Does your child hate handwriting?

Does your child hate handwriting? Do they start whining or having a meltdown the second they have to start homework? If you notice any of these behaviors, they may be using these tactics to avoid one of the skills most important for success in a school setting. Handwriting is one of the most difficult tasks kids tackle. For starters, it requires a solid foundation in hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, visual perceptual skills, and bilateral coordination… the list goes on!

From birth, our brains are wired to help us learn spoken languages, but our brains have to learn how to combine the skills we use for handwriting from scratch. So many skills and systems have to work together to allow us to write even a single word!  You have to simultaneously use your knowledge of language, your visual system, your vestibular system (the ability to tell where your limbs are in space), the ability to cross the midline, fine motor ability, and your sense of touch and pressure with every letter you write.

When kids have difficulty performing a task they can’t avoid, they can form bad habits to help them compensate for weaker areas of development. For example, they might have an immature pencil grip, using only four fingers. While these compensatory strategies may help them in the short term, they don’t allow for proper growth and development. Your child may also put their head down on the table while they write. This helps them keep their head still so they concentrate on their hand movements, but it can also lead to poor handwriting, inconsistent letter size, and incorrect letter placement on the page.

Think about how difficult it is to write in a straight line when your head is at a slant. Or maybe you notice them moving their head as they move their hand across the page. This is likely a sign that they’re having difficulty tracking movements with just their eyes. They need the extra input provided by moving their head and hand simultaneously to get a better sense of where their hand and, by extension their pencil, is on the page. This difficulty with tracking will reappear when they play sports, read, and even when watching movies or TV shows.

Getting a handle on handwriting!

The good news? At Theraplay LA, our OTs have training in both sensory integration and Handwriting Without Tears, an internationally recognized and award-winning program! Our expertise in sensory processing and motor development allows us to help your child address the sensory differences keeping them from writing while helping improve their handwriting abilities through multisensory approaches. We’re determined to help set your child up for success, academically and beyond.

Dr. Marielly is a Los Angeles native and Loyola Marymount University, graduate whose insatiable curiosity with the mind-body connection since childhood led her to the field of occupational therapy. She graduated from the top-ranked University of Southern California in 2011 with a Master’s Degree and completed a Doctorate with a teacher’s aid scholarship in 2012. Her areas of expertise include Sensory processing and a “SIPT” certification, Training in Neurodevelopmental Treatment (NDT), Cuevas Medek Exercise (CME), Handwriting without Tears, Integrated Learning Systems (ILS)., Advanced practice in swallowing assessment, evaluation, or intervention, Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy, Cranial Nerve Integration. Dr. Marielly and her team started Theraplay LA as a pediatric OT practice dedicated to providing intentional and precise levels of care to those in Los Angeles and beyond. 

Molly Huggins

Molly is a member of our creative team, mom of four water-loving babies, and a fierce advocate for CPR training and really early swim instruction.

The post Getting A Handle on Handwriting appeared first on One with the Water.

Sensory Integration: Get Those Motor Skills Moving!

Have you noticed that your child struggles to keep up with other kids? Do they have trouble navigating a new playground? Did your Mama Gut ever make you feel like they had delays learning to crawl or walk? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, they might have underlying sensory issues. At first, it might not make sense that sensory differences can impact your child’s ability to learn new skills, but every part of our body is interconnected. Sensory information is the foundation on which we build motor skills. Without our sense of touch and balance, we would struggle to navigate the world. The feedback in our feet tells you whether the floor is even, whether the ground is sturdy, and how to balance on the floor. If these senses are amplified or silenced too much, it can lead to discomfort and poor feedback from our surroundings.

Our sense of touch is also deeply linked to our sense of balance and our ability to tell where our limbs are without looking at them. If we can’t get a clear idea of our surroundings and how we’re interacting with them, it’s difficult to learn how to crawl in them, let alone walk, run, or climb. Sensory issues can also make it difficult to concentrate on the task at hand. Occupational therapy acknowledges and embraces the connection between our senses and the rest of our body to ensure your child gets the most complete and effective care possible. We don’t want to put your child through years of therapy solely working on their motor symptoms when we could target the sensory causes behind those symptoms and help them improve within months!

If you’re looking for Los Angeles-based occupational therapy for sensory integration, then we can send you to the right place! At Theraplay LA we offer in-home, in-clinic, and telehealth sensory integration sessions. We know that watching your child struggle with everyday activities can be overwhelming, which is why we apply strategies specifically tailored to provide quick and lasting results. We’re here to support your child through every step towards sensory integration!

Dr. Marielly is a Los Angeles native and Loyola Marymount University, graduate whose insatiable curiosity with the mind-body connection since childhood led her to the field of occupational therapy. She graduated from the top-ranked University of Southern California in 2011 with a Master’s Degree and completed a Doctorate with a teacher’s aid scholarship in 2012. Her areas of expertise include Sensory processing and a “SIPT” certification, Training in Neurodevelopmental Treatment (NDT), Cuevas Medek Exercise (CME), Handwriting without Tears, Integrated Learning Systems (ILS)., Advanced practice in swallowing assessment, evaluation, or intervention, Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy, Cranial Nerve Integration. Dr. Marielly and her team started Theraplay LA as a pediatric OT practice dedicated to providing intentional and precise levels of care to those in Los Angeles and beyond. 

Molly Huggins

Molly is a member of our creative team, mom of four water-loving babies, and a fierce advocate for CPR training and really early swim instruction.

The post Sensory Integration: Part Two appeared first on One with the Water.

Her areas of expertise include

• Sensory processing and a “SIPT” certification
• Training in Neurodevelopmental Treatment (NDT)
• Cuevas Medek Exercise (CME)
• Handwriting without Tears
• Integrated Learning Systems (ILS).
• Advanced practice in swallowing assessment, evaluation, or intervention
• Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy
• Cranial Nerve Integration

Dr. Marielly is joining us on the blog for the next few weeks to talk more about warning signs for parents and the whole body benefits of pediatric occupational therapy. Join us as we learn more about how we can continue to improve the mind-body connection of our children through pediatric occupational therapy.

Today we are discussing sensory integration and the behavioral benefit of this therapeutic intervention.

Sensory Integration: Behavioral Benefits

Does it seem like your child is constantly throwing tantrums? Do they unravel at the end of the day? Sensory dysregulation, whether from too much or too little input, can have direct and severe impacts on your child’s mood. It can also impact your child’s behavior, appearing in the form of meltdowns and poor impulse control. Think about how hard it is to concentrate when you’re itchy or how frustrating it can be when your foot falls asleep and you can’t walk across the room. Your child could be experiencing similar feelings 24/7.

Occupational therapy is designed to help regulate your child. Sometimes, in order to make progress, we focus on treating unlikely areas. Your first impulse might have been to visit a psychiatrist or psychologist. While they may be able to help treat the behavioral symptoms your child is showing, they can’t treat the root cause of your child’s emotional outbursts. They may gain skills used to deal with their increased stress, but they’ll still find themselves coping with daily discomfort. One of the great things about sensory integration is that you’ll see behavioral changes simply by working with a therapist to get your child more in tune with their sensory profile. Once they feel more comfortable in their own skin, you’ll be amazed at how quickly that frustration melts away and their emotions begin to stabilize!

Theraplay LA

If you’re looking for Los Angeles-based occupational therapy for sensory integration, then you’re in luck. Dr. Marielly and her team started Theraplay LA as a pediatric OT practice dedicated to providing intentional and precise levels of care to those in Los Angeles and beyond. Theraplay LA  offers in-home, in-clinic, and telehealth sensory integration sessions. They know that watching your child struggle can be heartbreaking, which is why they apply strategies specifically tailored to provide quick and lasting results. They will support your child, emotionally and otherwise, through every stage of sensory integration!

Molly Huggins

Molly is a member of our creative team, mom of four water-loving babies, and a fierce advocate for CPR training and really early swim instruction.

The post Sensory Integration: Behavorial Benefits appeared first on One with the Water.

As an organization with a unique focus on serving children and families with special needs, we do our best to be aware of significant issues happening in the community. COVID-19 continues to dictate our day to day in an unprecedented manner. Schooling at home carries additional challenges for teachers and parents engaging with children who require extra help and resources to manage their educational needs.

In normal circumstances, the federal Individuals with Disabilities Act ensures that such families receive the support they need in the education system.

“The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a law that makes available a free appropriate public education to eligible children with disabilities throughout the nation and ensures special education and related services to those children.The IDEA governs how states and public agencies provide early intervention, special education, and related services to more than 6.5 million eligible infants, toddlers, children, and youth with disabilities.” Source

Due to the constraints of COVID-19, some school districts are unable to provide the resources and support available. Some students aren’t receiving any instruction online at all. Now the issue is coming to a head in Washington, DC, as advocates and administrators go head to head over how to best support these students with the resources available.

According to the Washington Post, 

“The advocates are demanding that school districts deliver education equitably, as the law requires. Administrators say they cannot do the same things they did when schools were open and need some flexibility.”

In short, advocates are demanding that all tenets of the IDEA be upheld and all legal rights afforded to students, and no waivers to the authority of the law should be granted.

Administrators, on the other hand, argue that waiver authority is necessary.

“Local education agencies (LEAs) are facing a great deal of compliance challenges which are taking our focus from educating children with disabilities and shifting, focusing our effort on paperwork. Without flexibility, we will generate endless cycles of reporting about how COVID-19 caused money to be unspent, evaluations to be delayed, and services and supports that are in IEPs that are not able to be implemented.

(From the letter from the special education administrators’ organizations seeking flexibility from Congress)

Read the full Washington Post Article here for full copies of the letters detailing each side’s case in the matter. 

How is this affecting your family? Are you receiving the support you need? Let us know and don’t forget to share!

Molly Huggins

Molly is a member of our creative team, mom of four water-loving babies, and a fierce advocate for CPR training and really early swim instruction.

The post Upholding the Individuals With Disabilities Act appeared first on One with the Water.