Sensory-Motor Bead Insertion Activity for Individuals with Developmental Disabilities

A parent gave me a large amount of extra medical tubing and I have found lots of uses! This activity works on eye-hand coordination, reaching above eye level and lots of great sensory movement. The individual in the video likes to move both high and low and across the room. He really does not like to sit. He has very good eye-hand coordination to insert small objects into the open end of the tubing and the cognitive skills not to eat them.
Materials required:
1) 2 small clear plastic bottles with screw caps
2) Tubing found in medical catalogs or hardware stores
3) Small, colorful beads, pegs or other items
4) Duct tape
Attach one end of the tubing permanently into a bottle top and duct tape in place. You may need to wedge the tubing into a hole you cut inside the cap to make it fit snuggly. Cut an opening into the other screw cap and wedge it onto the open end of the tubing. In the video, you can see the red cap near the top of the tubing where the clients are inserting the objects. When the client is finished inserting them:
1) Screw the empty bottle onto the red cap. Nowt each end of the blue tubing is wedged inside a cap and bottle.
2) Flip the bottles over so that the beads pour into the empty bottle.
3) Unscrew the filled bottle from the tubing
4) Pour the contents into a container so that they are ready to use
5) Optional: Place the container on the floor and/or across the room to require high/low sensory stimulation movement

This design makes it easy to remove the contents without having them splatter. Its neater and safer and actually fun to do. Clients have an opportunity to practice screwing and unscrewing caps to perform this activity. The client shown in the video enjoyed following my multi-step directions…..

Learn more about activity adaptations on my website and blog:
http://www.RecyclingOT.com
http://www.RecyclingOT.blogspot.com
http://www.FromFlappingtoFunction.com