Your Therapy Source
Disclaimer: These pages are not intended to provide medical advice or physician/therapist instruction. Information provided should not be used for diagnostic or training purposes. Consult a therapist or physician regarding specific diagnoses or medical advice.
Contact Us
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (800) 507-4958
Fax: (518) 308-0290
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 […]
Visual Motor Scores and Handwriting
Physical and Occupational Therapy in Pediatrics published research on the relationships between fine-motor, visual-motor, and visual perception scores and handwriting legibility and speed. Klein et. al. evaluated 99 third through sixth graders with learning or behavioral problems. Each child was assessed with the following: Upper-Limb Speed and Dexterity Subtest of the Bruininks–Oseretsky Test of Motor […]
Physical Activity Linked to Improved IQ and Math Scores in Kids
Health Psychology published research on a study of 171 overweight 7 to 11 year olds who participated in increased physical activity. The following results were seen in the children who participated in the vigorous exercise group : Increased brain activity in prefrontal cortex seen on MRI IQ scores increased by 3.8 points with 40 minutes […]
Kinesthetics and Handwriting
Pediatric Physical Therapy published interesting research comparing 8 children with proficient handwriting and 8 children with non proficient handwriting. All of the children did not have a history of motor or cognitive issues. Each child was tested for kinesthetic sensitivity, discriminate tactile awareness, diadochokinesia, stereognosis, and graphesthesia. Following statistical analysis, the two groups did show […]
Age Related Changes in Children with Cerebral Palsy
Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology published research on age related changes in 184 children (age range 4 -16 years old) with cerebral palsy. The children were initially evaluated with the Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM), Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI) and Lifestyle Assessment Questionnaire – Cerebral Palsy (LAQ-CP) and again 2 years and 7 […]