Sensory Play in the Sun: Addressing Sensory Processing Challenges at OT Summer Camps

Sensory Processing Disorder

Overview: Delve into how these unique summer camps curate experience to help children with sensory processing difficulties engage, adapt, and enjoy.

Sensory Play in The Sun: Sensory Summer Adventures

Are you in search of a summer program that is sensory-friendly and staffed with knowledgeable professionals, providing your child with a nurturing environment to grow, enjoy themselves, and acquire new skills?

We have some exciting news to share! Triumph Therapeutics is thrilled to introduce our upcoming Sensory -Friendly Pediatric Summer Camps for the 2024 season.
The team at Triumph Therapeutics, located at 4900 Massachusetts Avenue in Spring Valley, Washington DC, offers Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, and Speech Therapy services to the Pediatric population in the DC, Maryland, and Northern Virginia area. Our skilled therapists offer therapeutic interventions aimed at fostering lifelong skills, enhancing growth, independence, and boosting confidence in everyday activities.

Why is the creation of a sensory-friendly camp so crucial?

Sensory challenges can affect all children, albeit to varying degrees. Certain diagnoses, such as autism, anxiety, sensory processing disorder, and ADHD can increase the likelihood of experiencing sensory challenges. These sensitivities can manifest in any of the eight different senses and may even occur in a combination of senses. For example, a child can be sensitive to both noise and light. At TriumphTherapeutics, we recognize the importance of striking a balance in addressing these varied factors to prevent sensory overload, all while helping the child comfortably develop tolerance to sensory stimuli around them.

Our camp is meticulously crafted with a distinctive environment, structure,and activity schedule,providing campers with essential tools for an enjoyable, sensory-friendly experience, along with a variety of entertaining activities to explore at their own pace and preference.

Exploring Sensory Processing and Its Impact on Childhood Development

Parents often wonder, “What exactly is sensory processing, and why does it play a crucial role in my child’s development? Sensory processing refers to how our nervous system takes in, organizes, and interprets sensory information from the environment. This information comes through our senses: sight, sound,touch, taste, smell, and even the sense of movement and body position (proprioception and vestibular senses), and interoception,the sensory system that enables your body to perceive and connect with the internal sensations within your body.

For children, effective sensory processing is like the building blocks of their development that affects how they interact with their environment, engage in activities, and achieve important milestones. When children engage with textures, manipulate objects, explore scents, and participate in whole body movement activities, they foster the development of Fine Motor Skills, Gross Motor Skills, Language abilities, self-confidence, and numerous other essential skills and qualities. 1 

Sensory challenges can significantly impede a child’s life by creating obstacles in their ability to engage in the world around them. These challenges might result in heightened sensory or aversion to certain stimuli, leading to discomfort and anxiety in routine activities like getting dressed or eating. Furthermore, difficulties in emotional regulation and social interaction can strain relationships and limit a child’s participation in various social settings. Academic performance may also suffer as attention and focus are affected. Addressing these challenges through interventions like pediatric occupational therapy can help children overcome these barriers and lead to more fulfilling lives. 2.

Elevating Sensory Development through Fun Camp Activities

From thrilling obstacle courses to engaging sensory bins, and simply good old-fashioned fun! Come join us for summer play designed just for kids! Campers will embark on a sensory-filled journey, complete with a wide array of structured, hands-on sensory based activities, creative adventures, exciting experiments, and much more! Our dedicated therapy team is passionately committed to providing innovative summer activities that nurture and elevate your child’s sensory development, tailored to their individual comfort level.

Camp Groups of focus will include:

• Sensory Social Hour: Our in-demand social skills group will continue into the summer with our Sensory Social Hour!  By blending enjoyable sensory experiences with child led activities, this social group provides an ideal setting for making friends and having a blast!
• Handwriting Sensory Exploration: Bringing together the joy of fine motor sensory activities with personalized Handwriting Without Tears materials, this enrichment group is crafted to enhance prewriting and handwriting skills during school breaks.
• Let’s Get Creative!: Fostering creativity by engaging in the process of painting, gluing, and crafting masterpieces! Our sensory-infused process art activities allow hands on messy play while exploring different art and craft mediums.
• Let’s Get Moving!: From creating challenging obstacle courses, to enjoying lively music and movement activities, to serene yoga sessions, our heavy work activities offer vital sensory input to the proprioceptive and vestibular systems, giving them an additional boost. These systems play a crucial role in maintaining balance, controlling movement, and enhancing spatial awareness of the body.
• Sensory Science: Come and be part of our enjoyable and interactive simple science experiment activities designed to stimulate the senses with a multi-sensory approach. Explore the wonders of the world through hands-on play and exciting discoveries.

Article Links:

1. Watling, Renee, PHD,O.T.R./L., F.A.O.T.A., & Clark, Gloria Frolek, PHD, OTR/L,B.C.P., F.A.O.T.A. (2011). Using sensory integration and sensory-based occupational therapy interventions across pediatric practice settings. OT Practice, 16(17), CE1-CE8. Retrieved from https://www.proquest.com/trade-journals/using-sensory-integration-based-occupational/docview/897889839/se-2
2. .https://research.aota.org/ajot/article/66/5/586/5702/Sensory-Processing-Problem-Behavior-Adaptive?searchresult=1