Our therapists suggested several things to provide him sensory input, the first thing we used was a therapy ball, it was a medium size ball and we still use this ball to rock him back and forth and also side to side. During the initial days she cried a lot when we put him on his tummy on the ball, but nowadays he has learnt to lift and in a small way balance his head when placed on the ball on his tummy. He actually enjoys rocking on the ball.
The second thing we started was a simple brush when he was around 15 months old. And till today I still use a therapy brush to brush his legs, arms and back after his bath. He reacts well to the brush, his body immediately tightens, he tries to pull his arms and legs closer to him and he even opens his mouth wide.
The next thing we tried was a small massager, the kind of thing you can get for say less than $10. We still use it, but my son does not show much of a reaction to it like I expect him to show signs of liking the mild pressure of the massager or he shows signs of discomfort but every time the reaction is varied and really does not come out clear.
We then moved to using rice and beans. I filled a large bowl with uncooked rice and some beans, we help Sripathi place both his feet in the bowl of rice and beans and move his feet around and press down on the rice, and also we pick up a hand full of rice and pour them over his feet. Again these kinds of tactile inputs are easier on him on some days. But there will be days he does not want anything to do with tactile objects. I will fuss and want his feet out of the rice as quickly as possible. I learnt that this is a characteristic of children with CVI. There will be days they cannot perform their usual and so we take it easy and give him a break or do something that he likes like reading a book.
I guess every child enjoys this vestibular activity, "The Swing". We live in an apartment so we don't have the privilege to hook up a swing to the ceiling so instead we went out and bought an exercise bar, I think from Wal-Mart. Since we don't carry many tools in our house we called the maintenance guys from the apartment community to help up nail the exercise bar between the door way to one of our bedrooms. We hung the Swing, a common little tikes swing from Babies-r-us on the bar. It worked out well and sripathi likes it. The swing as such provides sufficient sensory input, in addition to it my OT had suggested to ripe one layer off from a cardboard box and try to have Sripathi feel the corrugated side of the box. This is a very cheap and effective sensory tool. What we try to do is hold up the corrugated side of the board at the height were his foot can reach when he is swinging. So he will get to rub his feet over the corrugations as his swings back and forth. As this is again a very tactile activity we give him a break and stop using the board when he fusses.
Later my Speech Therapist provided Sripathi with a massager that looked like a purple Bat. We use this over his cheeks and throat to provide oral motor therapy. He likes it and relaxes to the soothing wings of the vibrating bat over his cheeks.We also bought him a spin brush. With this brush we can say that his cooperation to brushing his teeth has increased by 10%. Apart from these we sometimes use a vibrating pillow while placing him on his tummy.
A recent addition to Sripathi's toy chest is the tactile ball, although I had this ball we never really played with it because sripathi did not like the feel of it. Later I received this link from wonder baby website. They have a wonderful video on how to play with the tactile ball and ever since we saw this video I play the pull - n - snap - way with Sripathi and he seems to tolerate the feel of the ball and even tends to look at it. Please visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY9g7l43LJ8&list=UUWOZFOIF4IGqCbfFXhmLKbA&index=1&feature=plcp
We can play basketball! I just bought this small basket and soft ball from party city for probably 50 cents each. We sit in front of the mirror and I use hand over hand method to help Sripathi hold the ball, then placing the basket right in front of us I tell him "let’s put the ball in the basket" and then we throw the ball in the basket. I should say that the yellow basket in the black background (We had black towels, but you can simply use black trash bag)must be appealing that sripathi did give a good look a couple of times.
