Gifts/Toys: Therapist Recommended!
December 12, 2022
Therapist Recommended Items/Gifts
Looking for the Perfect Gift?
We have compiled a list of some items that our therapy team thought could be useful! Most of these items support gross motor, fine motor, and/or speech development in some way or another. You may recognize some of these items!
Related to Speech/Communication:
- Fishing Pole Magnetic Fishing/Model language: Great for labeling (color, labeling, in/out) and turn taking. ( age group:3-5)
- School Bus/Model environmental sounds: Great for pretend play, taking about routines ( age group: 3-6)
- Ice-Cream Play Set/Pretend play: Great for turn taking, model language (age range: 3 yrs+)
- Cupcake Party/Direction following: Great for pretend play, turn taking, and modeling language (age range: 3 yrs+)
- Beware the Bear: Great for turn taking and modeling language (age range: 2 yrs+)
- Jumping Jack Rabbit: Great for turn taking and modeling language (age range: 2 yrs+)
OT Related:
- Pretend Kitchen Set: Great for grasping and putting things together (age group: 4-6 yrs)
- Play-Doh Dino Crew Crunchin' T-Rex: Helpful with fine motor skills (age range: 2 yrs+)
- Memory Game: Great for hand mobility, helps with handle muscles
- Jigsaw puzzle: Great for sorting, comprehension (age group: 2-5 yrs+)
- Mickey & Friends Fire Truck & Station: Great with improving fine motor skills (age range: 4 yrs+)
- Zenimal/Sleep device: Helpful tool for children that have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep (age group: 4-8 yrs)
Related to PT:
- Operation: Helpful for fine motor skills (age range: 6 yrs+)
- Clamp Bee to Hive Matching Game: Great for improving fine motor skills (age group: 3-5 yrs)
- Bop It: Helps with coordination/active comprehension (age range: 8 yrs+)
- Turtle Step Stones: Great for gross motor skills development (age range: 5 yrs+)
- Hula Hoops: Great for gross motor skills (age range 4 yrs+)
- Sensory Pad Matching Game: Great for gross motor, moving around (age range: 4 yrs+)
Exposing children to food through various activities like cooking, coloring and sensory play/projects enhances their understanding of food, leading to healthier eating habits. Try a sensory project, like making snacklaces!
A Fun Way to Introduce Your Child to Food!
Our Registered Dietitian (RD) has some practical tips to incorporate into mealtime for a more successful, enjoyable child-food relationship. The goals of these interaction are to create a positive relationship with food, enjoy happy meal times, reduce anxiety, reduce battles surrounding food, and fitting all types of food into a healthy lifestyle.
Apraxia is a motor speech disorder. Childhood apraxia of speech is a rare, but lifelong disorder that makes it difficult for individuals to move their mouth muscles in order to speak. The important thing to note about Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) is that the child knows what they want to say, but may struggle with connecting the brain to the muscles that must accompany speech.
If you have a child who is a selective eater, learn about some time-tested eating tips including: nutrition guidelines, tips for parents during meal times, and types of food children tend to enjoy. Try a combination of these tricks and find what will work best for your family.
In a world often filled with uncertainty, Liam, a courageous six-year-old boy, has proven that faith, resilience, and the unwavering support of family can overcome even the most daunting challenges. His journey began on December 11th, 2023 when Liam fell down the stairs. What was thought to have been a seemingly innocent incident, quickly spiraled into a life-altering spinal stroke. Within moments, Liam went from a lively child full of energy to being paralyzed from the neck down, which left his family in shock, grappling with fear and confusion as they navigated the unknown.
