The Sensational World According To Jaimie: Using My Interests to Help With My Fine Motor Skills

We are constantly trying to find new and fun ways to work with Jaimie and Xander on their sensory struggles. In Jaimie's case, she still struggles with certain gross and fine motor skill tasks as well as her tactile system (she's still so sensitive she cringes when I put nail polish on her!) but I always try working on what she's most interested in, mixed with her strengths, when creating activities to get those muscles and joints working.

In the last few months, Jaimie has become obsessed with everything to do with the Titanic. She has read almost every book in our local library and in her school library. A couple of weeks ago she found a Titanic book where she could create her own cut-out model of the ship. I was a bit worried that it would be too much for her but realized it would be a great way to get her working those fingers while learning even more about the Titanic. She even used her own money to buy it!

She struggled at first but...she did it! And today's post is all about it. We learn in therapy how to use a child's strengths, interests and ABILIITIES when getting her to do her sensory work. This is proof how important it is and that it works.

This is Jaimie. Okay, so like Mama said I LOVE the Titanic. I've read so many books about it right now but not that many of the more information-like ones. I really want to read A Night To Remember but it's never at the library. My friend Steve told me that was the best book to read first so I hope I get to.

So, yeah. I got this Scholastic book order thing and saw the Titanic book with the model and knew I had to get it. It looked so cool and showed all the details of the boat, even the smoke stacks and the life boats! I was so excited I guess I didn't know it would be kind of hard to put it all together.

When it finally came, I told my mom that I wanted to do it by myself. I can read the instructions and stuff so I thought I'd be good. But as soon as I started I sort of thought it might be more harder than I thought. I had problems pushing the pieces of the boat out of the book. I kept ripping them. Then I got mixed up with where all the parts were supposed to go not because I didn't read it right because what I tried doing wasn't what I was reading. That made me SOOOOO mad! THEN every time I tried putting the little tab things in the holes, I ripped the holes! Mama says sometimes my hands and fingers are stronger than I think or not strong enough and I don't always know the difference.

I felt so stupid and I didn't want to have to tell my mom I had trouble or she'd want to help. I mean, it's okay if she does but I really wanted to do it all by myself. So I got her tape and tried just sticking tape to hold things together and just made it worse. So I cried because it was making me mad.

Then we had dinner and I told Mama and she told me to get what I did. Well, I guess I missed a bit part of the instructions because I was getting confused. I even tried taping the part I missed because I didn't know there was a missing part. Tape wasn't the best idea. It looked terrible. But my mom knew just what to do.

She made sure I was calm and listening then we were a team. I pushed the stuff out, slowly, and folded the things and read the instructions out loud then Mama found the holes for me to put the parts in. She found the missing part and took the tape off and it looked so much better. And she made me do it in two days not all at once. I HATE when she makes me stop but sometimes it's a good idea, I guess.

And we finished it! I sort of squashed one of the smoke stacks so much we still had to use tape and we had to tape some of the holes so the parts would stay in but I think it's really great!

Mom asked me to say why this is a good activity for 'sensational' kids and how to help kids do it. Here's what I think:

This is a good activity because it helps me concentrate, focus and use my hands in 'little ways'. like with writing or small crafts and stuff. Then if someone wants to help a kid do this sort of stuff I think:

~ Make sure the kid is in a good mood and not tired. I guess I was tired so it was harder.
~ Make sure the kid knows it's okay to ask for help and they have to ask before they get mad. I know if I get mad or upset mom says it's too late already.
~ Make sure to do this in a few steps at a time so it doesn't get confusing.
~ Make sure you do lots of breaks.
~ Make sure if the kid is having a bad small tasks day you do something else they like doing THEN do this because it's super hard when you're fingers are tired or don't want to work properly.
~ Make sure you do stuff like this in a place the kid feels safe and comfy. I like my room.

That's all. Now I know what to do next time. I'm still going to try doing it on my own first but I know that my mom will always help me if I want her to. That's pretty cool. So, don't be nervous or scared to so this sort of stuff. I did this and you can too.

By, Jaimie