Enhance Attention & Engagement with 6 Exercises to Combat Screen Fatigue

If you work with children, you’ve likely seen an increase in distracted and disorganized behaviors…especially when providing services via telehealth.

We all need different things throughout the day to increase energy to our brains. Research shows that kids’ developing brains need multisensory experiences with the world to build the foundations that enhance attachment and engagement…

…and that excessive screen time actually interferes with these processes. Screens stress the visual system, and information overload can put kids in a reactive rather than proactive mode.

Even if you only have a thirty-minute treatment session, there are simple exercises you can do that will improve a child’s availability and self-regulation. These six exercises from Aubrey Schmalle, OTR/L, SIPT help prime neurological pathways and strengthen connections in the brain…

So that kids can act intentionally and experience greater success.

In your next session, have your client follow along with these two movement sequences. Afterwards, ask them how each set of exercises made them feel – and what did they notice was different about each of them?








Want more on the growing impact of technology on learning and behavior?
Certification Course in Tech Addiction, Digital Health, and Distracted and Disorganized Kids in a Digital Generation
Average screen time per child has risen 2.5 hours per day in the last decade — while the rates of ADHD, depression, suicidality, and anxiety also continue to rise. Children have been cooped up indoors with screens for far too long. Now, in this completely self-paced course, we’ll show you how to help children with ADHD, autism, mental health disorders, and related issues find more opportunities for multi-sensory integration — increasing attention and enhancing brain development!
Aubrey Schmalle OTR/L, SIPT

Aubrey Schmalle, OTR/L, SIPT, Certified Tomatis Consultant is an occupational therapist, providing advanced clinical evaluation and intervention in the area of sensory integration andlearning. She graduated from Boston University in 2003 with a Bachelors in occupational therapy and continued to advance her clinical knowledge through self-study, mentorship, certification in sensory integration theory and practice, and certification in the Tomatis Method and Tomatis-based auditory interventions. In 2011, she opened a private occupational therapy clinic, providing comprehensive evaluation and treatment of sensory processing disorders and related disabilities such as autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dysgraphia, and executive function deficits. She possesses advanced knowledge in visual-vestibular integration treatment techniques, treatment of postural-ocular and functional visual skill deficits, and intervention to address sensorymotor-perceptual factors contributing to dyslexia and dysgraphia. She provides independent educational occupational therapy evaluations across Fairfield County, CT and consults with school teams to optimize school-based intervention strategies and treatment techniques.

In spring 2018, she presented a case study utilizing the Tomatis Method and sensory integrative occupational therapy at the Tomatis International Convention in Warsaw, Poland. In 2015, she authored The Body Activated Learning Handbook and continues to develop programming, educational supports, and trainings for educators and related service professionals based on the Body Activated Learning™ approach.

She presents to educators, therapists, and nurses on the impact of sensory processing on learning and development and helps them optimize classroom and treatment strategies to support a neurologically diverse generation using Body Activated LearningTM. Most recently, she presented at the Developmental Disabilities Nursing Association of CT on using Body Activated Learning to enhance programming and facilitate independence when working with adults with Autism and developmental disabilities.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Aubrey Schmalle is owner of Sensational Achievements, LLC. She receives book royalties as a published author. Aubrey Schmalle receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Aubrey Schmalle is a member of the American Occupational Therapy Association and the Connecticut Occupational Therapy Association.

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