Category Archive

When an occupational therapist addresses fine motor skills they are assisting with the ability to coordinate the fingers and hands to complete tasks such as writing, cutting, completing clothing fasteners, etc. A child with difficulty with fine motor skills will have trouble completing everyday tasks independently and functionally. The best way to improve fine motor skills and hand strength is …

Pediatric occupational therapists address self-care, fine motor, visual motor, gross motor, executive functioning, and social emotional development skills to improve independence in functional daily activities. They work with a variety of diagnoses with cerebral palsy being one of them.  What is Cerebral Palsy (CP)? Cerebral Palsy (CP) is a neurological diagnosis that affects the development of motor skills. Common characteristics …

If you have a little one with sensory issues, you know that exposing them to different environments can be challenging and uncomfortable. If a child experiences sensory issues they may be highly sensitive to sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures (all of the above, or just a few). They may also have an atypically low sensitivity to sensory information. In …

Does your child experience difficulty with feeding or oral sensory processing? If your child currently receives feeding therapy, occupational therapy, or speech therapy, a Z-Vibe might be a tool that the therapist will incorporate. So, what exactly is a Z-Vibe? A Z-Vibe is a therapeutic vibratory tool developed by ARK Therapeutic Services, Inc. for children who experience difficulties with feeding, …

Does your child seem more active than their same-aged peers or pursue movement? Does your child have a hard time sitting in their chair at school or during meal time? Is your child fidgety? If you answered yes to these questions, then read on to learn more about possible reasons why your child is having a hard time sitting still …

What is low muscle tone? Low muscle tone, also known as hypotonia, is a symptom that affects a child’s muscles, joints, and movements. Symptoms are usually detected either at birth or during infancy. The anatomy behind low muscle tone is the length of the resting muscles. These muscles are longer than normal which causes an overlap of muscle fibers causing …

When a child is eating dinner, sometimes they don’t necessarily like the food in front of them. The child will spit the food out, turn away, or not open their mouth. Most parents would just consider this child a picky eater. But is that actually the problem? Some kids are picky eaters, but others may have a feeding disorder. It …

Why are Visual Motor Skills Important? While you might think of occupational therapy in the context of fine and gross motor development, therapists work on visual motor development, too! Visual motor skills are an important part of childhood development and are needed to complete almost any activity. Without visual motor skills, a child couldn’t catch a ball, complete a puzzle, …

Bilateral coordination is our ability to use both sides of our bodies at the same time in a coordinated way. This means using our bodies to do the same thing on each side (e.g. rolling a rolling pin), bipedal movement (e.g. walking), or using different movements (e.g. using one hand to cut paper with scissors while the other holds the …

In our ever-changing world, technology has taken center stage. It is not unusual to see a kiddo using an iPad like a professional. There are so many useful resources for our avid iPad users. The occupational therapists at Chicago Occupational Therapy have compiled a list of apps that they have found to be most useful. These apps can aid in …