Back-to-school season is right around the corner. Among the general chaos of restocking on school supplies, setting the alarm for earlier, and adjusting your family’s weekday routine, another challenge may arise. During the summer, children’s mealtimes often become much more casual. It can be difficult for children to acclimate to the structured snack and lunch times once returning to school, causing rumbling stomachs and constant requests for snacks. Here are some ways to help your child adjust to the back-to-school eating rhythm!

Seeking services for your child can be stressful. It can feel even more overwhelming when you are not quite sure what to look for. Determining which services and supports a child needs is rarely straightforward, and can take a lot of investigation. It can seem like a formidable feat, especially when you might not know where to start.
If you know this feeling, a developmental assessment may be the best path forward, and give you all the information you need to make the best decision for your child. A developmental assessment involves clinicians from different professions, which gives you the whole puzzle rather than a single piece.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is hallmarked by many things, including difficulty with seated activities, executive functioning skills, and an increased need for movement. Children with ADHD often struggle across many areas of their daily life, and may experience more frustration and dysregulation because of it. If your child has recently been diagnosed with ADHD, occupational therapy is likely on the list of recommendations. While many parents are familiar with occupational therapy in some capacity, it may be unclear what exactly occupational therapists can do to support your child.

Many parents find that their child’s mealtime routine goes out the window at the start of the summer break. It can be exhausting to maintain the structure of your child’s snack and mealtimes without the school schedule to form the foundation. With summer break comes unlimited access to snacks, and with endless snacks comes the inevitable “I’m not hungry” at dinner time. But since everything else in your child’s routine changes in the summer, so should your approach to meals.

Independent play is a crucial aspect of a child's development, as it promotes imagination, creativity, and problem-solving abilities. As parents, we support and encourage independent play not as a replacement for quality time spent together, but rather as an enrichment to our attachment with our children. When children know and are secure in their ability to spend time in connection with you, they are also secure in separating for independent play.

Research shows that even as little as 15 minutes of connected child-led play where we devote our full attention to our kids can make an impact in their emotional regulation and attachment to us. We hope this support and activity ideas helps give you the boost to get on the floor with them!

Getting outside in the cold winter months can seem easier said than done. Here’s some thoughts and some gear so you can enjoy the outdoors all year long!

The holiday season should be a joyful time, not something you feel like you have to "survive." When you have a child with sensory aversion, the key is planning ahead!

Looking for a fun activity to work on sensory tolerance? Try this tree finger painting activity

Halloween doesn’t have to be a spooky scary time for kids with sensory challenges! Today, we discuss how to enjoy this holiday and support your children where they need it.

Tactile defensiveness around water and particularly the bath is very common, especially with children who have sensory processing difficulties. It’s not unusual for children even without a sensorial aversion to water to go through a period where they don’t want to take a bath. Moreover, sometimes kids just don’t want to take a bath! Here are some strategies that can work on an off day when your child is really resisting the bath or over a long period of time as you work together with your child to reduce their tactile defensiveness.

Do you have a child struggling with the bedtime routine? Here’s some strategies you can implement tonight. Remember, with children, we are playing the long game. Our job as parents is to provide consistent, gentle support. We co-regulate with our children, and as time goes on, we will see them make improvements.

Bilateral coordination is the ability to use both sides of the body at one time. The midline is the center of your body, and you need to be able to cross midline to coordinate both sides of your body at one time. It’s a super important skill for children to have because so many activities of daily living require bilateral coordination.

Put your detective hats on and set off on a scavenger hunt in your house, on a walk, at the playground, or even the grocery store! Play this fun game to work on your child’s articulation goals (if they have them), phonemic awareness (the building block of reading), and categorization.

It can be difficult to know if your child is struggling with speech or language skills or if they are at a developmentally appropriate level. Here’s a checklist for you before you contact your child’s pediatrician or a speech-language pathologist.

It can be difficult to know if your child is struggling with developmental skills or if they are at a developmentally appropriate level. Here’s a checklist for you before you contact your child’s pediatrician or an occupational therapist.

We know that back to school can be a whole mess of emotions for children and parents! Everyone is excited and nervous and eagerly anticipating what the year will bring them. We’ve put together some back to school tips to set the school year off to success.

Heavy work is anything a child can to do exert the muscles in their body. This is incredibly regulating to their nervous system and important to incorporate daily. We’ve included some practical life and playful heavy work activities your child or client can do. Children love helping and feeling like an important member of their family and are happy to have a roll in caring for the home. Some activities like “push a ball around the room” may not at first seem like a “fun” activity. If your child is at first resistant, make a game out of it! Anything can be made to be fun with a little creativity and silliness.