Our body has an internal sense known as proprioception, which is basically our sense of body awareness. Our body senses proprioception through messages sent to the brain from sensory receptors in our muscles and joints. These sensations from the muscles and joints tell us how our bodies are moving, what each body part is doing […]

As occupational, physical, and speech and language therapists we see a number of children who display difficulties with balance, auditory, and vision. One program which will target all of these areas is called Bal-A-Vis-X (balance/auditory/vision exercises). The program focuses on rhythm  and requires full body coordination and focused attention. With over 200 exercises, the program […]

If your child has been diagnosed with torticollis or neck tightness, their pediatrician will likely refer them to a pediatric physical therapist for treatment. In general, PT treatment for torticollis consists of a frequency of 1 time per week, lasting 3-6 months. Infants who start therapy at a younger age tend to progress faster and […]

The vestibular system is located within the inner ear and responds to movement and gravity. This contributes to the development of balance, equilibrium, postural control, muscle tone, maintaining a stable visual field while you are moving, and bilateral coordination. This system can also be related to difficulties with attention, organization of behavior, communication, and modulation […]

As occupational therapists, one of the most common issues we treat are children who present with meltdowns or difficulty with behaviors at school or at home. Anytime a parent explains what difficulties the child is having, we immediately attempt to identify if there is an underlying sensory component causing the child to meltdown and become […]

Holidays are the perfect time to add some excitement to practicing speech and language skills. One skill that is difficult for a lot of children is correctly using and understanding prepositions. It is such an important skill for children to be able to put items on, under, next to, behind, in, etc and equally important […]

As pediatric therapists, we are constantly seeking ways to engage children into tasks which can generally be difficult for them to complete. Children will avoid boring tasks as well, therefore, we are constantly looking for new ideas to help develop their fine motor skills to capture their attention. A great way to keep new ideas […]

Many children, including those with special needs and those who are typically developing, w-sit to feel more stable while in a sitting position. Sitting independently requires good core strength and adding extra movements such as rotation or reaching while playing requires even more core strength to hold the child upright. Therefore, some children choose to […]

Tummy time has many benefits to improving your baby’s strength and facilitating development of their gross motor skills. For more information, please refer to the previous blog post on the importance of tummy time. Some babies love tummy time and others strongly dislike it. If your baby loves tummy time, then it is easy to […]

Congenital muscular torticollis occurs in infants, and is the shortening of muscles on one side of the neck that results in the head tilting and/or turning towards one side. The sternocleidomastoid muscle (SCM) is typically the primary muscle involved. The SCM tilts the head towards 1 side and rotates it towards the opposite side. For […]