In kindergarten, you probably learned about the five basic senses. Taste, touch, hearing, vision, and smell. All of these senses are important to a human in helping them with learning about their environment and how to interact within it. When a baby is first born, her first experience with the mother is to feel her...
Every occupational therapist has specific tools that they love and use. But which of these should you select for your home? An occupational therapist is a professional who specializes in helping people habilitate or rehabilitate after an injury or illness. A pediatric occupational therapist works with children who have developmental differences. Their focus is on...
Children Need to Experience Natural Elements in Learning Recently, I have been visiting lots of preschools in the Mountain View Area. One of the things I love about the Bay Area is how naturalistic the schools are. Children are provided with a just-right environment and they are allowed their own freedom to visit different groups...
As a Pediatric Occupational Therapist in Mountain View, CA I work with kids on toileting. Toilet training is a thing. For many parents it’s a badge of honor, “My kid was toilet trained at 18 months”. UGH. Developmental differences are…different Children with developmental differences may have challenges with medically related reasons why they have...
In the Bay Area and Mountain View, there are a lot of choices of professionals to work with when your child has been diagnosed with autism. There are ABA behavior specialists, Speech therapists, Occupational Therapists- the list goes on and on. I have been an Occupational Therapist for over 25 years. This means that I...
I am an occupational therapist using DIR . I took a DIR/FCD training about 3 years ago. It was an intensive 1 year certification aimed at teaching professionals such as myself, how to work with children who have different abilities. The training focuses on consideration of Developmental levels, Individual sensory differences and building Relationships. It...
Does this sound familiar? Your kid is getting dressed in the morning but basically refusing to wear anything. Complaints about tags on the back of the shirt, the seams of the socks don’t lineup, the collar of the shirt is too tight, the texture of the clothing is too scratchy, the sleeves are too long,...
Now that we are getting closer and closer to the mask mandates being lifted, lots more people are getting out and about. One of my family’s favorite pastimes is to go to baseball games! This year, it’s going to be a bit different. They have spent the last 18 months cooped up with not a...
Toddlers are known for bumping into things, falling over and getting back up, bouncing off walls and moving onward. Preschoolers are a little more refined. Most preschoolers can figure out how to move their bodies to accomplish tasks after a few opportunities of practice or after they watch someone else do it. They know what...
What is Interoception and how does it related to toileting? Interoception is a sense within our bodies that allows us to notice internal sensations or internal body signals. (our heart pounding when we are upset, our grumbling stomach when we’re hungry, shaky muscles when working out or a full bladder when we need to relieve...
