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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 […]
What is it? The child’s feet are outside of legs when child sits on their bottom. What is the big deal? W sitting places excessive stress on the knee joint, disengages abdominal muscles and promotes poor posture. Over time, W sitting can lead to in-toeing or pigeon toe walking pattern, tight muscles in hips/legs and […]
Feeding is a complex activity that involves all 8 of our senses that we participate in multiple times a day. When a child exhibits sensory issues and pediatric feeding issues, mealtimes can sometimes problematic. Common reported tactics of pressuring, force feeding, and battles to “take one bite” can eventually take a toll on a problem […]
What the HEP is it? HEP stands for Home Exercise Program. Essentially, this includes the strategies, activities, and/or exercises a therapist recommends you complete at home between therapy sessions. This could include everything from how to respond to a tantrum, specific handwriting tasks, speech sounds to practice, or stretches to complete. Why is it so […]
Why is it important: Taking care of your teeth is essential and oral health is a very important activity of daily living. However, it can be challenging for some children due oral sensitivity. There two categories of sensitivity often used to describe oral sensation—hypersensitivity and hyposensitivity. Hypersensitivity or Hyposensitivity Hypersensitivity refers to an increased awareness […]
What is toe walking? Toe walking is an atypical gait pattern in which a child makes initial contact at the balls of their feet when walking instead of their heel. Toe walking is something that both occupational and physical therapists treat! So how do you know if OT or PT is the right route for […]
Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) is a neurological syndrome in which pathways from the brain to produce speech are affected. This may cause the child to be unable to move their lips, tongue, or other articulators in a way that makes the desired speech sound—this does not mean there is weakness in these muscles. This […]
A person with sensory processing concerns may have difficulty modulating sensory input from one or more sensory systems. Sensory processing systems include proprioception (force/position in space), vestibular (direction/speed of movement), tactile (touch), visual (eyes), auditory (sound), gustatory (taste), and olfactory (smell). Ineffective sensory processing skills can cause significant challenges for completing activities of daily living, […]
Connect the dots, dot stamp markers, dot stickers, and so many other activities can be used to help improve fine motor skills, visual motor skills, and many other developmental areas. Here are some of my favorite dot related tools to use during occupational therapy treatment sessions. Connect the Dots This activity can be used to […]