There are an increasing number of children who are bright and athletic, but face difficulty with organization of their behavior and attention as well as their belongings, time and thoughts. There appear to be no learning disabilities, however, the child is frustrated in school trying to remember where things are, getting assignments completed in class, staying focused on homework, writing their thoughts on paper, and a resulting frustration tolerance. Writing book reports and organizing thoughts on paper has been particularly difficult for these children. When able to verbally provide information they are quite successful, however, when a pencil is in their hand, they seem to shut down. The child may seem to be easily distracted, unable to maintain focus on a task as it is too frustrating. Social skills and ability to comfortably participate in sports or leisure activities may also be impacted, such as not being able to predict or organize themselves in space.
Treatment is based on developing an understanding of the child’s processing strengths and weaknesses as related to internal organization. The vestibular system, our sense of movement as related to gravity, is the foundation of our balance, muscle tone, and body awareness, and also our development of internal organization for time and space. As a child is better able to process movement input, organizational tasks are presented and the development of strategies for organization emerges.
