CONTRIBUTED PHOTO — Representatives of the Rotary Club of Marshalltown presenting weighted lap blankets to Ms. Wentzien's preschool classroom at Anson Elementary.

Rotary’s motto is “Service Above Self.” A recent service project for the Rotary Club of Marshalltown was to purchase weighted lap blankets for preschool classrooms in the Marshalltown Community School District.

Education and Literacy is one of the seven focus areas for Rotary. It knows that for children to be successful in school, they need a solid foundation. The Rotary Club of Marshalltown has purchased two weighted lap blankets for each preschool classroom in the Marshalltown Community School District. The purpose of the weighted lap blanket is to provide ‘deep pressure therapy’ or ‘proprioception’ sensory input to help the youngest learners focus.

This year the preschool aged children are entering school after working through a period of isolation due to the Covid pandemic. Some of them are anxious about going to school and have a difficult time sitting still, lacking the ability to focus on learning. Kandy Wittry, a pediatric occupational therapist with Central Rivers Area Education Agency, and a Rotarian, has the opportunity to work with preschool-aged children on a regular basis.

As an occupational therapist, she is aware of evidence based research that has found ‘deep pressure input’ can help the brain to release pleasure transmitting chemicals like dopamine and reduce the release of cortisol which is a stress hormone. The weighted lap blankets are used to provide that ‘deep pressure input’ to reduce the physiological signs of stress and anxiety, which allows children to focus and learn at maximum capacity.

With the recent increase of children entering preschools displaying a lack of self-regulation skills, anxiety and poor social emotional skills the need for additional resources to address these concerns is needed. The weighted lap blankets could potentially help any child showing signs of anxiety, sensory issues or behaviors. As the research indicates, there are specific guidelines, time limits and weight recommendations for their use to maximize the benefits of these blankets. As a school-based OT, it will continue to support, recommend, guide and monitor the use the weighted lap blanket within the school setting.