Skills On The Hill | Pediatric Occupational Therapy
1,038 FOLLOWERS
At Skills on the Hill, we treat the whole child by considering the environment, the child's strengths and weaknesses, and what is meaningful to the child. We know that the child will do best when he or she is comfortable and motivated, so we disguise everything as play. At our pediatric occupational therapy clinic we address motor delays, visual motor and perceptual deficits.
Skills On The Hill | Pediatric Occupational Therapy
2y ago
Hello friends and SOTH community! At Skills on the Hill, we are working with our clients to continue conquering #HardThings in 2022. Are you and your child up to the challenge to set new therapy goals and climb to new heights? We invite you to chat with your therapist about this New Year campaign and share what it means in your family or your community to tackle new challenges and set personal goals.
Caregivers: Take 5-10 minutes of time to chat about one or two measurable and achievable goals your child might have related to school, play, or friends and family. What does it mean to climb a m ..read more
Skills On The Hill | Pediatric Occupational Therapy
2y ago
HOLIDAY HACK ALERT! Looking for a way to increase independence during gift unwrapping this season? Try this gift wrapping technique for easy opening!
https://video.wixstatic.com/video/c1c38e_2c55760323b54b82a587909014598b77/360p/mp4/file.mp4
Good for:
-Fast and easy opening
-Children with decreased fine motor skills
-Decreased grip strength (use finger hook method or loop onto wrist)
-Decreased upper extremity range of motion
Additional Tips & Tricks:
-Add pipe cleaner on the loop for more stability of the loop. This increases accuracy for hooking hand into the loop.
-Hold the gift between ..read more
Skills On The Hill | Pediatric Occupational Therapy
2y ago
As the holidays approach, eating and mealtime are typically put front and center. Sharing food, sitting around a table, and spending time with loved ones is what this time of year is about. It is meant be full of love and joy—but is not always that way if you’re sharing meals with a child with feeding challenges. Here are some ideas that may help create a more positive experience, during the holidays and every day.
Consistent Structure
Our society places meals at the center of most social experiences. We can also create this experience during daily meals, even if it is just you and your child ..read more
Skills On The Hill | Pediatric Occupational Therapy
2y ago
Bubbles are a must have and staple activity for kiddos of any age. They are a great fun tool to use to practice many skills. Bubbles are great for tracking objects visually, then utilizing body parts to pop them. Bubbles are useful in beginning ball skills like catching and kicking. Practice hand eye coordination skills by popping them with 1 index finger. Or try catching a bubble with both hands, just like clapping for bilateral coordination skills. To challenge balance and stability, your child could kick the bubbles with the tips of their toes. Use Bubbles as a calming activity and see how ..read more
Skills On The Hill | Pediatric Occupational Therapy
2y ago
In honor of National Stuttering Awareness Day, we're bringing you info on when to refer to a speech therapist! Did you know that approximately 1% of the population stutters (over 76 million) and about 3 million Americans stutter? Lots of children who show early signs of stuttering will outgrow it, however, we cannot predict who will recover spontaneously. Speech language therapy at an early age is a an effective way to increase the likelihood that a child will recover from stuttering!
Curious about speech at SOTH? Give us a call to schedule an intake call and talk with one of our speech therap ..read more
Skills On The Hill | Pediatric Occupational Therapy
2y ago
Oh those bones! For World Pediatric Bone and Joint Day, we are bringing awareness to the 2 million kids around the world who suffer from arthritis. Want a fun PT activity that you can do at home? Try labeling all the bones in your skeleton to aid in promoting body awareness or walking like a skeleton. Spooky ..read more
Skills On The Hill | Pediatric Occupational Therapy
2y ago
Skills On The Hill joins DC Soccer Club in bringing accessible sports programs for children with special needs to DC.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Skills on The Hill is joining forces with DC Soccer Club to provide their first full season of TOPSoccer for youth athletes with intellectual, emotional, or physical disabilities in the D.C. area. TOPSoccer is a nationally accredited 9-week adaptive recreational soccer program offered in both the spring and the fall seasons, beginning after Labor Day and extending into early November with weekly practice sessions and small-sided games.
SOTH volunteers offer 1 ..read more
Skills On The Hill | Pediatric Occupational Therapy
2y ago
A balance board is a versatile and fun piece of equipment for children to use indoors at home to improve balance, core strength, and body awareness. It is a board mounted on a rounded fulcrum and can range in shapes including square, circular, and rectangle. Standing or sitting on a balance board helps to strengthen your child’s core muscles because the core muscles must work in order to keep the body balanced. For the activities listed below, your child may need a handheld assist for stability.
Here are 5 ways to incorporate a balance board into everyday play:
1. Stand on the balance board w ..read more
Skills On The Hill | Pediatric Occupational Therapy
2y ago
by Grace Golojuch, MS, OTR/L and Samantha Spelke, MS, OTR/L
A round of applause for everyone! We have successfully transitioned from virtual and hybrid learning back to in-person learning. It’s certainly a learning curve after this past year and as we return to the classroom your child will return to physical writing as opposed to virtually submitting assignments. A transition like this can be tricky. Here are some tips for easing your child back into writing after virtual learning.
Postural control and endurance is an important skill to help with writing so making sure to get the kids bodies ..read more
Skills On The Hill | Pediatric Occupational Therapy
2y ago
by Grace Golojuch, MS, OTR/L and Samantha Spelke, MS, OTR/L
Organizing a classroom is a difficult task for teachers and educators. It’s important to create a comfortable environment for students to learn and while creating a fun, personal space. But how do you create a place that accommodates children with sensory needs? Take a look at these things to consider when building a sensory-friendly classroom.
Create a quiet/sensory corner with decreased visual and auditory distractions such as bean bags, calming bottles, deep breathing cards, books, coloring pages, puzzles.
Add velcro under desks fo ..read more