If your special needs child isn’t experiencing a medical reason for incontinence (infection, blockage, neurological impairment) then you might be facing one of these three common roadblocks to total training success: Your child has limited or incomplete interoceptive awareness. What is interoception? It is the ability to sense and interpret internal cues. The distention of…… Continue reading Not Making It To the Potty In Time? Three Reasons Why Special Needs Kids Have Accidents
Category: self-care skills
Toilet Training For Preschool And Stuck in Neutral? Here’s Why…..
Many of my clients are in a rush to get their kid trained in the next few weeks for school. They have been making some headway over the summer, but things can stall out half-way through. Here are some common reasons (but probably not all of them) why kids hit a plateau: They lose that…… Continue reading Toilet Training For Preschool And Stuck in Neutral? Here’s Why…..
For Hypermobile Kids, “Listen To Your Body” Doesn’t Teach Them To Pace Themselves. Here’s What Really Helps.
I ran across a comment piece online that recommended parents teach their hypermobile children to “listen to your body” to pace activities in an effort to avoid fatigue, pain or injury. My reaction was fairly strong and immediate. The sensory-based effects of hypermobility (HM) reduce interoception (internal body awareness) and proprioception/kinesthesia (position and movement sense,…… Continue reading For Hypermobile Kids, “Listen To Your Body” Doesn’t Teach Them To Pace Themselves. Here’s What Really Helps.
Boost Pincer Grasp With Tiny Containers
These days I am getting pretty…lazy. My go-to items are designed so that children automatically improve their grasp or their posture without my intervention. I am always searching for easy carryover strategies to share with parents too. As with most things in life, easy is almost always better than complicated. My recent fave piece of…… Continue reading Boost Pincer Grasp With Tiny Containers
Improving Daily Life Skills for Kids With Special Needs
Therapro, the terrific source for a lot of handy therapy equipment and especially for items that help kids with sensory processing issues, has posted another piece from me on ADLs. Take a look: What Helps Special Needs Kids Tolerate Grooming and Hygiene? “Activities of Daily Living” don’t have the cache’ of kineseotaping or therapeutic listening,…… Continue reading Improving Daily Life Skills for Kids With Special Needs
OXO for Kids: Great Tableware For Older Kids With Sensory and Motor Issues
Does your child knock over her milk on a daily basis? Do utensils seem to fly out of your son’s hands? I treat kids with hypermobility, coordination and praxis issues, sensory discrimination limitations, etc.; they can all benefit from this terrific line of cups, dinnerware and utensils. Yes, OXO, the same people that sell you…… Continue reading OXO for Kids: Great Tableware For Older Kids With Sensory and Motor Issues
What Helps Sensitive and Autistic Kids Handle Haircuts?
Depending on your child’s age and issues, getting a haircut can be anything from a chore to a dreaded event that you put off, and then put it off a bit more. So many kids fear them: kids with ASD, kids with sensory issues, children that have had multiple hospitalizations or procedures, children with anxiety…… Continue reading What Helps Sensitive and Autistic Kids Handle Haircuts?
Teach Utensil Grasp and Control…Without the Food!
Therapro has just published my latest guest post! There are some situations that almost require occupational therapists to separate mealtime from utensil manipulation, at least at the earliest stages. Check out my post Teaching Utensil Use Outside of the Mealtime Experience to find out if your child or client would benefit from this approach! If you haven’t…… Continue reading Teach Utensil Grasp and Control…Without the Food!
Hypermobility, Sleep, And The Hidden Problems With Blankets
Everyone knows that sleep is important. Research in sleep science (yes, this is a thing) tells us that our brains are working to digest the day’s learning, the immune system is active during sleep, and our bodies are repairing and renewing tissues and organs while we slumber. As much as we need sleep, kids need…… Continue reading Hypermobility, Sleep, And The Hidden Problems With Blankets
Potty Training Boys: Do You Teach Standing Up Or Sitting Down?
Training children for bladder control before bowel control is often easier for quite a few reasons: More frequent bathroom trips = more opportunities for success, digestion and diet issues don’t stall success, and urination is usually a painless, phobia-free, and quick experience. In general, families that hire me as a consultant are encouraged to…… Continue reading Potty Training Boys: Do You Teach Standing Up Or Sitting Down?
Make Wiping Your Child’s Nose Easier With Boogie Wipes
It is cold and flu season here in the states, and I have already seen my share of snot-caked little faces. Little children get more colds than older kids and adults, and they can turn into an agitated mess when you say “Honey, I need to wipe your nose”. These wipes are going to make…… Continue reading Make Wiping Your Child’s Nose Easier With Boogie Wipes
A Simple Strategy To Improve Your Child’s Posture In A Stokke Tripp Trapp or Special Tomato Chair
The Tripp Trapp chair: The one therapists often recommend. These well-designed seats can be wonderful for kids that need solid foot support. Even the best hip and chest strapping doesn’t always mean that a child is actively using their feet for postural control. You will never guess what the secret weapon is to keep…… Continue reading A Simple Strategy To Improve Your Child’s Posture In A Stokke Tripp Trapp or Special Tomato Chair
An Affordable Sensory-Friendly Clothing Line Has Arrived!
Here in the US, kids are getting ready to start the school year. A mom mentioned to me that Target is now carrying sensory-friendly clothing by Cat and Jack; attractive and functional clothes for kids who find tags, seams and textured clothing uncomfortable. I went to check them out online. Here is what I…… Continue reading An Affordable Sensory-Friendly Clothing Line Has Arrived!
How To Teach Your Child To Wipe “Back There”
Potty training is a process. For most kids, the final frontier is managing bowel movements. Compared to learning to pee into the toilet, little kids are often more stressed by bowel movements and have less opportunities to practice. Most children don’t have more than one BM per day, but they urinate many times per day.…… Continue reading How To Teach Your Child To Wipe “Back There”
Prevent Skin Injuries In Kids With Connective Tissue Disorders: Simple Moves To Make Today
Children with EDS and other connective tissue disorders such as joint hyper mobility disorder often have sensitive skin. Knowing the best ways to care for their skin can prevent a lot of discomfort and even injury. These kids often develop scars more easily, and injured skin is more vulnerable in general to another injury down…… Continue reading Prevent Skin Injuries In Kids With Connective Tissue Disorders: Simple Moves To Make Today
Hypermobile Child? Simple Dental Moves That Make a Real Difference in Your Child’s Health
As the OTR on a treatment team, I am the ADL (Activities of Daily Living) go-to person. Why then, do so few parents ask me what ideas I have about ADLs, especially dental care? Probably because OT as a profession has developed this reputation as the therapist either focused on handwriting or…… Continue reading Hypermobile Child? Simple Dental Moves That Make a Real Difference in Your Child’s Health
How to Teach Your Child to Cut Food With a Knife…Safely!
After a child scoops with a spoon and pierces food with a fork, time seems to stand still. No one wants to hand a young child a knife. But they should (sort of). Here are some ideas to safely explore knife skills without holding your breath or end up still buttering their toast when they…… Continue reading How to Teach Your Child to Cut Food With a Knife…Safely!
Parents of Formerly Picky Eaters Can Feel Like The (Food) War is Still Going On
What do parents of children who have had successful treatment for oral sensory sensitivity have in common with Vietnam veterans? Parts of them do not know that the war is over. Raising a child that can become unglued over the texture or taste of a new food is like walking through a minefield. As a…… Continue reading Parents of Formerly Picky Eaters Can Feel Like The (Food) War is Still Going On
Low Tone and Toilet Training: Learning to Hold It In Long Enough to Make It to The Potty
If your child can’t stay dry at night after 5, or can’t make it to the potty on time, there are a number of things that could be going wrong. I won’t list them all, but your pediatrician may send you to a pediatric urologist to evaluate whether there are any functional (kidney issues,…… Continue reading Low Tone and Toilet Training: Learning to Hold It In Long Enough to Make It to The Potty
Hypermobility in Young Children: When Flexibility Isn’t Functional
Your grandma would have called it being ” double jointed”. Your mom might mention that she was the most flexible person in every yoga class she attended. But when extra joint motion reduces your child’s performance or creates pain, parents get concerned. Sometimes pediatricians and orthopedists do not. Why would that happen? A measure…… Continue reading Hypermobility in Young Children: When Flexibility Isn’t Functional