Research
CoordiKids Programs
CoordiKids strives to provide excellent options to members and to provide sound advice to members and the general public. Our vision and mission are supportive of the best possible guidance, care and support to children and their families.
Occupational Therapy Australia, the peak body representing Occupational Therapy in Australia, has released its new Evidence Based Practice Position Paper and the new Competency Standards of Occupational Therapy in Australia (Connections, February, 2019). CoordiKids programs meet these expectations.
Evidence of practice: (refer to The Importance of Connecting with the Evidence for Practice, Anita Volkert, OTA National Manager: Professional Practice and Development)
1. Occupational therapists will offer evidence-based practice and integrate the best available research evidence with clinical expertise, client preference and the practice content.
- CoordiKids, specifically Marga Grey, study, research and read extensively on the latest research from resources on occupational therapy, neuro-science, mental health, psychology and physiology. Marga has attended numerous courses, webinars, workshops and clinical study materials regularly over the last 40 + years. She is keen to attend multi-disciplinary meetings, case conferences and courses to expand her knowledge over many different areas and to integrate this with her clinical expertise and practice content. She has always exceeded the necessary annual professional development hours by far.
2.Occupational Therapists will use their clinical reasoning to integrate information from a range of sources to inform decision making practice.
- CoordiKids spent many hours on relating the latest research to the exercises and programs offered by CoordiKids to not only improve the outcome of the users of our programs, but also to address client preferences – in this case, parents and children who are experiencing challenges to meet therapy, time and financial burdens.
3.Occupational Therapists use the evidence base to set measurable goals and outcomes, and feed back to clients and significant others the effectiveness of the work done.
- CoordiKids provides video recorded exercises to enable parents and others to measure the child’s successful participation in a specific exercise. CoordiKids state that our programs cannot replace therapy but will complement and support therapy. The therapist can use standard measuring tools to identify progress and outcomes.
- CoordiKids provides free and paid options to obtain the necessary support and guidance to set goals, to measure and to ensure optimal positive outcomes. Regular contact with clients through social media (support group), online consultations, phone conversations and e-mails ensure feedback and feedforward options.
- CoordiKids presents webinars, develops and shares information on social media, blogs and regular news letters to provide education options to the public, our members, and associates.
- CoordiKids uses an extensive training program to ensure that CoordiKids Providers are equipped to present CoordiKids programs, to observe clients and to refer clients when necessary for additional and/or intensive intervention.
4.Occupational Therapists should undertake reflection in and on their practice and seek clarification and advice where necessary.
- CoordiKids is involved in peer groups, multi-disciplinary groups and mentoring to use the opportunities for reflection, for clarification through extensive discussions and to receive advice through mentor-mentee sessions.
Anita Volkert states: ‘ It’s interesting that there is an increasing amount of evidence that tells us that not just reading, but also discussing the research evidence we might all read in solitary, will help increase or understanding, and our ability to apply it in practice.’
Throughout her professional career, Marga Grey was involved in creating, supporting and attending interest and support groups for occupational therapists, multi-disciplinary teams, including medical, educational and family law.
CoordiKids strives to learn, to connect and to be exceptional in any way that will provide the skills, knowledge and expertise to enhance the outcome of our members.
New Competency Standards: (refer to New Competency Standards: What You Need to Know by Ms Julie Brayshaw, Chair, Occupational Board of Australia)
The Competency Standards outline professional behaviours that, as an occupational therapist, you should demonstrate to practice safely and ethically. The competency standards focus on four conceptual areas of occupational therapy practice:
1. Professionalism: Occupational therapists should practice in an ethical, safe, lawful and accountable manner, supporting client health and wellbeing through occupation and consideration of the person and their environment.
- CoordiKids keeps professional expectations high by ensuring all practitioners and providers comply by the expectations regarding business, working with children and safety of the professional boards and registration bodies in their respective countries.
- CoordiKids encourage members, practitioners and providers to keep record of participation, to measure outcomes, to reflect and to discuss member participation, member concerns and to give regular feedback to members and to CoordiKids management.
2.Knowledge and Learning: Occupational therapists’ knowledge, skills and behaviours in practice are informed by relevant and contemporary theory, practice knowledge and evidence, and are maintained and developed by ongoing professional development and learning.
- CoordiKids encourage and expect all practitioners and providers to continue with education through meetings, webinars, and support. All practitioners are expected to exceed the expected professional development hours expected by their respective countries and professional boards. Professional development is undertaken on topics directly related to CoordiKids Programs but also indirectly to ensure a rich and extensive knowledge base to use when supporting members.
3.Occupational therapy process and practice: Occupational therapists’ practice acknowledges the relationship between health, wellbeing and human occupation, and their practice is client-centred for individuals, groups, communities and populations.
- CoordiKids supports therapy sessions and other interventions to ensure the best intervention options are recommended for a client. CoordiKids regularly refer clients to local therapists and other support, e.g. tutors, in their local area to expand on the options for a specific client.
- CoordiKids processes reports from providers and practitioners on each client and each session attended. Recommendations are made, and additional interventions are prescribed when necessary.
- CoordiConsult provides online consultations to relate observations by parents and providers to health, wellbeing and human occupation. Recommendations are made accordingly to tailor and programs and intervention to individual needs.
- CoordiKids uses generic programs, however, it is individualised by the intervention of providers, practitioners and online consultations. A closed member group on social media provide easy and direct contact and support opportunities to all members.
4.Communication: Occupational therapists practise with open, responsive and appropriate communication to maximise the occupational performance and engagement of clients and relevant others.
- CoordiKids uses newsletters, blogs, webinars, social media, e-mail, online and phone consultations to communicate with members, providers, practitioners and support staff.
- CoordiKids’ providers and practitioners keep records on a safe but common platform, shared by all providers and practitioners to ensure transparency, to encourage peer support options and to have optimal communication options in the CoordiKids team and to CoordiKids members.
CoordiKids follows the principles of evidence-based practice.CoordiKids meets the new competency standards of Occupational Therapy Australia.
The Brain as a Growing and Changing Organ
The lovely new buzz words are “brain development”, “plasticity of the brain”, “train your brain” and many more. We, at CoordiKids, love these words because it addresses an issue that we have believed in for many decades.
We believe that the brain is a growing and changing organ, and the growth, changes and improved abilities of the brain has a lot to do with the environment where we are living in.
It has to do with our bodies and how we use our bodies (level of activity), what we put in our bodies (nutrition) and with our emotional state of mind (optimistic or pessimistic).
In children we see major changes happening in occupational therapy – the therapy focuses on specific movements, exercises and activities and the outcome is not only improved coordination, balance and handwriting but also emotional maturity, improved self-confidence, improved concentration and many more.
New research indicates how important physical activity is for the development of the whole child. However, if a child has major or minor problems with aspects of physical activity, they avoid these activities and the skills cannot develop as expected.
Through a well-designed program such as CoordiKids, the child develops the skills needed according to the natural developmental stages. This ensures that the child experiences success, builds positive self-confidence and the child is not exposed to activities that is too advanced – leaving the child with feelings of failure.
CoordiKids programs are video recorded activities and exercises to make it easy for children to follow and for the adult to check that the child does it correctly. Visual images and video recordings are powerful tools for learning.
CoordiKids is involved in research of our unique programs. The first pilot study will commence soon. We are excited to proof that these programs were not only proven over many decades in therapy but that it is relevant to use at home and in the classroom.
The following recent research articles were published on the importance of physical activity:
Improved reading and mathematical skills when kids participate in physical activity during the school day(Haapala, Eero A., et al. 2014. PLOS ONE ”Associations of Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior with Academic Skills – A Follow-Up Study among Primary School Children.”
If a young child has difficulty with rhythmic timing, this may hinder the development of their phonological awareness and reading ability.The journal of Neuroscience, 2013
Evidence I showing that there is a direct correlation between rhythm and brain function.Examiner.com of mice and brains: how rhythm affects brain function, Sept 2014
The brain is able to learn new skills just by watching an activity take place.American Academy of Neurology (AAN) 2014 “Can you boost Your Brain Power Through Video?” (Conference reference)
Action (or movement) and goal-directed behaviour are inherent in the concepts and definitions of cognition and Executive FunctioningFrom Movement to Thought: Executive Function, Embodied Cognition and the Cerebellum. Koziol, Budding, Chidekel (Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011)
Limited recent studies are available about the effectiveness of learning sensory motor skills by following video recordings.
Many studies are available to demonstrate the difficulties that a child with coordination issues or other physical activity problems experiences in everyday life, including participation in sport, concentration, self-esteem.
References Used in Blogs, Social Media & Email Marketing
Center for Disease Control: Statistics on ADHD
https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/ Anxiety in the Classroom. The Child Mind Institute https://childmind.org/article/classroom-anxiety-in-children/
Sensory & Motor Skills
Understanding Motor Skills in Children with Dyspraxia, ADHD, Autism, and Other Learning Disabilities. Lisa A. Kurtz 2008.
The Effects of Sensorimotor-Based Intervention Versus Therapeutic Practice on Improving Handwriting Performance in 6- to 11-Year-Old Children. Peggy L. Denton, Steven Cope, Christine Moser.
Damasio, A. R., Grabowski, T. J., Bechara, A., Damasio, H., Ponto, L. L. B., Parvizi, J., et al. (2000).
“Origins and Early Development of Perception, Action and Representation,” Annual Review of Psychology, Vol. 47, 431–59.
Bhanpuri, N., Okamura, A., & Bastian, A. (2013).
Predictive Modeling by the cerebellum improves proprioception. Journal of Neuroscience. 33, 14301-14306.
Bosco G., & Poppele RE. (2001).
Proprioception from a spinocerebellar perspective. Physiol Rev 81, 539–568
Carruthers G. (2008).
Types of body representation and the sense of embodiment. Conscious Cogn, 17, 1302–1316
Corradi-Dell’Acqua C, Tomasino B, & Fink GR. (2009).
What is the position of an arm relative to the body? Neural correlates of body schema and body structural description. J Neurosci, 29, 4162–4171
Dijkerman HC, de Haan EH. (2007).
Somatosensory processes subserving perception and action. Behav Brain Sci 30, 189–201
Emotional Regulation
The Feeling of What Happens : Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness. New York, NY: Harcourt Brace.
Shafir, Tal Front. Psychol., 23 September 2016
Bertenthal, B. I. 1996.
Subcortical and cortical brain activity during the feeling of self-generated emotions. Nat. Neurosci. 3, 1049–1056. doi: 10.1038/79871
Damasio, A. R. (1999).
“Understanding the links between vestibular and limbic systems regulating emotions.” , Archana Rajagopalan, K. V. Jinu, Kumar Sai Sailesh, Soumya Mishra, Udaya Kumar Reddy, and Joseph Kurien Mukkadan
Routines
Child Routines and Parental Adjustment as Correlates of Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms in Children Diagnosed with ADHD. Abbey Harris, Laura Stoppelbein, Leilani Greening, Stephen Becker, Aaron Luebbe, and Paula Fite. Child
Psychiatry & Human Development, 2014.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10578-013-0396-4
Reducing Bedtime Tantrums: comparison between positive routines and graduated extinction.
Adams LA, Rickert VI. Pediatrics, 1989.
Bringing Up Bebe, Pamela Druckerman. Penguin Publishers, 2012.
Mindfulness
The Mindfulness‐enhanced Strengthening Families Program: Integrating brief mindfulness activities and parent training within an evidence‐based prevention program. J. Douglas Coatsworth et al. August 2014
Are Mindful Students Less Likely to Bully? by Tara Hornich-Lisciandro published in the National Education Association.
Impact of mindfulness meditation intervention on academic performance, Jian Wei Lin& Li Jung Mai,. , September 2016.
Meditation
Impact of mindfulness meditation intervention on academic performance, Jian Wei Lin& Li Jung Mai,. , September 2016.
Academics & Learning Styles
Mikkel M. Beck, Rune R. Lind, Svend S. Geertsen, Christian Ritz, Jesper Lundbye-Jensen, Jacob Wienecke. Motor-Enriched Learning Activities Can Improve Mathematical Performance in Preadolescent Children. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2016.
Mavilidi, MF., Okely, A.D., Chandler, P. et al. Educ Psychol Rev (2015) 27: 413. doi:10.1007/s10648-015-9337-z
Learning Letters With the Whole Body: Visuomotor Versus Visual Teaching in Kindergarten Article in Perceptual and Motor Skills · November 2017 Bara, Florence and Bonneton-Botte, Nathalie.
American National Center for Education Statistics ( https://nces.ed.gov/ )
“Off-task behavior in elementary school children” Karrie E Godwin, Ma V. Almeda, Howard Seltman, Shimin Kai, Mandi D Skerbetz, Ryan S Baker, Anna V Fisher. ELSEVIER, August 2016.
“Using Positive Student Engagement to Increase Student Achievement” The Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement, April 2007.
Auditory Processing Disorders
Auditory Processing Assessment in Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: An Open Study Examining Methylphenidate Effects
Bianca Pinheiro Lanzetta-Valdo,1
Giselle Alves de Oliveira,2
Jane Tagarro Correa Ferreira,2 and
Ester Miyuki Nakamura Palacios
Int Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2017 Jan; 21(1): 72–78.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5205523/
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Picky Eating
DeCosta, P., Moller, P., Frost, M. B., & Olsen, A. (2017). Changing children’s eating behaviour – A review of experimental research. Appetite, 113, 327-357. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2017.03.004
National Health Research Council, Healthy eating for children. Retrieved from https://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/sites/default/files/content/The%20Guidelines/n55f_children_brochure.pdf
Scaglioni, S., De Cosmi, V., Ciappolino, V., Parazzini, F., Brambilla, P., & Agostoni, C. (2018). Factors Influencing Children’s Eating Behaviours. Nutrients, 10, 706. doi:10.3390/nu10060706
Yee, A. Z. H., Lwin, M. O., & Ho, S. S. (2017). The influence of parental practices on child promotive and preventive food consumption behaviors: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity, 14(1), 47. doi:10.1186/s12966-017-0501-3.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S019566631830446X
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002822303014925
SOS Feeding Approach techniques Copyright 1998/2010 Kay A. Toomey, Ph.D
LEGO Therapy
Building Better Motor Skills Habits with LEGO Therapy
LEGO Therapy Introduction: https://buildingskillsorg.wordpress.com/
Overview of LEGO Therapy: https://raisingchildren.net.au/autism/therapies-guide/lego-therapy
LEGO in the Office: https://www.plays-in-business.com/portfolio-items/lego-serious-play-workshop/