'It really made me calm and relaxed': Occupational therapists build focus tool for youngest students in school

Students in Madelaine Valens’ kindergarten class at Our Lady of Peace School gathered atop colourful dots on a deep blue rug.
It was three months into the school year. Valens held up a green card with a picture of a little boy crouching, then jumping. The tots then jumped up and down like frogs. A minute later, Valens held up another card, and the children quickly sat on the carpet, holding their bodies in the shapes of boats.
Then it was time to breathe. Valens grabbed a colourful ball an