Astronaut Training

Did you know that our occupational therapists are able to provide Astronaut Training?....and no we aren’t sending your children to space!

Astronaut Training is a sound activated vestibular-visual protocol to help children improve hand-eye coordination, balance, and awareness of the space around them. This fun protocol uses sound, movement, and visual input in combination to help the child feel more comfortable in the space that surrounds them.

How does it work?

An occupational therapist will use a swing and space sounds to provide the child with rotary (spinning) input to a sustained beat in various positions while the child’s eyes are closed. This combination of positions and movement to a beat helps elicit a reflexive eye movement. These reflexive eye movements then help support conscious eye movement control. After a set of rotary input is provided by the swing, there is a set of specifically directed eye movements that are completed. The Astronaut Training protocol helps to integrate the visual, vestibular, and auditory systems to help children function in a variety of everyday activities.

If your child presents with poor concentration, difficulty with attention, motion sickness, decreased coordination, or fear of motion, they might benefit from Astronaut Training. We encourage you to speak with one of our occupational therapists at Reach for Speech about our Astronaut Training Program!

Written by: Occupational Therapy Department