vestibular

Aloha, magnificent moms and dads. Mary Koska here with Ohana ot. In this video, I'm going to talk about vestibular activities you can do to help your child now. Vestibular. The vestibular system, whether it's under or over responsive, is really going to change what you're doing. So if your child is the seeker, the under responsive child, the one that just can't get enough and wants to spin all the time, not the one that's getting car sick, these activities are going to be more for you. And I'll address the other in a minute. So the kids that just want intensity and they're not getting dizzy, they're not getting sick, and they just can't seem to get enough, those kids are really going to benefit from a lot of dynamic activity. Swings, swinging big and spinning and up and down, all that kind of thing. If you don't have any of that in your home, one thing you can use is just an office chair. So you can spin them in an office chair. And what you want to do is short bursts, changing directions, continually stopping, seeing how they feel. Do they want more? Second, they start looking like they're dizzy and their eyes are moving, or they're just kind of. They just change. They have that look, stop. You don't want to go past that because you can overdo it. So even the kids that want more and more and more and more, the second you fill them up and get to that point where they're feeling it, that's where you got to stop. Even if they're asking for more because you can't overdo it. So with in the spinning in the office chair, spinning them one way, then another way, stopping frequently. What you're doing is you're giving them more intensity because in the vestibular system, you have the semicircular canals, three tubes, fluid, filled with little hairs in them. And when you just go in one direction continually, those hairs are just laying down. But when you stop and you go back and forth, it's like switches. Those hairs are moving, and so that's creating more intensity. So that's why your kid that can just go and go and go forever, and they're just going in one direction. That's why. So you're going to give them more intensity, less duration. They won't do it as long if you give them more of these short bursts going back and forth. The other thing you can do is have them change their head position. Look at the ceiling, look down, and that's going to change the input as well. Again, you want to stop. You want to stop frequently checking in, seeing how they're doing. The second they start looking a little dizzy, if they just have that kind of look on their face or eyes are big, they look like they're nauseous. Any of those things, they look dizzy, their eyes are moving. That's stop it right there. Don't go past that point. So another other vestibular activities you can do, you can do anything with vibration. So there's different, like there's different toys that vibrate or vibrating surfaces. We have this funny machine in our clinic that's like weight loss, but we got it because it vibrates, it jiggles. The kids really love it. That's really fun. You can do any kind of swing, whether you're in your house or out of your house. There's so many things you can do with that. But think of movement in three directions. You've got linear movement and just this kind of angular movement like a regular swing. And that's calming. You have up and down movement. You can add a bungee cord to anything and give yourself more up and down, like say a tire swing. And that is going to be more calming as well. And it's also going to really work on balance. The rotary is going to work on that system where they're really under responsive and they're needing more intensity. The rotary is where you have to. The spin is where you have to be really, really careful because you don't want to overdo it. So now let's talk about a child who is very sensitive, doesn't like any of this stuff, gets car sick. And you know, what are you going to do? Well, you never force anything and you start really, really gentle. In our clinic, we'll put the swings actually on the floor, not even moving. And then we'll bring them up like an inch off the floor and. And just slowly, very, very gradually get them comfortable with things moving. The other thing you can do is have them push the swing or push somebody on the swing before they ever get on a swing. There's lots of ways you can do it very gradually. And the quickest way to undo if they do feel dizzy or nauseous, the quickest way to undo that is with some intense tug of war. Proprioception, that input to the muscles and joints help, helps them feel calmer and regulate that other sense, that vestibular sense. So it's very interesting. It helps regulate it. So that one evaluation I did, the child came and they were green There was no way I could have them do anything. They just sat down and they were green. They looked like they were going to get sick. And it was from the car ride. So before I did anything, we probably did 10 minutes of tug of war. I got quite the workout, but he was okay after the that. And then we were able to do the rest of our evaluation. So that is a very powerful, powerful input. Okay, some more fun ideas for getting vestibular input. You can do any kind of gymnastic type things. Yoga you can do rolling in a barrel, rolling down a hill, even just rolling across the floor is a great one. You can do somersaults, trampoline, just getting in different positions, do obstacle course, any kind of balance activities. All those are going to be really great for getting more vestibular input. See you in the next video.

Hi again. I am so glad that you took the time to watch this video and I'm really proud of you because I know you're busy and, and it takes time to sit down and focus and learn something new and just really proud of you. Give yourself a pat on the back. You're gonna see this after each video. Cause I just wanna reinforce you and just let you know I'm proud of you. And change isn't easy. Some of these things. You hear the idea and then implementing it. We're all habitual, so it's not always easy to do. So just do your best to make little baby steps forward and make little changes that are positive and keep watching. See you in the next video.

Aloha.