If you're new to physical agent modalities and aren't sure where to begin, look no further! This list will cover all PAMs that you may encounter in practice

These visual tracking tips and tools will help kids with skills like reading, writing, and other learning tasks. Visual tracking is a visual mobility skill.

Free ideas! Use these simple bilateral integration activities at home to boost your child's coordination skills!

Coming up with OT fieldwork in-service ideas can be tough. For a list of 13 ideas for adult rehab fieldwork, we've got you covered here.

Need an ADL treatment idea for dressing? Try this theraband dressing technique! Work on the components of dressing when you can't actually do it.

This post may contain affiliate links.It is great to work on fine motor control away from the body, as that gives more of a challenge to the muscle control. You have to have control and coordination to balance and stack small objects onto a surface. i have the game scatterpillar scramble, and wanted to make...

What is a retained spinal Galant reflex and why does it look like ADHD in my child?

Pediatric PT Approved Exercises and Activities to Treat Torticollis!

Balance is an important part of a child's development. Try these easy balancing activities for preschoolers.

Research will be published on the focus and amount of pediatric occupational and physical therapy services for 399 children, ages 2-6 years old, with cerebral palsy. Parents completed a questionnaire over the telephone with therapists reporting the child's Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) level. The results indicated the following regarding the amount of services: children who received educational and clinical services had greater mean minutes per month for OT and PT services mean minutes per month of OT and PT were greater for children GMFCS Levels IV and V than Level I mean minutes per month of OT and PT were higher in the US than Canada Parents reported that pediatric therapy services focused on the following: moderate to great extent on primary impairments, secondary impairments, activity, and structured play activities moderate extent on environmental modifications and equipment moderate to small extent on self-care routines Reference: Palisano RJ, Begnoche DM, Chiarello LA, Bartlett DJ, McCoy SW, Chang HJ. Amount and Focus of Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy for Young Children with Cerebral Palsy. Phys Occup Ther Pediatr. 2012 Sep 7. [Epub ahead of print]

These fine motor skills activities could work with older kids who find other tasks too childish.

These fun therapy ball exercises and activities for kids require only two simple things - an exercise ball and some space to play!

Have you ever asked your child to walk while holding their glass of milk back to the table? “Dual tasking” or doing two things a once can sometimes be a difficult task and occasionally …

A blog about parenting kids with special needs

Are you looking for activities to develop cognitive skills in toddlers? I have you covered here, with 10 of the best cognitive activities for toddlers!

This time of year, you may have a few plastic gold coins laying around. If not, these are those gold coins you see around March in dollar stores or in the party aisle of the store. They might be used in party decorating or as a fun addition to St. Patrick’s Day activities. We had ... Read more

I am always looking for new ideas to work on fine motor skills, specifically when working with adults. I tend to resort to my "old favorite" list of fine

Fun and engaging for kids ages 3-8, Songames are musical activities for improving fine-and gross-motor skills, muscle strength, and rhythmicity. These 25 therapist-created Songames offer a world of developmental play activities. Plus, the 53-page companion booklet explains how to use music to enhance specific skills, provides a comprehensive list of resources, and triples the number of therapeutic ways to use the games! Includes a 2 disc CD set.

Fun tactile perception activities to help develop touch perception skills.

Get A Grip on Patterns - Mini clothespins and pattern cards included. Get a Grip on Patterns is a simple clip board activity that is great for working on many areas. The clips (clothespins) are small but easy to handle, and take some strength to squeeze open.   The grid is white solid plastic and has raised tabs, five across and five down. The pattern cards have holes so that you can place the card on top of the grid, the holes fitting over the tabs. To work with the pattern cards, simply lay one on the grid before beginning to clip. Each tab will now be surrounded by a color. Attach a color-matching clip on each tab. There are 10 patterns cards and some of the patterns are symmetrical and some are not. The backs are all blank, so you can make a new pattern on the back of each card and go from 10 patterns to 20! I just used the standard color Crayola markers and the colors matched just right. I made the colored circles on the pattern card pictured above. Even though this activity is kind of pricey, I think I paid about $35 for it, I have used this a lot and it turned out to be well worth the money for me. There are 30 clips and only 25 tabs, but don't lose any clips as some of the patterns use all of one color. Colors are purple, yellow, blue, red, green, and orange. If you like the idea of the small clothespins check out Peg Domino. Same company, same small clips in a game format. Try this: Stand the clip(s) on the tabletop, upside down. Ask the individual to pick up and turn each clip in-hand as he orients it for placement. Remove clips when done by pulling them off, one at a time, turning the hand over, and dropping it into the palm. Hold the grid still with the other hand. How many can the individual pull off and hold without dropping any? Remove clips when done by pulling them off, one at a time, and squirreling them into the palm without turning the hand over. How many can the individual pull off and hold without dropping any? Ask the individual to cup the non-dominant hand, squeezing the fingers to form a hollow. Drop the clips one at a time into the hand. Can he keep the hand in that position and hold all the clips? Reverse hands and do again. Start by completing patterns with the card on the grid, then complete patterns with the card next to the grid, then complete patterns with the card propped up in front of the grid. Stand the card up in front of the grid. Give the individual one clip at a time and ask him to place it anywhere that color appears on the pattern (requires counting rows and columns). Place one clip at a time in the palm of the dominant hand. Ask the individual to move the clip to the fingertips, orient and place on the grid using only that hand. Show one row of colors to the individual and ask him to memorize the order. Repeat the colors out loud to help remember. Turn the card over and see if the individual can complete the row from memory. Ask the individual to cup the non-dominant hand, squeezing the fingers to form a hollow. Place several clips in the hand and ask the individual to hold them as he uses them one at a time. Ask the individual to make up his own pattern, calling out each color as he places it on the grid. Work on manual dexterity, in-hand manipulation, grasp, pinch, finger strength, palmar arch development, thumb opposition, coordinated use of both hands, motor planning, visual discrimination, visual memory, figure ground, spatial relations, sequencing, executive functioning skills, process skills, play and leisure exploration and participation In the box: 1 plastic grid, 10 pattern cards, 30 colored clips (5 each of 6 colors) 

Instant ways to calm an anxious child and help them self-regulate.

A blog by OTs about childhood development providing information and tips for parents and educators, while giving fun craft ideas for children.

[Source: Medical News Today] Dust off those Bic ballpoints and college-ruled notebooks – research shows that taking notes by hand is better than taking notes on a laptop for remembering conceptual information over the long term. The findings are published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. Walk into any university lecture […]

Get the wiggles out with these 6 gross motor minute to win it games for kids. Also includes a free printable download of each activity with pictures.

Hand strength is essential in many aspects of life, and many kids come to preschool lacking hand strength. Many teachers and parents struggle to motivate kids to work on developing their hand

Building your child's core muscle with toys and activities to improve their posture, motor skills and balance for better learning in the classroom.

Best toys and activities for ocular motor development. A child with poor ocular motor and visual skills can have trouble reading, writing, tracking and may write their letters backward.

Pediatrics will be publishing research on toe walking in children. A recent study looked at almost 1500 five and half year old children from Sweden. For children with a diagnosis of developmental delay or neuropsychiatric disorders, such as an autism spectrum disorder, more than 40 percent of children were currently or had been toe-walkers. The study revealed that about 5% of the group of children had idiopathic toe walking. Most of the 5% started off walking on their toes and less started toe walking in the first year of walking. More than half of the children with a history of idiopathic toe walking were no longer toe walkers at 5.5 years of age. This research confirmed that toe walking has a higher prevelance in children with a cognitive disorder but no cause and effect relationship was established. Reference: Pähr Engström and Kristina Tedroff. The Prevalence and Course of Idiopathic Toe-Walking in 5-Year-Old Children. Pediatrics peds.2012-0225; Published online July 23, 2012 (10.1542/peds.2012-0225) Check out previous blog posts on toe walking: Idiopathic Toe Walking and Left Handedness Toe Walking and Autism Idiopathic Toe Walking and Botox

A blog about parenting kids with special needs

Children's social emotional development plays a crucial role in their ability to find success in school and also later on in life.

Abstract. This study focused on the relative utility of the model of human occupation for occupational therapy assessment of persons having mental disorders. The organizational status of the human system and its relationship to adaptive level of functioning and degree of symptomatology were examined in a sample of 30 adult psychiatric patients. We used a six-test assessment battery developed for this study, which was based on the model of human occupation, to measure the organizational status of the following components of the human system: locus of control, goals, temporal orientation, interests, roles, and skills. Subtests of the American Association on Mental Deficiency (AAMD) Adoptive Behavior Scale and the Modified Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale were used to measure adaptive level functioning and symptomatology, respectively. When we compared organizational status with psychiatric diagnosis and symptomatology, we found organizational status to be the more significant index of adaptive level of functioning.

Pediatric Physical Therapy published a systemic review and evidence based clinical recommendations for dosing of pediatric supported standing programs. After reviewing the literature the following was recommended: standing programs 5 days per week, 60-90 minutes per day, positively affect bone mineral density standing programs 5 days per week, 60 minutes per day in 30° to 60° of total bilateral hip abduction positively affect hip stability standing programs 5 days per week, 45-60 minutes per day, positively effect range of motion of hip, knee, and ankle and spasticity (30 to 45 minutes per day). Reference: Paleg, Ginny S. PT, MPT, DScPT; Smith, Beth A. PT, DPT, PhD; Glickman, Leslie B. PT, PhD. Systematic Review and Evidence-Based Clinical Recommendations for Dosing of Pediatric Supported Standing Programs. Pediatric Physical Therapy: Fall 2013 - Volume 25 - Issue 3 - p 232-247 doi: 10.1097/PEP.0b013e318299d5e7

A blog about parenting kids with special needs

Some days I feel like Horton searching for Who-ville, trying to find clinically relevant information in a sea of lab-focused postural control research. However, like Horton, my perseverance has paid off and I have found some research highlights that have informed my clinical practice for children with disabilities. Over the years we’ve confirmed that children[read more]