Therapy OPS is blogging about everything therapy! Check out the blog to find therapy/home techniques, latest research, and more!
Did you know that a preschool-aged kid needs to hear a word 500 times before they will begin to use it? Whoa, that's, like, a lot of times. So, how can we help our kiddo's learn all of these words? In this video, speech therapists Kaitlin and Eva demonstrate a couple of techniques called modeling and recast & expand. They will show you how you can use these techniques at home.
TOPS Tips Video on How Kids Learn New Words
Read More"Just calm down" is something we say to our kids often. Easier said than done though, right? One of the tools we all have in our toolbelt to help with calming a child is to use co-regulation.
Co-Regulation is a mutual act, an exchange of calm that occurs between two people. Parents/ adults who have acquired the cognitive tools to manage their own emotions, can positively influence their children. Co-regulation also means helping a child learn how to regulate their big emotions by showing empathy and modeling. It doesn’t mean to pretend to exist in a state of calm all the time or never getting angry. It means actively managing your own emotions to help your children learn to manage theirs. We can directly influence processes in one another, such as the production of the stress hormone cortisol. The distress of others (i,e, a crying child) can cause us to feel similar distress. When we remain calm, we can influence the production of hormones in others to help them calm down as well.
Co-Regulation begins with our own ability to regulate our own emotions. High levels of stress can trigger the flight-or-fight stress response, even when the threat isn’t life-threatening. Sometimes we give into our children’s demands because we as parents have difficulty regulating and don’t want to deal with the big emotional outburst/ tantrum the child is having. When adults can identify their own triggers and stress response, they are better equipped to recognize them in kids. Emotional dysregulation can look different, depending on the person and situation. For younger kids, dysregulation might look like screaming, hitting, stomping feet, or destroying property. They are most likely having a fight, flight, freeze, if withdrawing, overcompliance with adults or the inability to say “no” occurs. The goal of co-regulation is to reverse course, to de-escalate intensifying stress.
When you yourself are stressed with a dysregulated child, take 5 slow deep breaths in to relax your body, then you can:
Get on their level, eye-to-eye. Increased eye contact fosters trust and connectedness and safety. With kids who have challenges with eye contact, watch for cues, but the main idea is to kneel/sit on the floor near them or squat down.
Name their emotions. For example “It looks like you’re really upset right now.” Validating emotions is important and not pointing out the behavior.
Change your tone: Try to keep your voice calm and don’t raise your voice. Mirroring can occur when we embody what we want the child to do or be. By maintaining a calm voice and body, we can naturally de-escalate a situation.
Give them a hug or squeeze (if they’ll allow it). A dysregulated child might be averse to touch, but a hug lasting longer than 20 seconds can release oxytocin, which is the bonding hormone and will naturally begin to calm the nervous system. Oxytocin is sometimes called the “love hormone”.
Guide them in a calming exercise or breathing exercise. One strategy is placing a hand over child’s heart, while the child places their hand over parent’s heart, while breathing together. This is an effective way to co-regulate and synchronize heart rates and breathing rates.
The most important take away is that children are always absorbing what they see and hear. We can be instrumental in modeling regulation behavior with every day activities.
Read MoreIn this video, our speech therapists discuss how to help your kiddo's with basic conversation skills and what parents can do to help model these skills for their kids.
TOPS Tips Video on Modeling Conversation Skills w/ Our Kids
Read MoreIn anticipation of the time change (falling back 1 hour) this weekend, here are some tips that can help you cope with the challenge of modifying bedtime routines:
1. Talk about the time change with your kids. Explain to them why it is suddenly dark during dinner and light while they get ready for school in the morning.
2. It is much easier to shift your child’s sleep schedule gradually than all at once. So, instead of putting your child to bed at their normal time (which is now an hour later than before), try shifting their bedtime slowly by 10-15 minutes a night starting on Thursday. This will help their sleep cycle and natural circadian rhythm slowly adjust.
3. Keep bedtime and naptime routines the same. Don’t have a bedtime routine? Work on creating one. Routines are important to help cue your child’s body to wind down and get ready for rest.
4. Encourage your child to do quiet calming activities prior to bed, such as reading, coloring, or playing with quiet toys and fidgets.
5. Limit screen time 1-2 hours before bedtime. Studies have found that blue light from screens interfere with the natural production of melatonin, which helps our body get sleepy and ready for rest.
6. Dim lights in your house 30 minutes prior to bedtime. The dimmed lighting promotes the production of melatonin.
7. Provide your child with lots of opportunities to move and be active during the day. When our kids get time to run around and play outside, it helps them to sleep better at night.
8. Be patient. It takes time for sleep cycles to adjust. It may take 1-2 weeks for your child’s body to get used to the new rhythm and get back to their usual sleep cycle.
#daylightsavings #bedtimeroutine #backtothefuture
Read MoreWe get A LOT of questions about handwriting. What age should my child be able to write, what signs should I look for if they are struggling to write and how can I help them write correctly, just to identify a few. In this video, Occupational Therapists Jenna and Chelsey answer those questions plus offer a number of pro tips on how to take your support to the next level. Just not, this video is 5+ minutes long because of how much material is covered. Enjoy!
Read MoreTransitioning back to school in the fall can be exciting and stressful for our kids. The uncertainty of a new teacher, classroom and meeting new peers can bring on high emotions and cause our kids to increase their arousal more easily for longer periods of time. Having to exit a familiar environment, stop a preferred or familiar task, and leave that consistency can feel frightening. Movement can provide a healthy outlet for the body, calm, the body, change the pace of the day and provide a brain boost. Take a few minutes to explore a few of these movements!
Read MoreIn this video, Occupational Therapists Christine and Lola talk about the process of helping your kiddos manage emotions. This starts by first discussing what emotions are and teaching them what they mean. This can be done through pictures, videos clips or even acting them out once you and your child are calm. It's only when there is a base understanding of what emotions are that you can then move forward on learning how to manage them. The second part of the video covers the tips and suggestions for helping you and your family manage emotions. Remember, you may need to take these ideas and tweak them until you find what works for your family. And feel free to share those ideas with us as well!
Tops Tips on how to help kids manage emotions
Read MoreThe return of the school year can be a time of excitement and anxiousness. Thankfully we have occupational therapists Celia and Chelsey here with a few tips on how to help your kiddo's (and maybe even their parents) prepare for the return of the school year. Adjusting sleep schedules now, revising your morning routines and attaching fidgets to backpacks are just a few examples of some actions that you can take to help the child in your life ease back into their school!
Tops Tips on how to prepare kids for going back to school
Read MoreIn this week’s TOPS Tips video, OT’s Lola and Christine talk about the grasping techniques that kids use at different age milestones, fun activities you can do with your child to increase finger and grasp strength and the different shapes that your child should make before writing. While many kids will start to show a preference for a dominant hand as they grow, they generally don’t declare their dominant hand until around age 6. Enjoy!
TOPS Tips video on pre writing skills in kids under 5 years of age can be found here
Read MoreIn this video, speech therapists Eva and Heidi talk about word loop lists, how they are used in therapy and how they can be used at home. Have you been assigned some speech homework by a TOPS Therapist? Here's an example of how you can easily integrate the homework into everyday tasks and get a passing grade from your child's therapist!
Click here to watch our TOPS Tips video on Word Loop Lists
Read MoreBig and small transitions can be challenging for kiddos. In this video, OT's Mallory and Michaela explain why transitions can be challenging as well as provide some tips to help caregivers make transitions easier for everyone involved in them!
Click here to see our TOPS Tips Video on Transitions
Read MoreDid you know March is National Sleep Month? A good night of sleep sets the tone for the day to follow. That is why it is so important to get a good night of sleep! The benefits of good sleep are endless and can make a major impact on our kiddo's (and our own!) daily functioning. Here are a few tips our friendly OT team would like you to know:
Read MoreDid you know that a preschool-aged kid needs to hear a word 500 times before they will begin to use it? Whoa, that's, like, a lot of times. So, how can we help our kiddo's learn all of these words? In this video, speech therapists Kaitlin and Eva demonstrate a couple of techniques called modeling and recast & expand. They will show you how you can use these techniques at home.
TOPS Tips Video on How Kids Learn New Word
Read MoreWith the weather changing, you and your kids may find yourselves indoors just a bit more than usual. And that can mean that kiddo energy is all bottled-up and concentrated in your home. Thankfully our OT Team is here to help with some ideas on how to turn that living space of yours into an area to get that energy out. Oh, and as a side benefit, it will help your kiddo's work on frustration tolerance, get some heavy lifting and some regulation too. These ideas can use anything you have in your house from chairs to blankets to cushions. Please take a look!
Here is the link to the video with the indoor obstacle course ideas!
Read MoreIn this video, Occupational Therapists Christine and Lola talk about the process of helping your kiddos manage emotions. This starts by first discussing what emotions are and teaching them what they mean. This can be done through pictures, videos clips or even acting them out once you and your child are calm. It's only when there is a base understanding of what emotions are that you can then move forward on learning how to manage them. The second part of the video covers the tips and suggestions for helping you and your family manage emotions. Remember, you may need to take these ideas and tweak them until you find what works for your family. And feel free to share those ideas with us as well!
TOPS Tips Video on Managing Emotions
Read MoreDid you know it is very common for kids aged 3-5 to stutter. At these ages, it generally means that the brain is thinking faster than the mouth can speak (and that's ok). So, how can we help our child if they are stuttering? Speech Therapists Heidi and Rachel talk about some strategies you can use with your child who is stuttering and what the whole family can do to help.
In May of 2024 a psychologist by the name of Mark Travers wrote an article for Forbes titled “Why Kids’ Shows Like ‘Cocomelon’ Hamper Critical Brain Development”. Please click here for the full article. We highly encourage you to check it out, it’s about a 5-minute read. In the article Travers talks about the surface-level impact on our children that they experience when they are watching these shows and then the deeper impact that some shows can have on children, including affecting their brain’s development and size.
Read MoreTransitioning back to school in the fall can be exciting and stressful for our kids. The uncertainty of a new teacher, classroom and meeting new peers can bring on high emotions and cause our kids to increase their arousal more easily for longer periods of time. Having to exit a familiar environment, stop a preferred or familiar task, and leave that consistency can feel frightening. Movement can provide a healthy outlet for the body, calm, the body, change the pace of the day and provide a brain boost. Take a few minutes to explore a few of these movements!
Read MoreJune is Safety Awareness Month and today we’d like to talk about internet safety for kids. The internet has so many wonderful ways kids can safely interact including music, games and educational tools. But we also need to acknowledge that there is a dark side to the internet as well.
Read MoreMental Health Awareness Month continues throughout May. Although we can focus all year-round on mental health, May is specifically highlighted to help people recognize the ways mental illness impacts their lives, educates people about available services, and illustrates ways to advocate—even if they don't have a mental illness.
Read MoreTherapy OPS is an therapy clinic for children located in Inver Grove Heights and Hastings, and serving Minneapolis, St. Paul, and the surrounding areas. We currently offer Occupational, Physical, and Speech therapy, social skills groups, and alternative therapy modalities, such as therapeutic listening systems and Interactive Metronome.
Complete the form below or call 651-455-0561 to schedule a free tour or start the process of helping your child.
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Monday — Thursday
7am — 6pm
Friday - closed
Inver Grove Heights Locaton:
2925 Buckley Way
Inver Grove Heights, MN — 55076
651-455-0561 F: 651-457-4401
Hastings Location:
1312 S Frontage Rd
Hastings, MN 55033
Therapy OPS complies with applicable Federal civil rights laws and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex. Therapy OPS does not exclude people or treat them differently because of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex.
