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Self Regulation Skills at School

Self regulation skills at school require the ability to tolerate sensations, situations and distress and form appropriate responses.  Simply stated, it is the ability to control emotions, thinking, behavior and motor actions in different situations.  In children, self regulation matures just like other developmental processes. Children get older and learn to think before they act. Research indicates […]

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Pretend Play Mask – Free

Practice scissor skills, coloring and imagination with this freebie to create owl and peacock masks with these pretend play masks for free!  Combine fine motor skills with gross motor skills with this fun activity.  Print the black and white versions of the masks, color the masks and cut them out (an adult can help cut […]

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Scheduling for School Based Therapists is NOT FUN!

When back to school starts, school based therapists have to hit the ground running.  There is rarely time to organize supplies, review IEPs or even go to the bathroom haha!  Most therapists start the school year off with scheduling.  This is BY FAR THE WORST part of being a school based therapists in my opinion. […]

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Free Handwriting and Yoga Story App

Here are a few free app suggestions for pediatric OTs and PTs for 8/12/16.  This week there is a pretty simple and straightforward handwriting app and an app that adds some physical activity to a child’s day – my favorite when kids are moving instead of just hunched over their devices.  (This post does include […]

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Back to School Handwriting Pages

Here are two free sample pages from the My School Handwriting Packet.  No matter what type of handwriting instruction methodology you are using, children need practice sessions to improve their handwriting.  These handwriting pages provide some simple copy work with back to school themed words and sentences.  You can print them full page or half […]

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Movement Activities and Math Skills

The school year will be starting shortly for many of us.  Start the school year off with fun, purposeful activities that combine movement with math skills.  Not only will children benefit from the physical activity, moving while learning can help with memory skills, attention and focus.  Here are three fun math activities that can be […]

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Firetruck Fine Motor and Visual Motor Game

Download this freebie Firetruck Game to encourage fine motor and visual motor skills.  It is available in color and black and white.  Give each player a board.  Roll one die.  Trace over the number of ladder rungs that you roll.  The first player to trace all the ladder rungs is the winner!  Download the Firetruck […]

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Bladder and Bowel Control in Children with Cerebral Palsy

Teaching Motor Skills to Children with Cerebral Palsy and Similar Movement Disorders - A

The Journal of Pediatric Urology published research on interviews regarding 346 children with bilateral cerebral palsy (BCP) to describe the age of bladder and bowel control, intellectual impairment and severity of motor disability. The results indicated the following:  median age for daytime bladder and bowel continence in BCP children was 5.4 years compared with 2.4 […]