~Friday Favourites~ week 2

Its been a busy week here.  My youngest son has been unwell with a virus which means his Epilepsy acts up and we are on constant seizure watch until the virus passes.

It has given me time to review a few things. Next week the older 2 will be back at school and I hope to get up to the sensory room and have it ready for use.  While sitting on the sofa with a sick little boy cuddled up (who is allergic to the laptop being anywhere near me) I've been reading over a book that I call my bible.  It is 'Sensory Circuits' by Jane Horwood.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sensory-Circuits-Skills-Programme-Children/dp/1855034719/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1357327068&sr=8-1

If you are new to Sensory Processing Disorder  and Dyspraxia I would recommend have a few blocks of OT first so that you can advised on which strands of OT in particular need to be covered with your child.  Once youknow these this book is great for ideas on new exercises and activities to vary it up a bit at home.  The book is directed towards school based providers and OT's but my OT advised I got it and  I love it. I'm currently using it to write a new plan for my children at the moment.




 My second Friday Favourite is our Fatboy Bean bag.

This is a huge bean bag that is extremely versatile and you can shape it to the way you prefer to sit on it.  We use ours in our sensory circuit for Commando Crawling across it or to sink into at the end of the circuit and turn on some nice lighting and relaxing music for 5/10 mins at the end of the circuit.  They aren't cheap, at about €200 for the adult/standard size which we have but are available in smaller sizes if you are stuck for space (although I believe there is currently €20 off some models at the moment at www.fatboybeanbags.ie) However we got ours 4.5 years ago at the Big into baby show for €99 and it has really been put through it's paces and still as good as the day we bought it.  I've also seen these for sale on some second hand websites which might be worth a look as they really do withstand a lot and very easy to wipe clean if there are any spillages!

If I had the spare cash I would buy one of their hammocks, they look dreamy!