Play is the primary occupation for most children. Play offers children “…the opportunity to develop gross motor, fine motor, visual motor, cognitive, language, imagination, attention, and social skills” (Aquilla, Sutton, & Yack, 2003, p.103).
On my paediatric placement messy play activities were used constantly throughout therapy in order to actively engage the child for me and my supervisor to observe their sensory input. Using play in therapy helped me to see why the child was having difficulties in everyday tasks. It is noted that “in sensory integration, play is used as a treatment medium and motivator to promote organization of sensory information.” (Couch, Deitz, & Kanny as cited in Benson & Nicka 2006, p.2). Sensory integration also improves a child’s eagerness to try new activities in play, as well as helps them express emotions, desires and increase socialization with other children (Benson & Nicka, 2006).
In relation to tactile play activities there are a range which can be used depending on the needs of each child. On my fieldwork placement many of the tactile activities were based around ‘messy play’ tasks to help encourage the child to use their hands and familiarize themselves with the use of soft and smooth textures. Some of the activities used water, bubbles, paint, shaving cream and sand to help engage the child. “Children enhance their development through active exploration of the environment, manipulation of materials, toys, and other physical stimuli” (Benson & Nicka, 2006, p.2).
While I was on my placement I was only briefly introduced to visual strategies and did not explore this as much as tactile strategies but after further research I found that sight is an important everyday sense we all use. I never realized the impact that vision problems can have on children and with their development and learning. According to Ayres & Robbins (2005), the visual sense is central to being a competent social being. Having poor visual perception can impact on the child’s learning tremendously. Children have to concentrate extremely well in order to just focus on something like the blackboard during class. It has been mentioned that these children “…may tire of the task much more quickly than other children or lose important details necessary to fully understand the concept that is being taught.” (Ayres & Robbins, 2005, p.118). I have found vision to be of value for any task a child does and before learning about sensory integration theory I had never realized how important this sense was for development. I am eager to learn more about this concept and to one day even use this theory in practice.
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