Do you need groundhog day activities in a hurry? Take the Groundhog Day Motor Minute Challenge. You can print this freebie at the bottom of the page and your students will have a blast trying to complete these fine and gross motor activities in under two minutes! Can you complete all the visual motor and […]
Frontiers in Psychology published research on the relationship between motor skills, cognitive function, and school performance in 45 students from 8 to 14 years of age. Each participant completed the following to assess different skill areas: 1) Touch Test Disc for motor skill coordination, 2) Shuttle Run Speed—running back and forth for agility, 3) Academic […]
Trends in Neuroscience and Education published research examining the visual motor connections in the brain when tracing, handwriting and typing in preschool children. Since handwriting letters has been shown to increase Blood Oxygen Level Dependent (BOLD) signal during letter perception in visual and motor brain regions the researchers investigated functional connectivity by analyzing BOLD data […]
The Journal of Spine Surgery published an open access review on the management of scoliosis in children with cerebral palsy (CP). Research indicates that 21-64% of children with CP develop scoliosis most likely to occurring before 10 years of age. In children with CP, scoliosis can progress beyond skeletal maturity which is different from idiopathic scoliosis. The […]
The Handwriting Book is designed to be an effective, easy-to-use resource for any parent, educator, or therapist. Ideas for activities, strategies, modifications, and adaptations for children of all ages are included alongside explanations of each aspect of handwriting. Each chapter includes helpful therapist tips to make handwriting practice more engaging and fun. Written by a […]
Here are two fun, NO PREP, Valentine’s Day sensory motor freebies! They are from the Valentine’s Day Sensory Motor Packet. These two activities are ready to go! Just print and start practicing fine and gross motor skills. The Valentine’s Day Brain Breaks is a great group activity to get heart rates up. The Conversation Heart […]
What comes first – difficulties with sensory modulation, anxiety or ritual behaviors? In children, it can be very hard to determine how the three are all inter-connected if at all. The Journal of Physical and Occupational Therapy published research investigating the relationships between sensory responsiveness, anxiety, and ritual behaviors in 48 boys (ages 5-9) with […]
After reading a thought provoking blog post from Christopher Alterio,OTR, on Deconstructing the myth of clothing sensitivity as a ‘sensory processing disorder’, it really made me think about how we talk to parents as pediatric therapists. Not just about clothing sensitivity or other sensory sensitivities but about any concern that a parent comes to discuss with […]
These two figure ground and spatial reasoning activities are free from the Crocodiles, Flamingos and Monkeys Visual Perceptual packet. Can you count how many crocodiles are in the picture? This figure ground activity can be printed to provide your students with a visual perceptual challenge. Can you use spatial reasoning and visual motor skills to […]
The working conditions survey results for school based therapists have been summarized. As you can see from the results, there were 431 responses to the questions about working conditions. Frankly, I was shocked that close to 79% of the school based therapists felt that a national organization should be formed to establish working condition standards ( […]