Phonological Awareness, Phonemic Awareness, and Phonics There tends to be confusion between the following terms: phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, and phonics. These skills are interrelated in reading and spelling, yet do not mean the same thing. It is important to know the difference between these skills to effectively help your child learn strategies to read...

During the summertime, parents get a well-deserved break from running their kids from place to place. While your kids are in school, your life may follow a set routine making it easy to get each task completed by the end of the day. Between summer camps, sports, and vacations your childs’ therapy might be forgotten....

Channeling your child’s inner “yogi” can be an easy and fun activity that has numerous benefits for the mind and body. Although yoga helps with strengthening and flexibility, it can also provide children with important life skills to help them succeed. Yoga can improve a child’s emotional regulation, decrease feelings of anxiety, boost their self-esteem,...

Does your child: ● Eat the same foods every day? ● Refuses to try or touch new foods? ● Gag at the sight or smell of food? ● Refuse to watch you eat? ● Have difficulty with chewing or swallowing? ● Avoid certain textures? ● Have meltdowns at mealtime? If you answered yes to one...

Heavy work is any kind of activity that pushes or pulls against the body. Heavy work involves a sense known as proprioception. Proprioception also known as kinesthesia, is the sense of movement, action, and location regarding to the body’s positioning in space. When children engage in heavy work messages are sent from receptors in their...

The tactile sensory system is responsible for interpreting touch, not only in the hands but every inch of your skin. The tactile system helps you to understand various sensations including textures, pressure, temperature, and pain. As an infant, our tactile system is responsible for building the first connection we have with others through the skin...

Most toddlers love to listen to music! It is exciting and keeps their attention. It is also a fun way to teach a variety of new skills, such as fine and gross motor skills, following directions, basic concepts, and new vocabulary. By singing songs with your child, you can help increase their speech and language...

So much of what we learn is gathered from what we see around us. Vision is not as simple as just seeing something in front of us. It begins with the structure of the eye and surrounding muscles. We must then be able to move our eyes to search for the item, understand it’s shape/form/what...

Your doctor says your child has hypotonia or “low tone”, but what exactly does that mean, and how does it affect your child’s development? Hypotonia is a medical term that means decreased muscle tone. Everyone is born with an individualized amount of muscle tone, which is the level of stiffness and tension of a muscle...

As your child gains independence and is learning to complete dressing activities on their own, clothing fasteners may be a tricky and frustrating skill for them to master because they involve many skills. Completing clothing fasteners, such as buttons and zippers, require refined fine motor skills and grasp patterns, visual motor skill and bilateral coordination...