The Home for the Holidays Gift Guide

By Easterseals DuPage & Fox Valley Clinicians

If you are looking for the perfect holiday gift for your child, here are some gift ideas that will be both enjoyable and helpful for development as recommended by our team of therapists!

Pictures/Personalized Gifts

Personalized gifts, including pictures of family, can be used in numerous ways and grow with children. Babies and toddlers love to look at pictures of people they know. Children can drop the images into a small slot or bucket for a simple game as they practice saying and remembering the person’s name.

As children get older, they can also use the pictures to work on language skills like describing who they see in the picture, what they are wearing, where they are, and what they are doing. You could also play a game where you describe the picture, and the child has to find the one you are talking about. Or you can use a collection of photographs and design any number of your own memory games! Shutterfly even offers customizable matching card sets to make this extremely easy! 

https://www.shutterfly.com/photo-gifts/kids-games/memory-games?icid=Kids%7CSub%7CC1S13%7C10232020%7CFamilyActivities%7CMemoryGames&esch=1

Another option would be this photo album from Amazon, which holds up to 15 4×6 photos and is made durable for children. This is also a great product to help teach your child to recognize faces and learn family and friends’ names.

Another excellent option for an interactive gift is designing a custom book with personalized pictures for your child. PinholePress offers several different variations of custom books you can make based on it’s intended purpose and your child’s interests. Some of the custom book themes you can choose from include: Names & Faces, Healthy Habit’s, ABC’s, Colors, Emotions, and more!

https://pinholepress.com/c/board-books

Balance Toys

Balance toys are a great mix of both functional and fun and come highly recommended by our therapists. This particular toy is a favorite for kids aged 18 months up to 5 years. The 12-inch ball is the perfect size for little ones to sit on and can be used to address areas such as balance, core and leg strength, body awareness, and proprioception. It can be used during everyday activities such as playing with a toy or watching a favorite TV show, and it keeps the core much more active than sitting on the floor or sofa. For an extra challenge, children can try bouncing on the ball while keeping their feet on the floor (with pillows around them if you are afraid they might fall) or reaching forward toward their feet for toys and returning to upright sitting.

Clocks

This link below is an excellent visual clock to support understanding of time concepts. This analog clock helps children see the passage of time while using colorful graphics for those who cannot read traditional clocks yet. The minute hand has a bee on it because bees move fast, like minutes. The hour hand has a snail on it because snails move slow, like hours. When your child keeps asking when it will be time for dinner, you can tell them, “When the snail gets to the butterfly”. Setting the clock up on a stand or with magnets on the fridge can help children always have it available.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/650832335/bee-a-time-keeper-clock-childrens

Another option is the DIY Wondertime clock, which can be printed as a pdf and then added to a standard clock from staples or target. The instructional video can be viewed below if you want to follow along!

Click to access wondertime_clock.pdf

 

Books

Cooking with kids is so much fun (and maybe just a little messy)! Having children help select foods to make and participate in the cooking process frequently increases their willingness to try new foods. Cooking with kids is also an excellent opportunity to work on waiting, following directions, impulse control, math concepts, and turn-taking. Best of all, it’s sure to promote lots of smiling!

This cookbook offers some great healthy recipes for inspiring and introducing young chefs to cooking. Each recipe is easy to follow and includes pictures for every step to make the process fun and interactive.

This book all about vegetables is another great option for kids, as it introduces vegetables in a fun and approachable way with both activities and recipes. The author has over 15 years of experience as a feeding therapist and picky eating expert. Her book includes fun activities like making beet tattoos and jungles made of broccoli!

Just Ask is a WONDERFUL book to give kids and adults alike an overview of different disabilities. It teaches diversity, awareness, acceptance, and inclusion. The introduction to this essential topic will help your child become more aware and open-minded to all kinds of disabilities.

Adapted Toy Resources:

Adaptive Tech Solutions: Adaptive Tech Solutions is a therapist owned and operated company that provides adapted equipment for individuals with disabilities at affordable prices.

Beyond Play: Features switch toys which are wonderful way to teach cause and effect and can help children develop a sense of control over their environment and self-esteem.

Amazon Wishlists

While you complete your holiday shopping, don’t forget to checkout at smile.amazon.com with Easterseals DuPage & Fox Valley as your selected charity. You can also take a look at our wishlists for therapist and teacher requested items to send to our centers. Both efforts on Amazon can provide year-round support of our services and programs. The featured items make great developmental toys and gift ideas for children of all ages too. Thank you for supporting us this holiday!

• Villa Park Wishlist
  • Features pretend play toys, art supplies, bubbles and baby and toddler toys
• Elgin Wishlist
  • Features books, movement and baby toys for use in therapy
• Naperville Wishlist
  • Features board games and sensory materials to use in therapy
• Lily Garden Wishlist
  • Features kinetic sand, paint and playdoh supplies, fidget toys and more for our infant, toddler, preschool, and pre-k classrooms.

Prepare Your Child for Kindergarten During the Covid-19 Pandemic

By: Katie Kwiatek, Pre-Kindergarten Teacher at The Lily Garden Child Care

Will your child be five years old before September 1st, 2020? If so, get ready to send them off to kindergarten this Fall!

But, wait!

Since schools and day cares have closed, I’m afraid my child will have a tough time transitioning back to a school setting. What skills do they need in order to be kindergarten ready? There are so many new procedures for children to learn too! How can I help?!

Here’s what you can do to prepare your little one!

Create a daily schedule that mirrors the average school day.

It can be a rough transition from quarantine life to a school schedule. It’s so easy to fall in to the habit of staying in pajamas all day, being a couch potato, eating right when you feel hungry, etc. Once your child goes back to school, they will have to follow a schedule of: when to eat, when to play outside, when to sit still, when to be silly, and when to be serious. For everybody’s sake, create a structured schedule for the typical work week and keep weekends open and fun!

To mirror your child’s average school day, contact the teacher! They’ll be more than happy to send you an outline of a typical day. Make sure to keep your schedule consistent! Children need structure and consistency! They like to know what comes next and what is expected of them. If your child tends to feel nervous/anxious, having a consistent schedule will help ease them. Let your child know before you implement a new schedule- explain the new routine, make a chart together! Here is a resource for parents about creating structure and rules.

For all children’s success in this current pandemic, practice wearing masks at home and getting comfortable with wearing them for extended amounts of time. Practice frequent, good hand washing and reminders to limit touching of their face. We know this is easier said than done! Check back on our blog and social media for upcoming tips and resources around mask/face coverings and remote learning.

This is a challenging time for families and it is hard to know what the school environment and year will be like for your child. With some careful preparations and conversations, your child can have success. By sharing a positive attitude surrounding school, the new rules and the big change to Kindergarten for your child, it will help him/her feel ready to learn and ease some anxiety.

Work on social and emotional skills at home. 

Social and emotional skills are a key ingredient for kindergarten readiness. Your child needs to learn how to express and cope with their emotions appropriately and form healthy relationships with their peers and grown-ups. How can you work on social and emotional skills at home? Its very simple! Do your best to keep your own emotions in check and talk, talk, TALK!

Remember, your child is always observing your behavior. Think out loud, show them your thought process when you’re upset. When your child is upset, describe their face & body language, label the emotion, and provide a solution,  “I see your body is tense and your eyebrows are drawn. You are frustrated. Lets take 2 deep breaths and do 3 hand squeezes together.”  While reading a book or watching a TV show, describe the characters and ask questions, “That man is yelling at that girl and his face is red. He is very angry. How do you think she feels?”

Here is a resource about building social & emotional skills at home:
https://www.naeyc.org/our-work/families/building-social-emotional-skills-at-home

Click this link for a list of books about emotions:
https://www.pre-kpages.com/books-emotions-preschool/

Encourage your child to be independent! 

Being independent and having self-help skills is another key ingredient for kindergarten readiness. Your child will likely be in a classroom with over 20 students and 1 teacher and keeping distance between each other. This requires your child to be as independent as possible.

 

Here is a resource about self-help skills:
https://childdevelopment.com.au/areas-of-concern/self-care/self-care-skills/

Click this link for the self-help development chart:
https://childdevelopment.com.au/resources/child-development-charts/self-care-developmental-chart/

To promote independence and improve self-help skills at home, work on these tasks:

• Picking out clothes for the day

• Getting undressed and dressed independently

• Putting dirty clothes in a laundry basket

• Brushing teeth & hair

• Take off & put on shoes

• Put on a jacket and zip/button it up

• 100% bathroom independent (potty trained & wipe independently)

• Properly wash hands

• Hang up a jacket & a backpack on a hook

Allow boredom 

Why do you want your child to be bored? From boredom comes imagination and creativity! Its essential for every child to have a lively imagination, to think outside of the box, and to express themselves creatively. They’ll be able to carry this trait through school to adulthood. Keep your child’s imagination alive! Provide them with art materials and encourage open-ended art, have them express themselves through music with pots & pans (put on headphones if you’re working from home 😉), encourage them to create puppets and put on a puppet show! Even chores can provide great lessons in executive functioning.

Here is a parent resource to fire up your child’s imagination:
https://www.parenting.com/activities/kids/10-easy-ways-to-fire-your-childs-imagination-21354373/

Make learning fun!

Each kindergarten has different standards and academic requirements prior to starting. Contact your local school district to get more information. Typically, your child should be able to copy upper & lowercase letters, recognize some-most letters, know numbers 1-10, classify objects by shape & size, and be able to use scissors & glue with ease.

Here is a resource of more skills your child should know:
https://www.scholastic.com/parents/school-success/school-life/grade-by-grade/preparing-kindergarten.html

With many kindergarten screenings cancelled this summer, you can use the Easterseals FREE child development screening tool, the Ages & Stages Questionnaire, to help measure and keep track of your child’s growth and development. This is a great tool to provide your teacher and child’s doctor on areas they may need assistance to grow.

How to make learning fun?

Create a pretend classroom for your child to play teacher and you play student! This area can serve as your child’s remote learning area too. This is an opportunity to grow your child’s love of learning. Give them assorted classroom materials: clipboards, pencils, paper, books, alphabet & number cards (use whatever you can find in the house or find free printables online). Are there certain letters, numbers, or shapes they have trouble with? Don’t focus so much on worksheets- instead find fun hands-on activities!

Click this link for letter activities:
https://www.pre-kpages.com/alphabet/
Click this link for number games & activities:
https://www.pre-kpages.com/counting-games-activities-preschoolers/
Click this link for shape activities:
https://www.pre-kpages.com/shapes-activities-preschoolers/

We know how agonizing the decisions for the next school year are for your family. If your child receives school therapy services, is unable to wear a mask, or if remote learning is not an option for your family, it can feel especially challenging. Whatever decision you make, we are here to support you. Contact our Social Services team for support and resources at socialservices@eastersealsdfvr.org. We will have more information on our blog around these important subjects in the months ahead.

We remain committed to providing the highest quality services to improve the lives of children and those who love and care for them. We understand that a child’s needs to succeed look different for each family. For over 75 years, our clinical team has provided individualized therapy plans to best achieve a child’s goals and support healthy families. This pandemic only solidifies our commitment. Let us know how we can help you in the comments.

Routines and Why They Can Help

By: Laura Van Zandt, MS, OTR/L

Routines are very important for all children, but they can be particularly important for children with developmental delays. Routines help provide a sense of certainty and security for children by offering them a predictable pattern that allows them to know what to expect, which will result in less frustration as well as fewer tantrums or meltdowns.

Certain routines are almost universal, such as morning and bedtime routines, but others may exist for specific circumstances or stages of life, such as your family’s weekend morning or school or summer routine.

A great place to start a routine is having a set bedtime. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children ages 3-5 should get 10-13 hours of sleep a day (including naps) and children ages 6-12 should get 9-12 hours of sleep each night. The benefits of getting enough sleep are numerous and include mental/physical health, attention, memory, learning, behavior, and more. The AAP also recommends no screen time 30 minutes prior to bed, no electronics in children’s bedrooms, and having a set bedtime routine.

Setting up a bedtime routine:

Photo from Take Three Photography

Bedtime routines can be anything you want them to be, as long as they are familiar and predictable. For my infant son, he takes a bath every other day. After his bath (or mom and dad quiet playtime on non-bath days), he gets a nice massage and we read a couple goodnight books. When he shows us signs of being tired, we turn off the bedside lamp, swaddle, and turn on the white noise machine.

This routine is something I hope to keep as he gets older. For an older child, you can do a similar routine but you will need to add in time for personal hygiene and perhaps next day activities such as pick out your clothes, pack your backpack, etc. You can use a similar routine for naps, except they would just be shorter.

Aside from bedtime, morning routines, can also be beneficial. Some families have different weekday and weekend morning routines, but other children may need to have one routine that stays the same regardless of the day.

Mealtime can also present an important routine. An easy place to start is to try to have meals around the same time each day. I know this isn’t always possible- but getting as close to a specific time each day can be beneficial and having everyone sit together to eat.

Additionally, having chores to do in family routines helps children develop a sense of responsibility and some basic skills, like the ability to manage time. These are skills children can use for later in life that you can begin at a young age. One great example is singing the “clean up” song when it’s time to finish an activity and move onto something different.

“Clean up clean up
everybody everywhere.
Clean up clean up
everybody do your share.

Clean up clean up
everybody everywhere.
Clean up clean up
everybody do your share.”

Routines can also be great for teaching personal hygiene. Ever heard a parent sing the ABC song while their child washes their hands? This is just one great example.

Here are some tips if you are looking to introduce routines into your daily life:

1. Only change one part of the day at a time.

2. Come up with your basic non-negotiables and then give your children some                    choices (bedtime stories together or separate?).

3. Make a poster with the routine, including photos in the right order, to allow for              self-monitoring. In a good routine, everyone understands their roles, knows what              they need to do and sees their roles as reasonable and fair.

4. Follow the same routine every single day for at least one month, after which it will         become habit and your older kids should be able to keep themselves on schedule for         the easy routines.

Establishing routines has lots of great benefits that can help both you and your child develop scheduling abilities, and increase the likelihood that your family will have a smooth day.

For more information on Easterseals DuPage & Fox Valley, visit eastersealsdfvr.org. 

Pretend Play Activities

By: Laura Bueche MOT OTR/L

Pretend play is an important piece of development. It promotes social skills, cognitive flexibility, imagination, language, and helps kids process the world around them. When your child participates in pretend play, they are learning the social and emotional roles of life in a fun, hands-on manner. It can stimulate creativity and help them grow to be more comfortable with themselves and the role they play in their everyday lives.

Included below is a list of potential pretend play scenarios to get your creative parent ideas flowing:

Doctor: This is a great pretend game to teach your kids about responsibility, while encouraging them to be proud of “taking care” of someone else!

Kitchen/restaurant/coffee shop/ ice cream shop: This is a great way to help your children learn about food and nutrition, and get them interested in what goes in their bodies and how it fuels their energy.

Grocery store: Another fun way to help them learn about nutrition, while also helping them improve math skills by counting and setting prices for different items being “sold”.

Animal shop/vet: A fun hands-on approach to learn about animals and the important role they play in many peoples lives

Airport: This is a great way to help children understand the different means of transportation and travel people utilize, especially if they have never gone anywhere far from home

Beach vacation: Similar to playing airport, this can help kids understand about travel and the vast and different climates many people live in, especially if your family does not live near a beach.

Baby bath time/ feeding baby/ baby diaper/ baby bed time:

Similar to playing Doctor, this is a great way for kids to foster an interest in responsibility and taking care of others, while also boosting their confidence in discovering their helpful abilities!

Camping adventure: This is a way to improve kids outdoor skills, while teaching them about nature and the environment they live in.

Pirate treasure map adventure: This is a fun way to get kids creativity flowing and help them learn about adventures they can take and create in their mind

Haunted house: This can be as scary or safe as your child is comfortable with, and can allow them to explore and set boundaries in their mind for what makes him/her comfortable

Dress up/fashion show:

This is a fun way to let kids try on a new role for size, and to help give them the experience of “walking in other peoples shoes”

Police man/woman: Similar to playing dress up, this gives kids the impression of what kind of jobs people in their community hold

Gardening/ making mud soup/ building sand castles: A very hands-on way to explore nature and learn about the plants and trees they see everyday

Making toy/Lego cities: This allows kids to be totally free-spirited in constructing what they think a fun space to live/play in would be.

Making puppets/puppet theater: This is a healthy and fun way for kids to express their emotions and feelings, while also allowing them to explore new emotions they may not be familiarized with yet.

Firefighter: Identical to playing police officer, this allows children to try out the role of what a firefighter does for their community.

Super hero/ defeat bad guys and save good guys:

This helps kids understand right from wrong and the values you as a family have, while also helping them feel good about the choices they make.

Tea party: This is a fun way for kids to make up their own rules and find out what it means to be “in charge” of a dining situation

Post office: Kids can learn about roles in their community and better understand a job they see people enact daily.

Car wash: Perfect for a summer day, playing car wash can show your kids real life chores in a positive way, while also making for a fun water activity.

Fishing boat: This is a great way to get your kids to explore nature in their minds, as well as understand a fun hobby many people enjoy.

Santa’s work shop: If you and your family celebrate Christmas, this is a wonderful way to introduce the holiday to your children and help them understand the tradition of Santa Clause and what that means to your family.

Farmer: Similar to playing police officer or firefighter, this can help children understand a job people either in or out of their community hold, while also helping them develop a healthy relationship with food and animals.

 

Doll house: This is a great way to get your children interested in how a household runs and the work it takes to sustain a healthy lifestyle, as well as be a fun outlet for them to get creative and cultivate different personalities and traits for each doll.

Race track/ train tracks:

Similar to playing airport, this helps demonstrate to children the different means of transportation available to them, as well as foster a desire to explore and travel

Many of these pretend activities/games include props, but always feel free to encourage your children to use their imagination and create props in their mind or with another item in your house, especially if the props are not readily available to you.

Simple Strategies for Picky Eaters

By: Mandy Glasener, Lead Preschool Teacher and Danni Drake, Teacher Assistant

As pre-school teachers, we are all too familiar with this battle. How do you get a 3-year-old to try something new or eat their vegetables? We will share with you some of our tried and true secrets!

The key is to disguise it!

We managed to get a whole classroom of preschoolers to eat their peas and want more! Crazy! Right?

We made pea pancakes.  A savory treat full of fiber, protein and fun!

Focusing on the aesthetics makes it fun for all kids to eat. Can you eat the nose? Who will eat his eyeballs first?

Not only are you making it a learning experience, you are eating healthy right along with your child.

Also, we LOVE Pinterest. We have found many easy recipes that are quick and healthy that the children love and ask for us to make together. Some of our favorites are below!

1. The rice cake face.  You can change it up and use fruit and yogurt too! The possibilities are endless!
2. A favorite pre-school activity is mixing and making zucchini bread is a winner to make for snack time every time!
3. Dips are popular too! This ranch hummus dip is a winner!

We use the hummus as “glue” and go fishing for goldfish with our veggie stick rods! Not only are you eating an amazing, fiber, protein packed snack, you are also having fun playing a game!

Growing a garden (even a few small containers) is a rewarding experience even for the youngest of gardeners. Everything is more delicious when you grow it all by yourself!

We grow our own vegetables here at “The Lily Garden” and harvesting is always a very exciting time. We have tomatoes, pumpkins, cucumbers, zucchini and broccoli  growing this year. In the past we have done rainbow carrots, kale and potatoes too!

Involve your kids in the food preparation and it will make them want to try it too. Research shows that if your child is involved with the meal prep they are much more likely to eat it. Also be a role model and show them that you like to eat your fruits and veggies too!

Please share your favorite healthy snacks in the comments.

Happy snacking!

The Lily Garden Child Development Center incorporates a play-based program philosophy. We understand that children learn best when provided with experiences in an environment that is positive, nurturing and developmentally appropriate. Learn more about the Lily Garden Child Development Center here.

 

 

How to Promote Reading Awareness in Young Children

By:  Kelly Lopresti, Director of Child Development & Christopher J. Lopresti, Reading Specialist

Each year at the beginning of March, school children kick off National Reading Month by celebrating the birthday of the beloved Dr. Seuss. Teachers design contests, family literacy events, and even pajama and pillow days to provide cozy mornings of uninterrupted reading. With help from Read Across America, the goal is to motivate kids to read every day of the year.

What about the little ones? Some think young children can’t participate. With a little help, they can enjoy National Reading Month too.

Literacy skills begin to develop at birth. At the Lily Garden Child Care Center we know how important early reading can be to help a child’s later success with reading and writing.

Skills closely related to later success with reading and writing:

• Writing letters or one’s own name—the ability to write single letters in isolation, or write their own name
• Alphabet knowledge—the ability to name letters and the sounds they make
• Phonological awareness—the ability to hear and manipulate the sounds of spoken language (such as hear the beginning sound of a word)
• Rapid letter or number naming—the ability to quickly name letters or numbers
• Phonological memory—the ability to remember spoken information for a short period of time
• Rapid object or color naming—the ability to quickly name random series of colors or objects

One way to develop these skills, give the gift of reading aloud to your child.

There are several benefits of reading aloud to your children. From bonding with your children to helping them strengthen skills in writing, creativity, listening and more. According to Scholastic’s Kids and Family Reading Report, the frequency of children being read aloud to at home drops sharply after age 5.  It drops even lower after age 8.  Try these resources to keep your reading bond strong with your kids.

• The more you read aloud to your kids the more they will love reading.

• It builds their vocabularies.

• It develops background knowledge that they will need to understand the meaning of texts when they read on their own.

• It inspires a lifetime love of reading and is a great way to model making reading a part of their everyday lives.

• It’s one of the best ways to bond with your kids.

What you read aloud can vary day to day. Mix it up – short, long, funny, factual – it’s all good.    

Literacy Coach Reading Tip:  Please remember to read boldfaced headings and captions to your children in preparation for their academic careers.  The information therein is often used as source material for higher order thinking questions and can be used to expand their knowledge.

• Chapter Books: Some read alouds go on for days and weeks because you may be reading a chapter a night of a longer novel or chapter book.

• Picture Books: You may want to share a favorite picture book. Pick a former favorite of your child’s and revisit it.  They will love it just as much as they did when they were younger. Picture books are short 10-15 minutes. You can read picture books over and over again.

• Poetry: Reading a short poem in the morning (or whenever you have time) can be a great idea. Find poems that relate to the season or what’s happening in their daily life.

Try one of these poems and see if your children like it.

• Runny Babbit by Shel Silver Stein
• Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
• Falling Up by Shel Silverstein
• For Laughing Out Loud: Poems to Tickle Your Funnybone by Jack Pretlusky
• Read Aloud Rhymes for the Very Young by Jack Pretlusky and Marc Brown

Visit the below websites for a list of the top children’s book of 2016 and other resources.

• Association for Library Service to Children list of 2017 most notable books! http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/notalists/ncb
• Let your kids choose books they want to read! http://www.parents.com/fun/entertainment/books/
• Books to read to infants and toddlers!                               http://families.naeyc.org/learning-and-development/reading-writing/great-books-read-infants-and-toddlers

Lily Garden Teacher’s Top Picks

The Little Mouse and The Big Hungry Bear by Don and Audrey Wood -The pictures are amazing.  I also like that the big hungry bear is mentioned throughout the book but never pictured.   It is left up to the child’s imagination to picture the bear. -Jenni Moses

How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long – It’s a story from a child’s perspective which the children can relate to. It’s a story about fun pirates! Every class I’ve worked with loves pirates and it’s something that holds their interest. Also, the author uses very descriptive words that really puts you in the story! -Katie Kwiatek

Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crocket Johnson – Harold lets his imagination go through art and his drawing! -Julie DeSalvo

We are in a Book by Mo Williams – I love this book! Mo Williams is such a creative author and I recommend all his work. The characters come to life well if you have a crazy imagination like I do or enjoy doing voices. Piggie reminds me of myself, so doing voices for Piggie and elephant is very fun. -Melissa Gonzalez

Go Away Big Green Monster by Ed Emberly – Toddlers love this book.  The children like to point to whatever facial feature is on that page.

The Bunny Rabbit Show by Sandra Boynton  – Toddlers love to sing along! -Christy Stringini

Naughty Little Monkeys by Jim Aylesworth -This book is about what happens when you leave twenty-six little monkeys home alone.  It’s a funny and colorful book that children want to read over and over again.  My son loved this book! -Kelly Lopresti

For more information about our inclusive daycare and our program philosophy visit: eastersealslilygarden.org.

My OT Christmas List

By: Laura Bueche, MOT OTR/L

If you are looking for the perfect holiday gift for your child, here are some ideas to give your little one the input they are looking for over winter break. I also included other helpful websites, stores and catalogs for children with special needs.

Heavy Work and Movement

Cuddle Me Sensory Tunnel– Great for therapy requiring tactile input and crawling practice as well as for sensory seeking kids to cuddle in for comfort. $49.99

Scooter board– Develops sensory processing, coordination, balance and agility skills. $19.25

Mini Kids Trampoline– Helps with muscle development, coordination and sensory processing. $68.99

Wiggle Sit Cushion– provides subtle movement input and is a great seating option that often helps with focusing, while developing balance skills and trunk control. $14.90

 Deep Pressure Toys

 

Weighted toys– A great sensory diet addition that provides comforting deep pressure input. $36.00

Body Sock– excellent for providing calming/organizing deep pressure input, and for developing motor planning, spatial, and body awareness. $31.98

Weighted blankets– Can calm anxiety and ease stress for some children with autism, sensory processing disorder, developmental disorders, and more. $ Prices vary

Vibrating Pillow– Provides a sense of calm. $17.95

Balance and Coordination Toys

Balance Board– helps develop the necessary skills for normal childhood activities which require good balance and coordination. $19.95

Velcro Toss– Great for practicing motor-planning and timing skills. $8.49

Zoom Ball– great for bilateral coordination, motor planning skills, shoulder stability, and building upper body and core strength. $13.99

Balance stepping stones– Helps to improve balancing and coordination abilities. $29.49

 Tactile Exploration Toys

Fidgets– Great for calming and alerting, to promote focusing and concentration, decrease stress, increase tactile awareness of fingers/hands and as a way to keep fidgeting fingers busy. $ Price Varies

Water Beads – These make for fun sensory activities. $5.95

Kinetic Sand– Great for a calming sensory experience and for tactile therapy play. $12.99

Be Amazing Insta-Snow Jar– great for use in sensory tables for early childhood. $9.89

Adapted Toys

Santa’s Little Hackers– A seasonal toy drive to adapt toys,  making simple modifications to the electronics of toys and giving them away. These adaptations make the toys accessible to individuals with disabilities so they can play independently.

Other Adapted Toy Resources:

Adaptive Tech Solutions: Adaptive Tech Solutions is a therapist owned and operated company that provides adapted equipment for individuals with disabilities at affordable prices.

Beyond Play: Features switch toys which are wonderful way to teach cause and effect and can help children develop a sense of control over their environment and self-esteem.

Other Resources:

I’m looking forward to checking out this new store in the Chicago area, Spectrum Toy Store.

Toys R Us Toy Guide for Differently-Abled Kids – Prepared by the National Lekotek Center, the catalogue is available at your local “R” Us store.

And last but not least, view our Amazon Wishlist for therapist recommended toys and games for all children’s developmental stages at bit.ly/eswishlist.

Getting Back to the Basics this 4th of July

In Memory of: Kelly Lopresti, Director of Child Development, The Lily Garden Child Care Center

The warm summer weather is perfect for a Fourth of July celebration that incorporates easy patriotic activities. Think back to your own childhood outdoor experiences in the summer months with nights playing kick the can and flashlight tag.  We can show our kids how to have a great 4^th of July celebration by adding a few throw back activities from our youth.  Below is a list of list of easy activities that will keep kids busy, laughing and having a ton of fun during your holiday weekend.

Potato Sack Race: Bring back the classic potato sack race for your Fourth of July party. All you’ll need is a handful of bags (even old pillow cases will work) and a group of people. Line up the bagged participants and send them on their way laughing toward the finish line.

Fun with the Brady Bunch kids.

Fun Tip: Choose festive bags, such as red, white, and blue pillow cases, or decorate your own potato sacks with the image of the flag or the Statue of Liberty.

Spoon Race: We named this Fourth of July game for one of our nation’s founding fathers, and it’s sure to be a hit. It’s the Abraham Lincoln Spoon Race.

1. Divide the kids into two teams and designate a starting point and finish line.
2. At the starting point, place a bowl of pennies and two spoons or ladles (one for each team); at the finish line, place two empty bowls (one for each team).
3. One at a time one person from each team must fill the spoon with as many pennies as possible and then race to the finish line to discard them into the team bowl.
4. Here’s the catch: Any dropped pennies must be picked up and returned to the spoon, and the player must return to the starting point. The first team to transfer all the pennies to the bowl at the finish line wins.

Photo from Oriental Trading

American Flag Relay: Fill two large plastic buckets or bins with sand and insert small American flags. Use the same number of flags as participants.

1. Designate a starting point and a finish line, placing the buckets at the finish line.
2. Split the kids into two teams and have them form two lines at the starting point.
3. On your “Go,” the first person in each line races to the bucket, grabs a flag, and marches back (for safety reasons, don’t allow children to run with the flags).
4. The next person in line cannot go until the previous person has returned with his or her flag.
5. The first team to capture all of its flags wins.

Other ideas:

• Bike Decorating contest: Get the streamers and balloons ready and start decorating.
• Hula Hoop Contest: Grab some Hula Hoops and a few wiggly participants to get the contest started. The person who can continue to hula the longest wins.
• Baseball Throwing Contest: Incorporate America’s favorite pastime in your 4th of July celebration. The person who can throw a baseball the farthest wins. This game is best played at a park with an adult marking the distance each time.
• Tug-of-War Contest: Create two teams to tug on opposing sides of a rope. Make three knots in the middle of the rope and a line on the ground between the teams. The team who tugs the furthest knot across the line wins
• Fly a Kite: Let your patriotic spirit fly high into the sky this July Fourth. Make and decorate kites as a family and fly them in the backyard or at a park.
• Baseball: Baseball is widely considered the all-American sport, which makes it a perfect Fourth of July game. Designate team captains and mark bases with bags of sand or painted twigs.
• Patriotic Scavenger Hunt: For a festive and fun July Fourth game, send players on a scavenger hunt around the neighborhood. Include patriotic items on the list, such as red, white, and blue items; a nickel, in honor of Thomas Jefferson, who drafted the Declaration of Independence; and mini American flags.

For more ideas for a fun 4th of July weekend visit:

• Education.com
• Parents.com

To learn more about Easter Seals DuPage & Fox Valley’s Lily Garden Child Care Center visit eastersealslilygarden.org.

Help Your Little One Love to Swim!

By: Bridget Hobbs, PT, DPT

Summer months are just around the corner which means neighborhood pools and splash pads are opening.  Toddlers are so curious about the water but are often a bit scared to take the plunge and go in the pool.  Here are some fun and easy ways to get your child to learn to love the water. 

1)      Treasure Hunt: When children can sit up by themselves (about 6 months old), sit by them in the kiddie pool or a blow up pool in the backyard.  Place fun things at the bottom of the pool, such as plastic fish, rings or some of their favorite bath toys.  Pools with a zero-depth entry where you can walk in on a gradual decline are excellent for making a trail of toys into the water for your little one to follow. 

2)      Peek-A-Boo!: Once your little one is in the water, putting their face in can often be a scary thing. Playing Simon Says or Peek-A-Boo can be a fun way to break the ice.  Kids love to mimic their parents, so placing your face in the water covering your face, then lifting your face out of the water making a funny face at your child can be a hit.  Practicing blowing bubbles through a partially submerged straw is also fun for kiddos. 

3)      Getting comfortable on their back:  Floating on their backs is one of the first things that kids learn in swim lessons.   While you are supporting them under their mid back, asking kids to describe shapes of the clouds, sing songs and even looking for airplanes are ways to help children ease into this skill.  Practicing back float in the bathtub is also a good way to practice this life-saving skill.

Photo Credit: Kristi Hughes

4)      Fun with Noodles: If your pool allows noodles, having your children straddle the noodle while supporting them at their waist can be not only fun for your kiddo but also a great way to strengthen their core and leg muscles.  Have your child hold onto the noodle with two hands in front of them and pretend that they are riding a horse or biking to their favorite toy store or ice cream shop. 

5)      Listen to Your Child:
If your child cries during swim lessons or has tantrums when you are trying to get them into the pool, do not force them to go in the water as this can make it worse.  They may need a few sessions of watching other kids from the deck on the side of the pool to realize that swimming is not a scary thing.  Make sure to pick a time where your child is not tired or hungry.   Let them pick out a swimsuit at the store and fun pool toys so they feel like they have some control over this new experience. 

Swimming is one of the only sports that people can enjoy for their entire life-span.   It can also be life-saving and build confidence in your little one.  So, make sure to be positive and motivating with your little one in the water and help them learn to love to swim.

Photo Credit: Joann Hartley

 

To learn more about Aquatic Therapy and other
Community Based Therapy Programs at
Easter Seals DuPage & Fox Valley, click here.

Cover photo by Chris Pestel

 

My Child is Stuttering; Will He or She Grow out of it?

By: Valerie Heneghan, M.A., CCC-SLP/L

You may have noticed that your child appears to be getting stuck on words or repeating words and sounds recently, what do you do?  Your friends and/or family may have told you not to worry about it as they will likely grow out of the problem, is this true?  How can you tell if my child is stuttering?  When do I seek help for this problem?

In this post, you will be provided with a brief summary addressing questions related to childhood stuttering.

Prevalence

According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), in preschool age the prevalence of stuttering can be as great as eleven percent. The prevalence of stuttering is also greater in boys than girls up to 4:1 as the stuttering progresses.

Characteristics of Stuttering

Disfluency is anything that interrupts the forward flow of speech. Stuttering occurs when this disruption occurs within a word.

There are two forms of stuttering:

1) Sound/Syllable Repetition: repeating a single sound or syllable (e.g., g-g-g-going, bi-bi-cycle, etc.) and 2) Sound Prolongations; pausing or stretching out single sound (e.g, g__oing, ____bicycle).

Associated and/or secondary characteristics may also be present for a child who stutters.  These are described as movements as a reaction to the stuttering including but not limited to: distracting sounds, facial grimaces, head movements, movement of the extremities, etc.

Risk Factors

Stuttering is a disorder of childhood with typically emerges between the ages of two and a half and five years old. While genetics and neurophysiology appear to be related to the underlying causes of stuttering, environmental factors, temperament, and speaking demands may influence a child’s reactions to stuttering.

Recovery

80% of children will outgrow stuttering within four years.  During the first year however, 12% recover spontaneously.  Indicators that your child may continue to stutter includes but not limited to: no changes in frequency of stuttering, changes in stuttering type, persistence of associated behaviors six months post onset, family history of stuttering, increased communication demands, etc.

When therapy is recommended

If you notice that your child is stuttering, mark when you first noticed the problem begin.  Initially, do not draw attention to the stuttering, decrease the communication demands and model slow and smooth speech when speaking to or near your child.

If you are concerned about your child’s stuttering, have them evaluated by a Speech-Language Pathologist who specializes in assessing and treating children who stutter.