The characteristic that convinces a parent that their child is gifted is often an impressive vocabulary or mathematical ability. This is the criteria that will get them into the “G and T” program in school, and is often a source of pride for both parents and children. Wait! There are other characteristics of giftedness…… Continue reading Your Gifted Child: More Than An Amazing Intellect
Category: toddlers
Overwhelmed With Your Toddler’s Demands? How To Cut Tantrums in Half!
Do I have your attention? Good, because to achieve this amazing feat you will need to learn some new techniques, and understand your toddler’s perspective more clearly. Take a look at two of my popular posts on toddler behavior, then practice a bit until your new communication skills shine. The posts that will teach…… Continue reading Overwhelmed With Your Toddler’s Demands? How To Cut Tantrums in Half!
Improve Your Child’s Coordination, Beginning With Fun Finger Awareness Play
Children with low muscle tone, children with spasticity, and children with dyspraxia all struggle with using their hands effectively and efficiently. Therapy can be super boring, but it doesn’t have to be! Here are four simple and fun ways to build your child’s awareness of their fingers that will support grasp, pinch and more! Gentle…… Continue reading Improve Your Child’s Coordination, Beginning With Fun Finger Awareness Play
How Occupational Therapy Can Help Gifted Children (And Their Exhausted Parents!)
Gifted children have abilities that make them more sensitive to their bodies, their world and the people in it. They notice sensations, emotional states and the interplay between the physical and the non-physical world in ways that non-gifted people do not. Exquisite sensitivity, combined with intensity and drive, often come at a price for…… Continue reading How Occupational Therapy Can Help Gifted Children (And Their Exhausted Parents!)
Why is Staying Dry at Night So Challenging For Some Children?
I have received a few questions on this subject since publishing my e-book, The Practical Guide to Toilet Training Your Child With Low Muscle Tone. Parents are wondering how to expand daytime success through the night. Here is what I know about getting through the night high and dry: it is as much a physical…… Continue reading Why is Staying Dry at Night So Challenging For Some Children?
Piddlers Make Potty Training Fun!
I laughed out loud the first time I saw a toddler pee onto one of these circles. Then he asked for more juice so that he could come back later and try again! Piddlers aren’t a new concept. Parents have been tossing cereal circles into a potty for “aiming practice” for a long time. These…… Continue reading Piddlers Make Potty Training Fun!
Is My Child Right or Left-Handed? How Handedness Emerges, And How You Can Influence Development
Parents can get worried about a lot of things, and slow development of a dominant hand is one of them. Therapists get worried about things too, but the development of dominance is usually not one of them. Except in one situation. And parents can make a bigger impact than they think. It is generally…… Continue reading Is My Child Right or Left-Handed? How Handedness Emerges, And How You Can Influence Development
The Practical Guide to Toilet Training Your Child With Low Muscle Tone: Potty Training Help Has Arrived!
My most popular post, Why Low Muscle Tone Creates More Toilet Training Struggles for Toddlers (and Parents!) inspired me to write a manual to help parents with potty training. There was nothing in books or online that really helped families, just a few lines about being patient and…… Continue reading The Practical Guide to Toilet Training Your Child With Low Muscle Tone: Potty Training Help Has Arrived!
Finger Awareness and Math Skills: Recent Research, and “Where is Thumbkin?”
The Atlantic magazine ran a terrific article, Why Kids Should Use Their Fingers in Math Class, and I am still blown away with the connections they make between brain activity during finger movements and during math calculation and comprehension. Let me get out my hands and count the ways I could use this information!…… Continue reading Finger Awareness and Math Skills: Recent Research, and “Where is Thumbkin?”
The Ten Most Common Mistakes Parents Make During Toilet Training
Since writing The Practical Guide To Toilet Training Your Child With Low Muscle Tone, I have been asked for a list of missteps that happen on the way to success. Here they are: Ignoring their own readiness issues. Parents who are unaware of their own lack of readiness will not be able to be the…… Continue reading The Ten Most Common Mistakes Parents Make During Toilet Training
Waiting for Toilet Training Readiness? Create It Instead!
I just watched a therapist on YouTube tell parents how to look for toilet training readiness signs. From her limited description, you would have a better chance of finding truffles in France! The signs of readiness in special needs children can be subtle, so do not ignore moves such as going behind the…… Continue reading Waiting for Toilet Training Readiness? Create It Instead!
Weaning the Pacifier From An Older Child
Weaning pacifiers can be difficult, no matter the age. I wrote a popular post a while back on pacifier use and abuse, Prevent Pacifier Addiction With A Focus on Building Self-Calming Without Plastic , but I think that I might need to write another. Once an older child, over 3, still uses a pacifier, it is a…… Continue reading Weaning the Pacifier From An Older Child
Teaching Children To Use Utensils to Eat: Use Good Tools, Good Food, and Good Timing
I gave a crash course in utensil instruction to an interested dad recently. Speaking with him, answering his questions, made me realize that I had spent years refining my approach to teaching young children how to use spoons and forks. I had never written it all down. Select your tools carefully. Many parents and…… Continue reading Teaching Children To Use Utensils to Eat: Use Good Tools, Good Food, and Good Timing
Low Tone In The Summer: Why The Heat Affects Your Child’s Safety
If you have a child with low muscle tone, you may have seen them wilt like flowers in the sun. Even if they are well-hydrated, even if they are having fun, they just can’t run as fast or sit as steadily when they are warm. Add a SPIO vest or other compression garment, and…… Continue reading Low Tone In The Summer: Why The Heat Affects Your Child’s Safety
Why Do Some Kids With ASD and SPD Refuse Toilet Training?
Toilet training is one of the few self-care skills that fall primarily on special needs parents. Speech therapists, feeding therapists, occupational therapists and ABA instructors all do assessments and create plans. Hints on toilet training from your therapy team are often very helpful, but “the boots on the ground” are yours as a parent. You…… Continue reading Why Do Some Kids With ASD and SPD Refuse Toilet Training?
Low Tone and Constipation: Why This Issue Delays Toilet Training Progress
Kids with low tone and sensory processing disorders are not the only children who struggle with constipation, but it is more common for them. The reasons are many: low abdominal and oral tone, less use of available musculature because they use compensatory sitting and standing (the schlump, the lean, the swayback) patterns, and even food…… Continue reading Low Tone and Constipation: Why This Issue Delays Toilet Training Progress
Low Tone and Toilet Training: What You Can Learn From Elimination Communication Theory
Yes, those folks who hold a 6 month-old over the toilet and let her defecate directly into the potty, not into a Pamper. Elimination Communication (EC) has committed fans, as well as people who think it is both useless and even punishing to kids. I am not taking sides here, but there is one thing…… Continue reading Low Tone and Toilet Training: What You Can Learn From Elimination Communication Theory
Low Tone and Toilet Training: Parents And Children Need To Work Together
This one is simple to explain, but not so easy to achieve with some kids. Children whose interactional pattern is defiance or whining are going to be much harder to train, regardless of whether or not they have significant issues with low muscle tone. In fact, I would rather coach a very physically unstable but…… Continue reading Low Tone and Toilet Training: Parents And Children Need To Work Together
Your Best Pre-Writing Activities List: Target Key Skills And Have Fun!
The school year is coming up fast, and parents are wondering what skills their preschoolers are going to need. Finding fun things to do with the rest of the summer that actually build skills, not just entertain the troops, isn’t easy, even for occupational therapists. Here are my current favorites: Bring out the scissors and…… Continue reading Your Best Pre-Writing Activities List: Target Key Skills And Have Fun!
Low Tone and Toilet Training: Kids Need To See How It’s Done
Low muscle tone creates more challenges for toilet training, but that means parents need to focus on getting all the parts of teaching and practicing down right. If your child is unfocused or inattentive when you speak about potty training, you can try books and videos. Sometimes the use of media will spark interest and…… Continue reading Low Tone and Toilet Training: Kids Need To See How It’s Done