Holiday Tips for Supporting Children with Sensory Needs through Proprioceptive Input

Written by: Chandon Hines, M.S. OTR/L The holiday season is filled with excitement, but it can also bring overstimulating environments—crowded shopping malls, festive classrooms, and bustling family gatherings. For children with sensory processing challenges, these settings may feel overwhelming and frustrating. One way to help is by incorporating proprioceptive input into their daily routine. What is Proprioception? […]

Traveling with Children: Car Seat Safety

Written by: Sarah Duckworth OTR/L, OTD *These are general recommendations. For car seat and vehicle specific information, please read both your car seat and vehicle manuals or ask your local Child Passenger Safety Technician*  Ensuring the safety of children in vehicles is a top priority for parents while traveling to school, therapy appointments, and around […]

Handwriting Assessments in Occupational Therapy 

Handwriting is an incredibly complex skill. Many times, the difficulties might get overlooked. Here is a list of what an occupational therapist might observe or assess during a routine handwriting assessment: Depending on your child’s specific needs including motivation level, age, current handwriting level, and ability to complete certain functional tasks, a therapist may observe […]

Visual Skills are not only about your “EYES”!

If you have been around OT for any period of time, you may have heard your child’s therapist talk about visual motor skills and include activities within their session to strengthen these skills, but visual skills go much further than just the eyes! I would like to provide you with a quick rundown of a […]

Indoor Sensory Play

We are all waiting for the sunshine and warmer days ahead to give our kids the benefits of playing outside. Until then, you may be wondering how to fill the time indoors on weekends or between school and bedtime. Let’s look at some options to help give kids the sensory experiences they crave without having […]

Play Outside!

Did you know playing and spending time outdoors has many benefits for children? Outdoor play is a multi-sensory experience. Playing in the backyard, at the park, or on the playground provides input to all of the senses in our body such as aromas from plants, the sight of nature, and feeling unique textures, just to […]

Fine Motor Milestones & Facilitation

Use this list of the typical progression of grasping patterns that develop in the first year to give your child the most appropriate toys and activities for each stage. There are several motivating ways to help your baby develop the varying grasp patterns which will eventually lead to a variety of fine motor skills as […]