New cartoon to help develop children's motor skills
Katy Morton
Friday, March 9, 2012
Occupational therapists from the Dyspraxia Foundation have worked with children's TV channel CBeebies to create a new animation designed to help children get moving.
The animation, Tree Fu Tom is the first TV series that aims to assist and enhance the development of strength and movement skills in children aged four- to six-years-old, including those who have movement disorders and difficulties such as Dyspraxia.
Occupational therapists Dr Lynda Foulder-Hughes and Sally Payne, who volunteer at the Dyspraxia Foundation, worked with the CBeebies production team to design movement sequences for when the main character Tom casts magic spells.
The movement sequences were created using evidence-based exercises and techniques commonly used in occupational therapy practice that children are encouraged to copy, repeat and practice.
Linda Foulder-Hughes said, ‘All the spells in Tree Fu Tom involve an element of repetition, because we know children with dyspraxia and developmental co-ordination disorders (DCD) don’t process motor and sensory information in the same sort of way that typically developing children would.
‘Often the short-term memory is quite poor but the long-term memory, once the information is acquired, tends to be very good. Children with dyspraxia and DCD need far more exposure to practice and repetition.’
Sally Payne said, ‘It’s not just animation, its children’s animation with a purpose, and hopefully it’ll make a difference.
‘Anything that helps raise awareness of developmental co-ordination disorders (DCD) is a good thing because compared to other developmental condition, DVD and dyspraxia have a much lower profile, and we know there are lots of young people out there who aren’t getting the help they need.’
Tree Fu Tom follows a young boy called Tom and his adventures in the enchanted kingdom of Treetopolis.
The programme is shown daily on the CBeebies channel at 5.25pm.
Occupational therapists Dr Lynda Foulder-Hughes and Sally Payne, who volunteer at the Dyspraxia Foundation, worked with the CBeebies production team to design movement sequences for when the main character Tom casts magic spells.
The movement sequences were created using evidence-based exercises and techniques commonly used in occupational therapy practice that children are encouraged to copy, repeat and practice.
Linda Foulder-Hughes said, ‘All the spells in Tree Fu Tom involve an element of repetition, because we know children with dyspraxia and developmental co-ordination disorders (DCD) don’t process motor and sensory information in the same sort of way that typically developing children would.
‘Often the short-term memory is quite poor but the long-term memory, once the information is acquired, tends to be very good. Children with dyspraxia and DCD need far more exposure to practice and repetition.’
Sally Payne said, ‘It’s not just animation, its children’s animation with a purpose, and hopefully it’ll make a difference.
‘Anything that helps raise awareness of developmental co-ordination disorders (DCD) is a good thing because compared to other developmental condition, DVD and dyspraxia have a much lower profile, and we know there are lots of young people out there who aren’t getting the help they need.’
Tree Fu Tom follows a young boy called Tom and his adventures in the enchanted kingdom of Treetopolis.
The programme is shown daily on the CBeebies channel at 5.25pm.
