It’s that time of the year again when school readiness tests look at which skills to develop to prepare children for Grade 1. As Occupational Therapists we are often asked by parents and teachers which developmental milestones are important for this transition.

Spend some intentional time developing the following skills, regardless of whether your child has done well or not in these tests:

1. Gross Motor Skills:

The big muscles in the body form the foundation for almost all school tasks. Your child will need to have a strong core so that he can sit up straight on the mat or at his desk. Having strong shoulders will free up his hands and fingers for writing and cutting. Being strong can also aid good attention and concentration due to better endurance. Grade 1 is often the start of exploring different sports and having good balance and coordination will boost his confidence in this area.

Activity ideas:

• Visit your local park – look out for parks with monkey bars, trapeze bar swings, climbing ropes, jungle gyms and swings.
• Wheel-barrow walking – when taking your socks from the laundry basket to the cupboard ask your child to hold a pair of socks rolled into a ball in each hand and wheel-barrow walk him to the cupboard.
• Super hero’s – ask your child to lie on his tummy and lift his arms and legs (making sure his knees are straight and off the floor) to fly like superman while he counts out loud to 20 or 30. Conversely ask him to lie on his back and cross his arms over his chest while curling into a ball (putting his chin onto his chest and bending his knees). Ask him to hold this position for 20 to 30 counts. Do Super hero’s daily and watch him improve!

2. Fine Motor Skills:

As children learn to write in Grade 1, small muscles in their hands and fingers as well as in their eyes need to be strong and coordinated. As these muscles get stronger they will have better fine motor endurance, which is important for task pace and completion. Early hand muscle development is linked to good maths and reading skills later on.

Activity ideas:

• Paper tearing – teach your child how to tear straight strips of paper using a ruler; try tearing around a simple shape like a circle; show them how to tear a fringe to use as a lions mane or hedgehog spikes. Turn your paper tearing into art.
• Folding – start with simple folds like folding a card in half and progress to folding on a specific line. You could make a heart (draw half a heart on the fold) or snowflake (cut small pieces out of a piece of paper that has been folded many times). Make a paper fortune teller or quack-quack together.
• Flicking – teach your child how to position his middle finger behind his thumb to flick a ping pong ball, pom-pom, cotton wool ball, a spinning dial, playdough ball, small pebbles or marbles. He could try to knock down a tower of empty match boxes, lego or empty pill bottles in a game of finger skittles.

3. Visual Perceptual Skills:

How your child’s eyes see shapes, forms and designs and how his brain interprets this will help with maths, handwriting and memory. There are many different important visual perceptual skills, we have highlighted activities for our top 3.

Activity ideas:

• Figure-ground – this is being able to find an object against a busy background and is a pre-reading skill. Look out for busy books (e.g. Where’s Wally, Richard Scarry) and enjoy hunting out the details. Ask your child to find specific utensils or socks in a busy drawer.
• Spacial perception – this is being able to see an object in relation to another object. Build Lego by copying the instructions, make toothpick and candy (e.g. jellytots, liquorice all sorts or mini marshmallows) 3D constructions for your little one to copy, plan a treasure hunt with positional instructions for your little one to follow; create a picture on a dot-grid and ask your child to copy it.
• Sequential memory – this is the ability to remember items in the correct sequence which is important for spelling and the following of instructions. Practice following 3 to 6 step instructions at home; practice learning your address and phone number; make up a memory tray of objects and ask your child to copy your tray.

Remember that play is your child’s form of work so if you have fun then you will know he is learning and getting ready for his big year next year!

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Biting in toddlers is a common challenge that many parents face. It leads us to question whether biting is sensory or behaviour based? As Occupational Therapists working with sensory toddlers this is something we deal with regularly. So while this can be a very emotionally overwhelming experience for parents there are reasons your child may be biting and there are tools that you can use to support him during this time.

The Sensory Side of Biting:

Some children use biting as a way to sensory sooth when their sensory system is overwhelmed. The biting provides their sensory system with a calming, deep pressure sense similar to the calming self-soothing that a pacifier or bottle gives a baby. The mouth is a particularly strong self-soothing organ and along with sucking and chewing, biting can be very effective. Even adults use the mouth to self-sooth when chewing on a pen or on gum. Some children are more sensitive than others and they will need more self regulation input than others to reach a calm state. Biting may meet the needs of sensory seeking children who need more deep pressure through their jaw, but will also help sensory sensitive children deal with multi-sensory environments which may be overwhelming for them. For a child who might be noise sensitive attending a noisy party, biting may help them to feel more grounded. Understanding the sensory reason behind a child’s biting will help you as a parent know how to best support them.

Tips to Support your Sensory Biter:

1. Deep pressure  – meet your sensory seekers need for more deep pressure, or support your sensory sensitive child’s need for self regulation. Give him lots of deep bear hugs, slow/firm arm squeezes and resting heavy hands on his shoulders.
2. Rough and tumble play – the pulling and pushing of joints during this fun type of play is sensory calming for your child.
3. Food/snack choices – meet your child’s need for biting by providing chewy, crunchy snacks. For example dried mango, biltong, apple slices, carrots, snack biscuits, rice crackers etc.
4. Water bottle – choose a water bottle that requires your little one to suck hard on or that has a chewy straw.
5. Thick liquid through thin straws – offer your child thick drinking yoghurt, custard or smoothie with a thin straw to encourage a strong sucking action.
6. Watch for sensory cues – look for subtle signs that your sensitive child is becoming overwhelmed and offer sensory strategies BEFORE she feels the need to bite. These may include: an overly quiet child becoming very loud or visa versa; a loss of colour in their cheeks or becoming overly flushed; a wide-eyed startled gaze; nose picking or finger sucking; mouthing or chewing on toys, clothes or blankets; hiccups or yawning; withdrawing from others; whining; uncharacteristic bossy or controlling behaviour.

The Behaviour Side of Biting:

If while looking at the context of your child’s behaviour there is a major life change such as a new sibling, starting a new school, parent away on a work trip, moving house, loss of a family member or pet – his biting may have more of an emotional root cause. Other behavioural reasons your toddler may be biting include teething, object exploration, attention seeking and a difficulty expressing himself. In babies and toddlers expressive language develops slower than their receptive language skills. This means that they understand more than they are able to express and this can be very frustrating for them. Although we don’t want babies to hurt others or damage objects they bite, it is necessary to remember that mouthing objects is an important developmental step in learning the spatial and temporal qualities of the world around them.

Tips to Support your Emotional Biter:

1. Be firm – set a clear boundary by using a simple, clear phrase in a firm, no-nonsense tone of voice (e.g. “no biting!” or “no hurting!”)
2. Attention on the victim – be mindful to pay more attention to the victim than the biter and ensure that there is an apology (if not verbal then a hug or a high five).
3. Provide teething relief – if your little one is teething ensure that you support her with teething toys, gum numbing solutions or cool snacks.
4. Gentle exploration – teach your baby to mouth delicate objects softly and gently. Use words in a soothing tone along with soft tactile cues to help them understand this concept. For example saying “softly” while gently rubbing their arm.
5. Tools to express wants, needs and feelings – if your little one is not yet able to verbally indicate what they need or how they feel encourage them to use non-verbal gestures or signs to avoid biting. Teach them the words they need to use by modelling this for them. For example “I see you are cross that Johnny took your toy”, “say please to Johnny”.
6. Support major life changes – while your little one is going through this transition be sure to include nurturing play into their day. This child-led time may include dress up, role play, imaginary play, puppet play, creative/art play. Allowing your child this time to express themselves how they want to can support them in processing the change. Reading books together around the topic of the life change can also help them in this time. If they are struggling to express how they feel you can label the emotions for them or use a picture chart for them to identify how they are feeling so that they can feel heard and understood. Offering simple choices for your child to make can help her to feel that she has control in some areas when she may not have control in others (for example asking her to pick from 2 snack options or giving her the choice of which T-shirt she wants to wear).

If you have tried these tips and still feel like your child’s biting may not be resolving or it is getting worse you may want to connect with an Occupational Therapist or a Play Therapist to help you navigate the next steps.

The post Biting – Is it Sensory or is it Behaviour? appeared first on Jump Leap Fly.

Tips from Occupational Therapists:

1. Pick your battles – Choose one meal where you are going to try introduce a new food and where you are going to be strict on the rules around eating – usually when your little one is most hungry.  Allow one other meal time a day, which is fuss free and where no pressure is placed on your child.
2. Make this meal time social – Remember that eating is a social event. Ensure that you are sitting together at the dinner table and all eating the same meal together. Set a timer so that this meal time does not draw on for too long, we would suggest 20-30 minutes only. During this time, we encourage everybody to stay at the table and disconnect from cellphones and televisions! For this 20-30 minutes you are engaged in the mealtime as a family.
3. Set the sensory scene – Think about the sensory environment and limit or reduce sensory background input. Put the TV or radio off, limit smells (consider the food temperature – hot food has a strong smell, which can be off putting for a sensory sensitive child) and reduce visual clutter.
4. Sensory prep before and after the meal – Make sure that for about 20 minutes before the meal and for about 20-30 minutes after the meal, you are doing something sensory soothing or calming involving the proprioceptive (deep pressure sense) and the vestibular (movement sense). This could be swinging, jumping on the trampoline, going for a ride around the block on a bicycle or black bike, playing rough and tumble pillow fight games with mom/dad etc. The mouth is a very sensory soothing tool (think of a baby using their dummy!). Chewing on ice can desensitise the mouth. You can try making some juice pops in the freezer and offer your toddler one of these before dinner to chew or bite down on. If he helps make the juice pop with you, he may be more inclined to try it. Using a vibrating toothbrush before a meal time can also desensitise the mouth ahead of a meal where you are going to try a new food.
5. Use a divided plate – Don’t let the familiar and loved food that you know your toddler will eat, touch the food that is new or that you know he may not eat. Be sure that there is a food choice that he will eat on his plate.
6. Allow your toddler to choose when buying foods – At the shops, allow your toddler to choose between 2 choices of the food that you are wanting to introduce. That way if he refuses, you can say but that is the one he chose!
7. Allow your toddler to help cook – When he is in the kitchen baking and cooking, he can be exposed to whatever new and unfamiliar foods you’re cooking by seeing, touching and smelling them. So even if he doesn’t end up tasting it, at least he has been exposed to the food, which is half the battle won.
8. Ask your toddler to hep you dish your plates – When a little one dishes, invariably he messes! This can then be licked off with any luck! Try to avoid wiping or cleaning till after the meal.
9. 1 touch/smell/taste rule – Towards the end of the meal (perhaps in the last 5 minutes), implement the one touch rule. Start with an easier option e.g. touch or smell and only once he is used to the rule you can implement the taste rule. He then has to touch or smell each food item on his plate. He may need to be supported through this. He could sit on your lap and you could give him some sensory soothing deep pressure squeezes. Try to make this a firm family rule that applies to everyone! Be prepared for it to possibly end in tears. Make sure the time for this power struggle is short, perhaps just the last 5 minutes. Try to choose a new food that you are sure he will like the taste of to make the first experience of this new rule a positive one. Model this new rule for your little one by doing it first while he watches.
10. Bring food into play – Have a teddy bear’s picnic or a tea party regularly in play. Use toy pots, pans, cups, jugs etc. in play and put real food in there! Make a mess! Have water or milk in spay bottles or jugs to entice him to mix the dry textures with the wet textures. Be prepared to taste the concoction to encourage him to do the same. Again the messier the better then there is more chance of him getting it onto his fingers and perhaps even licking his fingers clean!
11. Crunchy foods – Always have “hard work” foods on the plate. The mouth can be very sensory soothing if the food has to be bitten, crunched or chewed well. So foods such as droëwors, biltong, dried mango, popcorn, crunchy carrots, apple, mango etc. are sensory soothing.
12. Have fun with presentation – Sometimes bringing in your toddler’s interests into food can help entice him to eat something. So if he loves cars and trains, then maybe presenting the food as a car or a plane may help. Pinterest has loads of ideas for this! Have fun with it and try involve your toddler in the process!
13. Try a different feeder – If the power struggle with one particular person is worse, consider having someone different handle the meal! Sometimes a certain person e.g. mom / dad is too close to the child to make a change in the eating habits. So get granny or nanny involved in the process. It may be easier!
14. Remember that this is a slow process – Move slowly and don’t try to incorporate too many changes or new foods at a time.

The post Tips to Handle Fussy Eating in Toddlers appeared first on Jump Leap Fly.

As Occupational Therapists we are often asked about the link between fine motor skills and “messy play”. If you have been to one of our GAP Groups, or another baby stimulation group, you would have had loads of fun exploring messy play. As a caregiver you know it’s important to give your little one opportunities to get messy, but do you know why?

Why messy play is so important:

There are many touch receptors jammed into the small area of your baby’s hands. These receptors give information on what textures are being touched as well as what temperature the object or surface is. Your little one’s touch system will also interpret whether it’s a pleasant touch sensation or not. Most baby’s will love messy play and you will be wiping yoghurt, jelly and marmite off their hands and faces often!

Offering them a variety of consistency, texture and temperature to explore with their hands will allow their touch receptors to distinguish between mooshy, firm, warm, cold, rough and smooth textures. This will allow them to gauge how to adjust their grip when holding different objects.

As the feedback from their touch receptors improves, they will be able to isolate each finger better. The first finger they learn to isolate is usually their index finger. This will allow them to point. Following pointing, your clever baby will then learn to isolate his thumb together with his index finger. This will enable him to use a pincer grasp to pick up small objects (e.g. peas, buttons, raisins).

You may find that when he is still refining this skill, he will press his fingers together very tightly and may squeeze the object right out of his grasp or squash it!  This ability to distinguish between touch sensations and accurately gauge the force required for the grip will help him later as he needs to hold a crayon, scissors or paintbrush. There are many tasks that require finger dexterity, for example threading beads, peg games, picking up puzzle pieces, pegboard games, peeling and placing stickers. All these skills start with touch exploration. 

Tips for including messy play in your day:

1.) Join a GAP group – these weekly groups will give your little the opportunity to engage in some messy play, meet other families and avoid having to clean up in your home!

2.) Use a Nurture One Fuss Free Bib – this will help to make clean up easier. This bib washes and dries quickly and easily and protects your little one’s clothes.

3.) Get messy in the bathtub, shower or outside – this also makes clean up easier and contains the mess.

4.) Messy mealtimes – chop up finger foods to give your baby some extra practice, but make sure the pieces are not too small otherwise he will get frustrated and give up. Yoghurt, custard, apple sauce  and cottage cheese can also be fun messy touch experiences. Allow your baby to play and mess, refrain from cleaning and wiping during the activity – do this at the end.

5.) “Clean” mess – bath time is a great way to include cleaner textures. You can put coloured ice blocks into the tub, squirt shaving foam on the surface of the bath or the water, have fun with bath paints or crayons.

6.) Texture box – find a box/basket and fill it with different textures (e.g. scraps of material, sponges, spikes hair curlers, string of beads, pine cones, metal spoon/cup, feathers, make up brushes, paint rollers etc.). Allow your baby to take out the objects and explore them and you can wipe them on their hands and feet. Make sure you don’t leave your little one unattended with these objects.

To find out more about these and loads of other messy play activities, take a look at our book Groovy Adventures: How to encourage your baby to move from one developmental milestone to the next while having a blast!

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As Occupational Therapists we are often asked to advise on how to manage difficult behaviour in the classroom or at home. One of the most challenging times of development to set boundaries and manage behaviour is with toddlers. Below we offer some tips on how to discipline and set boundaries with strong willed toddlers.

Discipline tips for toddlers from the experts:

1. Tone of Voice – When reprimanding your tone of voice needs to go lower so that it is noticeably different from your happy or calm tone when your child is behaving well. Children sometimes don’t process what we are saying in a meltdown but can process tone of voice, facial expressions and non verbal body language.
2. “No Elephant Stomps Right!” – This is a silly acronym for you to remember in the middle of your little toddler’s stomping meltdown! No stands for Name the Emotion. Elephant stands for Empathise. Stomps stands for Sensory Soother and Right stands for Reassure. If a child is having a meltdown, remove them from the situation and say something like: I know you’re feeling angry, I would also feel angry if my friend took my toy, but mom is going to hold and rock you and soon-soon you will feel better. Repeat this in a calm soothing voice until your child calms.
3. Be Consistent – Consistency is key to success when it comes to setting boundaries. Your yes must be your yes and your no must be your no! This way your child will learn to trust what you say and won’t feel the need to constantly test what you say! For example, if you said that your child must say sorry before he can go and play after an incident, then stick to that.  Even if it means removing him from the situation or holding him until he decides to follow through.  If a verbal sorry is too hard, a non-verbal hug or high five sorry can suffice.
4. Closed Choices – Try not to ask open ended questions with children who often answer no. For instance “Can I take off your jersey because you’re hot?” Rather use closed choices, for instance, “Am I going to take off your jersey or are you?” If your cross little one still says no, then you can try saying, “I am going to count to 3, then I will take off your jersey because you couldn’t choose.” Make sure to follow through despite the struggle which may ensue.
5. Don’t be Scared of the Fall Out – This is a common pitfall for boundary setting. Remember that he is just a little child. You are bigger and wiser than him!  Neurologically your child’s frontal cortex is still developing, so things like judgement, reasoning and problem solving are not yet mature and so he will react with his immature fight/fright/flight brain. Be confident in your handling choices and stick to your guns. If you make a mistake, reflect upon it, discuss it with a friend or family member and endeavour to do better next time. You can always say sorry to a child if you didn’t handle a situation correctly. But in the moment – be confident with your handling choice and stick to it.
6. Don’t Allow Long Ended Negotiations – Make an executive decision if your child can’t decide. Children can get themselves and you caught in a round-and-round, never ending negotiation that goes nowhere. Offer her the independence to try sort out issues or make choices, but if she can’t, step in as the adult and make the call for her.
7. Look for Positives – Some days your child receives a lot of negative feedback from you or others for bad behaviour. On these days be extra watchful for positive behaviour and praise her very specifically. Don’t say something too general such as “you’re a good girl.” Rather say something more specific such as, “you ate your snack well and packed away your bowl beautifully.” Positive reinforcement is often more successful.

We hope these tips and handling principles help you to get discipline with toddlers right and make your family dynamic more loving and positive! Find more tips in our Groovy Adventurer parenting book here.

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Children love new and different toys. Sometimes this is just what we need to maintain their interest in a fine motor task long enough for them to build up endurance in their little hand and finger muscles. That’s why both in our Occupational Therapy rooms and in our Happy Handwriter fine motor Muscle Mania groups we love using these wacky wikki stix! These new sticky strings never cease to get the most reluctant child to engage in our fine motor task.

What OT goals can we meet with these wikki stix?

Not only do we love seeing how their two hands work together to manipulate these sticky stix, but we also love the pressure they need to apply to get them to stick! Both bilateral integration (the two hands working together) and fine motor strength and endurance are popular goals with our little ones. Goals we can achieve with the help of our sticky stix!

We also use these wikki stix to make handwriting multisensory. Out with boring pencil and paper and in with wikki stix and acetate sheets! By placing the acetate sheet over the letter or number, we provide an accurate map. This way your little one can learn to form their letters and numbers, as the Happy Handwriter always says, “the right way the first time”.  Handwriting has never been so sticky and wacky and FUN!

We can even achieve some visual perceptual OT goals by letting them find their way through a 2D maze worksheet using the wiki stix. This is way more fun than drawing their pathway through the maze. Improving figure-ground perception (the ability to focus on a specific object in a busy background, important for reading) has never been less boring. Less 2D and more sensory!

But what the children love best is developing their motor planning skills (important for work pace and task completion in the classroom) by coming up with creative new ideas of how to bend, twist, plait and shape their sticky stix into whatever their mind can imagine! And what is the cherry on the top – they are re-usable for hours and hours of fun!

Get yours here: https://www.jumpleapfly.co.za/product/a-wikki-stix-bundle/

The post Why OTs love wikki stix for improving fine motor skills! appeared first on Jump Leap Fly.

Toddlers are known to be very busy creatures! Getting them to slow down, look and share attention with you can be a challenge. While it may seem easier to let them occupy themselves and bounce from one activity to another, it is important for learning and future relationships to engage meaningfully with them. Teaching your little one to look at you, use non-verbal gestures like pointing and actively listen will help them to communicate better with others.

Some little ones seem to engage more naturally and don’t need much intentional prompting from an adult, while others are happy to be in their own little world and need help to actively play with others. So how can you, as an adult, draw your child out of their solitary play and entice him to enjoy the give and take of playing with others? As occupational therapists and experts on play, we share some of our best pointers to get you started:

1. pointing – encouraging your little one to point while looking at books or birds flying overhead will illicit shared attention and engagement. If he struggles to isolate his pointing finger, you could gently roll and tug along his finger from the base to the tip with your fingers, like a massage. Also try activities to isolate this finger such as finger painting, poking holes into playdough or planting seeds in the garden by poking holes for them.

2. reading – carve out some time to read at least 2 books a day with your little one. If his attention span is short you don’t have to read each word – rather focus on the pictures and choose books with actions he can do. Read his favourites over and over and see if he can remember the story and “read” it to you.

3. child-led play – imitate what your little one is doing by getting down onto the floor with her and copying the actions, sounds, facial expressions and activities she is doing. If your little one struggles to get started with this you can bring in a few favourite objects and see what she does (e.g. a ball, doll, teddy, mixing bowl and spoon).

4. requesting – many in tune caregivers know what their child wants before she has asked for it. It is important to “play dumb” and create the need for her to actively ask for what she wants. This could be gesturing (e.g. pointing or signing) or using language (e.g. saying “more juice”). You can model how to do this in the beginning if you need to. Look for opportunities during activities for your child to request, for example when colouring you could show her 2 colours and she can request the one she wants to use.

5. waiting for a response – young children in particular take a little time to process information. As adults we often expect them to gather, process and respond as fast as we do. Try to slow down a little and allow your child time to process and decide on a response. If you ask a question give him time to reply (count to 10 in your head if you have to!), if you request a choice from her give her a moment to pick an option, if he is hesitant to start an activity allow him a pause to decide where he wants to begin.

6. eye contact – this is such an important part of engaging with others. Show your child that he has your full attention by giving him eye contact from your side and then ask for his eye contact when he is responding to you. To encourage this you can wait for him to look at you when he is awaiting your response before answering him, gently guide his head up so that he is looking at your face, call his name or ask him to look at you before giving him a response or requesting something from him.

The seemingly “good” child who is easy to manage due to being able to play quietly on their own can seem very convenient, but needs our help to draw them out into meaningful play with others. Relationship is our ultimate goal, which can facilitate friendships, form the basis for learning and create self confidence from which your little one can engage with his world and those around him. Regular short periods of time throughout the day where you as a caregiver, intentionally engage and purposefully connect with your little one will go a long way in helping him on the playground, in class and with his family.

The post Attachment in Toddlers – why engagement is so important appeared first on Jump Leap Fly.

In today’s rushed and digital era it is easy to miss opportune moments to strengthen this bond. We may be rushing from one activity to another, trying to multitask or distracted by an email as we try to work from home. This is why we have to be purposeful in order to ensure that this connection is secure.

Feeding is an opportune time where this bonding and attachment happens most naturally. As the baby feeds and gazes into their caregivers eyes, they are perfectly positioned on a sensory and neurological level to grow this attachment. Most often Mom is the one feeding her baby and thus inherently benefits more consistently from this magical attachment activity. This can leave Dad feeling less of a bond initially with his baby. Often this bond strengthens with Dad when a new sibling arrives, forcing Mom to be less available as she cares for the new baby. This gives Dad some focused opportunities to bond with his child. However, there is no need to wait for a new sibling to strengthen your baby’s attachment to significant others, you can start from the very beginning. Strong early attachment bonds have been proven to impact positively on future relationships and emotional well being.

Tips for strengthening attachment from the start:
1. skin-to-skin – make sure to spend some time daily with your baby in just their nappy and lying directly on your chest (their skin to your skin). Anyone can do this – not just Mom!

2. eye contact – be intentionally present when feeding, changing, bathing or singing to your baby. Try not to be distracted by others, screens or background noise. Try to position yourself approximately 30cm from your baby’s face as this is the best distance for them to focus on you.

3. contrasting colours – babies are able to focus on strong contrasts the easiest. You can wear make-up to contrast your eyes and lips or wear solid, bold coloured clothing which contrasts with your background.

4. co-sleeping – newborn babies do not form habits for the first few months, so co-sleeping during this time can have lovely attachment benefits without the fear of forming these sleep habits. You can co-sleep or rest with your baby during their nap time, it does not need to be all night.

5. peek-a-boo – there is a reason why babies love this game so much. It is because by playing this game they are learning that their caregiver is always there, even when baby can’t see them. In this way babies develop form constancy (knowing an object or person is there, even when it is out of sight), which helps them not to be anxious when they are separated from their caregiver for a short period of time. This trust that their caregiver will come back does wonders for bonding and attachment.

6. purposeful time – taking daily pockets of time to stop everything and focus solely on engaging with your little one (without background noise or other distractions) will grow this attachment bond. You could try cooing or imitating facial expressions (e.g. puckering lips or sticking your tongue out) and waiting for your baby to similarly respond. For the slightly older baby you could have fun with hand clapping games, nursery rhymes or action songs.

7. attachment object – many babies will attach to an object that smells familiar (like mom, dad, granny). You could try sleeping with one of their receiving blankets or a taglet. Then give this to them when they are sleepy, upset or away from you for a time. Babies sense of smell is stronger than adults’ and thus you should be careful not to overstimulate them with strong perfumes.

Just like we all have different personalities, we also all have different sensory needs and preferences. Some babies can tolerate a lot of attachment and bonding activities in their day while other babies become easily overwhelmed with too much. The best way to know what your baby needs is to watch their signs. Follow your baby’s lead and watch for cues that he has had enough. He may look away from you, yawn, hold up his hands in front of him, suck on his fingers more, start to hiccup, arch his back or give you a little frown. You don’t need to spend one long period in the day bonding with your baby, shorter more frequent periods throughout the day can be just as valuable. Happy bonding!

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To better understand how to tackle Motor Planning difficulties, we need to first look at its roots. In our Groovy Adventurers Book (https://www.jumpleapfly.co.za/groovy-adventurer-book/), we use a tree to explain development.

A tree needs firm roots in order for the trunk and branches to be strong and to bear fruit. Similarly, in development, foundational root skills need to mature before more complex trunk and branch skills can improve (which are the skills we see at home and in the classroom). Praxis or Motor Planning is a trunk skill, which is necessary for the fruit skills of task completion and work pace in the classroom. For example, a child who is sensitive to movement and feels insecure when their feet leave the floor, will not develop that inner GPS of where their body is in space and how it is moving. Without this awareness of the two sides of their body, they may not be able to use subtle postural adjustments to smoothly execute their motor plans.

Now that we know how Motor Planning develops – from Root to Fruit, we can start having fun at every level to help our children mature in this area. By starting at the root level, we can make sure they have firm foundations to build on as the demands of tasks become more complex. Let’s take a look at some ideas for activities you can do at each level:

Root Activities:
– 3 blind mice – work with your child to create an obstacle course. Try let him come up with his own ideas by asking him leading and prompting questions, e.g. “what can we do with this chair?” or “how can this table be part of this obstacle course?” Use your chairs, tables, cushions, laundry baskets etc. to create obstacles your little one can crawl under, through, over and crash onto. Let them pack out the obstacle course as independently as possible. Have them test the obstacle course out. Now use a blindfold and see if the blind mouse can find his way through the maze without his eyes helping him! He will have to rely on his sense of touch and body senses to feel his way through the obstacle course!

Trunk Activities:
Ribbon peg race – tie a length of ribbon to the top of a chair. Ask your child to sit on the floor about 30cm away from the chair and holding the other end of the ribbon. Start with 10 to 15 pegs and have a race to see how quickly he can peg the pegs onto the ribbon, by alternating attaching each peg to the opposite side of the ribbon (like zip teeth). He will need to remain seated and use both hands in order to complete the task. If the ribbon is not taut he will not be able to attach the pegs quickly. This activity requires bilateral integration (the coordinated use of two sides of the body). You can race against your child or see if he can beat his time on the next round using a stop watch.

Branch Activities:
Getting unstuck – take a trip to to the local park where there is a jungle gym. Have a long ribbon, rope or string handy. Tie one end of the string to the jungle gym and then wrap and wind it around different parts of the jungle gym – you can make it very easy with just a few twists and turns or make it more tricky with loads of tangles! Now tie the other end to your child’s waist and see if he can untangle himself! You can bring pretend play or imaginary play into it by pretending he has been captured and is freeing himself!

Fruit Activities:
Quack-Quacks – what do you call these fun cutting, folding and playing crafts? We call them Quack-Quacks and most children love making and playing with them and we love the folding, bilateral hand skills and planning needed for this task. We love these variations from the lovely ladies at the Spruce Crafts – thanks for the inspiration ladies! (https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/make-these-creative-cootie-catchers-4149965 ) More recently in our OT sessions we have enjoyed a Harry Potter Quack-Quack to figure out which house the children would be in if they attended Hogwarts! Thanks to Getawaytoday for the free printable click here to get yours: https://www.getawaytoday.com/travel-blog/harry-potter-origami-sorting-hat-free-printable

The post How to improve Motor Planning Skills appeared first on Jump Leap Fly.

Motor planning or praxis is the ability to come up with an idea, plan and then smoothly execute the idea as a movement. It is important to distinguish between cognitive planning (a process that happens mostly on a brain level) and motor planning (which happens on a body level). Many children are very creative and have fantastic ideas but struggle to get these ideas to translate into action. For example, cognitive planning would be making a mental list of what you may need to make supper this evening and motor planning would be used when you learn a new skill, such as learning to ride a bicycle or drive a car. As adults we don’t tend to motor plan a lot because activities have become more automatic for us. For children, however, who learn new skills every day, motor planning forms a big part of their development. 

Just as some adults learn how to drive a car easily, showing good praxis, others will take longer to learn this skill. It is the same with children. Some children will be able to run up to a jungle gym and seem to have ideas of how to navigate their way around the obstacles without thinking, others watch first and are slower to take action. Having good praxis skills as a child is not only linked to outdoor play. Children who struggle in this area also display a slower work pace in the classroom, tend to talk through tasks rather than simply executing them and watch others around them to help them get started on school tasks. All this leads to them struggling to complete tasks on time. 

Children with motor planning difficulties use more mental energy and cognitive planning to compensate for inadequate praxis skills. This can be tiring and frustrating as they try to keep up with their classmates and the pace in the classroom. Have you noticed this tendency in your home or classroom? We would love to hear your thoughts on why you think this is and what you are seeing and experiencing as parents, teachers and therapists. Watch this space next week for some tips and strategies to help your children improve this important skill.

The post Why are Motor Planning Challenges on the Rise? appeared first on Jump Leap Fly.