When asked, Sarah always loves sharing their Occupational Therapy journey and how it’s helped her 7 year old ball of energy Lucas in developing his focus and turning play into something more meaningful. Lucas, who loves watching TV and is quite the energetic child when playing in the backyard, was having trouble focusing and managing his energy at school. Learning tasks via sitting down and studying was becoming more of a challenge as time pass by, and both of their frustration was setting in day by day. Sarah’s exasperation stemmed from not being able to help her son, and Lucas was adamant that school was boring. The boy was absolutely disinterested in anything except play.
Last January, they found out that Occupational Therapy, through the NDIS, was available for them to access. Sarah chose to reach out to Goal Coach in particular because the flexibility of it being online helped with scheduling Lucas’ day, as well as helps working around her work from home job and school hours. After the initial 15-minute session, Sarah decided to give it a go for Lucas.
That’s when they met Kate, their awesome occupational therapist. From the very beginning Kate’s approach was all about making therapy fun and engaging for Lucas. She took the time to get to know his interests and challenges, and worked her magic from there.
Kate introduced Lucas to sensory play and activities to help him focus and calm down. With the help of Sarah on the side, they created obstacle courses and engaged in finger painting, making each session a new kinesthetic adventure via telehealth. Lucas loved it and looked forward to his sessions, and it comforted Sarah to know her son was interested in it.
One of the biggest breakthroughs was when Kate noticed Lucas’s love for playing pirate. She recommended that Sarah should create a pirate themed obstacle course in their backyard, something simple that involved climbing, balancing on a “plank” and digging for “treasure” in a sandbox—anything to burn off Lucas’ excess energy while practising his balance and concentration.
Sarah was hesitant at first because she was imagining complex playgrounds that would take too much resources to do. But Kate mentioned how she shouldn’t be overwhelmed by the task and Sarah could use simple techniques such as using chalk to draw lines on the ground, or playing with play dough to create parrot ‘first mates’ for this.
Within a few days of implementing Kate’s suggestion, Sarah saw how much this type of play burned a lot of excess energy and helped Lucas develop his coordination and focus. She saw improvement when they sat down for homework and Lucas actually sat down, listened to her, and finished parts of his worksheet with less compliant than he usually did!
Kate also introduced Lucas to calming techniques using his favourite TV shows. They created a “calm down corner” with pillows and his favourite pirate blanket where Lucas could take a break and watch a short calming episode whenever he felt overwhelmed. This helped him self regulate his emotions at home and school, and associated calmness to a space he could physically retreat into.
And he sure got this! With a little bit of play and personal support Lucas is ready to go!
If your child is struggling with focus or managing energy, paediatric occupational therapy could make all the difference. Discover how Goal Coach’s personalised approach can turn challenges into fun, engaging learning experiences. Take the first step with a 15-minute consultation and see how it can help your child.