Here is a fun activity for children of all abilities. Add or eliminate steps depending upon the child’s ability. Step One: Write on a piece of paper in white crayon. This can be something more difficult like a mystery note to practice letter formation or try something simpler like a scribble. If necessary, have an […]
An article in a recent issue of Pediatrics brings up an interesting point when dealing with mothers of young children and their child’s development. Three focus groups, consisting of mothers of children who received early intervention, mothers of typically developing children and specialists were studied. Most mothers indicated a “non alarmist style of communicating if […]
Recently, there have been more studies on autism and motor skill development. Many children with autism exhibit delays in motor skill acquisition. Some research has shown deficits in the following areas: 1. dynamic balance and diadochokinesis (rapid pronation/supination of forearms)2. fine motor skills with regards to timed movements3. increased variability to perform simple movements4. performing […]
Play for young children is crucial to healthy development. Pediatric therapists who work in early childhood education know the importance of play and how to use it to reach IEP goals that are set for specific children. When a child is evaluated for therapy services, the therapist observes the child in the classroom setting. Therapists […]
Twitter is an excellent platform to learn about: therapy ideas, therapy practices all over the world, research, assistive technology and more. Many people use to twitter to enhance their personal learning network (PLN). For those of you who are new to Twitter it is a short messaging service where you can follow other peoples messages […]
The Journal of Occupational Therapy, Schools and Early Intervention published research on 75 second graders who were evaluated using the Concise Assessment Scale for Children’s Handwriting, the Developmental Test of Visual Perception-2 and the manual dexterity section of the Movement Assessment Battery for Children. Results indicated that visual motor integration and eye hand coordination are […]
Open publication – Free publishing – More cerebral palsy
The American Journal of Occupational Therapy published research on the effects of neurodevelopmental treatment (NDT), sensory integrative therapy (SI) and perceptual motor (PM) therapy for children with mild mental retardation. One hundred sixty children were randomly assigned to one of four groups: NDT group, SI group, PM group and control group. After interventions, the three […]
In a study published by Early Human Development, researchers studied the predictive values in very preterm children and small for gestational age of the Psychomotor Developmental Index (PDI) of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development and the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales (PDMS). The researchers concluded that for very low birth weight children, the PDI and […]
Here is an example of a water obstacle course that you can create with your client or child. Therapy does not get any more fun than this. This activity encourages gross motor skills, muscle strengthening, eye hand coordination, trunk rotation, crossing midline, balance and motor planning. Whew! That is a lot of developmental play with […]