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Self Regulated Strategy Development

Self regulated strategy development (SRSD) is an instructional model to teach writing strategies to students.   SRSD has been researched and shown to result in significant and meaningful improvements in writing knowledge, writing quality, writing approach, self-regulation skills, and motivation.  School based occupational therapists may focus on the actual skill of handwriting and also the […]

Gesture Recognition App – Ball Strike

Have you heard of gesture recognition?  It is the ability for the iPad camera to interact with your actions.  There are a few, fun gesture recognition apps but I will start with my favorite one for today – Ball Strike. Free for lite version $0.99 for full version  https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ballstrike/id541879968 This app is super fun. Using […]

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Occupational Therapy Month Poster

Start to get ready for OT Month coming in April.  Print and hang up this sign to get started.  You can download the FREE OT month sign at https://www.yourtherapysource.com/otmonth3.html or check out the signs from previous years. Need ideas to celebrate?  Check out previous blog posts: 10 Things to Do to Celebrate OT Month at https://www.yourtherapysource.com/blog1/2009/04/07/10-things-to-do-to-celebrate-ot-month/ Minute It […]

Exercise Training for Wheelchair Proplusion

Clinical Rehabilitation published a research review on whether different types of exercise training programs are effective in improving wheelchair propulsion capacity.  Studies were divided into four training types: interval, endurance, strength, and mixed training.  The results indicated the following: 1.  Twenty one studies were included representing 249 individuals with spinal-cord injury (50%), various diagnoses like spina bifida […]

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Gross Motor and Fine Motor Activity Using Colored Dot Stickers

I am not sure why but I just LOVE colored dot stickers.  They are cheap and versatile for all sorts of activities that combine movement with learning.  Here is my latest idea using these awesome stickers: 1.  Write some numbers on colored dot stickers.  For this example, I wrote the numbers 1-4 twice.  Draw matching […]

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Gross Motor Skills in Children with Autism

The Journal of Child & Adolescent Behavior published research comparing the gross motor skill performance on 21 children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 21 age matched peers (5-10 years) using the Test of Gross Motor Development-2 (TGMD- 2).   The motor performance scores  on the TGMD-2 were compared.  The following results were recorded: 1.  For the locomotor subtest, 67% […]

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5 Tips to Help Students Be Independent with Modifications

Modifications to the school environment can greatly benefit students with disabilities. School staff needs to teach students to be independent in making sure that modifications are in place in the learning environment.  It is not our job to simple recommend modifications it is also our job as educators/therapists to ensure that the modifications are carried […]

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Research on a Collaborative Fine Motor Program

Ingrid King, OT, has written research on a collaborative fine motor program for 5 year old children in New Zealand.  A two phased mixed method design was utilized with 19 students in a 5 year old classroom (none of the students were receiving occupational therapy nor had a diagnosis).  To measure changes in fine motor […]