
Child Development


Half Pencils
Here’s a quick little thought/frustration of mine: Please, please, let kindergarteners (and first graders) (and I’d even say second graders!) use half-pencils instead of full pencils. I say “let” because I keep having to write […]

Puzzle Shuttle Run
The physical therapist who I work with told me that she had done a “shuttle run” with one of her kids — a timed activity or race where you must grab an object from one […]

Letter Reversals
It is extremely common and normal for children to reverse or invert letters when they are learning to write, or confuse those letters when they are learning to read. It makes perfect sense when you […]

Independent vs Alone
Welcome to this week’s edition of “The Occuplaytional Therapist takes a funny image/meme/tweet and way overthinks it…” I’m always dependable for that 😉 First of all, this is absolutely true. Second of all, it’s for […]

Learning to Argue
A story of mediating conflict between young siblings, rather than solving it for them. My then-2yo “Summer” was lying on the ground in the middle of the living room floor, playing with toys underneath her […]

First, Core & Upper Arm Strength
Before a child is ever able to write, and before they learn to control the small muscles of their hands, they need to have full-body strength. This comes mainly in the form of strength in […]

“Should” Be Able To
I walk into the classroom and sit down beside the child who’s on my caseload. She has OT services “push-in”, meaning that I don’t pull her out to my therapy room, but just go see […]

“Make” Them Write
I said this a few days ago as part of a larger post, and I liked it so much I decided it needed its own post. 😉 Some kids are interested in “writing” when they’re […]

Choices Are Hard
It’s “trendy” to offer your kid choices. 😉 It’s one of the easy, catchy, go-to parenting “tips and tricks” that I guarantee you’d see on almost any advice article, book, or even just talking to […]