WHAT IS INTEROCEPTION: So often we hear about the body’s 5 primary senses including, vision, touch(tactile), hearing(auditory), taste(gustatory) and smell(olfactory), occasionally another common two senses may be discussed including proprioception and the vestibular system. However, the body’s eighth sense, the sense that is hardly ever discussed is interoception. Interoception can best be understood as our...
What is a G-tube? A gastrostomy tube, “G-tube”, is a tube surgically placed in the stomach that delivers food directly to the stomach. Externally G-tubes look like a small port or button on the outside of the stomach. Why might a kid need a G-tube? There are many medical reasons behind the recommendation of a...
Toe walking is a pattern of walking in which a child walks on the balls of their feet, with no contact between the heels and the ground. Toe walking is common in children who are learning to walk. After age 2, however, most children outgrow toe walking and begin walking with a normal heel-toe pattern...
Myth: ABA uses “Bribery” Bribery often includes a negotiation in which something desirable is used as leverage in order to influence or change an undesirable outcome. Bribery involves criminal and illegal activities. Reality: ABA uses Reinforcement Reinforcement is a concept studied and backed by scientific research. Referring back to what we learned about the “consequences”...
First, let’s discuss what an SMO is. SMO stands for supra malleolar orthosis – a brace designed for the foot and ankle that stop just above the malleoli or the prominent boney aspects on either side of the ankle. SMOs are designed to provide support to the foot and ankle for children with low muscle...
Does your child sometimes use phrases or long sentences he has heard from a movie? Do they use “movie scripts” when speaking or seem to echo phrases? Then, your child may be a gestalt language processor. Language is typically learned in two ways: analytic or gestalt. Analytic language processors learn single words at a time...
A key milestone that marks a baby’s progression is head control. In this blog post, we will learn how babies develop head control during the first six months of their lives. Month 1: Building the Foundation In their first month, babies are still adjusting to the outside world. Their neck muscles, which were relatively underdeveloped...
With a hot Arizona summer upon us, water play is a great way to target many different skills with your child! First, it is a fun sensory activity to be splashing in a water table – who doesn’t like a fun way to cool off! You can change the sensory experience by adding ice cubes,...
What is a food jag? Many children, especially those with feeding sensitivities, tend to find a preferred or “safe” food and will get stuck in a pattern of only wanting to eat that food for every meal possible. This pattern is referred to, in the world of feeding therapy, as a “food jag”. Why do...
Nothing even happened and they just started having a meltdown”. There is always a reason why a child is engaging in challenging behavior, we just have to figure it out! Every instance of behavior has 3 common components, Antecedent, Behavior, and Consequence. The ABCs of behavior are beneficial when determining the functions of behavior. There...
