Active Prospective Control Necessary for Sensorimotor Learning

Recent research studied 36 adults with no history of motor or neurological impairments were assigned to one of three groups – active (participant actively guides movement), passive (therapist or robot guides movement) or control group.  This study used haptic tracking for the passive movement.  The results indicated the following: no effective learning with passive movement […]

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Sleep Patterns in Children with Autism

The Archives of Disease in Childhood published research on longitudinal sleep patterns in 73 children with autism.  Parental reports of sleep duration were collected 8 times from 6 months to 11 years old.  The results indicated the following: from 30 months to 11 years old children with autism sleep 17-43 minutes less than their peers […]

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Physical Activity and Academic Attainment in Adolescents

The British Journal of Sports Medicine published research on physical activity using accelerometers on 4755 participants (45% male) who were 11 years old.  The data was then linked with nationally administered school tests in the United Kingdom in English, Math and Science at ages 11, 13 and 16.The results indicated the following: percentage of time […]

3-D Lacing Activity

Add some dimension to a lacing activity.  You will need a piece of cardboard (I purchased left over mat board pieces at the craft store for dirt cheap), hole punch, pipe cleaners and an assortment of beads (or use pasta).  The adult needs to punch the holes around the edges of the cardboard.  It sure […]

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Positive Effects of Long Term Physical Therapy for Children with Cerebral Palsy

Developmental Neurorehabilitation published a retrospective study on 56 children (mean age of 4.2 years old) with cerebral palsy (GMFCS Levels I-V) who received physical therapy.  The children’s motor function was assessed every 3 months from 2008-2011.  The results indicated the following: significant improvement in Gross Motor Function Measure – 66 the improvement varied among the […]

Free App Today Alphabetical Order

This Alphabetical Order app is free today from ABCya.  You can find out more information here https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/alphabetical-order/id548411302.  It is only available on the iPad.  This app packs a lot of punch from an OT perspective.  It encourages visual motor skills, letter identification and cause and effect.  The app provides visual cues as well as auditory cues […]

Hole Punch Palooza

Check out the latest activity book – Hole Punch Palooza.  There are over 100 hole punch strips to encourage hand strengthening, handwriting, pre-writing, numbers, counting, visual discrimination and visual spatial skills.   You can download a free shape page of 8 hole punch strips at https://www.yourtherapysource.com/holepunch See picture below of shape page https://www.yourtherapysource.com/holepunch