Bubble Wrap Fun
We all know the usual “therapy” uses for bubble wrap – popping the bubbles with the fingers or the feet. Here are some creative crafty ideas to extend the proprioceptive benefits of bubble wrap!
Archive for month: February, 2011
Healthy Parents – Healthy Children with CP
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation published research on the function of parents and their children with cerebral palsy. Fifty one parents completed surveys on the care of their children with cerebral palsy from 5-18 years old. In addition, the GMFCS, Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory, Parenting Stress Index, Family Environment Scale, relationship dimension and Self-Efficacy for […]
Apps for Special Needs
There is a fun new website entitled Apps for Children with Special Needs. The unique thing about this website is the video demonstrations of the apps. For example here is an app about dressing skills. There are videos on how to dress, how to wash your face, how to wash your clothes, etc. You can […]
Toe Walking and Autism
The Journal of Child Neurology published research on a review of records of 934 children with a history of tight heel cords and toe walking. Toe walking (20.1%) and tight heel cords (12%) were present more often in the 324 children with autism but lower in 30 children with Asperger Syndrome (10% with toe walking […]
Nominate a Caring Kid
Do you know a child in the 6-18 years old age range who has made a huge difference in their community? Kohl’s Cares Scholarship Program is giving awards over $400,000 in scholarship and prize money to children who have made a difference. Check out some previous winners to see if you can think of anyone […]
Podcast on Pediatric Variability
Physical Therapy has just posted a new podcast entitled Variability in Childhood Development. Several researchers discuss the importance of variability in normal child development. The podcast is approximately 26 minutes long. You can download it for free at Physical Therapy podcasts. I just finished listening to it and the researchers bring up some good points […]
Walking and Social Interactions
Infant Behavior and Development published interesting research on walking and social interactions. Research has already indicated that crawling is a motor as well as a cognitive milestone. In this study there were three experiments and the results were the following: social and exploratory behaviors were the same in crawling infants whether crawling or in a […]
ADHD and Overflow Hand Movements
A recent study published in Neurology compared 25 boys and girls with ADHD and 25 boys and girls without ADHD. All of the children were right handed. They were asked to perform left handed finger tapping. Using video and a recording device measuring finger movements, the children with ADHD exhibited more mirror overflow movements with […]
Promoting Movement in the Classroom
Download this free brief entitled Learning to Move and Moving to Learn to distribute to teachers and parents. It is packed with tips and information on why movement is important and how to foster motor play in the curriculum. You can download it here or below. While you are at it, check out these videos […]
Executive Function
The Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University has published a paper entitled Building the Brain’s “Air Traffic Control” System: How Early Experiences Shape the Development of Executive Function. This paper provides an overview on executive function and how it develops in children. Executive functions include working memory, inhibitory control and cognitive or mental […]