My clients know that I use therapeutic music called Quickshifts and Gearshifters in many pediatric therapy sessions. They use binaural beat technology (Binaural Beats and Regulation: More Than Music Therapy ) to induce an alpha brainwave state. This is the brain’s calm-alert state. Due to the unprecedented stress we are all under, I am using them…… Continue reading Stress Relief in the Time of Coronavirus: Enter Quickshifts
Category: occupational therapy
Is Your Toddler Home From School Because of COVID-19? Save Your Sanity With Fun Routines
Many families have toddlers that are not attending daycare or preschool now. They are at home. All day. They are off their schedules, and sometimes seem off their rockers! Here are some ideas to help their parents retain their sanity: Create a routine for them. This means that they get snacks at a certain time,…… Continue reading Is Your Toddler Home From School Because of COVID-19? Save Your Sanity With Fun Routines
Joint Protection And Hypermobility: Investing in Your Child’s Future
Parents of hypermobile kids are taught early on not to pull on limbs while dressing them or picking them up. It is less common to teach children how to protect their own joints. In fact, parents may be encouraged by their child’s doctors to let them be “as active as they want to be,…… Continue reading Joint Protection And Hypermobility: Investing in Your Child’s Future
Hypermobility and Music Lessons: How to Reduce the Pain of Playing
Most kids want to learn how to play an instrument in grade school. Most parents encourage some form of musical training for the benefits of musical training: social, coordination, attention and focus, even the suggested connection between math skills and musical ability. Hypermobile kids can struggle with the physical demands of playing an instrument […]
Sensory Processing, Allergies, and Colds: Nothing to Sneeze At!
Here in the US, it is cold and flu season. Most of my day is spend with kids recovering from some upper respiratory virus. A few seem to have a continuous runny nose and cough. They also have an increase in their sensory processing issues. Is this connected, and if so, what can be done?…… Continue reading Sensory Processing, Allergies, and Colds: Nothing to Sneeze At!
How Using Dr. Karp’s Fast Food Rule Transforms Kids With Special Needs
Yes, I said the word transform. I know that hyperbole isn’t always appropriate when you are a therapist (we try to hedge our bets with predictions), but I am willing to go out on a limb in this instance and say that learning this single Happiest Toddler on the Block technique will make a difference with…… Continue reading How Using Dr. Karp’s Fast Food Rule Transforms Kids With Special Needs
Should the PARENTS of Kids With Sensory Issues Use Quickshifts?
My clients and my blog readers know that I started using a therapeutic sound treatment called Quckshifts earlier this year Quickshifts: A Simple, Successful, and Easy to Use Treatment For Regulation, Attention, and Postural Activation. I haven’t lost my enthusiasm for this treatment. It has made easy sessions more effective, and difficult sessions workable. Kids that…… Continue reading Should the PARENTS of Kids With Sensory Issues Use Quickshifts?
When Should You Tell A Child NOT to Erase Their Mistake?
I wrote a post on erasing Teach Your Kindergartener How To Erase Like a Big Kid and one on erasers Problems With Handwriting? You Need The Best Eraser , but there are a few situations in which you don’t want a child to run for the eraser. The child who stalls for time. Some kids want to…… Continue reading When Should You Tell A Child NOT to Erase Their Mistake?
Are You a Trauma Survivor AND the Parent of a Special Needs Child?
First, let me say that trauma survivors can be among the most loving and active parents I work with as a pediatric occupational therapist. How do I know they are survivors? Some parents share their histories openly, and some aren’t aware of what their actions and words reveal. Occupational therapists that have worked in psychiatry…… Continue reading Are You a Trauma Survivor AND the Parent of a Special Needs Child?
How an Occupational Therapist Can Help The Siblings of Special Needs Children
The parent of one of my clients recently returned from a conference related to her youngest child’s genetic disorder, and she told me that the presentation on helping the siblings of special needs kids really only offered one niblet of advice: “Try to give each sibling 10 minutes a day of “just us” time.”…… Continue reading How an Occupational Therapist Can Help The Siblings of Special Needs Children
Binaural Beats and Regulation: More Than Music Therapy
Binaural beat technology isn’t new. But it is powerful. This post is designed to answer some questions about how it works, why it works, and how I use it effectively in the treatment of sensory processing issues. For people who have read about or tried Quickshifts Quickshifts: A Simple, Successful, and Easy to Use Treatment…… Continue reading Binaural Beats and Regulation: More Than Music Therapy
Does Your Toddler Fight Diaper Changes? End The Drama Today!
I regularly field questions about this problem from the parents of children I treat. If your 8 to 36-month old is fussy during diaper changes, and you know it isn’t from diaper rash, keep reading, because… I have some information and ideas for you. Parents of kids with sensory processing issues or developmental…… Continue reading Does Your Toddler Fight Diaper Changes? End The Drama Today!
The JointSmart Child Series: Parents of Young Hypermobile Children Can Feel More Empowered and Confident Today!
My first book, The Practical Guide to Toilet Training Your Child With Low Muscle Tone, was a wonderful experience to write and share. The number of daily hits on one of my most popular blog posts Hypermobility and Proprioception: Why Loose Joints Create Sensory Processing Problems for Children helped me figure out what my next e-book…… Continue reading The JointSmart Child Series: Parents of Young Hypermobile Children Can Feel More Empowered and Confident Today!
Why Injuries to Hypermobile Joints Hurt Twice
My new e-book, The JointSmart Child: Living and Thriving With Hypermobility, Volume I, is just about ready to launch. One of the book’s major themes is that safety awareness is something that parents need to actively teach hypermobile young children. Of course, physical and occupational therapists need to educate their parents first. And they shouldn’t…… Continue reading Why Injuries to Hypermobile Joints Hurt Twice
Can The Parents of Kids in Early Intervention Have PTSD?
I wrote a post about the common complications seen with long-term neonatal medical issues The Subtle Ways Chronic Medical Care Affects Infant and Toddler Development, but the rest of the family isn’t immune to trauma reactions. A difficult pregnancy or delivery, the shock of a unexpected genetic disorder diagnosis, or the crises that arise in…… Continue reading Can The Parents of Kids in Early Intervention Have PTSD?
Toilet Training Strategies to Help The Child With A Receptive Language Delay Succeed!
Even after writing my books on potty training, I continue to be aware that some parents (and therapists!) think that there are issues that can completely prevent successful training. One of these issues is a receptive language delay. This is when a child’s ability to comprehend language is not age appropriate. It may be accompanied…… Continue reading Toilet Training Strategies to Help The Child With A Receptive Language Delay Succeed!
Pillowfort at Target: Should You Ask Your Child’s OT Before You Click “Buy”?
There are so many families out there that need great equipment for their sensory kids. Pillowfort materials are on sale at Target, one of my favorite big box stores. The items are affordable and stylish. But are they what you really need? In order to get the products that serve your child’s needs, you may…… Continue reading Pillowfort at Target: Should You Ask Your Child’s OT Before You Click “Buy”?
Is Benign Joint Hypermobility Syndrome (BJHS) All That Benign?
Many of the children I treat every year have some degree of hypermobility. Some of them arrive on my caseload with diagnoses such as Prader-Willi syndrome or Down syndrome. Their low muscle tone is understandable, and their hypermobility has been easily observable since birth. Some of them are almost certainly going to be diagnosed…… Continue reading Is Benign Joint Hypermobility Syndrome (BJHS) All That Benign?
Hypermobility Or Low Tone? Three Solutions to Mealtime Problems
Many young hypermobile kids, with and without low muscle tone, struggle at mealtimes. Even after they have received skilled feeding therapy and can chew and swallow safely, they may continue to slide off their chair, spill food on the table (and on their body!) and refuse to use utensils. It doesn’t have to…… Continue reading Hypermobility Or Low Tone? Three Solutions to Mealtime Problems
How To Correctly Reposition Your Child’s Legs When They “W-Sit”
Hypermobile kids, kids with low muscle tone, and kids with sensory processing issues are champion “W-sitters”. What’s that? If your child sits with their thighs rotated inward, knees bent, and their feet rotated so their toes point outward, you have a W-sitter. This sitting pattern isn’t abnormal if it is only one of many…… Continue reading How To Correctly Reposition Your Child’s Legs When They “W-Sit”