Tag: children

Why Letting Your Child Snack All Day Can Damage Their Sleep Quality

I wanted to make the title stronger, more click-able.  But in the end, I am not writing this blog to grab views.  I am writing it to help people support children’s health.  So I couldn’t use words like “destroy” or “torpedo”.  But I wanted to.  Because something as simple as snacking every hour or so…… Continue reading Why Letting Your Child Snack All Day Can Damage Their Sleep Quality

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

Low Tone In The Summertime Heat? 4 Reasons To Hydrate

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 Hydrate

Calm Your Child When They Cry After Losing a Game (and then teach them how to lose)

Whether it is a board game or a soccer game, once children are old enough to wrap their minds around winning, they cannot handle losing.  Their grief leads parents to “throw” every game so that their child wins every time, or they make up games where everyone is a winner (I will admit to doing…… Continue reading Calm Your Child When They Cry After Losing a Game (and then teach them how to lose)

The JointSmart Child Series: Parents of Young Hypermobile Children Can Feel More Empowered and Confident Today!

My first book, The Practical Guide to Toilet Training Your Child With Low Muscle Tone, was a wonderful experience to write and share.  The number of daily hits on one of my most popular blog posts  Hypermobility and Proprioception: Why Loose Joints Create Sensory Processing Problems for Children helped me figure out what my next e-book…… Continue reading The JointSmart Child Series: Parents of Young Hypermobile Children Can Feel More Empowered and Confident Today!

Hypermobility Or Low Tone? Three Solutions to Mealtime Problems

    Many young hypermobile kids, with and without low muscle tone, struggle at mealtimes. Even after they have received skilled feeding therapy and can chew and swallow safely, they may continue to slide off their chair, spill food on the table (and on their body!) and refuse to use utensils. It doesn’t have to…… Continue reading Hypermobility Or Low Tone? Three Solutions to Mealtime Problems

Sensory Stimulation is not Sensory Treatment

I thought that I might never hear it again, but there it was.  Another parent telling me that a member of her child’s treatment team had placed her hands in a rice-and-bean bin.  “Why?” I asked.  “She said it was sensory.” was the response.  This particular child has no aversions to touch, and no sensory-seeking…… Continue reading Sensory Stimulation is not Sensory Treatment

Teach Your Child To Catch and Throw a Gertie Ball

  These balls aren’t new, but they don’t get the recognition that they should.  The ability to catch a ball is a developmental milestone.  For kids with low muscle tone, sensory processing disorder (SPD) or ASD, it can be a difficult goal to achieve.  The Gertie ball is often the easiest for them to handle.…… Continue reading Teach Your Child To Catch and Throw a Gertie Ball

Address A Child’s Defiance Without Crushing Their Spirit

Kids that defy adult instructions, even instructions that are ultimately for their benefit, often get begged or threatened into compliance.  Pleading with your child to pick up their mess, or threatening your child that those toys on the floor will be given to a charity shop isn’t always going to work. Why? Probably because your…… Continue reading Address A Child’s Defiance Without Crushing Their Spirit

Is Your Hypermobile Child JointSmart?

Sometimes it must seem that OTs and PTs are the ultimate buzz killers. “Don’t do gymnastics; it could damage your knees” and “I don’t recommend those shoes. Not enough support”. Just like the financial planner that tells you to sell the boat and save more for a rainy day, we therapists can sound like we…… Continue reading Is Your Hypermobile Child JointSmart?

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