This is what happens when two OTs go out to dinner...

We all get bored waiting for dinner, right?!

 Use the napkins and make some origami! Have your child copy your design and then see what she can come up with on her own!

Take a look around the table and use a variety of media! Sugar packets make nice details on a house.

Origami has several benefits:

• Motor Planning
• Sequencing
• Eye-hand coordination
• Attention to detail
• Spatial-temporal skills
• Bilateral motor coordination
• Fine Motor Coordination and dexterity
• Problem-solving
• Creativity

Who can make the prettiest bouquet?

This is just like the dog that we use to test children with Lucy Jane Miller's Miller Function and Participation Scales (M-Fun)

This is our attempt at duplicating the fish on the M-Fun!

Stop the food fights and try origami, instead!
Do you have any interesting strategies to occupy the kids at restaurants?

Michelle Yoder, OTR/L

Five Favorite Fidgets for Back to School Success

Magic Loops

Fidgets are great for kids and grown-ups to keep our hands busy and foster attention and concentration.  My office manager uses a variety of fidgets at her desk to sustain focus at the computer or while she is on those long phone calls with insurance companies.  The kids love walking by her desk to see her latest strategy. 

Tangle Jr.

For school, silent fidgets are important so that other students are not distracted.  Fidgets can be used at the desk during instructional periods or when students have to quietly sit still at circle time.  They can be a great strategy to sustain attention for homework, too.

Boink

I love when I walk into a classroom and see a bin of fidgets that the students have access to when they feel the need to fidget.  Or, some children like to store their fidgets in a pencil box in their desk.  Talk to your students about what might work best for them. Encourage all students to use the fidgets, but be sure to set expectations and rules for fidgets.

Fidget Pencils

My five favorite (silent) fidgets are:

1.    The Fidget Pencil

2.    Tangle Jr.

3.    Boink

4.    Inside Out Ball

5.    Magic Loops

Inside Out Ball

Flower Power!

About 17 years ago, when I worked for Easter Seals, I treated a girl named Jennifer who had Rett Syndrome.  I loved working with Jen. She had the best smile and awesome thick hair.  Her family was wonderful, too.  When I left to open up Touchstone, I lost touch with Jen and her family, but I think of her often.

Today, while getting a coffee, I found a stack of bookmarks sitting at the counter near the cashier.  The cute flowers, bright colors and the word believe caught my attention. "Believe in the power to cure Rett Syndrome" it said.  I flipped it over to see RettGardenofHope.org; growing hope for girls with Rett Syndrome. Once again, I was reminded of Jen and the hope her family had for her.

So, what is the Garden of Hope? I know that you've seen the puzzle pieces for Autism awareness and the shamrocks for MDA.  Well, this is the same thing, but with flowers for Girl Power! (Rett Syndrome is a genetic, neurological disorder that affects mostly girls.) You can start your own Garden of Hope at your church or school to help find a cure for Rett Syndrome!  Go to gp2c.org to find out how you can help raise awareness and support research for Rett Syndrome.  They have already discovered that re-introducing a protein that the brain needs may help reverse the symptoms!  So, put on your gardening gloves and sew some seeds!

Tell me about your Garden of Hope or how your girl power has helped a child!

Michelle Yoder, OTR/L

Another great way to use Fundanoodle's I Can Pound!

We are working on diagonals, so this big guy put pegs on each dot to form an X.  You could do the same with shapes and letters!
As you can see, it is quite resistive, so sometimes it takes 2 hands!  

He filled up all of the dots on the page with the tees.
He used his hands to put the pegs in, but you could use the hammer, too.

Next, he carefully placed marbles on top of each tee.  This required great control!

As you can see, it is hard work!  Increase the challenge by having your child hold 3 marbles in his hand.  Then, one at a time, have him move one from his palm to his fingertips to place it on top of the tee!

The finished product!

He is proud of his hard work! 

The Power of the Potato!

Who doesn't love Mr. Potato Head?! You can dress him up as you please, over and over again!
But, did you know, that what seems like play, is really a lot of work for a child?
Mr. Potato Head fosters imagination, ideation for putting parts to whole and even body awareness and a sense of self?

Mr. Potato Head is a timeless toy that has many therapeutic benefits!

The child must have an idea of where the body parts go in relation to the other parts.

The choice of different body parts allow for individuality, which may lead to improved self-esteem.

Accessorizing fosters creativity and also may help contribute to self-identity and self-esteem.

And, don't forget about the fine motor and visual motor coordination that it takes to assemble all of the parts into the holes!

We often use self-portraits in therapy, to gauge a child's body awareness and cognitive skills. Today, we started with a "before" portrait as shown below. We then spent about ten minutes with therapeutic interventions that provided the child with proprioceptive input, followed by playing with Mr. Potato Head.  The child was then asked to draw a picture of herself.  What a difference!

The child was asked to draw a picture of herself.

After therapeutic intervention and play, including Mr. Potato Head, this was her self-portrait. 

A Dozen Uses for Bean Bags

I don't know what we would do without bean bags in our clinic!  They serve several purposes, but we use them primarily to provide Heavy Work (get moving!)  and Deep Pressure Input (get calm and cozy!)!

Your kids will come up with all sorts of uses for these large bean bags, but here are a dozen uses to get you started!

1. pull them or push them across the floor 
2. throw them to a target
3. stack them to make the Leaning of Tower Pisa
4. challenge your balance by walking across a row of bean bags without "falling into the ocean"
5. strengthen your core and upper body by crawling across a row of bean bags
6. crab walk with one on your belly 
7. jump off the trampoline, sofa or bed into a pile of bean bags
8. pretend to be a turtle and crawl with it on your back
9. snuggle in while reading 
10. use as a boundary during circle time at school
11. get buried by a big tower of bags- each bag could be a different pizza or sundae topping
12. apply pressure through the bean bag- spread the mustard, ketchup and other toppings on the hot dog

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to all of our sweeties!
Here are some fun Valentine activities to spread the love (and work on those developmental skills)!

Sort conversation hearts by colors

Use salad tongs to pick up plastic conversation hearts that have hidden treasures in them:  marbles, coins, small candies, etc.

Make learning spelling words fun by placing the words of the week in the hearts!

Create a story starter!  Come up with a theme and place words pertaining to that theme in the hearts. After opening the hearts, place the words in order to form a sentence.

Next, have your valentine write a story using those words!

Match letters from the hearts to letters in your sweetie's name or spelling words.

After you've indulged in your chocolate, use the box to create a puzzle using foam pieces.  We used two different colors of brown to make milk and dark chocolate!