Category: low tone

The Paperback Version of “The Practical Guide to Toilet Training Your Child with Low Muscle Tone”, Second Edition, is Finally Here!

  Low muscle tone is a symptom that makes potty training harder than anyone expects. Even experienced therapists don’t anticipate all of the challenges that arise. My most popular blog post is, and has always been, Why Low Muscle Tone Creates More Toilet Training Struggles for Toddlers (and Parents!)  .  There are good reasons for…… Continue reading The Paperback Version of “The Practical Guide to Toilet Training Your Child with Low Muscle Tone”, Second Edition, is Finally Here!

Handwriting Tricks for Kids with Low Muscle Tone

After writing volume II of my JointSmart series, Living and Thriving With Hypermobility: The School Years ,  I have decided to write a handout pack specifically on special needs handwriting.  It is NOW available! I loved writing my book, and I will eventually write volume III for the tween and teen with hypermobility.  But I…… Continue reading Handwriting Tricks for Kids with Low Muscle Tone

Why Your Kid With hEDS Doesn’t Seem to Know They Need the Potty… Right Now!

    “Daddy….I gotta go.  Right NOWWWW!” No parent wants to hear this coming from the back seat of their car while driving down a freeway or on a rural road.  But it happens.  And it can happen to older kids with hypermobile Ehlers Danlos syndrome (hEDS), well past early childhood.  It can happen to…… Continue reading Why Your Kid With hEDS Doesn’t Seem to Know They Need the Potty… Right Now!

Finally… A Desk Chair For Your Hypermobile Kid, And it Has a Footrest!

  The SitRite chair might be for you. After sending parents to the Stokke website for years, it became clear that this chair wasn’t “all that” for every kid.  No armrests, a really hard seat, and once a child pushed away from the table or desk, they needed an adult to help them get closer…… Continue reading Finally… A Desk Chair For Your Hypermobile Kid, And it Has a Footrest!

Fixing Circle Time For Preschoolers With Low Muscle Tone

School is starting again.  For kids with hypotonia (low muscle tone), circle time isn’t always their best activity. All that sitting.  In one spot. All that waiting for their turn with the special hat or toy. All that paying attention…while sitting and waiting. Occupational therapists are often asked to come in and stop the fidgeting,…… Continue reading Fixing Circle Time For Preschoolers With Low Muscle Tone

Low Tone In The Summertime Heat? 4 Reasons To Hydrate

Here in the northeast, we are simmering all day, every day.  The little ones on my caseload with low muscle tone are getting floppier and crabbier with each week at camp or daycare. We know why. The effects of heat on muscles is a big part of the problem.  Bring them indoors in the A/C,…… Continue reading Low Tone In The Summertime Heat? 4 Reasons To Hydrate

Diaper Sticker Shock? Train ‘Em Now!

The pandemic has created gaps in consumer staples and rising prices for everyday items.  One of those staples is…diapers!  Well, when things get harder, it is time to think out of the (diaper) box. If your child is over 18 months of age and has typical motor and cognitive development, there is a fair chance…… Continue reading Diaper Sticker Shock? Train ‘Em Now!

Like The Cube Chair? Here Is a Table and Chairs Set For Younger Toddlers!

My post on the classic Cube Chair The Cube Chair: Your Special Needs Toddler’s New Favorite Seat!  has been popular, but it isn’t always a great choice for the smaller toddler that was a preemie (they tend to stay smaller in size).  So…enter the next choice for toddlers that need some back support and need…… Continue reading Like The Cube Chair? Here Is a Table and Chairs Set For Younger Toddlers!

Book Review By An OTR: Life, Disrupted; Getting Real About Chronic Illness in Your Twenties and Thirties

Although I work in pediatrics now, I spent the first 10 years of my career in adult ortho-neuro rehab. This means that I worked with many young adults facing issues from RA, MS, Lupus, spinal cord injuries, and more. They were just getting started with jobs, raising children, and making an adult life, but they…… Continue reading Book Review By An OTR: Life, Disrupted; Getting Real About Chronic Illness in Your Twenties and Thirties

A Fun Way to Help Kids With Low Tone Stand Up Straight: Stomp-Stomp!

Kids with hypermobility or low tone are often found standing in the most dysfunctional of positions.  Toes pointing in, feet rolled in or out, feet on top of each other: take your pick, because these kids will alternate between these wobbly choices and more!  Read How To Improve Posture In Children With Low Muscle Tone… Without…… Continue reading A Fun Way to Help Kids With Low Tone Stand Up Straight: Stomp-Stomp!

Toilet Training? Your Child Needs the Right Shorts!

  In my first e-book, The Practical Guide to Toilet Training Your Child With Low Muscle Tone, I wrote almost a full chapter just on clothing management.  If your child needs you to pull clothing on and off, they are NOT fully trained.  And if they have clothes that make it impossible for them to…… Continue reading Toilet Training? Your Child Needs the Right Shorts!

Helping Children With Low Muscle Tone Manage Summertime Heat

I write a version of this post every summer.  Puzzled parents ask me about their child’s sometimes dramatic reactions to playing outside in the heat.  Kids are melting like popsicles, tripping and whining.  Time to explain the way low tone and heat interact to create less safety, less stability, and less cooperation. Yup, low tone…… Continue reading Helping Children With Low Muscle Tone Manage Summertime Heat

Is Your Child With Low Tone “Too Busy” to Make it to the Potty?

Since writing my first e-book, The Practical Guide to Toilet Training Your Child With Low Muscle Tone, I have fielded a ton of questions about the later stages of potty training.  One stumbling block for most children appears to be “potty fatigue”.  They lose the early excitement of mastery, and they get wrapped up in…… Continue reading Is Your Child With Low Tone “Too Busy” to Make it to the Potty?

How To Pick A High Chair For Your Special Needs Child

My first Early Intervention home visit always involves seeing the child sitting in their high chair.  I learn a few very important things.  I learn how the child is handled by the parent or caregiver, including whether they use the available strapping to secure them.  Many don’t, and don’t realize that it is part of…… Continue reading How To Pick A High Chair For Your Special Needs Child

How Therapeutic Listening Enhances Motor Skills

My readers know that I am a huge fan of Quickshifts in treatment.  I have had some amazing successes with Quickshifts for regulation and modulation.  Their focus on combining binaural beat technology with instrumentation, rhythm, melody and tone makes these albums effective, and it eliminates the challenges of modulated music for very young or fragile…… Continue reading How Therapeutic Listening Enhances Motor Skills

How To Improve Posture In Children With Low Muscle Tone… Without a Fight!

With pediatric occupational therapy going on at home using parents as surrogate therapists, it isn’t helpful to ask a parent to do too much repositioning of children with low tone.  First of all, kids don’t like it.  Second, kids really don’t like it. I have never met a child that enjoys therapeutic handling, no matter…… Continue reading How To Improve Posture In Children With Low Muscle Tone… Without a Fight!

A Practical Guide to Helping the Hypermobile School-Age Child Succeed

  The JointSmart Child series started off in 2019 with Volume One:  The Early Years.  It is finally time for the school-age child to have their needs addressed! Volume Two:  The School Years is available now on Amazon as an e-book, filled with information to make life at home and at school easier and safer.  This…… Continue reading A Practical Guide to Helping the Hypermobile School-Age Child Succeed

Need a Desk Chair for Your Hypermobile School-Age Child? Check out the Giantex Chair

One of my colleagues with a hypermobile third-grader told me this chair has been a great chair at school for her child.  It hits a lot of my targets for a good chair recommendation, so here it is:  The Giantex chair. Why do I like it so much? It is a bit adaptable and it…… Continue reading Need a Desk Chair for Your Hypermobile School-Age Child? Check out the Giantex Chair

Potty Training in the COVID-19 Age

  Parents are staying home with their toddlers and preschoolers now.  All day.  While this can be a challenge, it can also be the right time to do potty training. Here’s how to make it work when you want to teach your toddler how to “make” in the potty: You don’t have to wait for…… Continue reading Potty Training in the COVID-19 Age

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