Summer is a great time for children to engage in fun activities that both entertain and work on important skills needed for development. Fine motor skills in particular are an important part of everyday life and can be worked on through a variety of fun activities. Fine motor skills involve the coordination of small muscles...
How Summer Break Impacts Autistic Kids: Tips for Smooth Transitions It’s Summer! As we count down the final days of the school year and get ready for summer break, it is important to consider what summer break can mean for families of children with Autism. It is a very exciting time, with warmer weather, sleeping...
An important early fine motor milestone that children develop is the ability to feed themselves with utensils. Toddlers typically start using a spoon for eating between the ages of 10-12 months (CDC). A child will continue to develop towards increasingly effective use of a wide variety of eating utensils for self feeding as they get...
What is Reciprocal Play? Reciprocal play occurs when your child is engaged with another person and participating in some kind of back and forth action or exchange. A classic example of this is peek-a-boo! When your child covers their face and then pops out, you reciprocate with a surprised face and “peek-a-boo”! You initiate the...
Fall is here! When providing your child with developmentally appropriate activities, utilizing the natural materials around you is a great way to foster a love of nature and keep costs down. Fall leaves you find in your neighborhood are a great material with a variety of different uses. Here are some fun ideas for using...
Alma is an energetic and happy three year old who has just started preschool. Her teachers have noticed that she gets agitated when the classroom is noisy or another child touches her unexpectedly, which is impacting her participation in many group activities. Alma seems to be over-responsive to some types of sensory input. So what...
As a pediatric Occupational Therapist in Mountain View, CA and the Bay area, I have been working with autistic children with sensory sensitivices and their parents for over 25 years. I love Halloween! It is “just right” for for my nervous system. A little scary, a little loud, a bunch of yummy treats and a...
Billy is a 7 year old boy who loves outer space. He knows a lot about outer space. Billy is very active but he gets irritable very easily. He doesn’t like loud sounds, but he makes them all of the time. Billy likes things to be “his way” and he often gets argumentative about getting...
Head inversion: The Sensory Tool known for Centuries First of all, I really never thought about inverting your head as being a therapeutic tool, until I started doing yoga. I realized that when I did downward dog pose; I felt extremely calm. Later, I completed a 400 hour yoga teacher certification. Looking further into inversions,...
What is deep pressure touch (DPT)? Deep pressure is the deep, touch pressure that results from stimulation of our touch receptors deep under our skin. When you touch the skin, the receptors send the information to the brain and or areas of the brain that process touch of a related or given body part. Deep...
