Serving Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee
What is Pragmatics? Pragmatics are the social skills and rules of social language that play a part in a child’s overall communication. Children must understand the rules and purposes of communication to use language appropriately in social situations. These skills include planning what we say, how we say it, and non-verbal communication including eye contact, […]
Emotions, sensory input, and changes in routine are everyday parts of life we all must cope with and monitor. We begin to learn this at a young age. But sometimes, this can be more challenging for some children to learn than others due to their ability to self-regulate. Self-regulation is the ability to manage and […]
What is Visual Perception? Visual perception refers to the skills our brain uses to process and make sense of the things that we see. Visual perceptual skills help us to understand the world around us and are essential for learning, play, and self-care tasks. We need visual perceptual skills for reading, handwriting, crafts, copying from […]
Changes in a child’s environment are an exciting time and can be a great way to model new language and incorporate current speech and language goals in a child-led, play-based way. Outside Activities: If you can brave the cold weather, try some of these fun winter activities with ideas for how you can work on […]
Everybody eats. Well yeah, but how does that have anything to do with Applied BehaviorAnalysis? Let me tell you! Every behavior that every single person or animal does serves a purpose.There are 4 main functions or purposes for engaging in behaviors. These are Escape, Attention,Tangible, and Sensory (aka Automatic). When creating behavior support plans, the […]
There are many foundational interaction skills that precede the development of spoken language. When children have difficulty with these foundational skills, their receptive and expressive language skills are impacted. Some of these foundational skills include joint attention, use of gestures, and motor and vocal imitation. These skills can be targeted within simple rhymes (e.g., pattycake), […]
What is heavy work and why is it important for my child? If your child participates within occupational therapy, you’ve probably heard of the term “heavy work”. But what does it mean when therapists use this term and how does it relate to your kiddo? Keep reading to find out! “Heavy work” is a term […]
Potty training can be intimidating for parents. If you are a parent of a child who processes sensory information differently, it can be extra challenging. However, you can help your child tune into their internal signals through development of the sense of interoception. What is interoception? Interoception is the 8th body sense, the ability […]
Cutting and scissor skills are an important part of school and are needed for many crafts, worksheets, and projects. Below, you’ll find a guide to help teach your child how to use scissors safely and efficiently. Where and When to Start? A great place to start is snipping and cutting play-doh. This can be introduced […]
As your child ages, you may feel pressure from peers, companies, and brands to buy new, age-appropriate toys for every occasion. You are likely to find many aesthetically pleasing, Montessori- style activities being advertised to promote growth and stimulate learning. From the perspective of a pediatric occupational therapist, we would like to tell you that […]