Serving Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee
Summer is fast approaching! The sun is out, heat and humidity rising, and we look to have some fun and cool off at the pool or swimming hole. It is time to also think about how to maintain water safety for our children while cooling off and having fun this summer. Roughly 10 drowning deaths […]
What are executive functioning skills? Executive functions are a set of mental skills we use to learn, play, and successfully participate in day-to-day activities. 10 Key Executive Function Skills What Does Executive Dysfunction Look Like? How Can Occupational Therapy Help? Executive function skills play a big role in our ability to complete day-to-day tasks. Therefore, […]
Both motor and vocal tics can significantly interfere with one’s quality of life. For example, a child may feel embarrassed or anxious when all eyes are on them (i.e., sports, reading in class, etc.), get in trouble for disrupting class, or avoid tasks that cause an increase in their tics. Because tics can impede a […]
Preschool aged kids range from 3-5 years old. During this time, children go through a period of learning and refining gross motor skills, starting with basic skills such as running and jumping to advanced skills like skipping and jumping while turning. The checkpoints listed below are loosely taken from a standardized test, in which each […]
What are Primitive Reflexes? Automatic motor responses that originate from our primitive or survival brain. Why does Integration of Reflexes Matter? Integration of primitive reflexes lay the foundation for higher level learning. Retained primitive reflexes or active primitive reflexes can interfere with the development of more mature, voluntary movement patterns including postural reflexes, balance, ability […]
For children who are learning language, play is one of the most impactful activities that you can use to target skills at home. Play is how our children first experience the world around them. They truly are sponges and absorb so much from our interactions with them. There are several strategies that you can use […]
This is a common question that is often asked of a pediatric OT when working with kids ages birth to 6 years of age. To answer this question let’s first look at some red flags that may indicate a concern in a child’s grasp development and then discuss the typical sequence of grasp development in […]
Do you ever feel like you are struggling to get your child to eat even though they are getting feeding therapy from an occupational therapist or speech language pathologist? Here are some easy tips from your APT-Chattanooga feeding therapist: Make a plan for when you will address the child therapeutically during mealtime: Would your feeding […]
Did you know that it’s recommended to start tummy time as soon as the child is discharged from the hospital with the goal of tolerating 15-30 min a day by 7 weeks of age and tolerating 1 hour a day by 3 months of age? Let’s start with why tummy time is important: In 1992, […]
Every child develops at their own pace, but here are some key gross motor skills to look for at 6 months of age: 1. Purposefully rolls tummy to back 2. Purposefully rolls back to tummy 3. Able to sit with hands forward on surface for 5-10 seconds 4. Plays on tummy with arms straight and […]