Choosing a safety helmet
Let’s compare two of our favorite safety helmets.
Our son suffers from poor balance and coordination due to gross motor delay and poor awareness of his surroundings. This leads to constant falls, alerting his care team to the need for a safety helmet. In this review, I share our experience with our two favorite helmets. I hope it narrows down your search, saves costs and shortens time spent looking for safety headgear.
The Danmar Helmet.
Danmar is trusted by professionals and prides themselves on quality products for extraordinary needs. They market helmets as being light, ventilated, and shock absorbent. They offer a range from minimal-complete coverage and can be modified to fit the unique needs of the wearer - from different buckle locations that make it more difficult to remove, extended padding, visors, eyeglass relief, poneytail cutouts, rear extensions, and more. They offer personalized support teams to help find what’s just right for your needs.
What we liked:
✅ Extra shock absorbent indeed
✅ Very lightweight
✅ Easy to clean
What we didn’t like:
🚨Despite taking measurements, the helmet sill shifted on the head quite often. This helmet doesn’t breathe that well, easily getting hot.
🚨We purchased a helmet with eyeglass relief due to getting glasses soon - but it leaves a large area of the head exposed. At $300 for our customized helmet, it’s expensive to reorder with the changes implemented that are needed.
The Danmar Helmet (Pictured)
The Surlim Rugby Hat.
Surlim’s Soft Shell Rugby Hat is marketed for sports. It is made of polyester and high density foam. Due to being designed for sports, it has multiple air vents to discharge head and moisture. This was provided to us by our ABA therapist.
What we liked:
✅ The material and ventilation make wearing the lightweight helmet extra comfortable.
✅ The back of the helmet laces up which allows you to adjust the fit.
✅ At $26, this is extremely affordable and can be replaced as often as needed.
What we didn’t like:
🚨 The helmet is only available in 3 sizes.
🚨 It cannot be customized.
🚨 There is not much information available about the brand or how the product is made.
The Surlim Rugby Hat (Pictured)
The Verdict.
Our son has sensory issues and gets quite upset by anything touching his head. We were concerned that a helmet may never work for him (despite the need due to preventing injury and damage). Although he was reluctant to wear both helmets, after weeks of my husband, therapists and I wearing the helmets around our son, noting how “cool” the helmets are - little by little, our son began to adjust and accept them without much notice. We started wearing it for short periods of time, working our way up to wearing it for longer durations. It is important to remove the helmet if the wearer expresses discomfort. This is crucial to the wearer establishing trust, feeling comfortable wearing the headgear, and having it become a part of their routine. The answer to which helmet was better was quite apparent. The Surlim Rugby Hat beat the renowned Danmar helmet by a long shot. Our son really shows favoritism to the slim fit offered by the rugby hat, and the fact that the Danmar shifts around his head seems to bug him. At $26, this is a steal!
Perhaps the choice would be different if we were able to reorder the Danmar helmet with a better fit and more padding.
Motivating with Gel Clings
Let's talk gross motor!
Let's talk gross motor. It can be difficult to motivate your child to: sit for increasing periods of time, gain the strength to move from a sitting position into a stand, and to maintain a standing position.
Meet the removable gel clings! These thick gel clings are easy for a child to use EVEN when they struggle with fine motor skills (such as 'sticking', using fingers or applying pressure). Simply apply the gel clings onto a surface, window or mirror at a desired height, and allow your child to pluck them off. This brings a surprising amount of gratification!...enough to help work towards those tough gross motor movements that may be bringing the most trouble. Each removable gel cling set comes with 20 clings from $10-15 a set. Many different themes available such as farm and jungle animals.
✅ Bring joy to therapy
✅ Improve gross motor movements
✅ Improve fine motor movements
✅ Expand your child's imagination
✅ Removable and reusable: the thick gel window clings can easily be removed and applied for a long time, even by tiny hands
✅ Clean: they don't leave any residue on the glass
✅ Wide application: good for car windows, the fridge, walls, classrooms, daycare, bedrooms, playrooms and more
🚨Note: There is a risk of suffocation, must be accompanied by an adult when playing
Making a sensory bin
Learn how to make an easy sensory bin to stimulate your child, and have fun too!
A sensory bin is a great way to engage a Special Needs child who can sit independently or with proper support. Sensory bins are easy to create and stimulate numerous senses at once. Always make sure that your child is under proper supervision when playing with a sensory bin.
Sensory bins become a fun source of entertainment and learning. Fill a tray with items of different colors, textures, sounds, and feel. Allow your child to sift through and explore the items with their fingers, spoons, and cups. Find ingredients at your local craft, department or grocery store. Add an extra element of fun by swapping sensory bin items to match a holiday or season.
The Christmas sensory bin pictured was created by therapist Ursula Hayward.
Ingredients:
Small tray or bin
Tinsel
Different sized fabric or plastic balls
Bells or small items that make sound
Small silicone/plastic cups or spoons
