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Nature Adventures
A Focused Brain Pediatric Therapy Program
Welcome
We are excited you are interested in learning more about our nature-based therapy program. Before you decide if you want your child to participate, we believe it is important to communicate some of the things we will address in our sessions. When planning our nature-based sessions, our team of therapists use their vast occupational therapy toolboxes to develop treatment sessions that addresses multiple aspects of development, sensory integration, social skills, psychosocial well-being, age appropriate independence, executive functioning skills, and so much more, which we will continue to discuss here. more.
Executive Functioning
Refers to a set of skills that, in short, allow people to function in their everyday life. These skills allow us to plan, organize, control, respond to, and navigate each moment of each day. Some children who have difficulties with executive functioning may have a hard time organizing their schoolwork, beginning and ending a specific task, be impulsive, have difficulty with attention, struggle to give consistent amounts of effort, and various other things. Often, when a child has trouble with executive functioning, they may also have bouts of anxiety or difficulty managing their own emotions. To help, we as occupational therapists will provide strategies and activities to improve executive functioning skills.
Gross Motor Skills
Refer to the set of developmental skills that allow children to walk, run, jump, balance, build, and, simply, allow your child to be a child. When these skills do not develop, your child may have difficulty in sports, have frequent falls, seem uncoordinated, and more. During our nature-based sessions, we facilitate engagement in activities such as balancing on fallen trees, building tree forts, playing with giant bubble wands, and so much more to engage your child in play that helps to develop their gross motor skills.
Fine motor skills
Are performed utilizing the smaller muscle groups of the hands. These skills help
children dress and feed themselves, play appropriately with toys and peers, and contribute to the development of handwriting.
A child with poor fine motor skills may have difficulty fastening or buttoning clothing, have difficulty holding utensils, have poor handwriting, have a hard time turning pages of a book, or take longer to perform activities compared to peers their age. Our sessions in nature will engage children in activities such as breaking sticks to spell their name, creating stick boats, picking flowers, feeding chickens, and more!
Sensory Integration
Refers to the ability of the nervous system to process and respond to incoming
information from the environment as well as from one’s body. Sometimes, in what’s referred to as sensory processing difficulties or sensory processing disorder, a child may not be able to process incoming sensory information, which can lead to a dysregulated and inattentive child or a child who appears overactive, anxious, or have difficulty learning new things. Nature uniquely activates multiple senses and provides multiple avenues to improve sensory processing abilities. Some activities we do
include building mud faces, taking sensory walks, sound mapping, and much more.
Did you know?
The average American child is said to spend 4 - 7 minutes a day in unstructured play outdoors, and over 7 hours a day in front of a screen.
Along with addressing the above skills, we will also address any areas we deem necessary per the evaluation we perform. Within our evaluation, we assess fine motor skills, visual motor skills, gross motor coordination, executive function skills, social skills, and more.
Current research argues that children are not spending adequate time outdoors, which, globally, is leading to increased anxiety, decreased coordination and balance, increased visual motor deficits, decreased strength, and much more. Because of this, our team at A Focused Brain Pediatric Therapy is initiating more and more treatment sessions outdoors so that the children who come to us receive the very best quality of care. We believe, based on current research, that being in nature offers various benefits such as improved emotional and cognitive regulation, regulating and stimulating multi-sensory input, improved self-confidence, increased body awareness, and improved mindfulness. These benefits combine to help create a more regulated, confident, and capable child who can reach their full potential!
Emerging in God's Creation
Call today to get your child started in our nature adventure program!
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