It is back-to-school season here in the US. One of the items on shopping lists is a new backpack. But for kids with low muscle tone or hypermobility, backpacks can be more than a way to carry books and water bottles. They can be a source of pain, headaches, even numbness in hands and fingers.…… Continue reading Should Hypermobile Kids Use Backpacks?
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How to Help Sensitive Kids Handle Greeting People (Including Their Own Parents!)
Many kids with ASD and SPD struggle with agitation and even tantrums when people enter their homes. It can happen when their parent returns home from work, eager to scoop them up. These kids become shy, run away, even hit! Many, even most parents, believe that this is “bad behavior”, being defiant, or expressing…… Continue reading How to Help Sensitive Kids Handle Greeting People (Including Their Own Parents!)
Parents With Disabilities Deserve Real Support, Not Pity or Praise
Parenting is hard. Everyone that has children or works with them knows that this is true. Parenting when you have a disability is harder by far. Like parenting… squared. But instead of real support, many disabled people who become parents or are thinking of becoming parents face a lot of reactions from the non-disabled.…… Continue reading Parents With Disabilities Deserve Real Support, Not Pity or Praise
Lining Up Toys Doesn’t Mean Your Toddler Has Autism
After head-banging (see Why Head Banging Doesn’t Make Your Toddler Autistic), this is the other common behavior that seems to terrify parents of young children. Seeing a row of vehicles on the carpet makes parents absolutely sprint to search online. Well, I want ALL of you parents to take a deep breath, and then exhale. The…… Continue reading Lining Up Toys Doesn’t Mean Your Toddler Has Autism
Prevent Skin Injuries In Kids With Connective Tissue Disorders: Simple Moves To Make Today
Children with EDS and other connective tissue disorders such as joint hyper mobility disorder often have sensitive skin. Knowing the best ways to care for their skin can prevent a lot of discomfort and even injury. These kids often develop scars more easily, and injured skin is more vulnerable in general to another injury down…… Continue reading Prevent Skin Injuries In Kids With Connective Tissue Disorders: Simple Moves To Make Today
Hypermobile Child? Simple Dental Moves That Make a Real Difference in Your Child’s Health
As the OTR on a treatment team, I am the ADL (Activities of Daily Living) go-to person. Why then, do so few parents ask me what ideas I have about ADLs, especially dental care? Probably because OT as a profession has developed this reputation as the therapist either focused on handwriting or…… Continue reading Hypermobile Child? Simple Dental Moves That Make a Real Difference in Your Child’s Health
Is is Sensory Or Is It Behavior? Before 3, The Answer Is Usually “Yes!”
If I had a dollar for every parent that asked me if head banging when frustrated means their child has a sensory processing disorder…well, I would be writing this post from a suite in Tahiti! Modulation of arousal is the most common sensory processing concern for the parents that I see as a pediatric occupational…… Continue reading Is is Sensory Or Is It Behavior? Before 3, The Answer Is Usually “Yes!”
Can Hypermobility Cause Speech Problems?
As a pediatric OT, many of my clients have speech and feeding problems that are attributed to low muscle tone. Very often, that is where assessment ends. Perhaps it shouldn’t. Joint hypermobility can also create issues such as dysarthria, disfluency and poor voice/breath control. It isn’t only about oral muscles and muscle coordination for feeding.…… Continue reading Can Hypermobility Cause Speech Problems?
Problems With Handwriting? You Need The Best Eraser
A good eraser can make a frustrated child more willing to fix writing errors. A bad eraser confirms their failure as a writer. Occupational therapists in some schools hand out HWT pencils and a variety of pencil grips like candy, but many forget about how important it is for kids to erase mistakes…… Continue reading Problems With Handwriting? You Need The Best Eraser
Taping The Paper To The Table For Your Child? Stop!
Many young children between 2 and 5, especially children with low muscle tone or postural instability, will struggle with bilateral control. In preschool, one way to notice this is to see the paper sliding around the table while a child colors. The common response of teachers (and parents) is to tape the paper down. Oops!…… Continue reading Taping The Paper To The Table For Your Child? Stop!
Gifted at Preschool: How to Support The Young Gifted Child In Class
Gifted children often cannot wait to go to preschool. They may follow an older sibling into their classroom and cry when they have to leave. After all, look at all those books, art supplies, and science stations to explore! Things can go right off the rails, however, if the teacher and the classroom…… Continue reading Gifted at Preschool: How to Support The Young Gifted Child In Class
Hypermobile Toddlers: It’s What Not To Do That Matters Most
Do you pick up your toddler and feel that shoulder or those wrist bones moving a lot under your touch? Does your child do a “downward dog” and her elbows look like they are bending backward? Does it seem that his ankles are rolling over toward the floor when he stands up? That is…… Continue reading Hypermobile Toddlers: It’s What Not To Do That Matters Most
And She Rescues Him Right Back: An Early Reader For The Young Feminist
If you like the movie “Pretty Woman”, you will know this reference. I have always been conflicted about this popular adult fairy tale, even though I adore the two stars and the clever screenplay. In fact, I have wished at times that the roles were reversed. Apparently, there is a children’s book for…… Continue reading And She Rescues Him Right Back: An Early Reader For The Young Feminist
How to Teach Your Child to Cut Food With a Knife…Safely!
After a child scoops with a spoon and pierces food with a fork, time seems to stand still. No one wants to hand a young child a knife. But they should (sort of). Here are some ideas to safely explore knife skills without holding your breath or end up still buttering their toast when they…… Continue reading How to Teach Your Child to Cut Food With a Knife…Safely!
The Difference Between Special Needs and Typical Potty Training Approaches: Address Sensory/Behavioral Issues and Use Consistent Routines
After writing The Practical Guide to Toilet Training Your Child With Low Muscle Tone, I have been asked what was different about my book. There must be 100 books on potty training special needs kids. What did I do differently? Simple. I am an occupational therapist, so I have no choice but to use my…… Continue reading The Difference Between Special Needs and Typical Potty Training Approaches: Address Sensory/Behavioral Issues and Use Consistent Routines
Teach Kids With Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome Or Low Tone: Don’t Hold It In!
People who have read my blog are aware that I wrote a book on toilet training kids with low muscle tone, The Practical Guide to Toilet Training Your Child With Low Muscle Tone. Children that have problems with muscle tone or connective tissue integrity (or both) risk current and future issues with incontinence and UITs…… Continue reading Teach Kids With Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome Or Low Tone: Don’t Hold It In!
Prevent the Summer Slide in Handwriting By Making It Fun To Write
“The Summer Slide” is the phenomenon of losing academic skills during summer vacation. With the exception of the children who insist on you buying them workbooks and those that read a book a day by choice, all summer long, summer slide will happen to most children. Here are some strategies to limit it’s effect on…… Continue reading Prevent the Summer Slide in Handwriting By Making It Fun To Write
Sensitivity and Gifted Children: The Mind That Floods With Feeling
Gifted children are often the most emotional and empathic toddlers in the room. They are the kids who cry when the ASPCA runs those tearjerker commercials. They are the teens who want to develop an NGO to provide clean water in developing countries. Gifted children don’t do this to get a boost on…… Continue reading Sensitivity and Gifted Children: The Mind That Floods With Feeling
Can HWT’s Flip Crayons Transform Pencil Grasp in Preschoolers?
I gave a mom a few of Handwriting Without Tear’s flip crayons this week. She was amazed at what her son did with them. He picked them up, examined them and proceeded to figure out how best to hold them without a word from me. He automatically achieved the mature grasp that we had been…… Continue reading Can HWT’s Flip Crayons Transform Pencil Grasp in Preschoolers?
Are YOU A Sensory Sensitive Parent?
If you fill out the Infant/Toddler Sensory Profile for your child and see yourself on the page too, don’t be too surprised. Actually, you might feel relieved, and even a bit excited. Because now you know that you aren’t “crazy” or “weird” or even “difficult”. If you have some sensory processing issues of your own,…… Continue reading Are YOU A Sensory Sensitive Parent?