After-School Activities to Increase Your Child’s Fine Motor, Gross Motor, and Speech and Language Skills: Our therapists in the Traverse City location have shared some of their favorite activities to help your child progress their skills with fun and motivating ideas for targeting fine motor, visual motor, gross motor, and speech and language skills in the after-school hours. From our Occupational … Read More
Benefits of Sign Language
Created by: Danielle Gage MSU Speech Student Common Misconceptions About Sign Language Sign language hinders my child’s ability to speak: Research shows that sign language actually enhances a variety of speech and language skills necessary for foundational learning skills. My child has to have a hearing impairment in order to learn sign language: False. Sign language has been used … Read More
All The Worlds A-Play
“Play Hard” is one of the most important things learned as a child – and a skill grown-ups oftentimes need to rekindle!“ By Janet Ringle-Bartels & Julie Windham Play. Although on the surface it seems to be a simple word, it has such a strong impact on a child’s development. But how can play be important? After all, it’s just … Read More
Understanding Toe Walking in Children
What is Toe Walking? Toe walking simply means that the child walks up on the balls of their feet instead of walking with a heel-to-toe pattern. Toe walking is something frequently treated at our clinic. But how do you know if toe walking is something to be concerned about? Some amount of toe walking is normal and expected for children … Read More
Why is sport specialization not so special?
What is sport specialization? Playing sports as a child used to mean there was a good chance you played several sports throughout the year. This may include soccer in the fall, basketball in the winter, and track and field in the spring. However, today, many kids are not so diversified. Instead, they are choosing a single sport early in life and … Read More
What are Social Stories?
If you have ever wondered, “What exactly are social stories?”, or have a child that has difficulty with transitions, unexpected environments or social skills, this article is for you. I’m here to introduce social stories and hopefully inspire you to give them a try. Social stories were developed to better help children with Autism navigate social situations, but can be … Read More
Weighted Blankets
Weighted blankets provide deep pressure input and can be used as a calming tool. The calming effects have been found to decrease activity level, increase focus, and improve sleep. Lap pads and “lap snakes” are similar tools but are smaller in size and more commonly used during seated tasks. They can be placed either on the child’s lap or shoulders. … Read More
Tummy Time
The Importance of Tummy Time As a baby grows and develops, it is very important that he has the opportunity to play in different positions. Since babies spend time on their backs while sleeping and in car seats, it is important that while they are awake, they have supervised tummy time. Trying to minimize the time your baby spends in … Read More