Sensory processing can create unique issues around this time of year. Regardless of whether a child received summer services or not, things in the classroom change in September, and change is not always easy for these kids to handle. Here are a few suggestions that could help your child make the transition to a new…… Continue reading Start the School Year With Strategies For Kids With Sensory Processing Issues
Category: parenting
Add Massage To Your Child’s Sleep Routine, And Both of You Could Sleep Better Tonight
Massage is a wonderful way to connect with your child, and it can be a great technique to send him off to sleep without tears or guilt. After the books are read and the last feeding has finished, you can use a short and restful massage to relax him and assure him that it is…… Continue reading Add Massage To Your Child’s Sleep Routine, And Both of You Could Sleep Better Tonight
Ten Problems That Cause Parents to Abandon Happiest Baby on the Block
Learning to use The Happiest Baby on the Block 5 S’s can be tricky. In addition to teaching group classes, I also teach parents privately to help them get the techniques down correctly and answer all of their questions on the spot. I meet parents who have watched the DVD or read the book but…… Continue reading Ten Problems That Cause Parents to Abandon Happiest Baby on the Block
Turn Around Toddler Defiance Using “Feed the Meter” Strategies
Tantrums, back-talk, throwing toys, hitting. It can be an occasional episode, or it can be a daily slog through toddlerhood. If a chronically defiant toddler isn’t having a major life change (new school, new caregiver, illness, new family stressor), then it’s possible that she has just developed a habit of relating to adults in this…… Continue reading Turn Around Toddler Defiance Using “Feed the Meter” Strategies
Why Low Muscle Tone Creates More Toilet Training Struggles for Toddlers (and Parents!)
Most parents assume that toilet training a child with low tone (also called hypotonia) isn’t going to be easy. A child with low muscle tone often crawls later, walks later, and may speak later. Low tone can affect toilet training in ways both obvious and subtle. As an occupational therapist, I want to share…… Continue reading Why Low Muscle Tone Creates More Toilet Training Struggles for Toddlers (and Parents!)
Teaching Pencil Grasp Can Start with Edison Chopsticks
I love these Edison training chopsticks. You could eat your lunch with them, but you could also pick up little toys and game pieces. Every preschooler that I work with that has difficulty with controlling their pencil has fun with these chopsticks. They have no idea that my goal is to get their finger strength…… Continue reading Teaching Pencil Grasp Can Start with Edison Chopsticks
Teaching Your Baby to Sleep Through the Night
No baby sleeps all night. Not one. Neither do adults. Surprised? A normal sleep cycle bring us into a foggy awake stage and only then do we return to sleep. This happens many times throughout the night, but good sleepers send themselves right back into a deeper sleep without being held, an extra feeding (excluding…… Continue reading Teaching Your Baby to Sleep Through the Night
Lakeshore Scissors for Toddlers That Only Cut the Paper, Not the Toddler
Lakeshore Learning sells their own brand of plastic safety scissors, and I like then so much that I wouldn’t recommend any other brand for children under 4. Toddlers are just too curious about how scissors work and too excited to listen to safety precautions. These scissors mean that they can develop solid hand skills earlier…… Continue reading Lakeshore Scissors for Toddlers That Only Cut the Paper, Not the Toddler
Infant Separation Anxiety and Sleeping Through the Night
Between 6 and 12 months of age, babies learn a lot. One important thing that they learn is that they are separate from their parents. They can cling during the day when you put them down to go to the bathroom, but they can really scream at night when you start the bedtime rituals or…… Continue reading Infant Separation Anxiety and Sleeping Through the Night
Prevent Pacifier Addiction With A Focus on Building Self-Calming Without Plastic
Parents of newborns are concerned that pacifier use will lead to pacifier “addiction” in later infancy and toddlerhood. It doesn’t have to be that way. Pacifier addicts are made, not born. Parents should not feel guilty about the difficulty they encounter with pacifier weaning, since no one explains what pacifiers do for babies and how…… Continue reading Prevent Pacifier Addiction With A Focus on Building Self-Calming Without Plastic
Take Notes with a Paper Notebook, But Only if You Can Write Quickly
Research in Psychological Science last spring and in an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education suggests that writing notes by hand requires the listener to synthesize a lecture more effectively than laptop note-taking. Three studies showed that testing immediately after a lecture and even a week later still saw improved retention of conceptual information when students…… Continue reading Take Notes with a Paper Notebook, But Only if You Can Write Quickly
How To Calm Crying If You Don’t Swaddle
Yesterday I taught a Happiest Baby on the Block class, and one mother was adamant that she would not swaddle her 3-week-old daughter. She thought it would be too restrictive for her. Although I taught the correct safety principles, how it mimics life in the womb, and the effective techniques for a good swaddle, this…… Continue reading How To Calm Crying If You Don’t Swaddle
Safer With a Swaddle Blanket or Swaddle Garment? Research Says You are Asking the Wrong Question
As a certified Happiest Baby on the Block educator, I am often asked which choice new parents should make. Swaddling with a blanket is cheaper (babies don’t grow too large for most blankets for months) and blankets can be repurposed after swaddling is finished. Garments are easier to master; not everyone is willing to learn…… Continue reading Safer With a Swaddle Blanket or Swaddle Garment? Research Says You are Asking the Wrong Question
Teach Toddlers Not to Hit Without Saying A Word
Toddlers hit. Some toddlers hit out of anger, some out of frustration, and some to get your attention. I never allow an out-of-control toddler to intentionally try to injure me and not say something. But some toddlers hit me and I don’t say a word…but I immediately DO something. Adults can make it very clear…… Continue reading Teach Toddlers Not to Hit Without Saying A Word
Preschool Handwriting Activity: The Tally Sheet
Preschoolers love to play games. Take a few sheets of scrap paper and a crayon, and turn a game of chance into their first lesson in handwriting. This activity is also very effective for older children with motor or sensory processing issues that need the extra practice on grasp, pencil control, bilateral hand use, ocular…… Continue reading Preschool Handwriting Activity: The Tally Sheet
LEGO Duplo My First Car Creations: Putting Together Cars, Building Hand Coordination
UPDATE: LEGO has changed a few things, including the name of this toy. It used to be “Combine and Create”. The new version is really great as well. They have added some fun pieces with more graphics. The piece that could morph from dump truck to tanker trunk is gone, and the dump truck piece…… Continue reading LEGO Duplo My First Car Creations: Putting Together Cars, Building Hand Coordination
Teach Capital Letters First With Your Preschooler And Watch Writing Take Off
Teaching your preschooler to recognize and then write uppercase or capital letters is a key to early handwriting success. Many, if not most of the commercially-available workbooks (and preschool teacher handouts) teach them at the same time. Zaner-Bloser is a common style of handwriting instruction that uses this approach. If your child has been identified…… Continue reading Teach Capital Letters First With Your Preschooler And Watch Writing Take Off
What Makes A Child’s Handwriting Legible?
For most parents, the answer to whether their child’s writing is legible is like the Supreme Court justice’s comment on pornography: “I can’t define it, but I know it when I see it”. For occupational therapists, it is relatively easy to identify whether a child’s handwriting is legible or not. Does legibility still matter? The…… Continue reading What Makes A Child’s Handwriting Legible?
Does It Matter How Your Child Holds A Pencil?
The simple answer is: maybe. The standard tripod or quadrupod grip that every occupational therapist teaches will give your child a solid, controlled hold on a pencil for handwriting. Most children can learn this grip by 4 years of age. Some children watch adults and seem to copy it effortlessly. What happens to the rest…… Continue reading Does It Matter How Your Child Holds A Pencil?
Routines Really Matter When You Have Kids With Sensory Modulation Issues
Young children thrive with routines, but for kids with sensory modulation difficulties, the difference in their abilities when you support them with routines is amazing. Adults thrive with routines as well, we just don’t think about it. Try going through your morning routine, for example, in a different order. Drink your coffee before OR after…… Continue reading Routines Really Matter When You Have Kids With Sensory Modulation Issues