These bilateral coordination activities are bilateral movement strategies to help kids demonstrate bimanual coordination skills.
Primitive reflexes are the reactive actions that a newborn baby uses to survive in the beginning stages of life. These reflexes are essential in allowing th ...
This Blog and Infographic will review tonic reflexes, their significance if the reflex persists beyond the typical age range, and the possible impact on a child’s functioning and role performance. Last but not least, this blog will suggest therapeutic interventions that are known to help inhibit the activation of tonic reflexes and advance postural control as a foundation for optimal functioning.
If you're looking for interoception activities for kids to improve internal body awareness and self-regulation, these ideas will inspire you!
Get a better understanding on baby development, and occupational therapy for babies to guide babies toward motor skills, learning through baby play.
One sensory system, often under-recognized but important, is the vestibular system. Download a free poster with vestibular activities.
The best way to help a child's speech and language development is through play. Here are 10 simple activities that you can do at home, including the key vocabulary to focus on, to help develop your child's speech and oral language. The key to these activities is about engaging with the child and using simple, useful language that matches the actions of play. This puts the language into context with what they are experiencing and gives them opportunities to hear, use and practice the language in a way that makes sense to them. Often the simple phrases are repeated over and over again in the same activity which is what you want. The words that you can focus on are listed for each activity under "Language" but you can still use them in correct sentence structure whilst focusing on the key words. For example, "Ball. You have a ball" and "Give ball. Give me the ball please." For more specific information about how to develop your child's speech through play and to hear our personal journey with oral language concerns, see here. Ball Play Materials little ball bowl basket spoon Language (to match the actions) throw ball get ball give ball please (simple instructions for them to follow) ball in basket ball out of basket ball on floor ball on spoon ball fell off spoon pick up ball Pasting Materials Glue stick with lid large sheet of paper scraps for gluing (paper/felt/feathers etc) Language (to match the actions) lid off glue glue on paper stick on paper lid on glue glue on hand sticky hand/ your hand is sticky sticky paper red/blue/green etc paper (saying colour names as they are used) put lid on "Child's name" give lid please (try simple instructions for them to follow) Trucks and Ramps Materials little truck ramp (use hard cover books for ramps) small toy animal that will fit in truck/trailer (eg. dog, cow) Language Go! brooooom! Ready, set, go Go truck! truck on ramp truck go down ramp truck at top truck at bottom "dog" in truck "dog" out of truck "dog" on ramp "dog" on floor put dog in truck (simple instructions for them to follow) Making a Snack Instead of preparing a snack for your child, provide materials for them to make their own snack and then use the language that naturally goes with the processes. Materials Little containers fruit (eg. banana, strawberries) plastic knife savoury cracker spread (eg. cream cheese, peanut butter) sultanas plate Language yummy eat food hungry snack time cut up banana peanut butter on cracker put in container more? you like? 3 sultanas. 1, 2, 3. strawberry on plate strawberry off plate in mouth Pom-pom Play Materials pom-poms basket box plate spoon/tongs Language pom-poms on floor pick up pom-poms (can use simple instructions for them to follow) pom-poms in basket pom-poms in box pom-poms on plate pom-poms off plate pom-pom on spoon "red" pom-pom 3 pom-poms. 1, 2, 3 more all gone tip pom-poms Ring-Ring Materials toy phone Language hello yes thanks ok press buttons ring-ring who's there? bye Mama, Daddy, Nanna, etc. Let's build Materials variety of different blocks (shapes, sizes, colours etc) Language build up block on top put on fall down big tower tall tower very tall put block on (following simple instructions) big block little block "red" block more Animal Tracks Walking plastic animals over clay/playdough to leave footprint impressions. Focus the language on the movements and animal sounds. Materials clay/playdough plastic animals Language (match the actions being used) roll clay squishy clay kangaroo jump/ jump jump jump marks in clay footprints in clay more? snake slither/ sssssss frog jump/ jump jump/ ribbit ribbit lion roar/ roaaaaar animals walk walk on clay I'm a Chef Pretend cooking play using playdough and various kitchen implements. You can roll some sausage shapes etc. to help encourage other actions that allow you for other language use. Materials playdough plastic pot w/ lid plastic frying pan plastic knife plastic plates Language cut "playdough" (or, "sausage/carrot" etc.) roll playdough in pot out of pot in pan out of pan lid on pot lid off on plate more? no more all gone yummy what are you making? Sandpit Play Sensory play is great for young children and for developing language. Children are able to match what they are seeing/hearing/smelling/touching or tasting with the words that go with the sensory experience. This makes the experience very tangible for them. Materials sand plastic bottle with lid spoon Language lid on bottle lid off bottle sand in bottle scoop sand pour sand give spoon tip sand empty bottle sand all gone sand on spoon Handy Tips: - Generally, just asking my child if they would like to play with me is enough to entice them to participate in some one-on-one time, however if they are hesitant (code for, my toddler wants to do what he wants to, not what I want him to) I will get out the materials and start playing with them myself. The more fun I'm having on my own, the more they usually want to join in. - If your child really isn't in the mood for your planned play, I wouldn't force it. Instead, try to find a way to engage with what they are interested in playing and try and use and encourage them to practice the language that naturally comes with that activity. - Read my tips on the best way to approach these one-on-one play times with your child. - It is very important to allow your child time to respond to any questions you ask and for them to attempt to use or mimic the language. Encourage and praise their attempts at oral language. - You will most likely find, during the course of your one-on-one play, that other language (other than what's listed above) naturally occurs due to the direction that your play takes. This is of course perfectly fine. Just try and keep the language short, clear, relevant and useful during this time. Repetition is important. - There are lots of great kids books that encourage speaking and making sounds. A favourite of ours is, "Mr Brown can Moo. Can you?" by Dr Seuss. Happy playing, Debs :) Look where else we are. 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When your baby is tiny, you get in the habit of doing everything for him – as you should! But if you hang on to some of the habits you started from birth, you might be doing your budding toddler a disservice.
Check out this blog post for tips and ideas for using a "what's in the bag?" activity to support early language skills in your EI sessions.
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Learn more about stuttering from our contributing speech-language pathologist, Becky Bowen!
Check out this blog post for tips and ideas for using a "what's in the bag?" activity to support early language skills in your EI sessions.
Core exercises for kids help with postural stability, fine motor skills, and attention & focus in school, in OT, and at home. Free PDF.
Feel confident you're delivering effective early intervention and parent coaching sessions with the Early Intervention Handbook.
How can you support the development of self-regulation in kids? This huge resource is full of self-regulation games, information, books, and more!
How to help a speech delayed child | From speech therapy activities to PECS communication boards, we’ve rounded up 32 tips & activities to get you started!
Pediatric PT Approved Exercises and Activities to Treat Torticollis!
Looking for sensory integration activities for autism to develop your child's motor skills? Check out our collection of fun vestibular system exercises!
Becoming comfortable performing Early Intervention teletherapy (or in-person) sessions can take lots of practice and planning. Read on to find inspiration on how to focus your Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, or Speech therapy Early Intervention sessions. Parent coach for success and find a
My favorite go-to to mention first is the Probe. For feeding therapy, I dip it into purées and let kids use it as a “dipper spoon.” The bumpy nubs work well to hold yogurt, applesauce, some baby foods, etc. The bumps/ridges on the tip add texture to the purées to help encourage texture acceptance.
It can be difficult to think of effective consequences that actually teach BETTER BEHAVIOR than simply punish a child for a discipline prob...
Click on the picture to download your own copy of the poster, or you can order a hard copy for £2.
Find out what milestones you can expect your little one to be working on from 0-36 months. This is an exciting age!
I remember the day I found out there were two ways to say the R sound. It blew my tiny grad school mind! "TWO WAYS TO SAY R!? So you mean there's the way I
Your baby is growing up quickly and is having a whale of a time making discoveries and exploring new things. Of course, your excitement to knows no bounds. However, for your child to master important motor skills, it’s vital that she has good bilateral coordination.
Research-based curriculum embeds skills naturally through play-based experiences that adapt to each child's developmental level and interests.
If your toddler is a late talker, he might need more motivation along with extra opportunities to communicate throughout the day. Here are some tips for parent to get toddlers talking:
In this show, I talked with Floortime & autism educator Dr. Jennie Trocchio to discuss the DIR/Floortime approach for working with children with autism (and other developmental delays/disorders!) We discussed the levels of Floortime, the research that makes this approach EBP, and a few other interesting (perhaps slightly controversial!) topics about treating autism. Listen here:…
These ABA therapy activities for kids with autism spectrum disorder will give you heaps of ideas you can use at school, in therapy, and at home!
Great ideas for silly putty or therapy putty activities to help children to develop a variety of skill building and sensory needs.
Hand strengthening is an important part of fine motor skills. This resource covers everything you need to know about hand strength.
Use these 3 simple language games to improve your toddler's speech and help develop their articulation, language, and pre-reading skills. The following post 'Improve Your Toddler's Speech' was written in collaboration with my own mom, Jamie Bott, M.A., C.C.C. Licensed & Certified Speech & Language Pathologist / Reading Endorsed by the State of Florida. Every parent wants their child to grow up to become a
Hand strengthening is an important part of fine motor skills. This resource covers everything you need to know about hand strength.
Learn how to teach your baby to chew with these 5 suprising tips from an occupational therapist! I'm also talking about chewing problems in toddlers...
By TEIS Early Intervention Staff Tummy Time for Fitness and Fun Your baby may not need a personal trainer, but he or she does need some […]
Kids Lying? If you’re looking for strategies and consequences that don't involve punishment to stop your child from lying, we've got 20 ideas to help!
