As an occupational therapist, I see sensory-seeking kids every week who crash, jump, wiggle and hug their way through their days. If a couch is available, it is either a launching pad or a landing pad. Adults are for hanging on, landing on, or giving full-body hugs. Seeking unsafe or inappropriate movement and touch for…… Continue reading When Sensory Seeking Becomes Attention Seeking
Category: preschoolers
Low Tone and Toilet Training: Transition to Using The Adult Toilet
Once the potty seat has been mastered, the question soon becomes: How is she going to use a regular toilet? Most younger children use a step stool and an insert to sit securely on an adult toilet. Kids with low tone often need a little more assistance to get up there and stay stable. Here…… Continue reading Low Tone and Toilet Training: Transition to Using The Adult Toilet
Teach ASD and Sensory Kids How to Manage Aggression
Little boys as young as 2 use play fighting, crashing, and even pretend killing in their play, without anger or intentional destruction or injury. Is this a very bad thing? I was challenged this week three separate times to explain why I would initiate physical play that can look aggressive (think crashing cars or our…… Continue reading Teach ASD and Sensory Kids How to Manage Aggression
How To Pick The Best Potty Seat For Toilet Training A Child With Low Tone
Kids with low tone benefit significantly from supportive seating for eating, playing, and yes, toileting. Picking the right training potty can make all the difference for them, and their parents. My new favorites for smaller children (smaller than the average 3-4 year-old) are the Little Colorado Potty Chair and the Fisher Price Custom Comfort Potty… Continue reading How To Pick The Best Potty Seat For Toilet Training A Child With Low Tone
Easy Ways To Build Bilateral Hand Coordination for Writing
Why do we need to use two hands for writing? After all, you only need one hand to hold a pencil. Well, did you ever injure your non-dominant shoulder or wrist? Without a hand to steady the paper and move it accurately as you write across a page, an adult will write like a preschooler…… Continue reading Easy Ways To Build Bilateral Hand Coordination for Writing
Build Pre-Writing Skills With A Focus on Scribbling
The greatest criticism an older sibling can level at a young child’s drawing is to call it “scribble scrabble”. But wait! If you want to develop finger control for future handwriting success, then you want more scribbling and coloring! Random strokes aren’t going to move the needle forward for a child older than 3 years…… Continue reading Build Pre-Writing Skills With A Focus on Scribbling
Working Parents, Weekends, and Toddlers: Have a Better Weekend With These Strategies
I have been asking my colleagues about why so many working couples seem to be struggling with toddler behavior issues. Initially, I was thinking that the shift between nanny/daycare routines and parent routines was creating inconsistencies. But I found too many situations where that wasn’t the case. There is a common speed bump for dual-career…… Continue reading Working Parents, Weekends, and Toddlers: Have a Better Weekend With These Strategies
10 Easy Ways to Prepare Preschoolers to Write
Standardized testing has pushed the demand for handwriting down, down, down into preschool. The great majority of preschool children by the end of the 4’s will not have the physical control of a pencil to write lowercase letters correctly, but some teachers tell me that their administrations require them to teach kids to write their…… Continue reading 10 Easy Ways to Prepare Preschoolers to Write
Give (Some of) Your Power Away To Your Defiant Toddler And Create Calmness
One of my favorite strategies to develop a warm but equitable relationship with toddlers is to share the power. Yes, I said it. Adults have power in the relationship and toddlers know it. In order for you to succeed in using this strategy with your toddler, you have to accept the fact that children long…… Continue reading Give (Some of) Your Power Away To Your Defiant Toddler And Create Calmness
Toe Walker? Why The Problem Usually Isn’t Touch Sensitivity
Kids that toe-walk after they have fully mastered walking and running (usually 24-30 months) are often accused of avoiding the feeling of their feet on the floor. It certainly looks that way. The truth is usually not so simple, and the solution not so easy to achieve. Getting a toe-walker to use a heel-toe gait…… Continue reading Toe Walker? Why The Problem Usually Isn’t Touch Sensitivity
The Tally Sheet, Updated For End of Preschool
Fans of my simple and fun pre-writing activity Preschool Handwriting Activity: The Tally Sheet, come on back into the pool for more! The tally sheet is a great way to keep score during a fast and fun game such as Pop-Up Pirate or Crocodile Dentist. As this year’s group or preschoolers are approaching the stage…… Continue reading The Tally Sheet, Updated For End of Preschool
Use The Fast Food Rule to Help ASD Toddlers Handle Change
Kids With ASD can react strongly to changes in their routines or environments. Even changing the location of furniture they don’t even use can create screaming and aggression. Why? Often they use their external concept of home and environment to provide internal consistency, structure, and spatial comprehension. We all do, in reality. Ask anyone who…… Continue reading Use The Fast Food Rule to Help ASD Toddlers Handle Change
Is Low Muscle Tone A Sensory Processing Issue?
Only if you think that sensing your body’s position and being able to perceive the degree/quality of your movement is sensory-based. I’m being silly; of course low tone creates sensory processing issues. It isn’t the same sensory profile as the child who can’t pay attention when long sleeves brush his skin, nor the child who cannot…… Continue reading Is Low Muscle Tone A Sensory Processing Issue?
Plus Plus Toy Review: This Toy Can Make Your Child Turn Off The Tablet
I got a box of mini PlusPlus building pieces as a gift from a client. Her son is apparently addicted. He was totally occupied with them for their entire vacation plane ride earlier this year. The entire ride. These toys from Denmark come in midi (medium size) and mini sizes. They are intended for…… Continue reading Plus Plus Toy Review: This Toy Can Make Your Child Turn Off The Tablet
How Using Utensils To Eat Prepares Your Child To Write
My post on selecting great utensils has generated buzz with my clients. When I mentioned in therapy sessions that every time a preschooler uses a fork or spoon with a mature grasp, they are building the strength and control needed for good handwriting, parent’s jaws hit the floor. It never occurred to them that there…… Continue reading How Using Utensils To Eat Prepares Your Child To Write
Which Spoon Is Best To Teach Grown-Up Grasp?
Using a spoon to scoop with a mature grasp (thumb on top, fingers curled under) and using a pencil to write are two preschool fine motor skills that last a lifetime. Did you know that the design of the spoon can make teaching mature spoon grasp easier? I had a discussion with a child’s speech…… Continue reading Which Spoon Is Best To Teach Grown-Up Grasp?
Homeschooling? Make Learning to Write Easy for Everyone
Handwriting is a skill that powers the development of language and literacy, as well as math skills. This is an important early foundation skill. Keyboarding does not replace writing at any age. If you doubt me, gather up all your pencils and pens for a day or two. See what happens. If they are truthful,…… Continue reading Homeschooling? Make Learning to Write Easy for Everyone
Why “Go The F**K to Sleep” Resonates With Parents of Special Needs Toddlers
I have been asked to teach a short class on sleep and special needs kids this spring, so of course this funny little book came to mind. Truthfully, when I heard of it, I laughed out loud. But bedtime struggles are not fun when you are in the middle of a tantrum at 11…… Continue reading Why “Go The F**K to Sleep” Resonates With Parents of Special Needs Toddlers
Why Do You Start (Uppercase) Letters at the Top? Speed and Accuracy
Another week, another second-grader showing me how he writes uppercase letters starting on the baseline. You don’t have to use Handwriting Without Tears to use correct start and sequencing of strokes; no standard letter style starts uppercase letters on the baseline. For a reason. It is harder to achieve good control of your fingers in…… Continue reading Why Do You Start (Uppercase) Letters at the Top? Speed and Accuracy
Get Your Toddler And Preschooler To Sleep Faster When You Use Happiest Toddler Techniques at Bedtime
The Happiest Toddler on the Block has a unique perspective to bedtime sleep training: it starts right after breakfast. One of the cornerstones of THTOTB is Patience Stretching. In my post Stretch Your Toddler’s Patience, Starting Today! I wrote about Dr. Harvey Karp’s fabulous technique, and how parents have to use a little creativity and…… Continue reading Get Your Toddler And Preschooler To Sleep Faster When You Use Happiest Toddler Techniques at Bedtime