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Published on January 25, 2021
This is one of the coolest clinic toys I’ve seen in a while. The company is called Fort, and their magnetic fort pillows are launching on kickstarter on January 26th. If you sign up now you’ll get a significant discount off of the retail price of $399.
They are also making fabric covers for the pillows, which would be perfect for home use.
The pillows are made of polyurethane foam covered in polyurethane leather. They are waterproof and look to be easy to sanitize.
Each set comes with 12 pieces: 2 half moons, 2 arches, 2 triangles, 4 rectangles and 2 squares. That seems really generous to me, and makes this a better deal than you could find on “therapy equipment” sites.
I haven’t seen these in person, but they look like the perfect OT building toy. You can purchase up to 4 sets at a time once they launch. If I had a clinic space I would definitely scoop up a couple of sets.
I do home-based therapy, so I’m sending this site to some of my families who are interested in building sensory spaces for their children.
The theory of multiple learning styles has dominated education for years. I’ve watched many harried teachers go out of their way to amend their lesson plans to accommodate multiple learning styles within their classrooms.
A recent review by Swansea University Medical School has found that teaching to a child’s learning style (auditory, kinesthetic, etc.) is ineffective. It turns out there’s no evidence in the research literature that shows that teaching to a child’s learning style improves learning.
In fact, teaching to a child’s learning style may hinder learning. “For example, a student categorized as an auditory learner may end up thinking there is no point in pursuing studies in visual subjects such as art, or written subjects like journalism and then be demotivated during those classes..”
This makes sense from a neurological point of view. If a child is weak in visual learning, shouldn’t we be challenging those neuro pathways to improve their ability to learn visually rather than ignoring the weakness?
Teaching to a child’s learning style also places unrealistic expectations on educators and therapists who are expected to individualize their lessons for each learning style.
The author points out that other methods of teaching, such as practice tests and spaced repetition, have far more support in the literature. Our valuable and scarce time and resources should be directed toward those teaching strategies instead.
There’s no doubt remote learning can be difficult for even the most attentive child. The kids we treat hardly stand a chance when faced with lessons delivered by a face on a screen.
I’m always being asked for advice on how to help kids stay engaged with remote learning, and I’m sure you are being asked the same types of questions.
This article published by the Child Mind Institute gives some good suggestions on helping parents help their children with remote learning. Some key take-aways:
“The neural networks throughout the interior of the body, including those surrounding the hollow organs, such as the intestines and the heart, send complex sensory input to the skull-based brain. This data forms the foundation for visceral maps that help us have a “gut feeling” or a “heartfelt” sense. Such input from the body forms a vital source of intuition and powerfully influences our reasoning and the way we create meaning in our lives.”
–Daniel J. Siegel, M.D., Mindsight*
What is the biggest obstacle that keeps parents from implementing your therapy suggestions when you aren’t there?
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