Using Everyday Items for Therapy Activities Across Disciplines Is Crucial
Whether our setting is a clinic, a home, or a school, therapists have access to both discipline specific and everyday items to use in therapy. What happens when we take one item and use it across ALL disciplines? Our Team Leads did just that to present to our therapists how to utilize these five commonly found items across different types of therapy sessions: speech therapy, occupational therapy, and physical therapy.
- Laundry Basket
- Hula Hoop
- Feed the Monster
- Bosu Ball
- Blue Tape
LAUNDRY BASKET
SPEECH THERAPY
- Following Directions
- Use in addition to other items around the home or clinic to target following directions and spatial concepts i.e., put in/on/under/behind the basket
- Articulation
- Play a tossing game while have the client practice articulation words in between each turn
OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
- With rope tied to back of laundry basket, pulled by therapist with balls on R/L crossing midline to pick up balls while being pulled
PHYSICAL THERAPY
- Heavy work – push with weighted objects inside
- Turn upside down for activity in tall or half-kneeling position
- Target for underhand/overhand throwing
- Use as goal for kicking target
HULA HOOP
SPEECH THERAPY
- Prepositions
- Select a toy or object and put it in different locations in reference to the hula hoop, then ask where is the toy? I.e., the toy is next to/in front of/behind the hula hoop
- After each one, child can take a break and see how long he/she can last on hula hoop as a break
OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
- Dressing skills
- Put a hula hoop on the floor. Have the child squat down, pick up the hula hoop and reach it overhead. Put it back on the floor in front of the child and repeat. Have the child get across the whole room only stepping in the hula hoop.
- Personal Space
- Teach the concept of personal space, using a hula hoop and safety cones.
PHYSICAL THERAPY
- Place around client’s pelvis, apply downward and/or posterior pull to achieve plantigrade alignment
- SL balance with perturbations in various directions
- Jumping forward/backward/lateral teach the concept of personal space, using a hula hoop and safety cones.
FEED THE MONSTER
SPEECH & FEEDING
- Articulation
- Drill articulation words and then feed them to the monster
- Eat it or Feed it
- Child cuts/smells/kisses presented food and gets the choice to eat it or feed it to the monster
OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
- Fine Motor
- Roll the dice and feed the monster using Pom Poms and tweezers.
PHYSICAL THERAPY
- Tall or half-kneeling
- SL balance on different activities
- DL or SL balance on hyper vibe
- Squat down to pick up pieces and feed monster
- Step up to transfer pieces to higher surface to feed monster
BOSU BALL
SPEECH THERAPY
- WH Questions
- Turn Bosu upside down and have child sit on the flat side
- Place WH question cards or picture cards in front, to the left and right of Bosu ball
- Have client lean in a direction to choose a type of question and/or picture card
OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
- UB and Core Strengthening
- Flip the Bosu upside down and place a tennis ball in the middle. While remaining in a plank or quadruped move the tennis ball around to get back into the center without it falling off.
PHYSICAL THERAPY
- SL balance
- Add throwing, catching, reaching components to make more dynamic
- Dynamic step ups/downs
- Double leg jumping from compliant surface to floor
- Core strengthening, dynamic sitting activities
TAPE
SPEECH THERAPY
- Expressive Language
- Tape little objects/toys on a well to play a “rescue” game. Target core words – on, off, help, down, up, go, out, and animal sounds – for expressive language.
OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
- Shape Identification
- Using painter’s tape, create various shapes on the floor. Try blowing pom poms, or cotton balls, with a straw down the row of shapes. Wherever it lands you have to call out what shape it landed on. Could also do this with letters.
PHYSICAL THERAPY
- Tandem walking
- Tandem stance balance
- Jumping to a target
- Gait training
- Step up to take tape off the walls/surfaces
Using these everyday items in different types of therapy sessions can prove invaluable for both the patient and the therapist and opens up opportunities to diversify therapy sessions.
This post was a joint effort from our team of therapists who specialize in pediatric speech, feeding, occupational, and physical therapy. At Mariposa Therapy Services, we believe in collaboration across disciplines to holistically treat clients in our Tempe clinic. We know that when we join forces and address goals across all sessions, the client will benefit.