Tag Archives: sensory

The Luminea Corner, a compact yet impactful sensory environment

The App That Awakens Sensory Channels: Luminea App

Sensory

Alba Alier, SLT

In this post I want to talk about a free App which will allow you to control any Luminea lighting device in your space or a multisensory room in a very fun, creative and playful way. The Luminea App has been designed to make the most of therapeutic intervention in a space or sensory room (or even in a Snoezelen room), as it serves to control the colors of the different lighting elements in a simple manner, and facilitates development and learning.

It is free to download, and once you have it installed on your Android smartphone or tablet you can start controlling all the Luminea lighting elements of your room, such as the bubble tube, the fiber optics, a ball pool, etc. You can control them individually (by changing the device type in the menu) or in groups for a more immersive effect.

What Can I Do With The Luminea App?

The Luminea App allows you to control the Luminea lightning devices from your smartphone or tablet by changing the color of the devices when touching on a photo. In this way, the colors of the light changes according to the subject matter. Imagine, for example, that you tap on the yellow part of a rainbow image and the lights in your room turn yellow. Or, the bubble tube turns green when you tap on a photo of a kiwi fruit or all the lighting elements in the room turn red when you tap on a clown’s nose. It’s so fun!

This App includes a variety of activities and games for you to play with lighting elements and lets your users or students take control of the room. In addition, you can customize everything, record color sequences or add as many photos as you want (your own or internet ones) to make the sessions more personal.

What does it mean? Only with  Luminea App you can include countless customized activities in your sessions:

  • Create choreographies with your favorite music and make all the elements ‘dance’ with you. You can play these choreographies whenever you want, as they are stored on your device.
  • Upload your own photos and play with their colors. You can upload a photo of your last holiday or your favorite animal, and by tapping on a colored point in the image, all the room will turn that specific color. ¡It works automatically!
  • It includes multiple games and activities, but you can also create your own unlimited activities.

We help to promote and encourage cause-effect relationships with these types of games, as well as memory, choice, interaction… In the case of group activities, it also helps to enhance communication, joint attention and social skills.

Start With A Small Corner!

With the Luminea App you can control all the Luminea light devices and become a master of light by taking control of your room like never before. If you want to get started in the sensory world, you can start with the Luminea Corner, which allows you to have a small interactive world made up of a bubble tube, and fiber optics and to add devices little by little, as they will always be compatible! 

The Luminea App is fun and therapeutic; it combines the elements of your multisensory room in a group setting and takes your users into an immersive world. In this video we show you all the Luminea elements and how easy it is to use the App. In addition, you can learn about other different ways to control your devices, according to the switch your users prefer (a 6 button, a giant die (Sensory Cube), a colored mat (Sensory Step), etc.)

How Does Luminea App Work?

The Luminea App is very intuitive and easy to use.

  • All you need is an Android smartphone or tablet connected to the same WiFi network as your multisensory room (and all other Luminea devices). It works with one or add all of them at the same time!
Learn More about Luminea!

Saturday Seminar: A Sensory Perspective on Helping Adolescents and Young Adults Learn to Deal with Difficult Emotions

Events, Filomena's Corner, Sensory,

Karen_MooreKaren Moore, OTR/L presented a superb seminar on Saturday entitled: A Sensory Perspective on Helping Adolescents and Young Adults Learn to Deal with Difficult Emotions. Working in the area of mental health has been Karen’s passion and career focus.  She is a highly respected and renowned therapist in her area of practice. In her seminar, Karen shared information from her most recent publication of The Sensory Connection Program called The Sensory Connection Program: Curriculum for Self-Regulation, which teaches self-regulation skills through the use of sensory strategies and social engagement. It was evident from her creative and heartfelt approach that her clients benefit greatly from her knowledge and experience. Today she focused on the emotionally charged years of middle and high school, when students benefit from learning fun and engaging strategies to help them deal with emotions. She described how to teach adolescents to recognize signs that they are having emotional difficulty, how to teach them to seek help, and how to help them learn to use effective self-regulation skills.

Karen’s discussion of the value of mastering self-regulation made good sense; when an individual is able to cope with emotions, he/she is able to “tune back in” to the self, which in turn results in being back in control and greater self-confidence.  She emphasized that without mastery of self-control, it would be difficult for an individual to explore new adventures including higher education, travel, or entering the job market. When applied to adolescents, whose pre-frontal cortex and cerebellum are still developing, the need for learning self-regulation strategies is crucial.

Sensory Connection ProgramWhen Karen reviewed the evolution of the stress response, it was easy to see that the vagal level of “freezing” when confronted by a stressor is not a useful response because it results in being overwhelmed by fear.  In the next level in the hierarchy she explained how the sympathetic “fight or flight “ response is more effective than the “freeze” response, but has a long recovery time.  The optimal response to stress involves appraisal of the situation and communication, which promotes a calm state. She shared research evidence that shows that adolescents who have experienced trauma respond with more primitive responses, have difficulty with communicating verbally, and are more reliant on sensory responses than cognitive strategies for coping. Teaching adolescents self-regulation skills prevents them from resorting to the dangerous lower levels of the hierarchy when responding to stress.

Karen employed some of techniques for calming with her audience today, including several different ways of using deep breathing as a group activity, resulting in a feeling of socialization and engagement.  The pneumonic “Pause – Connect – Engage” helps adolescents to “short-circuit” fear by signaling them to stop and think what made him/her upset, make a social connection by reaching out to someone trusted, and then do something positive that helps, which may be tool-based or non tool-based, i.e. squeeze a ball, do deep breathing, exercise, use a fidget, etc. The group tried out several calming strategies, but one called “seaweed” which involved rooting the feet on the floor and swaying gently and slowly with body and arms, was simple and effective immediately.

Karen guided us in learning how to avert a crisis by helping adolescents gain self-control with the use of a variety of sensory strategies that can be personalized.  The strategies are highly effective for the teen population, but can be valuable tools for any individual who is in a state of emotional distress.

Here’s what attendees had to say about Karen’s seminar:

“As a pediatric OT at elementary school level, learning about sensory curriculum at adolescent level guides me in treatment.  Really enjoyed Karen’s stories/real examples to associate to curriculum.” Jen M., Occupational Therapist

“This topic is relatable to everything I do as a COTA. It ties emotions and sensory input. Every student I work with will benefit!” Beth M., COTA

“Very informative.  Wonderfully explained with explanations in brief & practical exercises to experience.”  Rajini K., Parent

“I would recommend this seminar to a colleague because of the scientific/physiological information, therapeutic activities, and hands on demonstrations.  Very knowledgeable speaker.  Excellent examples.” Joann W., Occupational Therapist

“Useful information for sensory techniques to calm/alert children effectively. New concept/less traditional routes for sensory strategies.” Megan Z., OT student

Thank you, Karen!

Filomena Connor, MS, OTR/L

Developing Finger Dexterity

Fine Motor, , , , , , , , , ,

By Barbara Smith, M.S., OTR/L

After babies discover how much fun it is to shake a rattle that fits comfortably inside the palm (at around 6 months of age), they gradually develop coordination between the index and middle fingers and thumb to grasp small blocks and eventually tiny cereal pieces. They also learn to use the index finger to point and push buttons. This is the beginning of what is called finger isolation – moving fingers separately. Refining finger isolation and the pincer grasp will enable the 2-3 year old child to control beads while stringing.

Some older children find it difficult to grasp tiny objects. They may use a “raking” motion to gather pennies inside the palm because they don’t have the coordination to pick them up using their fingertips. Difficulties may be related to decreased:

  • Attention and experience engaging in fine-motor activities
  • Hand strength and muscle tone
  • Sensory awareness
  • Abilities to plan and perform movements

Cause and effect toys such as Poppin’ Pals (by PlaySkool) and other “busy” toys with buttons have been around for a long time. In fact, this photo of my son exploring what his fingers can do was taken 25 years ago!

fingerdexterity01

Pushing the buttons develops finger strength and motor control. These days, many toddlers learn to isolate their index finger by pressing icons on a smartphone or tablet. These devices do not develop finger strength and tactile learning. However, using the index finger to press, swipe and drag may be just what is needed to engage children with attention challenges. These are the kiddos who may prefer running around than stacking blocks. Controlling exciting visuals and sounds on a screen may initiate an interest in hand activities.

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Developing Coordination Between Tripod Fingers

fingerdexterity03Children with autism, Down syndrome and other developmental disabilities often have decreased hand strength, muscle tone and sensory awareness. They benefit from toys that involve squeezing, pushing and pulling because these motions provide sensory input to the child’s muscles, joints and skin – while the child is having fun.

One very simple activity is to push objects through a small container opening. Start out with easy to grasp objects such as super balls or blocks. Next, introduce large poker chips, and then smaller Bingo chips. At first, be sure to make the opening large enough to ensure success, and then smaller so that the child uses force to push the objects through.

Occupational therapists love to see children push coins into piggy banks or any container with a slot because this requires coordination between the same fingers used to control a pencil – the middle and index fingers and thumb (sometimes called the tripod fingers).

Adapting for Success

Instead of using string, this toddler is grasping thick cord that is easier to control. I cut the donut shapes from container lids and plastic bottles. The holes can be cut larger or smaller depending on the child’s abilities. This adaptation makes it easier for typically developing children to learn how to sequence the steps to stringing, but it is especially exciting to tell parents of a child with a coordination challenges that their child is able to string. Children who do not yet have the motor control to manipulate beads may benefit from the adapting stringing activity shown in the photo.

fingerdexterity04

Developing Finger Dexterity

I have noticed that some children grasp objects loosely, using their fingertips with their wrist flexed (bent). Encourage these children to play with toys that require force – such as turning the key to find a toy, pulling apart pieces of Velcro, and opening snaps – to strengthen the “tripod fingers” and develop dexterity.

fingerdexterity05

fingerdexterity06Many years ago I designed the simple weaving shape shown in this photo.

The rectangular shape is inserted in and out of the large notches in the shape shown on the right. This requires manipulating with the fingertips. The beauty of making this activity (out of detergent bottles) is that I could cut them to any size. I have used these in color matching and sorting tasks with children and adults of all ages.

Weavable Toys

I have recently designed the “weaving belt” shown below. The small shapes woven onto a long plastic strip cut from a large round bottle (i.e. a bleach bottle) are perfect for small hands. Young children can weave them into color and/or shape pattern.

fingerdexterity07

My clients have enjoyed weaving shapes so much, I decided to start manufacturing my patent-pending Weavable Toys: Basic Shapes.

These consist of

  1. 4 shape boards
  2. Strips to weave through the boards
  3. Shapes that are woven onto the strips to create designs.

fingerdexterity08

The little girl in the photo is attaching shapes onto a circular strip without using a board. She does not yet have the skill to weave the strip into the board. This is a great example of a toy that can be adapted for many different ability levels.

Children can:

  • Put shapes on or off the strips without using the boards
  • Weave or remove strips from the boards without using the shapes
  • Weave shapes onto strips and into the boards to create designs (see photo)
  • Follow visual patterns to develop visual perceptual skills.

fingerdexterity09

fingerdexterity10

Whether purchasing or making your own, stringing, lacing and weaving boards are wonderful activities that develop the finger dexterity children need to control a pencil.

* * *

Barbara Smith, M.S., OTR/L has worked with children and adults with developmental disabilities in a variety of settings over the past 30 years – including early intervention programs, public schools, special education collaboratives, day habilitation programs and community residences. She is the author of The Recycling Occupational Therapist, 2nd edition (RecyclingOT.com, 2012) and From Rattles to Writing: A Parent’s Guide to Hand Skills (Therapro, Inc, 2011).

Check out Barbara’s website for information and resources at: RecyclingOT.com

Special thanks to mom and photogenic daughter at Fumbling Thru Autism.