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3 Ways to Indicate a Child Has Mastered a New Skill

Once a child has achieved a new motor skill check the following ways to determine if the child has truly mastered the skill: 1. Can the child demonstrate the skill in all environments? 2. Can the child explain why and when he/she will use the new skill? 3.  Can the child teach the new skill […]

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Category Freebie

Download your free copy of Categories Word Finds – Fruits.  You can either find the word, write the words Handwriting without Tears Style or write the words Zaner-Bloser style.   Great for differentiated instruction, visual perceptual skills and handwriting practice.  You can get download the freebie at https://www.yourtherapysource.com/categorywordsfree.html

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Higher BMI Increases Asthma in Children

The University of Bristol conducted research on almost 5000 children at age 7.5 years old.  Using Mendelian randomization to look at changes in gene patterns they found a strong connection between asthma, BMI and body fat. Most significantly they found that the relative risk of asthma increased by 55 per cent for every extra unit […]

OT Life Hacks

During the month of July the AOTA and other associations have banded together to promote #OTLifeHacks on social media.  A life hack is any trick, shortcut, skill, or new method that helps to solve an everyday problem.  Abby over at OT Cafe at http://abbypediatricot.blogspot.com/2014/07/otlifehack.html encouraged some other therapy bloggers to join in the #OTLifeHack fun. Here […]

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Postural Stability and Cerebral Palsy

Pediatric Physical Therapy published research comparing postural stability during static upright standing between 45 children with cerebral palsy (CP) and 45 age-matched peers with typical development (TD) ages 5-12 years old. A posturography device was used for assessment. Postural stability was evaluated under 4 sensory conditions: eyes open and eyes closed on a firm surface; […]

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ADHD and Handwriting

Journal of Attention Disorders published research on kinematically characterizing the handwriting of 14 boys with ADHD-combined type and 14 typically developing boys. The boys wrote a series of four cursive letter ‘l’s using a graphics tablet and a stylus. The results indicated the following: 1. Children with ADHD-CT had more inconsistent writing size than did […]

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Gross motor deficits and fetal alcohol exposure

Pediatrics published research a systemic review of 2881 articles consisting of observational studies including children aged 0 to ≤18 years with (1) a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) diagnosis or moderate to heavy prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE), or a mother with confirmed alcohol dependency or binge drinking during pregnancy, and (2) gross motor outcomes obtained by […]