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New Year, New Skills!

1/4/2024

Happy New Year! For some, a new year means new resolutions, new plans, new everything! This year, we hope to foster closer relationships with our clients and provide more information regarding speech, occupational, and physical therapies. Our goal is for this blog will be a place to find information to help your child grow. To kick it off, we are providing a few tips to help start your year with success! Beginning with…

BOOKS!

Reading plays a vital role in a child’s development, and you can take advantage of targeting all 3 disciplines while reading with your child!

Speech and Language (Mrs. Kristen, SLP)

If your child is working on early language skills, don’t worry about reading the page! Take time to look at the pages and name what you see. Using single words or short phrases allows for adequate language exposure along with targeting attention to task.
If your child is working on comprehension, ask questions while you read. Reading one paragraph/page at a time while asking 1-2 questions per page can help with overall comprehension and retention of information.

Physical Therapy (Mrs. Elizabeth, PT)

For older children, practice sitting on a stool or edge of chair to promote increased postural endurance and core stability.
For a fun twist, you could have your child practice balancing on one foot while reading as well.
If your child is working on core stability, for younger children practice sitting criss-cross-applesauce. You could also have your child assume tall-kneeling to work on improved hip strength!

Occupational Therapy (Mrs. Marissa, COTA)

Pointing to objects or words on a page can aid in finger dexterity, aiding in the ability to coordinate fine motor movements. Practice holding up your pointer-finger only before beginning this task.
Turning the pages also can aid in fine motor skills, practice initially with thick pages. Once mastered, switch to thinner paged books.

These are just a few of the many skills you can focus on while reading with your child. Overall, books play a vital role in all areas of development. We encourage you to limit screen time and increase one-on-one time with your child this year. If you would like more information about our favorite books or books to target specific skills, email us at [email protected]! We would love to hear from you!

Happy New Year!

Kristen Owens, M.S., CCC-SLP

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New Year, New Skills!

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