Crainosacral therapy (CST) is a gentle, hands-on method of evaluating and enhancing the functioning of a physiological body system called the craniosacral system – membranes and cerebrospinal fluid that surround and protect the brain and spinal cord, extending from the bones of the skull, face and mouth (which make up the cranium) down to the tailbone area (or sacrum). The role of the craniosacral system is to maintain the environment in which the central nervous system functions. An imbalance or dysfunction in this system can cause sensory, motor, and/or neurological disabilities. Crainosacral therapy works by helping the body’s natural healing mechanisms release the negative effects of stress on the central nervous system.

Like the pulse of the cardiovascular system, the craniosacral system has a rhythm that can be felt throughout the body. Performed on a fully-clothed body, and using a touch generally no heavier than the weight of a nickel, skilled practitioners can monitor this rhythm at key body points to locate the source of an obstruction or stress. Once a source has been determined, the therapist uses delicate manual techniques to assist the natural movement of the fluid and related soft tissue to help the body self-correct, releasing problem areas and relieving undue pressure on the brain and spinal cord. When properly applied, crainosacral therapy is essentially risk-free.

Children who may benefit from CST include those with brain dysfunctions, central nervous system problems, self-regulatory and modulation difficulties, traumatic birth processes, and developmental delays, as well as various sensory disorders, including eye-motor coordination problems, autism, dyslexia, loss of taste or smell, tinnitus, vertigo (dizziness) and neuralgias (nerve pain) such as sciatica (hip & leg pain) & tic douloureux (sudden, sharp pain in the face).

CST sessions for children can last from 15-60 minutes, depending on the child’s tolerance and need. The optimal result of crainosacral therapy is a central nervous system free of restrictions and a body that is able to return to its greatest levels of performance.

The goal of Handwriting Without Tears® (HWT) is to make legible and fluent handwriting an automatic and natural skill for children of all ability levels. This program uses fun, entertaining, and educationally-sound instructional methods to teach handwriting to all students: preschool through cursive. HWT is unique in that it is developmentally-based, works for children of all abilities, uses multi-sensory teaching aids and methods, and is easy to teach and fun to learn.

If a child is having trouble with handwriting, an evaluation can be conducted (regardless of what handwriting methods may be being used at school) to assess upper case, lower case, number skills, spacing, and size. This will allow us to determine a child’s strengths and difficulties, and we can then develop a customized remediation plan that will specifically address each area of challenge.

This program features:

• Engaging techniques and activities help improve a child’s early self-confidence, pencil grip, and body awareness skills.
• Multisensory techniques and consistent habits for letter formation to help all children learn.
• Unique strategies to teach good letter formation, spacing, neatness, and cursive connections.

Children enjoy HWT because it makes handwriting easy and fun to learn. This program can be completed in 6-8 weeks (depending on the child & home programming) and includes a weekly 45-60 minute session at our center, as well as weekly home programs.

Therapeutic Listening® (TL) is an expansion of sensory integration. It is an auditory intervention program that uses the organized sound patterns inherent in music (using specially-modulated and filtered sounds) to impact all levels of the nervous system, by providing direct input to both the vestibular and auditory portions of the vestibular-cochlear continuum. TL can impact sensory modulation, attention, speech/language difficulties, postural organization, and behavior. This program utilizes numerous CDs that vary in musical style, types of filtering, and complexity. The music on Therapeutic Listening CDs is electronically altered to elicit the orienting response which prepares the body for sustained attention and active listening.

Therapeutic Listening® is an evidence-backed protocol that combines a sound-based intervention with sensory integrative activities to create a comprehensive program that is effective for diverse populations with sensory challenges. The use of modulated and filtered music in conjunction with other sensory integrative techniques seems to increase the effectiveness of both treatment modalities.

When incorporated into a sensory integrative treatment approach, children of all ages can benefit from Therapeutic Listening® in a variety of areas, including: attention; organization of behavior; self regulation; development, refinement, and mastery of postural and motor skills; bilateral motor patterns; fine motor skills; articulation; praxis skills; arousal; modulation; motor execution; and auditory, visual, and vestibular integration.

Communication changes consistent with the use of TL include: spontaneous vocalizations, longer sentences or word utterances, increased timing of verbal and social expressions, improved turn-taking skills, heightened emotional awareness, and changes in vocal intonation. Discrimination of dimensionality, directionality, or spatial concepts (such as high/low/big/small) is frequently seen in participants.

Integrated listening programs can be carried out at home, school or in a clinic with ongoing support from a therapist who is trained in their use. A typical program may be in place for two to six months for initial gains. However, many individuals continue past this time frame or find several of the compact discs useful as part of an ongoing sensory diet.

Just as each child is unique, their challenges with food also vary greatly from one to the next. Feeding issues can include inadequate intake, food refusal, being selective about the type or texture of food, expelling or packing/pocketing food, and dependence on a G-tube. Research indicates that feeding issues in children can have many causes, including behavioral, sensory, and oral motor factors.

Areas of concern often addressed by pediatric occupational therapists include:

ORAL DESENSITATION FOR FEEDING & MOUTH ACTIVITIES: These include general assessment and treatment of a child’s sensory issues in relation to feeding and oral motor function techniques.  The activities include use of tactile & body sensory activities.  It is a slow, systematic approach to changing color, form, taste and textures of foods to enhance a child’s food repertoire.  Deep pressure touch protocol to the mouth is used to allow the child the ability to participate in more intense types of oral motor activities.

ORAL CRANIOSACRAL THERAPY: Craniosacral techniques to localize restrictions and restore normal motion to the bones of the face and mouth. A restriction is an impairment of normal physiological motion within the body. By normalizing motion of the structures of the mouth, children are able to integrate sensory motor and oral motor activities on a more aligned structural base.

TALK TOOLS®: Sara Rosenfeld-Johnson, SLP of Tucson, Arizona, has developed tools for improving oral strength (lips, tongue and jaw), refining of tongue placement required for articulation, and enhancing breath support for adequate respiration, phonation and resonation, all required for speech skills. These “tools” come in the form of various horns and straws, each with a particular skill in mind to acquire. The program also uses functional and fun exercises. The tools and exercises are also recommended for home programs to ensure best results.

BECKMAN ORAL MOTOR INTERVENTION: Debra Beckman, SLP, Orlando, Florida has developed non-invasive quick muscle stretches and deep tissue releases for the face and mouth. These releases help to decrease frenulum tissue restrictions inhibiting range of movement of the lips, cheeks and tongue, take minutes to occur, and are completed with a comfortable light touch in the mouth. The quick muscle stretches are meant to facilitate muscle contraction and are followed by active exercises to gain strength and function. The stretches are given to the tiny muscles of the face and mouth, are also non-invasive and light in application. These techniques are used in home programs with instruction for best results.

Sensory integration is the brain’s ability to take in, process, and organize the information provided by all the sensations coming from within the body and from the external environment.   This is how we perceive our surroundings and the people and physical objects in it, how we relate our body to them, as well as how they relate to each other. Because our brain uses information about sights, sounds, textures, smells, tastes, and movement in an organized way, we assign meaning to our sensory experiences, and know how to respond accordingly.

For children with sensory integration dysfunction, their neurological system is unable to appropriately manage input from the senses, making it difficult to figure out what is going on inside and outside their bodies.  As a result, a child may avoid confusing or distressing sensations, or seek out more of the sensation to find out more about it. Because they cannot rely on their senses to give them an accurate picture of the world, they are unsure how to respond, and may have trouble learning and behaving appropriately.

Some indications of a possible sensory integration/processing disorder include:

OVERSENSITIVITY OR UNDERSENSITIVITY TO TOUCH: Avoids being touched, refuses to wear certain clothing, crashes into people/things, prefers hot bath water, high pain tolerance.

UNDERREACTIVE OR OVERREACTIVE TO MOVEMENT SENSATIONS: Seeks out movement like swinging, twirling, jumping, or is fearful of movement, avoids active games, gets dizzy very easily.

AUDITORY SENSITIVITY: Excessively strong or virtually no response to loud or unusual noises, unusually high or low voice volume, easily distracted around a lot of noise.

UNUSUALLY HIGH OR LOW ACTIVITY LEVEL: Constantly on the move or moves slowly and tires easily.

TASTE AND/OR SMELL SENSITIVITY: Is a “picky eater:”  limited repertoire of acceptable foods, difficulty tolerating various food textures, gags easily, craves spicy foods, offended by certain smells.

Sensory integration therapy looks like play. For example, you may see your child swinging (vestibular sense), pulling a rope to speed up the swing (proprioceptive sense), catching fidget toys (tactile sense), and throwing them in a bucket (visual sense), all while wearing a pair of headphones (auditory sense). The idea of SI therapy is to employ carefully selected therapeutic sensory experiences and physical interaction to enhance sensory integration in order to improve learning, behavior, and quality of life.