ECE202 - Physical Development of the Child
Spring, 2022
Assignment 2
Total Marks: 20
LAST DATE: 18-08-2022
Instructions:
- Late
assignments will not be accepted.
- If
the file is corrupt or problematic, it will be marked zero.
- Plagiarism
will never be tolerated. Plagiarism occurs when a student uses work done
by someone else as if it was his or her own; however, taking the ideas
from different sources and expressing them in your own words will be
encouraged.
- No
assignment will be accepted via e-mail.
- The
solution file should be in Word document format; the font color should be
preferably black and font size should be 12 Times New Roman.
Question: 1
Write
down the methods to improve sensory learning, also suggest any TWO activities
to improve sensory learning.
Question: 2
Define
and explain the stages of motor learning and what are development milestones of
gross motor skills at the age 2 to 3 years?
Criteria
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Ratings
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Marks
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Exemplary
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Acceptable
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Incomplete
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Question: 1
Write down the methods
to improve sensory learning, also suggest any TWO activities to improve
sensory learning.
|
10 marks
Properly write the
methods to improve sensory learning and suggest any TWO activities to improve
sensory learning.
|
5 marks
Properly write the methods
to improve sensory learning.
|
0 mark
Does
not make sense of the answer
|
10
|
Question: 2
Define and explain the
stages of motor learning and what are development milestones of gross motor
skills at the age 2 to 3 years?
|
10 marks
Properly Defined and
explained the stages of motor learning and development milestones of gross
motor skills at the age 2 to 3 years?
|
5 marks
Properly Defined and
explained the stages of motor learning
|
0 marks
No
explanation
|
10
|
Question: 1
Write
down the methods to improve sensory learning, also
suggest any TWO activities to improve sensory learning.
Answer:
Sensory
tools are intended to promote regulation, improve focus, and increase participation,
therefore enabling your child to be available for learning.
The key
to a sensory-informed classroom is that it supports the various sensory needs
of the students in the classroom in a way that is as natural as possible. Not
all students learn the same, nor do they have the same sensory needs. When you
include sensory supports or tools in a classroom, they will be used differently
by kids depending on what their bodies need, when they need input, and how they
choose to use the tools!
The
goal of sensory tools in school is to support participation, engagement, and
interactions that promote skill development and learning. Whether your child is
working to develop social skills with peers, behavioral and emotional
regulation, improve attention/focus, develop organization skills, or manage
classroom behaviors, sensory tools can regulate a child’s arousal level in
order to get at these higher-level skills needed for classroom success.
METHODS TO IMPROVE SENSORY LEARNING
FLEXIBLE/ALTERNATIVE
SEATING
The easiest way to allow for movement in a classroom
is to offer students active seating options. “Active seating” is seating that
allows for wiggling, moving, and adjusting as an alternative to the typical
classroom chair. There are a number of designs to consider:
- Tabletop seating on T-Stools (see photo), ball chairs or Move n’s it cushions
- Floor seating in a beanbag chair, blackjack chair, or
sensory floor cushion
- Standing stations with standing desks or easels
HEAVY
WORK ACTIVITIES
Heavy work
activities are designed to provide proprioceptive input that has a calming,
organizing effect on students. When you put everyday classroom objects (books,
lunch bags, recess equipment) into a laundry basket, students can
carry/push/pull these heavy baskets for extra doses of proprioceptive input.
MANIPULATIVES
OR FIDGET TOYS
Manipulatives
are often used as a multi-sensory way to teach concepts in school.
Sensory-informed classrooms can incorporate tactile manipulatives and fidgets
to support a multitude of students. Consider distraction-free fidgets like
pencil top fidgets, bouncy bands on chairs and desks, and set expectations with
a classroom poster of fidget rules.
ORAL
SENSORY INPUT
The
easiest way to incorporate consistent oral motor sensory inputinto the school
day is to look at what you’re sending your child for snacks and lunch. Just as
you vary the nutritional contents of those foods you send, you should also be
varying the textures, flavors, and consistencies. Chewy, crunchy foods will
offer proprioceptive input to the mouth/jaw and offering liquids to suck
through a thick straw (i.e. water bottle w thick straw like this) will also
require the use of mouth muscles.
MOVEMENT
When you get your child’s school schedule, take note
of the movement opportunities in the form of gym class, specials, and recess.
- Student-specific movement activities on key rings, flashcards, or
classroom posters can cue kids to take movement breaks to help regulate.
- Movement-minded classroom jobs like a mail carrier, materials
manager/paper passer, or office runner allow for movement within natural
routines
DEEP
PRESSURE
Weighted
objects and weighted lap are a must-have in every classroom for seated
tabletop tasks and carpet times! Weighted materials like Harkla’s weighted lap
pad offer deep pressure input that has a calming and organizing effect.
Some
students prefer compression garments worn under regular clothing or compression
vests are worn on top of their clothing. These are student-specific
considerations that are appropriate sensory tools for school depending on your
preference and your child’s sensory needs.
SENSORY
DEPRIVATION AREA
Because
a classroom can be a noisy, visually overwhelming, overstimulating place for a
sensory student, it’s important to have a designated “quiet corner” that could
be as simple as the reading nook in the corner of the class or as complex as a
teepee with a beanbag chair and headphones. It provides a calming place for a
child to sit while it applies much-needed pressure to sensitive areas of the
body, helping your child feel grounded and in control. Having an identified
sensory deprivation area will allow your child to initiate taking a break when
needed, proactively de-escalating when he feels overstimulated.
VISUALS
It’s
important to look at visual supports for learning as well as for regulation
assistance in a classroom. When visuals are effective, they reduce the amount
of verbal direction, reminders, or prompting needed. For some sensory students,
these strategies could make a huge difference in supporting positive classroom
behaviors and self-regulation. Visual
timers and visual calm-down bottles both offer non-verbal ways of prompting
transitions and behavior supports. For other students, reducing the amount of
visual distraction is key to helping them maintain attention and complete
classroom tasks. Desktop or tabletop partitions, privacy boards, or “offices”
are sometimes all it takes to help a student to focus on his work.
For
elementary-aged children, using tactile tools can support continued concept
development, so bring out the sand tray, raised line paper, tactile bins, and
sensory table. There’s a way to make most new concepts multisensory!
Hug your knees:
Ask your students to sit on the floor, knees up, feet
firmly planted on the floor. Have them bring their knees under their chin,
hugging them tightly. They can rest their chin briefly on their knees, as if
they were using them as a table. This strategy integrates proprioceptive input
(the ability to perceive the position and movement of the body) through joint
compression (applying deep pressure).
Backwards hug:
Sitting on the floor as tall as they can, students
should reach both arms backwards, crossing their hands to squeeze their wrists.
This strategy also integrates proprioceptive input through joint compression.
My own learning space:
This is a good strategy for students who may be
sensitive to auditory and/or visual inputs. When a child is having strong
emotional feelings, it can often be helpful to “take space,” or move away from
the challenging situation at hand (e.g., when they’re frustrated during a
lesson that’s difficult to understand). This strategy allows students to take
space while learning. Have an agreed-on location for this exercise. Consider
creating a visual boundary to the space, such as painter’s tape, so that the
student has a guide for where to go.
You may want to add sensory-blocking tools, such as
noise-reducing headphones and something that blocks the student’s visual field,
such as a folder standing up vertically, to further decrease sensory
stimulation.
Velcro on rug spot:
Consider placing Velcro around the student’s learning
space, such as under the desk, on the floor, and even on their learning
materials (on the back of their notebook, on their pencils, etc.). I like to
alternate soft and rough textures for the added sensory stimulation. Feeling
Velcro on the floor at the student’s rug spot can help them keep their eyes on
you and will definitely be less distracting than having a stress ball in their
hand.
Chair:
Sitting on a chair with a back while listening to you
can help the student focus when they’re feeling low-energy. The back support
gives them the information of where their body is in a space, while their body
doesn’t have to focus on trying to sit against gravity. This strategy provides
tactile and proprioceptive feedback.
Floor desk:
This is a small desk that provides a physical and
visual boundary around the student. It can be helpful when they’re feeling
high-energy. It also provides the student with a writing surface while you’re
teaching. This strategy can be useful for those who benefit from increased
proprioceptive and visual feedback.
Tangle/string fidget tools:
These types of fidget tools are somewhat circular, so
that the student can fidget with them in a repetitive and functional way,
getting rid of excess energy. This tool also provides tactile feedback.
Big body breaks:
Having the class stop at regular times to check in and
do big body breaks so that everyone can feel just right can be very productive.
Remind students that sometimes, our bodies may need to check in more often, and
that’s OK. Ask your students to do downward dog/upward dog yoga poses and
head-below-knee poses, and to bend down and squeeze each joint of their body,
beginning at their ankles and working their way up to their shoulders.
These strategies provide a reminder to allow for
increased proprioceptive (body awareness through joint compression) and/or
vestibular (head below knee and rotational) inputs to ensure that students
perform consistent large-movement exercises that have those components.
Cardboard box/laundry basket stuffed with pillows:
This is a large, firm, and shallow cardboard box
filled with a few pillows. Students should be able to sit in there, slightly
squished, bringing their notebook/worksheet and a clipboard. Using this seat the
right way, on the rug with their classmates, means that they are sitting up and
participating. This strategy provides increased proprioceptive, visual, and
tactile feedback.
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Question:
2
Define
and explain the stages of motor learning and what are development milestones of
gross motor skills at the age 2 to 3 years?
Answer:
Definition:
Motor
learning has been defined as a “set of internal processes associated with
practice or experience leading to relatively permanent changes in the
capability for skilled behavior.” In
other words, motor learning is when complex processes in the brain occur in
response to practice or experience of a certain skill resulting in changes in
the central nervous system that allow for production of a new motor skill.
In a
book entitled Human Performance, the well-known psychologists proposed three
stages of learning motor skills: a cognitive phase, an associative phase, and
an autonomous phase. In the first stage, movements are slow, inconsistent, and
inefficient, and large parts of the movement are controlled consciously.
There are three stages in which motor learning
occurs:
1.
Cognitive Stage
During this initial stage of motor learning, the goal
is to develop an overall understanding of the skill. The
learner must determine what the objective of the skill is and begin to
process environmental factors that will affect their ability to produce the
skill. The teacher must do their best to provide an optimal environment
for learning, which may mean removing large distractors. During this
stage, the learner mostly relies on visual input and trial and error to guide
learning.
Example:
Before your child masters walking, they will most
likely look a bit awkward and will definitely stumble a few times. The
reality is that the process of learning how to walk begins way before your
child actually takes their first assisted or independent step as they have
been visually observing others around them walking and beginning to understand
the purpose. So while they make look clumsy during this stage of learning, they
are only just beginning to transition from understanding the skill to executing
it.
2.
Associative Stage
During this stage, the learner begins to demonstrate a
more refined movement through practice. Now that the learner has had some
practice and has identified various stimuli that may occur, they can focus on
“how to do” moving on from the “what to do” in the first stage. Here,
visual cues become less important and proprioceptive cues become very
important. Proprioceptive cues refer to the learner focusing more on how
their body is moving in space and what input is being felt from their joints
and muscles. The more practice, the more proprioceptive input the
learner receives to aide learning. Therefore, the more practice the
better.
Example:
Let’s continue with walking. During the initial
clumsy stage your child may demonstrate small, choppy steps, wide
base of support, arms up high in a guarded position, and little to no trunk
rotation. In this stage, you may see your child taking longer, more
controlled steps, narrowing their base of support, and allowing their arms to
relax at their sides. These behaviors indicate that your child has moved
past the initial stage of learning and has progressed to a more refined
movement.
3.
Autonomous Stage
During this final stage of learning, the motor skill
becomes mostly automatic. Progression to this level of learning allows the
learner to perform the skill in any environment with very little cognitive
involvement compared to the first stage.
Example:
Your child will now be able to walk in a predictable
environment such as your home or an unpredictable environment such as a crowded
birthday party at the park on grass without difficulty.
Keep in mind that the learning process can take
different lengths of time for every individual and progression can be dependent
on a variety of factors such as motivation of the learner, feedback received,
environmental stimuli, organization of practice, and the presence of
musculoskeletal or neuromuscular impairments. Talk with your therapist
for more suggestions to optimize motor learning more specifically for your
child.
DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONES 2 TO 3 YEARS
As children grow, so do their skills. While not
specific to your child, this education sheet can help you know what skills your
child is likely to develop at this age.
Children develop at their own rate, learning some
skills much quicker than others. Progress also starts and stops. As some skills
are learned, your child might go back to an earlier stage in some other areas
for a time. If you have any questions or concerns about your child's
development, talk with your doctor or nurse practitioner.
Gross motor skills
Skills that use large muscles (legs, arms, trunk,
and neck)
- jump in place with both feet
- climb up and go down a toddler slide
- pedal tricycle
- walk up and down stairs when one hand being held by an adult
- stand briefly on one foot when one hand being held by an adult
- walk backwards
Fine motor skills
Skills that use small muscles (hands and fingers)
- stack 1-inch blocks, six high
- hold crayon with thumb and fingers
- string large beads on a stiff string
- snip and cut with a scissors
- imitate vertical and horizontal lines, and circle
- copy vertical and horizontal lines and circle
Self-help skills
Skills that help children become more independent
- use a fork and spoon with spilling
- wash and dry hands with supervision
- brush teeth with assistance
- use toilet consistently (a few accidents at times)
- dress and undress self with help
- put own things away, helps with clean up and putting things away
Cognitive skills
Mental skills (thinking, learning,
problem solving)
- engage in pretend and imaginative play
- match shapes
- understand the concept of "I"
- play side by side with peers
- sort colors
- identify body parts and their functions
- complete 3- to 4-piece puzzles
Examples
of gross motor skills in the locomotion category can
include rolling, belly crawling, crawling on hands and knees, scooting,
walking, running, climbing, leaping, jumping, and hopping.
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