a blanket and have the child fill the basket with their favorite toys (large stuffed animals, dolls, action fingers, etc.). The child can pull onto one side the blanket to slide the basket across the floor. A smaller sibling or friend can also sit in the basket to add some extra fun for all the kiddos in the house.

8. Involve the Child in Household Chores
   • What’s better than getting some household chores done while also providing your child with heavy work? Even though you’re cooped up inside, there is still work to be done. Have your child help carry and fill laundry baskets, bring the garbage down to the street, vacuum, sweep, or carry in bags from the grocery store. Cooking activities like stirring batter, tearing lettuce, and kneading dough can also be great options for heavy work and movement.

9. Other Movement Games
   • Other games including Simon Says, Ring Around the Rosie, Red Light Green Light, and Freeze Dance are also some games that can be played to promote movement when stuck at home. On nice days, take the child out onto the driveway or backyard to give them more space to run around and move.
     • Here’s a cute video for moving and freezing! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=388Q44ReOWE)

For more information about occupational therapy at Easterseals DuPage & Fox Valley, visit: https://www.easterseals.com/dfv/our-programs/medical-rehabilitation/occupational-therapy.html.

References:

Bazyk, S. (2020). Sensory and self-regulation strategies. Every Moment Counts. https://everymomentcounts.org/view.php?nav_id=204

Pfeiffer, B., Frolek Clark, G., & Arbesman, M. (2018). Effectiveness of cognitive and occupation-based interventions for children with challenges in sensory processing and integration: A systematic review. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 72, 7201190020. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2018.028233

Tele-therapy at Easterseals

By: Valerie Heneghan, M.A., CCC-SLP/L, Director of Speech-Language, Feeding, and Assistive Technology

Tele-therapy for All! 

Easterseals DuPage & Fox Valley has been at the forefront of serving children and their families in a way that meets their current needs through clinical expertise, a team-based approach and integrating technology to ensure maximum independence. As an organization, we have been offering tele-therapy opportunities for the past 10 years as a service delivery model to those it would serve optimally (i.e., a generalization of skills to home environment, transportation issues, medically fragile or at-risk health, to accommodate busy schedules, etc.). 

In response to COVID-19, all 87 therapists were trained to transition to tele-therapy services within two days with support from experienced tele-therapists within the agency.  

How Does Tele-Therapy Work? 

Once evaluated to determine eligibility for skilled therapy services, your therapist would follow up to plan your child’s tele-therapy session and schedule a time to meet. They will work with you to review treatment plans and establish your priorities. 

Laptops or desktop computers are preferred for best overall experience. But tablets, iPhones and Android phones can work too as long as the device has a working microphone and camera. A stable internet connection is needed via a hard-line/Ethernet cord, WiFi or using your cellular plan (your standard data rates may apply). Screen sharing is available to increase participation, engagement and utilization of resources throughout the session. 

Tips for Making the Most out of Online Therapy

1. Get comfortable with the technology: Immerse yourself in the platform you are using. There are often a lot of features available such as audio adjustments and visual displays, screen sharing, chat features, etc. The more comfortable you are with these features the easier it may be to modify or troubleshoot if a technical problem occurs.
   
2. Make a plan: Plan out a time and a designated space in your home that would work best for your child. Have the computer, phone or other device propped up on books or a stand that has a wide view of the room. If possible, the therapy time should be away from other family members or pets. Work with your therapist ahead of time to prepare a few materials or resources like balls, pillows, mats, or games. 
   • Ex: For a young child, find a space where the child can sit comfortably to view the screen but also has space nearby for movement breaks. Bring your child’s favorite toy to show to their therapist and board game to keep their engagement with the parent between exercises. 
3. Be flexible: When plan A doesn’t go accordingly, be willing to change course.  
   • Take the child’s lead and adapt as necessary. Let the therapist guide you in facilitating therapy strategies through real-life reactions and experiences. 
   • Use items in your home to replicate therapy equipment. Ex: Use couch cushions and pillows to create new surfaces for climbing and crashing. 
4. Make it fun: Be creative and try new things! You may be surprised by new interests and breaking from the same routines. See how much your child can do! 
   
5. Make it matter: Use this as an opportunity for your therapist to see your child in your home to incorporate therapy strategies and techniques in your daily routine. Let your therapist see what is important to your child and how to motivate them to achieve their treatment goals. 
   • Ex: A child is experiencing difficulty with mealtime; let the therapist observe seating and position at the table, mealtime structure, and how you communicate to your child during a typical mealtime. Pick a food that is important to your family and ask about strategies to incorporate it into your child’s diet. 
6. Give your therapist feedback: It may be more difficult to pick up on social cues, be direct about what went well and what could be improved. Share ideas and problem-solve together to plan for the next session.   

COVID Response

As we try to be one step ahead of the COVID-19 crisis and care of your child, we are committed to keeping our programs running. Our tele-therapy services are available to maintain your child’s therapy schedule, help your family navigate this new routine and manage the difficult emotions that may come with it.  We can also help parents that have a concern about their infant or toddler’s development now. There is no need to wait, as the early stages of a child’s life are the most important in their development.

We are pleased that tele-therapy has already helped many children eat a new food, stay active, and improve their regulation and play skills while building a stronger relationship with their caregiver. 

We understand the immense stress of balancing your child’s needs with the demands of work and school while also keeping your family healthy. We are here to ensure that each child and their caregivers have the support they need to adopt this technology and continue therapy progress. 

While much has changed, our commitment to you remains. If you have any needs, we are actively monitoring our main phone number, 630.620.4433 and info@eastersealsdfvr.org. Contact us at any time (please include your full name, child’s name, phone number and email) and a member of our team will return the response within one business day. 

Easy Indoor Activities for Energetic Kids

By: Laura Donatello, PT, DPT

Update: With a stay-at-home order for all of Illinois in effect, I know parents and caregivers could use some ideas for energetic children more than ever. I updated my previous blog with some new ideas.

I know it is hard to balance the need for work and for child care at the same time, so just know you are doing your best!

Push-Pull Activities

This total body strengthening activity targets shoulder stability as a child pushes an object at or below shoulder height with straight arms, core to change direction, and lower extremities to power forward.

Push/Pull Activity Ideas:

Image from 3.bp.blogspot.com

1. Hide some of your child’s favorite toys in a large open room. Have your child push a laundry basket around the room, and fill up the cart with toys. You can place toys at various heights, encouraging your child to stand on their toes, climb a couch cushion, or squat down to retrieve a toy. Pay attention to the type of flooring in the room. When using a plastic laundry basket, carpet will generally be more challenging to push against, and hardwood/tile will be easier.
2. Have a race to see how fast he/she can push the basket to the end of the hall to retrieve a toy, and back. Races can be against siblings or parents, or be in the form of a relay race.
3. Tie a string to the basket to make this a pulling activity.

Obstacle Course

The possibilities are endless with obstacle courses. You can encourage your child to help create, set up, and clean up the course. Maybe incorporate your child’s favorite play scheme; he/she has to navigate the course to place a puzzle piece in the puzzle, feed their favorite doll, or animal. You can add multiple activities together, or just focus on a few. There are many gross motor skills that can be incorporated such as walking, jumping, balancing on one foot, and hopping.

Obstacle Course Ideas

1. Lay out couch cushions on the floor for your child to step on, jump over, or climb through. Maybe even jump from cushion to cushion.
2. Navigate a hopscotch course made out of tape on the floor. This can be modified into many different patterns such as a few boxes in a row, column, diagonal, or in a traditional hopscotch pattern. Your child can walk, jump, or hop from square to square.
3. Crawl or squat under a string tied across two chairs.
4. Walk on a bubble wrap road, walk across a taped line, or both!
5. Crumple up old newspapers and grab a laundry basket to play newspaper basketball. For a balance challenge, have your child stand on a cushion or one leg to make a basket.
6. Cut a pool noodle into 26 pieces, put a letter of the alphabet on each piece and grab some string. Kids can practice putting words together, squat to pick up a piece, and go up on their toes to thread the noodle through the string.

Color Under the Table

Color Under the Table

Tape a piece of paper or coloring book to the underside of a kid’s table. Your child can color up from laying on the floor to work on strengthening their shoulder and trunk muscles!

Exercise Dice

Create a six-sided dice out of cardboard and tape. On each side draw or print out a picture of a different activity such as clapping, jumping jacks, running in place, jumping, heel raises, and dancing. You can also create another dice with numbers on each side to determine how many times or seconds to complete an activity for.

Photo by Patti Mendoza

Online Resources

1. Cosmic Kids Yoga is a website, app, and free YouTube channel where a narrator demonstrates popular yoga poses in the form of stories. Kids can follow along with the instructor on the screen as they narrate their favorite stories or movies in the form of yoga poses. You can access a free 2 week trial if you download the app, or type in “Cosmic Kids Yoga” into the YouTube search bar to access free videos!

• Go Noodle is another great free online resource to get kids moving! The website is full of videos including dance parties, yoga sessions, and games. The resources span a variety of ages, abilities, interests, and can be interactive to include siblings.  Access Go Noodle for Families website through the link.

10 Popular Toys on Amazon Under $20

Here are some of my favorite entertaining, therapeutic toys used with a variety of ages.

1. Beads are a great multi use toy you can take practically anywhere with your imagination.
2. Bubbles are another perfect activity to incorporate into obstacle courses, pop in a variety of positions such as sitting or standing, or work on blowing them to control your breath. “Fubbles” are a personal favorite because they don’t spill.
3. Paint in a Bag is a great sensory activity. Grab your favorite paint colors and squeeze them into a zip lock bag. Tape the bag to a table or the floor and watch your child be entertained with pushing the colors around.
4. Spinning Toy is a fun way to work on gross motor and fine motor to spin the gears around the pipe.
5. Pop Tubes are a fun, noise making, resistance toy your child can practice pulling in a variety of positions.
6. Zoom Ball is a partner game to propel the ball along the string by moving your arms. It’s a great shoulder exercise even adults can feel the burn from!
7. Squigz are little suckers that stick to a variety of surfaces. They’re great for sticking on mirrors and pulling off against resistance. The company Fat Brain Toys also makes Whirly Squigz that spin.
8. Get ready to make cookies with the Melissa and Doug Slice and Bake Cookie Set. This pretend play set is the perfect toy for obstacle courses. The cookies come on a Velcro tray making this toy the perfect resistance activity. The frosting also Velcros to the cookie. Hide the cookies in an obstacle course or navigate over couch cushions to put the cookie on the tray.
9. Top Bright Bird Feeding Game is a great fine motor activity. Play this game laying down on your side to use different muscles to feed the bird!
10. Spike the Fine Motor Hedgehog is another great fine motor toy to pull his spikes out and push them back in.

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Whatever activity you choose, be sure to have fun with it!

For more information on Easterseals DuPage & Fox Valley services, visit eastersealsdfvr.org.