Trampoline Therapy Program
Trampoline
Therapy
Program
Program Overview
Trampoline Therapy, also known as rebound therapy, has been used for some time by parents, teachers and sensory therapists. It is commonly used for children with Autism and other social, cognitive and developmental delays.
We understand that opening up your child’s mind to academic learning is most successful when we first pay attention and address the behavioral goals that sometimes get in the way of academic learning.
In researching this program we know commonly used electronic devices are provided to help non-typical learners control behavior and learn. This can also be a coping mechanism, that can lead to habits decreased activity levels, poor muscle development, and can lead to poor health habits and decreased overall mind-body wellness. It also decreases the time for natural social experiences. We want to decrease alone time and increase patterns of positive social experiences to create skill sets and tools to rely on as your child develops and grows.
We want your child equipped with a social tool kit that they can rely on in themselves. As a result, they can then reach out and explore new social situations outside of daily routines and familiar relationships.
We want your child to ultimately increase their social-emotional intelligence of those around them.
What also is shown to follow is poor muscle development, and can be a factor in overall health and weight issues. Getting our kids moving is the best way to help they be healthy, mind and body!
Program Specifications
The repetition of physical movements is well-known as a coping mechanism for kids with autism and other cognitive and developmental delays. Repetitive behaviors can create calm for your child.
- Environment
- Sensory friendly environment includes low strobes and lighting, lower audio volume, trained therapeutic staff and exclusive use of trampoline gym.
- Sensory Organization and Centering
- By increasing your child’s attentive skills, academic skill sets are enhanced through practice of sensory organization and centering techniques with this therapy.
- Calming Activity
- The repetitive motion of a trampoline can provide the self-stimulatory sensation needed and act as a substitute for other forms of repetitive movements and behaviors.
- Integrated Fun Exercise
- Trampoline therapy is more like play. It allows for integrated fun, entertainment and aerobic exercise in a public environment.
- Work off their energy in a non-threatening experience and move at their own pace.
- Individual Activity
- Your child can experience an individual activity performed in a group setting.
- Increase Body and Safety Awareness
- Through the repetitive stimulation of bouncing, and teaching muscles to control the direction of the bounce, your child will find the center of their body and learn to “steer” it, prompting righting reflexes.
- Different rocking, running in place, and bouncing exercises, which are part of rebounding therapy, deliver a repeated opportunity to adapt to shifts in the body’s center of mass and the support beneath. In an attempt to maintain balance, your child responds by reorienting, which forces increased body awareness through a focus on staying upright and safe.
- Children with autism and other social cognitive developmental delays can use trampoline activities like this to gain a better understanding of body mass, and proximity to others as well as objects. It is also a keen way to teach young people, about the laws of motion, including gravity, force, velocity, buoyancy, and mass.
- Parallel Play
- The best part is parallel play. This allows your child to be adjacent to others but not trying to influence another’s behavior or visa versa. It allows physical activity alongside others without the stress of rules, competing, controlling play, and avoids direct contact with other individuals where behavioral issues can become dominant and not the activity at hand.
Program Goals
This program is designed to achieve the following goals with your child:
- Acquire new motor skills and increase current motor skills
- Improve coordination and reflex response
- Develop muscle strength and increase physical activity
- Promote stable posture and better balance
- Increase stamina and
- Increase social skills for inclusive experiences outside of school and therapy settings.
- Promote healthy mind by attending to physical exercise.
- Increase their social emotional awareness of themselves.
- Increase their attentive skills and environmental emotional social awareness as they observe others around them.
- Final goal is an inclusive social experience with other students who are not special needs. Create an inclusive experience, rely on their skill set, and create confidence that they can then increase their mindset to take on new social behavioral challenges and experiences in the community, with their families, with their friends, and with strangers.
Conclusion
A healthy movement of body creates a healthier mind!
Addressing behavioral issues through therapeutic exercise and play is the gateway to opening the mind to learn! When we pay attention to behaviors and meet those needs, we learn more academically! Academic knowledge is imperative to the overall development and successful life of your child. We are in this together!
