October's Kid-friendly Exercises from Occupational Therapy October's Kid-Friendly Exercises from Occupational Therapy Theme: Super Heroes and Monsters Kid-Friendly Exercises #1: Prone Extension. This position can also be known as the superman pose. When laying on your stomach, lift arms overhead and hold arms, head, and legs off of the ground. This is great [...]
The Essential Skills for Successful Conversations Conversational Skills: What is conversation? - a form of interactive, spontaneous communication between two or more people. The development of conversational skills and etiquette is an important part of socialization. What are discourse skills? Components of a Conversation (describe in the order that they typically happen) Greetings/initiation- saying hello, [...]
ABA Tips for Improving Child Communication According to Ellyn Lucas Arwood, EdD, a professor who specializes in language and special education at the University of Portland located in Oregon, children with autism think in terms of what ideas look like. Therefore, when communicating with children with autism, the more visual one can make the [...]
September Occupational Therapy Drills September Occupational Therapy Drills Theme: Dinosaur and Bugs Occupational Therapy Drills # 1: Gross motor: Jumping. Jump on spot Jump forwards from a line two feet together Jump down from a progressively higher height Jump from hoop to hoop, circle to circle, over a rope. Jump sideways, back and forth, forwards and back Occupational [...]
Speech Therapy Tips for Maximizing Home-School Communication Speech Therapy Tips for Maximizing Home-School Communication It is proven across the board that those parents that want to be a part of their child's therapy, and SLPs that involve the parents fully in the speech program see increased progress and faster! Some important things to consider: Obtain a [...]
ABA Tips for Better School-Home Communication School-home communication is very important for all children. Having a child with special needs can make the connection more challenging since the child may have a harder time communicating with their parents about what happened that day at school. That is why it is helpful to have a [...]
Happy Back To School from First Leap - Enjoy These Back to School Autism Tips & Crafts! First Leap wishes you a smooth Back to School transition for you and your loved ones! Check out these Back To School autism tips and learn a thing or two on how to facilitate this hectic change for everyone involved! Back To School Autism [...]
August Occupational Therapy Tips August Occupational Therapy Exercises Gross Motor: Ball skills (dribbling, catching, throwing). Ball skills are good functional age appropriate play skill. They require body coordination, visual motor skills, as well as grading of force/pressure. Fine Motor: Paper clips. This bimanual task is an excellent fine motor activity because it requires that [...]
Levels of Play Here are different levels of play : Solitary Play. Play, without regard to the involvement of other children in the room or playground. A child may build a tower with blocks, yet be oblivious to other nearby children. Character Play. As the child plays, they observe other children in the same [...]
Functions of Behavior Decades of research demonstrates that behaviors are learned and maintained through interactions with the physical and social environment. Typically, behaviors are elicited in order to gain or avoid something. Below are the sources of reinforcement for most behaviors, also known as the functions of behaviors. Functions of Behavior #1: Attention At [...]
