A pacifier is a way to calm babies and provide comfort through sucking. Sucking is a skill that is necessary for feeding. Premature babies often have great success with pacifiers to increase their feeding and weight gain. They can also be used in stressful situations or distinguish fussiness between meals. In addition, they are often used as a way to reduce re-flux.

May 24th is National Scavenger Hunt Day! Scavenger hunts can be a fun, adventurous way to work on following directions, attributes, location concepts, wh- questions, and/or articulation words.

May is National Posture Month and it’s a great time to consider spine health and postural habits in your growing child. Posture does matter after all, especially for kids as their spines grow and develop, as well as their postural habits.

Emotions are essential for getting our needs met, but when upset--- emotions can also cloud our judgement and make it difficult to process situations. Emotions can be hard to understand and even harder to control for kiddos. Here are a few general ideas to think about and consider to help reduce outbursts along with providing a good support system.

Breathing is for more than survival Breathing is key for survive and an involuntary action. Even if trying to hold your breath, you will eventually become unconscious when your body will attempt to breath for you.

What does sensory mean to you? As a pediatric OT, I often hear sensory associated with negative behaviors. Sensory integration is how we interpret and make meaning to every day experiences. So good news! Sensory is a good thing, we all experience it.

Happy Occupational Therapy Month! We are lucky to have some amazing OTs here at Therapy OPS that have created some blogs that target different OT skill areas. Today’s blog comes from Hannah and is about fine motor skills. Enjoy!

Nutrition and proper child development go hand in hand and are a vital part of a child’s well-being. Children are smart, but making healthy choices for meals and snacks is a challenge for any child.

With spring break being the next few weeks for kiddos, we thought we would put together a list of activities near the Twin Cities of sensory friendly activities! Thanks to Family Fun Twin Cities for the great ideas!

It is winter time in Minnesota! The snow has been piling up and as much fun as the snow can be, the cold weather can be limiting to the amount of sun and activity people get. With individuals with strong sensory needs, this problem can be even harder which can lead to individuals feeling very dysregulated.

March 1st kicks off National Cheerleader Safety Month! While cheer-leading can be a wonderful sport, it can also have negative impacts on the body. The most common injuries for cheerleaders are ankle sprains, followed by strains or sprains of the back, neck, knee and wrist.

We are constantly taking in sensory information during our day. This allows us to understand the world around us and helps us respond appropriately. Our senses send information to our brain to interpret, which then sends our body signals about how to react.

When we think of teaching our children, we often think of things like teaching them how to spell, write, tie their shoes, among a million other daily lessons. What about teaching kindness? Is this something we do outright or hope that they pick it up along the way?

In honor of National Children’s Dental Health Month, we wanted to spotlight brushing teeth! Dentists’ concur that for children all around the world, they should brush their teeth for two minutes, two times per day, floss, use fluoride toothpaste and visit the dentist frequently.

Feb. 1st kicks of National Self-Esteem Month. According to Dictionary.com, the definition of self-esteem is: confidence in one's own worth or abilities; self-respect. As adults, we are often lucky enough to develop this over time, as we have more opportunities to learn how to love and LAUGH at ourselves.

What are primitive reflexes in a baby and why is it important to understand what they are and how they work?

Books may seem old-school to some but the power of books is undeniable. Another overlooked aspect about books is the benefits they have on development just by being read aloud. Language exposure, increased vocabulary and an introduction and increase into imaginations are just a few of those benefits.

The sun did not shine.

It was too cold to play.

So we sat in the house

all that cold, cold, snowy day.

Initial Evaluation: At your first appointment at Therapy OPS, you will first meet your therapist in the lobby where they will introduce themselves to both you and your child. Next, you and your child will go back into an office to start the evaluation. The evaluation will begin with questions …

As hard as setting boundaries can be, boundaries are essential in helping children develop and become successful with age-appropriate activities and with transitions. Yet, we all have moments where we wonder whether or not the boundary we have created is really worth all the growing pains.