
Parenting - Occupational Therapy
Parenting is hard. There is no one right way to be a parent. Many parents come into OT sessions and state that they tried to implement a strategy at home but just didn’t have the time or energy and you know what? THAT’S OKAY! If we tell children to just try their best regardless of the outcome, it only makes sense to send the same message to parents. This image from @outcomes_therapy is such an important reminder that all we can do as humans, tiny or grown, is try our best! I

Interoception - Occupational Therapy
One of the senses that not many people are aware of! Interoception – one of the senses that provides our brain with feedback about how we’re feeling on the inside. Receptors for this sense are found in our organs to tell us when we feel hungry, too nervous or too hot. If your child has trouble with processing the information given by this sense, he/she would have difficulty knowing when they are full, learning toilet training. Overall, it is likely that they have trouble with

Fun exercises to do at home! - Occupational Therapy
Fun Exercises to do at home! Bring the zoo into the home 😀 Give these animal walks a try with your little one. It helps with developing gross motor skills, core strength and it’s loads of fun! As OTs we use these animal walks in session to help the child develop core strength and gross motor skills in a fun way to keep them engaged. However, it is just as important that the child practices at home too! If a child has poor core strength, it means that they will have difficult

Nature - Occupational Therapy
Nature provides health benefits that are truly impossible to replicate in an indoor environment! There are endless sensory, motor and regulatory experiences to discover outdoors. 🌱 We can explore what it feels like to roll around in the grass or work out how to use our muscles to get over a big rock or log.
🌱 Breathing in the fresh air or listening to the waves crash can be very calming for many people.
🌱 Nature is also the perfect place to engage meaningfully with chi

Visual Tracking - Occupational Therapy
There is a pesky fly buzzing around your house! When you follow its path with your eyes so that you can catch it you are using visual tracking! Visual tracking is simply focusing on an object as it moves across a person’s visual field. This skill is important for almost all daily activities, including reading, writing, cutting with scissors, drawing, and playing. Typically, the ability to visually track objects emerges in children around the age of five. You might see problem

Pencil grasp - Occupational Therapy
Does my kid’s pencil grasp need fixing? How am I supposed to know?
Like any other milestones (rolling over -> crawling -> first steps -> walking -> running), pencil grasp has its own progression.
1. Fist grasp
2. Digital Pronate grasp
3. Tripod grasp: This is the IDEAL pencil grasp!
OR
Quadrapod grasp: Sometimes the child might be using 4 fingers (everything in tripod grasp + the ring finger) to control the pencil. This is also a functional grasp.
There

Tummy time is not just for babies! - Occupational Therapy
Tummy time is not just for babies! Development of strength, endurance and so much more happens on the floor!
Some children may become uncomfortable or tired when laying on their bellies during play. These are the children that may appear to be a bit ‘floppy’, have poor core strength, or poor endurance during play.
This is typically because these children spent little time on their tummy as babies and, are often the children who skipped crawling and went straight to wal