Seasonal Sensory Bins
By Erica Gliga MOT, OTR/L ‘Tis the season for sensory bins. This post shares 2 different seasonal sensory bin ideas to inspire some of your own creations to incorporate into play routines during the holiday season. Generally speaking, sensory bins can support development in a variety of ways such as providing tactile, visual, auditory, and […]
Therapy? It looks like they’re just playing games …
Rouzan Dishoian MS, CF-SLP Speech therapy is often perceived as a fun and playful activity for young children, where they engage in games and activities that appear to be pure amusement. While therapy has a play based approach for young kiddos, it is essential to understand that speech therapy is not just play. It is […]
Should I Buy a Baby Walker?
By Francesca Resurreccion PT, DPT As a pediatric physical therapist, parents often ask if baby walkers help babies take their first steps. I’m here to tell you, sadly, they don’t. Let’s look into it together. To prepare for walking, babies need to meet several milestones: Rolling Prop sitting Independent sitting Army crawling on their tummy […]
Encouraging Utensil Use
By Christina Martinez, OTR/L As exciting as it may be for children to begin transitioning to solid foods, it can get messy! Little ones learning how to feed themselves is an important part of development, but it can also end up with food all over their chair, on the floor, and on themselves. No need […]
Social Stories
By Christine Hemelians, MS, OTR/L Social Stories are used as a learning tool to explain and illustrate certain social situations and problems and how people deal with them. Carol Gray, developed the concept of Social Stories, to help individuals with Autism navigate certain social situations. They help describe what might be expected during a specific […]
Baby-Led Weaning
By Deborah Lee MS, OTR/L What is baby-led weaning? Is a popular approach to starting solid foods. It skips over purees and jumps into finger foods that baby can self-feed. While it is inevitable and common for parents to spoon-feed their babies until a certain age, baby-led weaning places the independence on babies to take […]
What is Childhood Apraxia of Speech?
By Pranali Shah MS, CF SLP Childhood Apraxia of Speech, often abbreviated as CAS, is a motor speech disorder that affects a child’s ability to plan and coordinate the movements required to speak. Unlike other speech disorders, CAS is not caused by muscle weakness or paralysis but rather by difficulties in the brain’s planning and […]
Pacifier use
By Madison Gwizdalski MS-CCC, SLP Oh, the controversial pacifier! You might also know it as a binky, nookie, pon-pon, or dummy… (amongst others). Some parents swear by it and can’t imagine toddlerhood without this tool… others could never imagine giving one to their child! Is there any in-between? As child development specialists, we know that […]
Core Activation Activities
By Erica Gliga MOT, OTR/L More core, please! Core strength is foundational for developing an upright posture and motor skill development. Here are some different ideas to inspire activities that will actively engage your child’s core through play and movement. Swinging, Climbing, and Sliding Swinging is a great way to activate the core and increase […]
Using Music to Help Children Learn Language
By Madison Gwizdalski MS-CCC, SLP Have you ever noticed that your child’s eyes light up when they hear their favorite song? Or witnessed them jump up and down from excitement when they recognize the beginning beats of “Baby Shark”? What about the calming effects that certain lullabies will have on soothing your fussy baby? We […]