Article Link: http://stage.exchangepress.com/article/catching-p/5008425/
Nothing was identifiably wrong with Ricky. His teachers thought he was just a little slow-moving. True, he never had much to say, never learned how to sling on his coat, and never let his feet leave the ground. As the music and movement teacher, I wondered why he played the triangle so lackadaisically, and why his movements seemed disorganized and purposeless. But he didn't have a problem. One teacher summed him up: "Ricky just isn't going to set the world on fire."After two years at St. Columba's Nursery School, in Washington, DC, this young little boy moved on to full-day kindergarten at a private elementary school.
In mid-October, Karen Strimple, director of St. Columba's, heard from the head of Ricky's new school. "Ricky is not adjusting easily to kindergarten. He has trouble with transitions, his motor skills are weak, and he can barely make it through the day. Didn't you recognize that he might have sensory integration dysfunction? Why didn't you suggest occupational therapy? How did his problems slip by you?"
Karen was stumped by these questions. What was sensory integration dysfunction? How did occupational therapy apply to a healthy ...