Category: parenting

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!

Why Teaching Dressing Skills is Essential to Potty Train Autistic Kids

Toilet training for kids with ASD is complex, and it can take a while.  But while you are working on developing communication skills and increasing sensory tolerance, don’t forget to work on clothing management.   WHY?  Autistic children tend to have difficulty quickly and accurately sensing urgency.  Unless you are glued to their side, and…… Continue reading Why Teaching Dressing Skills is Essential to Potty Train Autistic Kids

How To Help Your Gifted Child Handle Frustration

Does your gifted child explode over things that seem minor? Will your child collapse if they get one wrong answer? Does it seem that perfectionism and self-criticism rule their day? Well, none of this is unusual for gifted people.  Gifted kids aren’t always happy little geniuses, proofing theorems and inventing new ways to save humanity.…… Continue reading How To Help Your Gifted Child Handle Frustration

Try This Simple Strategy When Your Child Refuses To Use The Toilet

I get a few calls every year from parents who have a neurotypical child between 4 and 5 that has said, very clearly, in words, that they refuse to use the toilet.  Often, it is pooping in the potty, not peeing.  Hesitancy is one thing.  Adamant refusal in words, clear words, is another thing.  The…… Continue reading Try This Simple Strategy When Your Child Refuses To Use The Toilet

How To Help Sensory and Autistic Kids Cope With Haircuts

Most toddlers getting their first haircut are known to fidget and squirm around.   Some cry.  But they grow up, and out, of their fear and distress. If your child has sensory sensitivities or sensory modulation issues, haircuts stay difficult-to-torturous for a much longer time! Confusion, fear of strangers, and stubbornness don’t elicit the same…… Continue reading How To Help Sensory and Autistic Kids Cope With Haircuts

Potty Training Your Child With CP

Author’s note:  These strategies will be most successful for children with a cognitive age of at least 36 months, and receptive language skills of at least 30 months. Children with severe quadriplegic CP most likely will always need physical assistance for toileting, even if they can direct their caregiver’s actions.  That will be another blog…… Continue reading Potty Training Your Child With CP

What Happens When Adults Don’t Teach Handwriting

This is not a post about the developing world, where getting a full meal supersedes writing a full sentence. It is about allowing errors to go ignored because a child “tried their best, and we don’t want them to get discouraged”. Handwriting is not intuitive.  Walking appears to be a skill that we are programmed…… Continue reading What Happens When Adults Don’t Teach Handwriting

The Easiest Way To Trigger Interoceptive Calming In Your Child

Interoception.  The eighth?? sense?  The key to calming? If there was a way to produce therapist catnip, it has to be by mentioning “interoception”!    We are all buzzing about this.  But understanding how the ability to sense internal homeostasis (that is what interoception is) makes kids happier is harder to convey in practical, non-medical…… Continue reading The Easiest Way To Trigger Interoceptive Calming In Your Child

3 Hidden Causes of Handwriting Errors

Lined paper.  Pencil grips.  Easels.  Tutoring. All of these solutions can help a child who has illegible handwriting.  There are more handwriting devices and strategies than pencils in my desk drawer.  But three contributors to poorly legible writing are often easily forgotten:   Room temperature.  Children that are chilly or too toasty will be fidgety.…… Continue reading 3 Hidden Causes of Handwriting Errors

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 Go give Your Kid a Glass of Water NOW!

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 Go give Your Kid a Glass of Water NOW!

Is Your Child Jumpy, Distracted, Or Controlling? Sound Sensitivity Could Be The Problem

  M.E. couldn’t pay attention to her homework.  The landscapers had arrived, and the muffled sounds of their equipment had her looking around and running to the window every few minutes.  Her brother sat on the floor with his LEGOs, oblivious to it all.  He was four years younger, but his behavior was easier to…… Continue reading Is Your Child Jumpy, Distracted, Or Controlling? Sound Sensitivity Could Be The Problem

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!

Toddler Whining, Not Playing? Try Showing Them a Good Time

Toddlers are notorious for requesting a toy and then fussing about it.  They aren’t being manipulative.  They are being toddlers.  Sometimes they can’t decide what to do with the toy (build a tower, build a house, etc.) and sometimes they find receiving a toy isn’t instant joy, but they expected it anyway (toddlers are rather…… Continue reading Toddler Whining, Not Playing? Try Showing Them a Good Time

Teaching Kids To Cut With Scissors? Don’t Use Cheap Paper

As a pediatric occupational therapist, I would guess that every third IEP I have seen for preschool children includes some version of being able to cut with scissors. Understanding anatomy and neurology certainly help therapists understand why a child struggles. But when teaching a motor skill, it also helps to know what tools make a…… Continue reading Teaching Kids To Cut With Scissors? Don’t Use Cheap Paper

How To Write Numbers And Letters To Avoid Confusing Young Children

One of the common questions children will ask me when I am working with them on handwriting is “Why is your “6” different from my book’s “6”? , or why is your ” M” different from my book’s “M” ? This is an EXCELLENT question. Here is the answer: because a computer made those numbers…… Continue reading How To Write Numbers And Letters To Avoid Confusing Young Children

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!

Why A Circular Scribble ISN’T a Circle

I spend a lot of time in telehealth with toddlers and young preschoolers doing pre-writing.  It requires few tools, it is easy to demonstrate, and it is fun.  But when parents tell their two year-old that they drew a circle after they scribbled in a circular pattern, I stop them. Why? After all, copying a…… Continue reading Why A Circular Scribble ISN’T a Circle

Doing Quickshifts? Modulated Music? Therapeutic Listening? Get These Affordable, Comfortable, Kid-Size Bluetooth Headphones From PURO!

Wirecutter, owned by the New York Times, just did a piece on great gifts. The PURO BT2200 models were featured because they are child-sized NOISE-LIMITING headphones with a BUILT-IN MIC, which is great for virtual school participation. I am recommending them because they will not destroy your child’s hearing. They max out at 85 decibels.…… Continue reading Doing Quickshifts? Modulated Music? Therapeutic Listening? Get These Affordable, Comfortable, Kid-Size Bluetooth Headphones From PURO!

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