I answer this question from parents about once a month, on average. Here is the better question: Is my child developing age-appropriate grasp? The statistics are against your child being ambidextrous: only about 1% of people are truly ambidextrous. Being able to hit a ball equally well with either arm is valued on a team,…… Continue reading Is My Child Ambidextrous?
Tag: occupational therapy
Summer Fun Pre-Writing Activities
Here in the U.S., summer is fully underway. Pools, camps, and vacations! Handwriting isn’t really on anyone’s radar. Except mine. Without practice, kids with learning differences, motor control issues, and visual-perceptual concerns can lose a lot of the skills that they worked so hard on all year long in therapy. Here is a fun…… Continue reading Summer Fun Pre-Writing Activities
Color Wonder Paper Will Boost Creativity and Save Your Walls
Nothing ruins the fun of scribbling like the frustration of discovering that clothes, skin and walls are also covered with “creativity”. It is important to teach children that we color only on specific surfaces, but messes will happen on the path to full comprehension and compliance. Crayola has just about solved this problem…… Continue reading Color Wonder Paper Will Boost Creativity and Save Your Walls
Melissa And Doug Tape Activity Book Is Reusable Fun
I am so excited when I find a truly fun toy that builds the visual and fine motor skills that my preschool and early elementary clients need. I am giving this book to 2 of my best friend’s grandchildren (ages 8 and 10) today. She and her husband have them for the holiday week,…… Continue reading Melissa And Doug Tape Activity Book Is Reusable Fun
Lakeshore Paper Strips Make Summer Writing Practice Easy and Fun!
These paper strips, both the short (shown) and the long versions, are great for summer writing practice. Here are a few handwriting tips to make writing on these strips really fun: They have two different sides; use both of them. There is a single baseline side which can be much less confusing for the…… Continue reading Lakeshore Paper Strips Make Summer Writing Practice Easy and Fun!
The Two Important Handwriting Teaching Strategies For Lefties That Everyone Forgets
Teaching left-handed children to write in a right-handed world (estimates for right dominance varies, but always hovers over 80%) isn’t really all that different. However, there are two specific actions that parents and teachers need to make while teaching that rarely make it to the blogs and articles on the web. Read on.…… Continue reading The Two Important Handwriting Teaching Strategies For Lefties That Everyone Forgets
When Sensory Seeking Becomes Attention Seeking
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
Great Mechanical Pencils Can Improve Your Child’s Handwriting Skills
These pencils help students with the following handwriting issues: They use too much force while writing, and the pencil tips break frequently. They need more tactile information to achieve and keep a mature pencil grasp. They rarely notice that they need to sharpen their pencil to improve legibility. Getting up to sharpen a pencil distracts…… Continue reading Great Mechanical Pencils Can Improve Your Child’s Handwriting Skills
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
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
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
Baby Wearing For Better Infant Sleep
Most parents use carriers/wraps for two reasons: practical and personal. But did you know that wearing your baby can also help your newborn sleep better? Being able to carry your baby allows you to have both hands available. Baby wearing is an intimate connection that parents usually enjoy. Babies feel their parent’s heartbeat and listen…… Continue reading Baby Wearing For Better Infant Sleep
Why Low Muscle Tone Affects Pencil Grasp
Low muscle tone can cause a child to struggle with holding crayons and pencils. Those little fingers wrap around them, fold over them and sometimes ball up into a fist to hold a pencil. How a child holds a pencil does not automatically mean that his handwriting will be illegible, but it almost always makes…… Continue reading Why Low Muscle Tone Affects Pencil Grasp
The Science Behind Handwriting
The New York Times ran a fantastic story this week, summarizing the scientific research on the benefits of handwriting on brain development. As a pediatric occupational therapist with a specialization in handwriting instruction, it was very exciting to see their conclusions. I have read the studies they referenced, and they are solid science, not just…… Continue reading The Science Behind Handwriting