The Results Speak Volume--Early Intervention for Children is Key!

While working as a pediatric, school-based occupational therapist since 2014, one thing I have come to realize is how critical early development interventions are for children. Time and time again, parents and teachers who have children that are in the mid to later years of their elementary schooling would reach out and express concerns about how the child:

• writes messily (poor handwriting)

• can not hold a pencil

• struggles with fine motor based activities (e.g. cut smoothly, opening packages, manipulating fasteners)

When I would observe the kiddos, I would see all sorts of things like letters formation that looks more like hieroglyphics, pencil grasps where the child's fingers look like it's doing acrobatic twists, and scissor skills that reminds me of the 1990 film Edwards Scissorhands.

It's not IMPOSSIBLE to undo these bad habits, but it is extremely DIFFICULT to sustain.

Why? Because the older the child, the more work demands that they have in their classroom curriculum.

Older children's brains are working hard to create the SO WHAT of their writing (written expression) and not the "How do I form the letter 'a'?"

Therefore, instead of tackling handwriting at this point, it may be better to start exploring ways to help the child be more functional by looking into accommodations like:

• typing longer written work, pencil grips

• extended time on assignments

• access to notes so that the child can just focus on the lessons auditorily

After seeing this time and time again, I switched gears and made it my mission to educate teachers and parents and intervene with children at an early age to ensure that the fine motor foundations (e.g. letter formation, pencil grasps, bilateral coordination, in-hand manipulation skills, etc.) was established from the very start of a child's academic journey!

There are so many young children I have seen in preschool, transitional kindergarten, and kindergarten classrooms who don't necessarily have any underlying disability, but for some reason, they are not able to pick up fine motor skills as quickly or easily as their peers.

So that's where the idea for T.OT Camp came in.

Definition: A T.OT is a toddler/young child who may benefit from occupational therapy (OT) based interventions and activities to help them build a stronger foundation for their fine motor and visual motor abilities.

At T.OT Camp, I start the day by regulating their bodies with a sensorimotor obstacle course! After awakening their tactile, proprioceptive, and vestibular systems, we use fine motor, visual motor, and visual perceptual warm up treatment activities such as:

• strengthening the intrinsic muscles with TheraPutty

• targeting core muscles, postural control, and shoulder girdle strength while moving a weighted ball across a maze on a vertical surface

• manipulating blocks and building materials while referring to a visual model

Afterwards, we tackle the letters of the day through a multisensory approach to learning (e.g. dancing the letters, tracing the letters on a vertical surface, using shaving cream and sand to form the letters, creating letters with clay and wiki sticks). Then, we use Learning Without Tear's Kickstart to Kindergarten workbook to apply what we have learned! Early education is key, setting strong foundations are critical, and I am here to help set your children up for success!