We are very proud to announce the addition of our two newest
AutismSpot/SensorySpot bloggers: Occupational therapists, Kera McHale and Dana Rooney! Both work at The Arc of Chester County in West Chester, Pennsylvania.
In their very first post, Kera and Dana review the product,
Therflex, a type of therapeutic putty sold by Achievement Products!
Enjoy!
Product Name: Theraflex (Therapeutic Putty)
Price: 24.95$ + Shipping (1 ib., comes in various colors)
Recommended Age: 3 years and up
Company Name: Achievement Products
Company Website: www.achievement-products.com
Company Phone Number: 1-800-373-4699
Product Overview: "Our premium quality putty is great for sensory input and tactile play. Also excellent for finger strengthening and hand exercise. Children love to experiment with the putty and hide small toys in the putty. Lots of exploration possibilities and sensory therapy."
- Color-coding indicates the varying resistances of the putty
- Yellow - Soft
- Red - Medium
- Green - Firm
- Blue - Extra-Firm
- Available in a 2 oz. container and 1 lb. containers
- Latex and gluten free
Product Review: Theraflex is a type of theraputty created by Achievement Products. It comes in four different colors based on different consistencies. The yellow is the soft, the red is the medium, the green is the firm and the blue is the extra firm. Each color is appropriate for various children based on their level of hand strength. Theraputty is one of the best products to use to increase hand strength due to the resistance of the putty. The stronger the resistance the more hand strength is required to manipulate the putty.
Overall, Theraflex demonstrated a firm consistency with each color and didn’t melt in your hand when manipulated for several minutes. The other positive piece is that it didn’t stick on clothes and was easy to remove from the carpet.
The following are various activities that you can use with the theraputty, and what areas it assists with as far as strengthening and fine motor skills:
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Activity
|
Area of Strength
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Skills
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Finding small items in putty
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Fingers
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Dexterity, Finger Isolation
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|
Pulling apart
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Hand and upper body
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Bilateral coordination
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Cutting the putty w/ scissors
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Hand
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Scissor
Bilateral Coordination
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Squeezing in hand
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Hand
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Grasp
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Make shapes or letters
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Finger and hand
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Shape and letter formation
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Rolling into a snake
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Upper body and Hand
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In hand manipulation
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Kera McHale: Kera is a Ceritified Occupational Therapy Assistant at the Arc of Chester County. She has worked with children in the home program and the Early Intervention preschool for 8 years. She works closely with Dana in the two Autism rooms with incorporating sensory input/activities throughout the day. She also works in two other classrooms with mulit-disabilities. Kera has also had the experience in an Outpatient Pediatric facility to work with a variety of children and provide sensory ideas/activities to parents and teachers to trial throughout the school day and home.
Dana Rooney: Dana is an Occupational Therapist at the Arc of Chester County. She has worked with children in the home program and the Early Intervention preschool for 14 years. She has a wealth of knowledge in Sensory Processing and had the opportunity to work with Jeanetta Burpee briefly in her Sensory Integration Clinic. She is a main treating therapist in two Autism classrooms and works on providing sensory input throughout the day to increase overall attention and participation.
Again, we are very excited to have Kera and Dana join our team here at SensorySpot and AutismSpot, and very much look forward to their future contributions!
Stay tuned!
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