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!
Category: occupational therapy
Why Joint Protection Solutions for Hypermobility Aren’t Your Granny’s Joint Protection Strategies
I spent almost 10 years working in adult rehab before I transitioned to pediatrics. I still teach joint protection, but I teach it differently to hypermobile kids and their parents. Kids rarely have JRA, or joint damage in general. What they have in spades are serious degrees of hypermobility. And the methods to use joint…… Continue reading Why Joint Protection Solutions for Hypermobility Aren’t Your Granny’s Joint Protection Strategies
Teach Kids How to Cut With Scissors…The Easy Way
As a pediatric occupational therapist, scissor use is something I assess but also something I teach. And I teach it early. I also teach safety early, and teach it with a focus on early success. What makes it easier to teach children to cut with scissors? Good timing. Typically-developing children have the visual-motor skills to…… Continue reading Teach Kids How to Cut With Scissors…The Easy Way
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. This is because no other OTs are helping parents figure out why their little flowers are wilting. 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…… Continue reading Helping Children With Low Muscle Tone Manage Summertime Heat
Try “Rainbow Tracing” to Build Pre-Writing Skills With Creativity
I am not a huge fan of teaching preschool children to trace strokes. I am very interested in the use of simple drawing to build pencil control and other pre-writing skills. But done right, tracing can be fun and useful for both the child and the adult. Here is one way to use tracing effectively:…… Continue reading Try “Rainbow Tracing” to Build Pre-Writing Skills With Creativity
Should You Use Pre-Mixed Dough to Bake With Your Toddler?
OK; this is a trick question. Using prepared dough is one of the easiest ways to introduce very young children (or special needs kids of any age that are functioning at the 18-36 month level) to food preparation. With the right mindset, it is the beginning of a wonderful way to share practical skills, build…… Continue reading Should You Use Pre-Mixed Dough to Bake With Your Toddler?
Want Better Self-Regulation in Young Children? Help Them Manage Aggression
You might think as a pediatric OTR, I would be writing a post about sensory-based treatment for self-regulation. And I have in the past. Not today. But I have been an OTR for decades, and what I know about today’s children is that agitated and dysregulated kids often need help managing aggressive impulses and negative…… Continue reading Want Better Self-Regulation in Young Children? Help Them Manage Aggression
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?
Doing OT Telehealth? Start Cooking (And Baking)!
Parents are looking for ways to survive the lockdown without daycare and preschool. Even the easiest child is starting to chafe under the oppression of the COVID quarantine. As an OT, it is my job to help parents support growth and development, but I don’t have to make it feel like work. Enter cooking and…… Continue reading Doing OT Telehealth? Start Cooking (And Baking)!
How To Pick A High Chair For Your Special Needs Child
My first Early Intervention home visits always involve seeing the child sitting in their high chair. Why? 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…… Continue reading How To Pick A High Chair For Your Special Needs Child
Want Your Child to Show Hand Preference (Righty/Lefty?) Where You Place Their Spoon Matters
I get a lot of questions about this issue, based on my experience as a pediatric OTR. Starting at 12 months, some children show a strong hand preference and never look back. Other kids are switching hand use long after 4. Without the existence of disorders that directly affect hand dominance such as orthopedic disorders, cerebral palsy,…… Continue reading Want Your Child to Show Hand Preference (Righty/Lefty?) Where You Place Their Spoon Matters
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
Does Your Gifted Child Interrupt You Constantly? Respond This Way For Better Results
Gifted kids of all ages like to ask questions. Most of the time, they have an intensity that means they frequently interrupt people. It is one reason why they like books and online media. They can turn the page, scroll fast, and toggle back and forth without waiting for you! As understandable as this behavior…… Continue reading Does Your Gifted Child Interrupt You Constantly? Respond This Way For Better Results
Why Gifted Children Aren’t Their Teacher’s Favorite Students
Parents of bright children often want to have their child in programs for the gifted and talented. Parents of gifted children want their child to make more friends and spend less time in the principle’s office. Why? Gifted children of any age are rarely the teacher’s pet. Here are a few reasons: Bright kids are…… Continue reading Why Gifted Children Aren’t Their Teacher’s Favorite Students
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
Using A Vertical Easel in Preschool? WHERE Your Child Draws on it Matters!
There are a few equipment and toy recommendations that every home-based pediatric OTR makes to a child’s parents: Play-Doh, puzzles, tunnels, …and a vertical easel. Found in every preschool, children from 18 months on can build their reach and proximal (upper body) control while coloring and scribbling on a vertical surface, rather than a tabletop.…… Continue reading Using A Vertical Easel in Preschool? WHERE Your Child Draws on it Matters!
Egg Crayons And Fingertip Crayons: When Good Marketing SLOWS DOWN Fine Motor Skill Development
Now that COVID -19 is pushing EI into telehealth, I see exactly what parents have at home when they hunt around for pre-writing tools. These egg-shaped crayons, and crayons where the child pokes a finger inside a cone-shaped crayon, are popping out of bins and drawers like little spring flowers. I (mostly) hate them. Why?…… Continue reading Egg Crayons And Fingertip Crayons: When Good Marketing SLOWS DOWN Fine Motor Skill Development
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