Pediatric occupational therapy can help children with neurological disorders, orthopedic injuries, sensory integration, developmental delays, and more. After assessing range of motion and fine motor skills, an occupational therapist will consult with the parents to develop a customized plan of at-home therapy. Balance and coordination activities can help children develop gross motor skills while finger exercises help improve fine motor skills. To help the child achieve his or her treatment goals, here are 11 products to help improve balance, coordination, and sensory processing.
Children with vestibular disorders may experience delayed learning and symptoms such as blurred vision, dizziness, imbalance and frequent falls.
Some of the common disorders include Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV), Labyrinthitis or Vestibular Neuritis, Ménière’s Disease, and Secondary Endolymphatic Hydrops (SEH).
Vestibular rehabilitation is designed to take patients through a series of exercises that require them to use their eyes while their head is moving, and possibly when their body is moving.
Helping improve balance and safety with mobility, here are a few products that your pediatrician might recommend to you and your child.
Resistance bands can be a great tool to keep children entertained and engaged while they get the recommended 30 minutes a day of exercise. Bands are a way to add resistance to a child’s activity without the dangers and cost of weights.
Balance balls are often used to assist children with poor posture or back problems to help them build core strength during a workout. Balance balls have also become a popular treatment modality for children with ADD/ADHD, autism, and other types of sensory integration challenges.
If you work with children who have attention and behavioral issues, emotional and sensory overload, or poor motor skills, they may benefit from activities that build neural connections for higher learning. Children have very active brains and might find it difficult to focus on a task for too long. Brain breaks allow periods of rest from continuous studying to improve learning and reduce stress.
Does your child need to strengthen their grip strength or pinching skills? Therapy putty is used for strengthening hand grip and finger strength. It’s commonly used during rehabilitation to improve hand strength.
As the winter semester creeps closer, are you struggling to decide if you are going to stick with your schooling decision from first semester? It can be challenging to decide if the in-person instructional benefits outweigh the risk the pandemic presents and there are several other considerations too.
Learn about the benefits and drawbacks to both in-person and remote learning. Then after you’ve made your decision, check out additional tips on infection prevention, pod learning, and more!
For new mothers who’ve recently had a C-section delivery, congratulations on your new baby! Exercise will look a little different for you for the next several weeks. Having a C-section requires a bit more recovery time in order to heal properly and avoid complications. Regaining strength gradually will help you return to doing the activities you love with ease.
Fortunately, we’ve come up with a few exercises to help you strengthen the core without disrupting the healing process!
Proper positioning is crucial for children with motor and cognitive impairments. Standers, floor seats, wedges, and other positioning aids can help your child get into the right position for interacting, eating, playing, socializing, and more.
Explore all your options in this guide to positioning a special needs child!
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