Tag: preschoolers

How to Help Toddlers Prepare to Write

Ian, Lila, and Tom aren’t writing. They are drawing! Contrary to the ideas of some preschool teachers, most three year olds don’t write their names.  In truth, most young fours don’t either.  I refuse to count the kids who “draw” their names like the photo above.  That isn’t writing.  That is drawing, the same as…… Continue reading How to Help Toddlers Prepare to Write

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

Is My Child Ambidextrous?

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?

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

How Early Can You Use The Happiest Toddler Approach?

Something happens to babies between 12 and 18 months.  The adorable little child that could be easily distracted from grabbing your earrings, ate anything you offered, and smiled when you praised him is replaced by someone whose favorite word is “NO!!”, delivered at astonishing volume for a person who weighs in at only 23 pounds.…… Continue reading How Early Can You Use The Happiest Toddler Approach?

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

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

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

Let Your Toddler Hear You Gossiping (About Him!)

Dr. Harvey Karp has many great ideas to inspire toddlers and their parents. One of my favorite strategies is Gossiping. Toddlers love to hear about their effects on others. Tell his stuffed animals or his “lovey” what a great listener he was, or how he ate a new food, and you will have an audience…… Continue reading Let Your Toddler Hear You Gossiping (About Him!)

Water Wow: Summer Pre-writing Fun on the Road

One of my favorite toys for 2-4 year olds is a perfect summer travel item. Melissa and Doug’s Water Wow series is a ring-bound set of 4 pages with a refillable plastic pen with a brush tip. Fill the base with water, twist the top on, and scribble as the water reveals colors and hidden…… Continue reading Water Wow: Summer Pre-writing Fun on the Road

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