Tiffany's Tips: Bilateral Coordination Skills

Bilateral coordination is a crucial skill that involves the ability to coordinate both sides of the body simultaneously in a controlled and organized manner. It is an essential aspect of human motor development and is seen in many daily activities. This skill is particularly important for school-related tasks such as stabilizing paper with one hand while writing or cutting with the other.

 Individuals who struggle with bilateral coordination may find it difficult to complete self-help activities, such as dressing and tying shoes. They may also face challenges with fine motor activities, such as stringing beads and stacking blocks, and gross motor activities, such as climbing stairs, riding a bike, and playing sports. 

Children who experience difficulties with bilateral coordination may exhibit symptoms such as clumsiness, lack of coordination, and difficulty with tasks that require the use of both hands, such as buttoning clothes or tying shoelaces. These difficulties can be addressed through various occupational therapy interventions, which aim to develop and improve the individual's ability to coordinate both sides of their body effectively

Tiffany's Tips: Therapeutic Use of Ballons

 Ballons are excellent tools for improving sensory-motor & hand-eye, and foot-eye coordination. 

⇨ Air-filled balloons are perfect tools to improve hand-eye coordination. Balloon volleyball and tennis are just a few fun ways to incorporate upper extremities use and eye movement. 

⇨ Putting things such as sand, play-dough, or hair gel into uninflated latex balloons to create a hand fidget.

Tiffany's Tips: Functional Pencil Grip

Does your child hold their pencil when weird pencil grip? They may benefit from using the tripod trainer grip. To...

• Reduce hand fatigue

• Help give more control 

• Encourage tripod pencil grip, the most functional grip for legible handwriting. 

When using pencil grips, have your child start coloring by connecting the dots or mazes activities to get them used to using the grip before handwriting. These will improve your child’s visual motor skills and fine motor skills. When utilizing the pencil grip, you will see your child developing more control of their writing utensil.

 

2024 OT GOALS

 

Tiffany's Tips: Proprioceptive Classroom Strategies

Proprioceptive Classroom Strategies

Proprioceptive (body awareness) is how the body senses itself. Some kids do not adequately receive or process information from their muscles, joints, tendons, ligaments, or connective tissue. This results in inadequate feedback about movement and body position.

Classroom Strategies

• Carry and pass out milk cartons

• Weight blanket/vest / stuffed animals

• Climb on playground equipment/monkey bars

• Weighted pillow on the lap while sitting

• Carry heavy books and supplies and pass them  out to the class/ bring them to the  office or another classroom

• Pressure garments

• Seat cushions 

• Chair  push up while sitting & wall push-ups while standing

 

Tiffany's Tips: Therapeutic use of Play dough

Playing with playdough is an excellent way to improve a child’s fine motor skills... 

⇨ rolling, flattening, squeezing, and pinching help strengthen their fingers
⇨ using hands to flatten playdough and then use a pencil to write letters and numbers in it or scissors to cut it
⇨ molding play dough into different shapes also builds up strength in their hands

Tiffany's Tips: Playing while Squatting

Core strengthening does not only happen in therapy or at the gym. Playing while squatting is an excellent way to strengthen those muscles. Try having your child assemble puzzles, create a Lego masterpiece, or play with cars and small toys on a table. If your child cannot maintain this position, try kneeling.