Category Archives: Alternative & Active Seating

Learn about alternative and active seating solutions designed to support posture, improve attention, and promote core strength for children and adults in classrooms, therapy, and at home.

Setting up Your Seat for Virtual Learning Success

Alternative & Active Seating, ,

Having just the right seating arrangement can make the difference between a successful learning experience and one that is full of distractions, position changes, and learning sessions that don’t last as long as they should.  When thinking about setting up your seat for virtual learning success, there are two big factors to consider: the physical setup and the sensory needs. 

Physical Set Up

One of the most important considerations in addressing physical needs is the 90/90/90 rule.   When seated in a chair, feet should be resting comfortably on the floor with a 90 degree angle at the hips, knees and ankles. The work surface should be at a height  that allows the forearms to rest with the shoulders in a neutral position.  

Sensory Needs

When addressing sensory needs related to positioning it is important to consider getting enough of the right kind of sensory stimulation.  Virtual learning has provided long hours sitting at the computer or workspace for both those providing the virtual services and those receiving them.  Virtual learning spaces are often devoid of the naturally occurring sensory stimuli sensory systems need to stay alert and focused.  Classrooms, therapy rooms, and other work spaces are full of naturally occurring stimuli like  enriching conversation with our fellow therapist, the chitter chatter of classmates, naturally occurring movement breaks as we move from one part of the building to another.  Our sensory systems need stimuli to keep alert and focussed. 

Try This: 

  1. Support the feet.  When a chair is too big, legs and feet are left dangling and unsupported, decreasing postural stability needed for hand use.  Adding a foot stool or foam mat under the feet provides the needed support.  Using a  foam mat has the added bonus of additional sensory input! 
  1. Support the back: An oversized chair results in the body being in an awkward extended position with the hips and knees not being able to  flex at the desired 90 degree angles.  Placing a seat wedge or towel roll between the child’s back and the chair back will help bring the child forward enough on the chair to allow the hips to flex to 90 degrees and the knees to bend appropriately over the edge of the chair. This position will  increase overall comfort  resulting  in increased stamina for the work task.  
  1. Bring Work to Eye Level.  When the work surface is too low the natural tendency is to lean forward resulting in losing the 90 degree angle at the hips. A quick fix is to  use a slant board which brings the work higher and reduces the lean forward.  
  1. Use a Seat Cushion.  When the work surface is too high, the forearms are positioned in a way that brings the shoulders up closer to the ears decreasing over stability and comfort.  If changing the table or chair height is not an option, sitting on a folded towel, a book, or a cushion  can help but make sure the child’s feet are still securely on a firm surface like a step stool! Additionally, cushions provide needed sensory input!   Tip; use dycem to keep these positioning aids in place! 
  1. Use  Alternative Seating.
    • Do you want to increase a student’s alertness and ability to focus during extended seating activities? Add movement such as the  Alert Seat or the Kore Wobble Chair!
    • Alternatively, long hours in front of a computer screen trying to filter out extraneous background sensory stimuli can lead to overstimulation.  When calming or organizing input is needed try adding a foot fidget to the chair legs, placing a portable foot fidget under the workspace, or having a foot tapper available.  Other options included weighted lap pads or shoulder wraps.  
  1. Position Changes.   Incorporating position changes through the work or school day is a great way to maintain attention and focus,
    • Standing at a counter height work space or taping work to a wall are options to allow for standing positions while working. 
    • Lay down.  Working while laying on the stomach is a great way to provide proprioceptive input through the shoulders joints (great for those needing calming and organizing input).  This position also gives students who are struggling with postural instability more support so they can focus on their work and not on staying stable!  Use yoga mats or cushions to provide comfort and a clipboard or slant board as a work surface. 
    • Get Cozy.  Another option for a position change  is a bean bag.  While not the best option for all types of tasks this is a great spot when reading or listening to an activity. The deep pressure input provides a great calming and organizing input.  
Bean Bag Chair- a great alternative seat for virtual learning success
Bean Bag Chair
Blue Dycem a Non-slip plastic that solves a variety of stabilizing and grasping problems- very helpful in virtual learning success
Dycem
Slant board
Slant Board

Many of us have made the sudden change from a full day in a classroom or work environment with naturally occurring, enriching sensory experiences to alternative work spaces that may not always provide the type or intensity of sensory stimulation we need to stay alert and  focused. Changing up the seating arrangement can be a great way to increase attention and focus during long days of virtual learning or teletherapy sessions.  

Allyson Locke M.S., OTR/L

Getting Creative with Sweatshirts and Seat Cushions!

Alternative & Active Seating, Sensory, Therapist Resources, , , , ,

 Sensory Processing disorders (SPD) impact how children and adults respond to sensory stimulation such as sound, touch, what they see and movement. One basic principle of occupational therapy for individuals with SPD is to provide controlled, graded and individualized sensory stimulation to promote functional skills such as playing catch or writing one’s name. This means that activities such as tossing bean bags into containers while the child is suspended on a swing can be:

  • Controlled – as the therapist responds to the child’s reactions. For example, the therapist might push the swing faster, slower or in a different direction,
  • Graded- as the therapist chooses the type of swing used, how long the activity lasts, how heavy the bean bags are and how far away the container is positioned, and
  • Individualized – according to the child’s sensory, emotional and motor needs. For example, the child may wear a squeeze vest during the activity, name an animal each time the bean bag is thrown or have a special friend hold the container.

What is a Sensory Diet?

Parents can implement individualized sensory strategies at home in what is called a “Sensory Diet”. This is like a recipe book of activities and adaptations that the therapist designs for parents to carryover at home, school or in the community. It is important to frequently discuss with the therapist how these strategies are working out since children grow and change rapidly along with their sensory needs in different settings.

In my book From Flapping to Function: A Parent’s Guide to Autism and Hand Skills, I describe the 6 different subtypes of SPD and some general strategies to use with children who have each type. These strategies usually impact the following 3 sensory systems:

  1. Tactile – uses sensory receptors in the skin to interpret sensations, such as light and heavy touch.
  2. Proprioception – uses receptors in joints and muscles to tell us where the body is and how it is moving in relation to objects and space.
  3. Vestibular – tells our body how to respond to the pull of gravity and movement of the head. It is also called the balance system.

Now for the fun part…

child sitting on a seat cushion

Many children with or without SPD LOVE deep, heavy pressure experiences and movement. This includes children on the autism spectrum or those with other types of developmental disabilities. One very simple strategy is to provide some type of “dynamic seating”. This simply means that the child can bounce, wiggle, rock or move around in some other way while seated. Many teachers incorporate seat cushions and ball chairs in the classroom to help students focus. The Disco Seat is one popular product. An inexpensive alternative is to sit on a deflated ball, as I am doing in the photo. Don’t have one available while eating out or sitting in the movie theater? Consider rolling up a sweatshirt for the child to sit on or curl up inside of to get a full body squeeze.

 
a child using a homemade seat cushion

Speaking of sweatshirts, I have had great success in helping a young lady named Judy to be more focused and less agitated by placing a Disco Seat cushion inside the body of a sweatshirt. The photo shows Judy sitting on the cushion, enjoying some gentle bounces with the sleeves slung over her lap.

 
example of using a sweatshirt to make an innovative seat cushion

The sleeves are heavy because I put bags filled with sand inside of them. Next I sewed the wrist and shoulder ends of the sleeves closed so that the bags wouldn’t fall out. This adaptation can be used in a various of ways. The sweater may be placed over the back of a chair so that the heavy sleeves are draped over the child’s shoulders and body. Placing the cushion inside the sweater is optional.

 

A young man named Eddy, craves extreme movement and is typically agitated unless in a rocking chair, bungee seat or swing. You can see in the photograph that his chair is adapted to not tip over given all of his body rocking. He LOVED when I attached the sweatshirt with enclosed seat cushion to the back of his chair so that he could slam his back into it while rocking. I know that he enjoyed the deep pressure bouncy sensation because he became calmer, quieter and smiled. The heavy sweatshirt sleeves are draped over his lap. I did my best to capture how I set this up in the following video while maintaining his privacy.

example of an innovative seat cushion

Seat cushions and lap bags that are a lot nicer than the ones I make with a deflated ball, sand and plastic bags are sold by Therapro, Inc. Whether you are reading this blog post as a caregiver, therapist or other type of professional, I hope that adding these simple sensory strategies to your tool box helps the people you love or work with improve their quality of life. This is why I love being an occupational therapist!

 
Disc O'Sit
Disc O’Sit
Weighted Snake Wrap
Weighted Snake Wrap
 
Barbara A. Smith

Guest Blogger:  Barbara A. Smith.

Barbara A. Smith has worked with children and adults with developmental disabilities for over 40 years! She is the author of the Recycling Occupational Therapist, From Rattles to Writing: A Parent’s Guide to Hand Skills and From Flapping to Function: A Parent’s Guide to Autism and Hand Skills. Learn more about her work at RecyclingOT.com.