In My Therapy Bag | Dr. Anne Zachry

Today I'm happy to welcome Dr. Anne Zachry! Dr. Zachry is a pediatric occupational therapist with over 20 years of experience. Dr. Zachry has written for numerous online magazines, including Parents and Babble. Dr. Zachry has also published research in peer-reviewed journals, and has even published a book! Her book, Retro Baby, is a great resource for parents and professionals to help cut back on the use of baby gear and get back to the basics of play and development. She is truly an inspiration! Read on to find out a basic item that she always keeps in her therapy bag.

What's in my therapy bag?

Buttons! I always keep a small container of buttons handy in my therapy bag.

How do I use buttons in therapy?

Manipulating buttons is a great way to work the small muscles in the hand and improve eye hand coordination.

Picking up and placing buttons into a container requires in-hand manipulation skills. Imagine your hand is divided into two separate sides. The pinky and ring finger side is for stability. The thumb, index, and middle finger perform manipulation skills. It is important to be able to separate the two sides of the hand when it comes to fine motor skills.

As you can see in the photo below, I am stabilizing two coins using my pinky and ring fingers, yet I am still able to manipulate a quarter using my thumb, index, and middle finger.

In the following video, I am performing translation skills. When I pick up the buttons and bring them into my palm, this is called finger-to-palm translation. As I bring one button out to my fingertips at a time, while stabilizing the others in my palm, this is called palm-to-finger translation with stabilization. This is a great exercise for working on hand skills! A similar activity is to have your child put coins into a piggy bank. Another therapeutic activity is to stack coins or buttons.

Lastly, a fun visual perceptual activity is to draw patterns on a piece of paper and have the child place the buttons on the corresponding color or shape outline. This is also great for visual motor control and precision hand skills!

Connect with Dr. Anne Zachry:

Website: www.drannezachry.com

Blog: www.drzachryspedsottips.blogspot.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Dr-Anne-Zachry

Twitter: @AnneZachry

Amazon: Retro Baby

Be sure to check out all of the other great posts in this series to find out what must-have items therapists have in their therapy bags!!

Do you have an item in your therapy bag that you'd like to share? I'd love for you to share it in an upcoming post! Just send me an email, AbbyPediatricOT {at} gmail {dot} com for more information. Open to all therapists! You don't have to be a blogger to participate!

 

Design and Drill Socket to Me

You guys. Kids LOVE this toy. And not just the first time they see it. Even after the novelty of it wears off, they still love this toy. Believe me when I say I was skeptical. I opened the box and I thought, "Wait, that's it?" Design and Drill Socket to Me is a simple toy. The OT in me knows that kids love simple toys and that proved to be true with this toy.

Design and Drill Socket to Me comes with four shapes (car, robot, spaceship, and boat), a wrench, and lots of bolts. The bolts twist into the shapes and then the wrench can be used to tighten or loosen the bolts.

I put this toy to the test with some kiddos, and they did not have the same skepticism that I had. They immediately gravitated toward this toy and together we discovered that this toy can be used in so many fun and educational ways.

Here are a few of the skills you can work on while playing with Design and Drill Socket to Me:

Fine motor skills - twist the bolts into the shapes
Bilateral coordination - use one hand to hold the shape and the other hand to manipulate the wrench
Sorting - sort the bolts by color
Counting - put the bolts in the shapes and then count the number of bolts
Pretend play - drive the race car around a track or shoot your rocket into outer space!
Speech - encourage kids to use their words to request the shape they want
Turn taking - while playing with peers or siblings, kids must share the shapes, bolts, and wrench

Design and Drill Socket to Me is recommended for kids ages 4 and up due to the small pieces. I found that kids as young as two really enjoyed putting the bolts into the shapes. Of course, this should only be done with close supervision, due to the small bolts being a choking hazard. The wrench can be a bit tricky for young kids to manipulate, but older kids seem to enjoy trying to figure it out. I think this toy would make an awesome fine motor/free play station in a preschool classroom.

What are your favorite fine motor stations for preschoolers? Have you found that simpler is better when it comes to preschool toys?

Where to buy:

Design and Drill Socket to Me is available on the Educational Insights website or Amazon.

Connect with Educational Insights:

Website: www.educationalinsights.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/educationalinsights
Twitter: @ed_insights
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/edinsights


Disclosure: This game was received complimentary of Educational Insights in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not compensated for this post and all opinions are my own. Links to Educational Insights and Amazon are affiliate links.

Dexteria Jr App Review {+ giveaway!!}

Dexteria Jr. is a pre-writing app from Binary Labs, the developers of the popular fine motor and writing app, Dexteria. Dexteria Jr is aimed at preschool age children and was developed in response to feedback that Dexteria can be too challenging for younger children.

Dexteria Jr consists of three games that target fine motor and visual motor skills.  

The first activity, Squish the Squash, encourages finger isolation to touch (and squish) each squash. As the levels progress, the squash begin to move around, and the higher levels require the squash to be double tapped.

In the second activity, Trace& Erase, a series of progressively more challenging mazes must be traced. This works on both finger isolation and visual motor control.

Below is a screenshot of diagonal lines. While this is great for finger isolation, you could also have the child use a stylus if you wanted to introduce tool use and start developing a pencil grasp.

After all of the lines have been traced, the child then uses an eraser to trace the lines again, this time erasing the lines. Another great visual motor control activity!

The third activity, Pinch the Pepper, works on developing a pincer grasp. This is very similar to the crabs in the "Pinch It" game in the original Dexteria. As the levels progress, the peppers move around more and even begin to change colors. If you pinch a pepper that is yellow, it will turn into even more peppers!

How I use Dexteria Jr in therapy:

• I like to use Dexteria Jr as a warm-up activity prior to completing other fine motor or visual motor activities.
• When playing Squish the Squash, I make sure the child is correctly isolating the index finger and not just hitting at the squash with multiple fingers or the whole hand.
• Like I mentioned above, Trace & Erase is a good time to use an iPad stylus, which allows me to introduce tool usage and to teach appropriate pencil grasp. This can be a great option for students who are less motivated by paper and pencil activities. 
• In all of the games, I encourage the use of the dominant hand (if a dominant hand has emerged), rather than switching hands or using both hands at once. This helps develop good habits for writing activities.
• With writing and pre-writing apps, I like to have the child transfer the skills learned to paper. This can be done using screenshots from the Trace & Erase game. For more information on how I use screenshots to create therapy activities, check out the multisensory activities I created using screenshots from the Shelby's Quest app.

What I like about Dexteria Jr:

• Fun graphics
• Easy to use
• Developmentally appropriate for preschoolers
• Developmentally appropriate progression of tracing skills in the Trace & Erase game
• In-app purchase for multiple user data collection is only $0.99

Best for Ages:

The developer states that this app is for children ages 2-6. I would recommend it for any child who is working on developing pre-writing skills, typically between the ages of 3 and 5.

Bottom line:

While no app can replace traditional fine motor play, this app is a great complementary activity for children developing their fine motor skills. Teachers, parents, and therapists will all find that this app targets developmentally appropriate fine motor and visual motor skills for preschoolers. Preschoolers will find the graphics fun and engaging!

App Information:

Name of App: Dexteria Jr
Publisher: Binary Labs
Compatible with: iPad, requires iOS 5.0 or later
Price: $2.99


Disclaimer: This app was received via a promo code provided by Binary Labs. However, all opinions expressed are entirely my own. This post also contains affiliate links, App information was correct at the time of publication of this review, but is subject to change,especially compatibility and price, so please confirm prior to downloading.

Now for the giveaway!

For a chance to win a promo code for the Dexteria Jr app, please enter by using the Rafflecopter below. Leaving a blog comment only does not enter you in the giveaway. You must also sign in using the Rafflecopter. This makes it much easier for me to contact you if you are the winner. Good luck!

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Yarn Heart Ornament

Looking for a simple, last minute Valentine's Day craft? I've got you covered. These heart ornaments can be made with a few simple supplies that you probably have laying around your house.

Supplies needed:

• cardboard
• yarn 
• scissors
• hole punch

Directions:

• Cut a heart shape out of cardboard (I did this step for my students)
• Cut small notches around the edge of the heart (I had some of my students do this step themselves - cutting through cardboard is great for increasing hand strength)
• Punch a hole near the top of the heart
• Lace yard around the heart, pulling it tight into the notches
• Continue until you're satisfied with the design you've created
• Lace a loop of yarn through the hole and tie
• Hang the heart and enjoy!

Skills addressed:

• bilateral coordination
• fine motor dexterity
• eye hand coordination

** For an extra challenge, make a sample heart ornament, and then have your child try to make the same design on her cardboard heart. I tried this with one of my students and it is very challenging. It was a good test of frustration tolerance for both of us :-)

Paperclip hearts

I'm always looking for fun ways to teach functional classroom skills, like using paperclips. Simply paper-clipping a stack of papers together is not all that fun or interesting, so I had one of my students create letter hearts to work on spelling words. This makes studying spelling words more fun, too!

Supplies needed:

• colored paper
• scissors
• marker
• paperclips

Directions:

• Have the student cut small hearts out of colored paper.
• Label the hearts with letters that can be used to spell student's spelling words.
• Read a spelling word to the student.
• The student must locate the hearts with the letters needed to spell the word and then paperclip the hearts to a piece of paper.

Skills addressed:

• bilateral coordination
• fine motor dexterity
• eye hand coordination 
• visual discrimination
• scissor skills
• spelling

Schoodles Pediatric Fine Motor Assessment

Schoodles Pediatric Fine Motor Assessment (PMFA), Third Edition is a performance-based assessment tool for evaluating a child's fine motor skills.

I've been using Schoodles for a few months now and I love it! It is neatly organized into a useful binder and is easy to administer. I love that it allows me to have everything in one place. When I need to assess a student I can easily grab my Schoodles binder and I am ready to go!

Who should use this tool?

School and clinic based pediatric occupational therapists.

What does Schoodles assess?

Schoodles is a performance based assessment tool to evaluate a child's fine motor skills. It is not a standardized assessment. With that said, I have found it to be a very useful tool to guide my clinical observation of childrens' fine motor skills.

Schoodles is used to assess the following skill areas: grasp, hand dominance, design imitation and design copying, tracing draw a person, handwriting, coloring, cutting, and picture assembly.

In addition, the following supporting skills are assessed: visual tracking; hand and arm strength, endurance, coordination, and tone; right/left discrimination; graphesthesia; body awareness; eye-hand coordination; kinesthetic awareness; crossing midline; and balance and coordination.

For what ages is Schoodles appropriate?

Schoodles is designed for children ages 3 years and older. In my opinion, it is most appropriate for children between 3 and 8 years of age, or those that are developmentally functioning within that age level. I used to work in a middle school setting where I frequently used only clinical observation when writing reports, because standardized assessments just didn't provide an accurate depiction of the students' abilities. I wish I had had Schoodles back then to organize my thoughts and observations!

How is it administered?

It's very simple to use. Schoodles can be used in part, or in full, and can be completed in any order. The reproducible 'Student Worbook' worksheets make it easy to assess basic skills, such as cutting, coloring and tracing, as well as handwriting. The 'Therapist Guide' contains suggestions on how to observe each skill area and supporting skill area, either within the classroom setting or during an assessment situation.

What does the Schoodles assessment tool include?

Schoodles comes neatly organized into a binder with two sections. The first section is the 'Therapist Guide' which explains how to use the assessment tool, provides directions for assessing each area, and contains age ranges for expected skill development. The 'Therapist Guide' also contains an Assessment Table which provides skill observations guidelines. Finally, the 'Therapist Guide' contains a Therapist Observation Sheet, which allows for easy recording of skills during the assessment.

The second section of the assessment binder is the 'Student Workbook' which contains reproducible pages for tracing, drawing basic shapes, drawing a person, handwriting, coloring, cutting, and picture assembly.

The Schoodles binder also contains an empty zippered pouch to hold the items needed for testing. This is all I had to add to my kit to make it fully usable!

pencil, pen, scissors, a few crayons, and a couple of tissues

What about the paperwork? Is it easy to write up a report?

If you're an OT then you've probably been writing up reports of your clinical observations since you were a student. Yes, using Schoodles does require actually writing out all of your observations. There is no shortcut around that. I do find that using Schoodles helps me complete my observations in a more systematic way than I usually do, which in turn makes writing up the results easier. For a sample report, visit the Schoodles website.

Where can I purchase Schoodles Pediatric Fine Motor Assessment?

The Schoodles Pediatric Fine Motor Assessment can be purchased on the Schoodles website (www.schoodles.com). Schoodles PFMA is available in binder form for $65 or as a CD for $55. The student workbook is reproducible, so you will not be required to purchase expensive testing booklets every few months :)

For more information, be sure to check out the Schoodles website, including this great list of FAQs.

*I received a complimentary copy of the Schoodles Pediatric Fine Motor Assessment, Third Edition for my clinical use. However, all writing and opinions are entirely my own.

Holiday Gift Guide 2012 - Gifts to promote fine motor development

Today I am sharing toys and games to promote the development of fine motor skills. Fine motor skills are the foundation for many self-help skills, such as zipping, buttoning and shoe tying, as well as the precursor to many school skills, such as handwriting skills scissor use. Read on for toy and games suggestions to develop fine motor skills.

Babies:

Babies explore their environment through reaching, grasping, and sensory exploration. Here are a few toy suggestion to help facilitate that development. 

Infant Rings

- Infant rings develop early reaching and grasping skills.

Rattles

- Rattles are also great for developing reaching and grasping skills, as well as visual tracking.

Piggy Bank

- For the older babies in your life, a toy piggy bank is great for further developing hand eye coordination.

Toddlers:

Toddlers are learning to use both of their hands together and to coordinate both sides of their bodies to do more complex activities.

Lacing

- Lacing beads is a great way to develop bilateral coordination skills (using both hands together). These beads from Melissa and Doug are great (and you really can't go wrong with any Melissa and Doug toy).

Play Doh and Play Doh accessories

- There are many great recipes available for play dough (like this DIY Jello Play Dough), but the original is great too! Play Doh and Play Doh accessories, like this set from Melissa and Doug, are great for developing hand muscles and early tool use.

Pounding Bench

 
- A classic pounding bench works on developing hand eye coordination. 

Crayola Mess Free Markers

 
- Toddlers are beginning to color, but that coloring sometimes extends to every surface of the house! If you'd like to avoid that, Mess Free Markers are a good option. The only downside is, you will also need the appropriate paper to go with these markers.

Preschoolers:

Preschoolers like to build, use their imagination, and love to let their artistic abilities shine. Why not further develop fine motor skills while building, playing imaginative games and creating pieces of art?

Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game

- I love the Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game! This is a great first board game. I love that it works on counting and color skills, AND has a fun squirrel tong that develops fine motor skills, too!

Potato Head

- A Potato Head (whether it's a Mr. or a Mrs.) is a great way to work on body parts and fine motor skills at the same time. With all of the different Potato Heads out there, you are sure to find one to please your child.

Crayola Pip Squeak Markers

- Little markers are great for little hands to promote an appropriate grasp. Crayola Pip Squeaks fit the bill perfectly.

Easel

- Using a vertical surface when coloring, like an easel, places the wrist in extension and strengthens little hands to get them ready for writing.

LEGO DUPLO Bricks

 - DUPLO bricks develop hand muscles and fine motor skills, while encouraging creativity.

School-age Children:

School-age children are fine tuning their motor skills, as well as learning more complex fine motor movements. Building toys and games are a great way to promote these skills.

Operation

 

- Operation is a classic game that requires fine motor precision to play. This is probably not the best choice if your child is sensitive to sounds.

LEGO Bricks

- LEGO bricks develop hand muscles and fine motor skills and are the next step up from DUPLO bricks. With so many great LEGO sets to choose from, I'm sure you can find a set that matches your child's interests.

Snap Circuits

 
- For the budding engineer in your life, Snap Circuits and Snap Circuits, Jr develop fine motor and visual motor skills, while creating working electronic circuits and devices.

Silly Putty

- I'm not recommending Silly Putty just because I love classic toys from my childhood. Silly Putty is a fun way to develop hand muscles. Hide small beads in the Silly Putty and have your child locate them for more of a challenge. Silly Putty also makes a great stocking stuffer!

Looking for even more ideas? Be sure to check out my Amazon Store!

*This post contains affiliate links.
 

Five Friday Features

And the Easy Tie Shoelace winners are...Lisa and "just me". Please email me with your mailing address and I will get your shoelaces in the mail!

1. Did you know that October is Sensory Awareness Month? Visit Simply Stavish to read my guest post: What Every Parent Should Know About Sensory Processing Disorder. Be sure to poke around Mindi's blog while you are there. She has tons of great content about speech and language!
2. Handwriting Without Tears is offering a free online seminar on Tuesday, October 30 from 8-9PM EST. The seminar, Top 10 Questions About Handwriting, is sure to be full of useful information about handwriting education. I've watched Handwriting Without Tears seminars in the past and I'm always impressed with the organization and content. In my opinion, they are especially useful for new practitioners, parents and teachers.
3. Do you use tongs and chopsticks all of the time to work on fine motor skills? MamaOT had a great tutorial on how to make kiddie chopsticks. Check it out! These chopsticks are easier to use than traditional chopsticks and are a great way to develop fine motor skills. (And she had a great follow up for 50 fun ways to play with tongs)
4. OT research in the news!!! Occupational therapy researchers from NYU found that classroom yoga helps improve behavior of kids with autism.
5. Didn't win the shoelaces? Don't despair! I have another giveaway. This one is from Educational Insights. Educational Insights manufactures educational toys and hands-on learning materials. And they've been kind enough to sponsor a $50 giveaway! Click here to find out what you have to do to enter. (Hint: it's really easy!)

Developing fine motor skills with toothpicks

Back in February, Embrace Your Chaos posted 10 Fun Ways to Use Toothpicks. I loved the idea of placing toothpicks into the small holes of an old spice container, so I decided to try it out!

It turned out to be a great activity! What a simple way to work on fine motor and visual motor skills! Of course, always use close supervision with small items like toothpicks. Be sure to check out Embrace Your Chaos for more great ideas!

Friday Features

This week I...

- Shared tips for helping students who press too hard when writing over at Dr. Anne Zachry's blog, Pediatric Occupational Therapy Tips.

- packed and I cleaned. And then I packed some more and cleaned some more. How did I accumulate so much stuff? Anyway, I think I'm almost done. We hit the road for our cross country move on Tuesday. I'm very excited to be a resident of the East Coast! I can't wait to experience four seasons again! My blog might be a little quiet for the next month or so, but I will try to post now and then. I do have some families lined up for the Parent's Perspective series, so be sure to check back every Wednesday for more great tips from parents!

Friday Features Links:

I have lots of great information starred in my google reader this week, so here we go:

- Handwriting Without Tears is offering a free online seminar, Get Set For School: Top 10 Ways to Prepare Your Children for Kindergarten, on August 21. I've watched this seminar in the past, and it has great tips for parents and educators.

- Ellen, over at Love That Max, interviewed a member of the American Red Cross Scientific Advisory Council and received lots of great tips on the best swim gear for kids with special needs.

- Another great post at Love That Max. A reader is looking for IEP tips. Please go over and share your experiences! Or just read through the tips readers have already shared!

- Thank you to Carol at OT's With Apps for the heads up that Skill Game by Good Apps is free for a short time. This looks like a good app to work on visual motor/perceptual skills in older students. I just downloaded it and can't wait to try it out! By the way, if you're looking for good apps to use in therapy, you should definitely follow her blog!

- This week I came across Miss Mancy's blog. What a great find! Written by an OT, it is full of creative therapeutic activities, especially fine motor activities.

- Remember back in May when the pediatric OT world was shaken up by The American Academy of Pediatrics statement on the use of sensory integration therapy? AOTA President, Dr. Florence Clark, has written an essay on the current status of sensory integration therapy. She is optimistic about the future of sensory integration therapy, but I think it still boils down to, OTs need to be doing more research to support the interventions we use. What do you think?

- CHASA has a new Ask the Professor feature on their website. Dr. Andrew Gordon will be answering questions related to hand therapy, hemiplegic cerebral palsy, and related topics. This is sure to be a great resource for parents!

- Columbia University has developed a new intervention for children with hemiplegia called Hand-Arm Bimanual Intensive Therapy (HABIT). It is an intensive therapy, as is Constraint Induced Movement Therapy, but in HABIT the focus is on the use of both hands. Researchers are currently looking for study participants. Click here to learn more about participation.

- Stuart Duncan, of Autism from a Father's Point of View, who has autism himself, wrote an interesting post titled, Autism is. His perspective is always interesting and this post is definitely worth a read.


I did not intentionally seek out extra links this week, it just so happened that a lot of articles caught my eye. This should be enough reading material to keep you busy for a few weeks while I make my way to the East Coast! Happy reading!

Summer fun for kids with special needs (that's actually therapy)

Today I wrote a guest post for Love That Max. Check it out to read about my ideas for summer fun for kids with special needs (that's actually therapy).

Last minute 4th of July craft

Looking for a simple idea for a 4th of July craft? Look no further than the red and blue scraps around your house! Just gather some tissue paper, scraps of fabric and ribbon, stickers, glitter, and whatever else you can find.

Then turn this...

...into this...

...while working on all of these skills:

• using both hands to peel stickers off the sheet
• strengthening little hands to squeeze glitter glue
• developing scissor skills while snipping ribbon
• using both hands to tear tissue paper into smaller pieces
• in hand manipulation skills to roll and squish tissue paper into smaller pieces
• strengthen and use both hands to open a glue stick
• visual motor skills to put glue on paper and then shake glitter on the glue
• and more!

You don't need fancy supplies to do a craft project. Just look around your house for scraps that your little one can turn into a piece of art!

April Showers

It's been nearly 90 degrees this week, but believe it or not, it was raining here in the desert last week. We don't get much rain here, so I jumped on the opportunity to create some raindrops to develop fine motor skills.

Tearing tissue paper is a good standby to develop fine motor skills and bilateral coordination, and it can be applied to any season or holiday (think green shamrocks, pink hearts, orange pumpkins, yellow sun, rainbows, the list goes on...).

Just cut some tissue paper (or construction paper for more of a challenge) into strips and then have fun tearing into small pieces!

Then work those hands to crumple the paper and glue onto the paper.

What is your favorite craft to make with tissue paper?

Friday Features

This week I,
 ~finally got my Pinterest account up and running. I know, I'm probably the last person to join, but if you're still not sure what all this talk about Pinterest is, you can check out AOTA's How To Use Pinterest: Tips for Occupational Therapy Practitioners. To follow me on Pinterest, just click !

~got some great resources from the OTConnections Feeding, Eating, and Swallowing Forum on behavioral techniques for feeding. Will keep you updated on what I learn and how it works out!

~downloaded a bunch of new apps for my iPad. I'm hoping to find some to encourage fine motor development in the birth to three population. Please let me know if you have any suggestions!

Friday Features links:
 ~Dr. Anne Zachry posted a series of therapy putty exercise videos on her blog this week. Click here and here to check them out!

Scissor Skills Snowflakes

This is a fun activity using coffee filters or cupcake liners to create snowflakes. Not only does this work on scissor skills, it also works on motor planning, visual motor skills, and bilateral coordination.


First, flatten the coffee filter.

Then, fold the coffee filter in half.

And keep folding in half.

I drew lines for the student to cut.

Cut on the lines.

And now you have a snowflake, like this one.