These days I am getting pretty…lazy. My go-to items are designed so that children automatically improve their grasp or their posture without my intervention. I am always searching for easy carryover strategies to share with parents too. As with most things in life, easy is almost always better than complicated. My recent fave piece of…… Continue reading Boost Pincer Grasp With Tiny Containers
Category: hand coordination
The Hypermobile Hand: More Than A Strength Problem
I just received another referral for a kid with “weak’ hands. His mom wants private OT services. This is how she describes her son: Can’t hold a pencil correctly. Can’t make a dark enough mark on paper when he writes or colors. His mom says he has a solid grip on an object…… Continue reading The Hypermobile Hand: More Than A Strength Problem
When Should You Begin To Teach Handwriting? (You May be Surprised!)
Many formal handwriting programs begin at 4 years of age. Handwriting Without Tears, Fundations, and others begin with children tracing letters and quickly progress to writing. But the foundational skills for handwriting actually begin early. Before your child’s first birthday. Yes, that early. And, believe it or not, that is when you could be teaching…… Continue reading When Should You Begin To Teach Handwriting? (You May be Surprised!)
Which Improves Pencil Grasp Best: A Pencil Grip Or A Thicker Pencil?
As a pediatric occupational therapist, I am often asked to weigh in on this debate. Not often enough, it seems, based on the pencils I see being used by kids who are struggling to write. There are a lot of kids out there using pencils with wonky grasp patterns because no one…… Continue reading Which Improves Pencil Grasp Best: A Pencil Grip Or A Thicker Pencil?
For Kids With Sensory Issues and Low Tone, Add Resistance Instead of Hand-Over-Hand Assistance
One of my most popular posts, Why “Hand-Over-Hand” Assistance Works Poorly With So Many Special Needs Children , explains how this common method of assisting children to hold and manipulate objects often results in rejection or even aversion. This post tells you about my most successful strategy for kids with low muscle tone and limited sensory…… Continue reading For Kids With Sensory Issues and Low Tone, Add Resistance Instead of Hand-Over-Hand Assistance
OXO for Kids: Great Tableware For Older Kids With Sensory and Motor Issues
Does your child knock over her milk on a daily basis? Do utensils seem to fly out of your son’s hands? I treat kids with hypermobility, coordination and praxis issues, sensory discrimination limitations, etc.; they can all benefit from this terrific line of cups, dinnerware and utensils. Yes, OXO, the same people that sell you…… Continue reading OXO for Kids: Great Tableware For Older Kids With Sensory and Motor Issues
Teach Utensil Grasp and Control…Without the Food!
Therapro has just published my latest guest post! There are some situations that almost require occupational therapists to separate mealtime from utensil manipulation, at least at the earliest stages. Check out my post Teaching Utensil Use Outside of the Mealtime Experience to find out if your child or client would benefit from this approach! If you haven’t…… Continue reading Teach Utensil Grasp and Control…Without the Food!
Helping Little Kids Cut With Scissors
I am very proud to share my latest post on Therapro, a terrific company that I have used for years to find quality therapy equipment. They were nice enough to allow me to be a guest blogger this month, and so I wanted my readers to have the chance to go over there…… Continue reading Helping Little Kids Cut With Scissors
Why Eating From a Pouch Isn’t Helping Your Child As Much As You Think
Sucking food from a pouch has become a common way to funnel fruits, veggies and even protein into young children. Few kids are eating them because they have oral motor or sensory processing problems that don’t allow them to eat solid food. Most of the pouch kids are picky eaters or eating a…… Continue reading Why Eating From a Pouch Isn’t Helping Your Child As Much As You Think
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!
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!
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
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?
Want A Stronger Pencil Grasp? Use a Tablet Stylus
The trick? They need to use a short stylus and play apps that require primarily drag-and-drop play. Stop them from only tapping that screen today, because tapping alone will not make much of a difference in strength and grading of force. Why will drag-and-drop play work? The resistance of the stylus tip on the…… Continue reading Want A Stronger Pencil Grasp? Use a Tablet Stylus
Child Writing Too Lightly on Paper? It Might Not Be Hand Strength Holding Him Back
If your child barely makes a mark when he scribbles or writes, most adults assume that grasp is an issue. Today’s post suggests that something else could be the real reason for those faint lines. Limitations in postural and bilateral control contribute far more to lack of pressure when writing than most parents and teachers…… Continue reading Child Writing Too Lightly on Paper? It Might Not Be Hand Strength Holding Him Back
Does An Atypical Pencil Grasp Damage Joints or Support Function In Kids With Hypermobility?
As a pediatric OTR, I am often asked to assess and teach proper pencil grasp. Once you start looking, you see a lot of interesting patterns out there. When a child clearly has low muscle tone and/or hypermobile joints, the question of what to do about an atypical pencil grasp used to puzzle me. I…… Continue reading Does An Atypical Pencil Grasp Damage Joints or Support Function In Kids With Hypermobility?
Strengthening A Child’s Pencil Grasp: Three Easy Methods That Work
When a child makes fast progress from a fisted grasp to a mature pencil grasp in therapy, parents notice. This isn’t easy to accomplish, but it is possible. I spent the first decade of my pediatric OT career thinking that finger exercises were the answer. Nope. Here are my three favorite strategies to…… Continue reading Strengthening A Child’s Pencil Grasp: Three Easy Methods That Work
Avoiding Letter Reversals In Preschool
Are letter reversals in preschool normal? Yes. Can you avoid them, and thus speed up the accuracy and automaticity that are hallmarks of successful handwriting? Sure! This post will explain why reversals are slowing kids down unnecessarily and how to limit letter and number reversals right from the start. Writing letters backward is very common…… Continue reading Avoiding Letter Reversals In Preschool
Hypermobility in Young Children: When Flexibility Isn’t Functional
Your grandma would have called it being ” double jointed”. Your mom might mention that she was the most flexible person in every yoga class she attended. But when extra joint motion reduces your child’s performance or creates pain, parents get concerned. Sometimes pediatricians and orthopedists do not. Why would that happen? A measure…… Continue reading Hypermobility in Young Children: When Flexibility Isn’t Functional
Improve Your Child’s Coordination, Beginning With Fun Finger Awareness Play
Children with low muscle tone, children with spasticity, and children with dyspraxia all struggle with using their hands effectively and efficiently. Therapy can be super boring, but it doesn’t have to be! Here are four simple and fun ways to build your child’s awareness of their fingers that will support grasp, pinch and more! Gentle…… Continue reading Improve Your Child’s Coordination, Beginning With Fun Finger Awareness Play