Storm the Castle Walls! Schreiber Pediatric Rehab Center Celebrates National Sensory Awareness Month with Medieval Programming

(LANCASTER, Pa.) – October has been declared National Sensory Awareness Month by the American Occupational Therapists Association in hopes of raising awareness about Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) and Schreiber Pediatric Rehab Center is hosting a unique two week event, October 18-29, in an effort to educate our local community. This year’s theme, Medeival Times, is inspired by the 2010 Rubber Duckie Raceâ„¢ & Festival Duckie Dress Up theme and focuses on buttoning. The Schreiber Occupational Therapy staff will be creating an authentic feudal castle that will help children recognize sensory information and learn to interpret and respond to their environment.

The adventure begins in the Multipurpose Room of Schreiber Pediatric Rehab Center where children will walk the draw bridge over the moat and into the grand hall decorated with banners and stone walls. Once inside the castle, they will participate in feats designed specifically to stimulate their five senses: sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch. Stations will include a jousting obstacle course, coloring stained glass windows, creating armor, crowns, and sock-horse puppets out of recycled materials, tasting a royal feast, practicing calligraphy, playing dress-up with button-up corsets, gowns and robes, listening to lutes and other medieval instruments and identifying textures like chainmail, feathers and fur.

The program is made possible through generous donations from the Schreiber staff and will be constructed with the help of the Hempfield Knights Soccer Team on Saturday, October 16. Medieval Times will be open to Schreiber clients and their families during normal business hours, 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday. For more information, please contact Angie Rice, Director of Occupational Therapy at Schreiber Pediatric, at 717-393-0425 ext.117 or arice@schreiberpediatric.org.

Children who attend Schreiber Pediatric for SPD are referred to an occupational therapist who creates a sensory profile that demonstrates how the child is interpreting his/her senses. Therapy helps the child to manage his/her responses to sensations and to react in a typical manner. For more information on Schreiber Pediatric, please visit our web site at www.schreiberpediatric.org or call 717-393-0425.

Schreiber Pediatric Rehab Center is a not-for-profit organization that provides family-centered education and therapy programs for infants, children and adolescents with disabilities and developmental delays. Our goal-oriented approach maximizes each child’s ability to function as independently as possible within the community.