Rock climbing is a wonderful activity for individuals of all ages! It is a fun undertaking which works to improve a variety of core body functions. Just to list a few they include grip/shoulder/core/leg strength, endurance, sequencing, bilateral coordination, memory, problem solving, body and safety awareness! The list could go on and on… Rock climbing is like performing a puzzle, only with your body! Not only does it draw upon a mental request making someone attend to the task at hand, but it also promotes physical engagement and problem solving skills in order to ascend the wall.  ​

Before we start climbing, there are a list of items that need to be “checked off” accordingly. Climbing is a partnership, it consists of a climber - the person ascending the wall, and a belayer - the person supporting on the ropes from the ground. The climber goes up the wall and the belayer makes sure that the climber stays safe. There is a great deal of motor planning and fine motor task in order to get into the harness, to tie all the knots safely, and to make sure that everything is connected properly. This does not only go for the climber but for the belayer as well! ​

Learning vocabulary and expanding language can happen throughout a child’s day! Using silly songs and descriptive words can help strengthen your child’s language at bathtime, meal times, and getting ready for the day. Language is fun! Keep your activities playful and avoid “quizzing”. Below are some easy tips you can incorporate within daily activities.

Getting Ready in the Morning:
Label and describe clothing as your child gets dressed. 

• Give options such as, “Do you want the blue, sparkly pants or the green, striped shirt with a dinosaur on it?”

Label body parts as you put on clothing

• “Feet step in our shoes!”
• "Hands go through, then the arms!"
• “Your shirt covers your tummy!” 

Make it silly

• “Arms up to put on your pants!”
• “Do you want orange juice on your toast?”

Bath Time:
Make silly sounds for bath toys

• “Bottle fills up, blub blub blub blub,”
• “Boat goes brrrrrrrr,” 
• “Ducky says quack quack quack quack.” 
• Wait to see how your child responds to what you said, you’re building early conversational skills! ​

Talk about what the toys can do

• Splash, dive, drip, swim, float, fill, pour, dump, soak
• Bring sponges, cups, droppers, or measuring spoons into the tub

Imitate the sounds that you hear

• Can you sound like the water coming out of the faucet? Can you make a splash sound? 
• Play with using different parts of your mouth (tongue, teeth, lips) to make silly sounds!​

Mealtimes:
​Describe sensory qualities of the food

• Is the food crunchy? Soft? Sweet? Sour?

Have your little one help with the preparation and clean up

• Talk about the actions you are doing or the steps to complete the snack or meal. 

Play a category game during family meal times

• Go around the table naming things within that category. Give your child a choice if he or she is unable to come up with something.

Looking for more tips to encourage language development? Download "Beginning with Babble" from wherever you get your apps. It’s a free and informative resource full of great ideas to expand language for children ages 0-4. 

Blog written by: Katie Bode, Speech Therapy Student

Change your summer schedules to match your school year schedule now! An abrupt change in your schedule can sometimes be uncomfortable. Make the transition as easy as possible (without pressure) by working out all the kinks now before it’s too late!

​Take some time to talk with your child about their feelings around school starting. Are they excited, sad, and/or nervous? If so, what about? Do they know their teacher and/or have the opportunity to meet their teacher before school starts? Will they be taking the bus this year and/or changing their previous routine from last year? This can help your child process their emotions before experiencing the sudden change.
​
Make going back to school exciting! If your child is feeling nervous or upset about school, create opportunities to build the excitement of going back! For example, go shopping and buy some new and fun school supplies. Or, go grocery shopping and pick out some new and healthy snack/lunch options that they are excited to eat and share with friends! 

Blog written by: Alex Burg, Student Occupational Therapist

Create poses that focus on something your child is excited about.  If they like letters you can make your body into letter shapes, if they like animals structure the yoga around animal breaths and movements…etc.  It doesn’t matter if it is a traditional yoga pose or not the purpose of yoga for many children is to focus on breathing, moving their body, and calming their mind.  

Here are some ideas to use at home with your child: Start by focusing on breathing.  Place hands on belly while seated or a small stuffed animal on belly while lying down take 5 deep breaths and watch as your stomach goes in and out slowly while you breath.  Next start to move your body, this can include traditional yoga poses, dancing with music, animal walks, or a creation of your own.  

Depending on the energy level of your child yoga can either be used to increase energy through movement exercises or used to help calm your child through more relaxation poses.  Finish the class with a little rest-this is usually the hardest part of yoga for adults and children so allow your child to move on their mat as they need but have them stay lying down and quiet for a few minutes/seconds depending on your child.  This is a nice time to provide your child with a little foot or hand massage too to help them relax.

Check out these yoga resources for additional ideas:
​https://www.kidsyogastories.com
https://www.cosmickids.com

Written By: Caitlin Kraft, OTD

As summer approaches and the school year comes to an end, you may be wondering what activities and adventures you can do to entertain your littles. Our answer? Go outside to play! The development of your child's coordination, balance, strength, sensory system, social interaction, and self confidence can be nurtured  through playing and exploring the outdoors!

​

Here are some fun activities to try out in your backyard and community. 
​
Outdoor Ideas for your backyard:

• Sandbox or water table 
  • Help your kids explore their senses while playing with different textures with their hands and feet. 
• Collect and Seek
  • Collect pine cones, flowers, or rocks outside with your child. Try making it a game of who can find the most unique shapes and sizes. 
• Sidewalk Chalk
  • Create fun designs and games with chalk on the sidewalk or driveway.
• Go on a Bug Hunt
  • Bring a magnifying glass, a jar with holes on top, a bug net, and be on your way!
• Plant something in the yard
  • Plant, water, and watch grow! Consider flowers, herbs, and simple vegetables to start. 
• Backyard camping and stargazing 
  • Give your kids a taste of the wilderness with setting up camp in your backyard, cooking dinner outside, making s’mores, and stargazing before sleeping in a cozy tent. 
• Water balloon games
  • Create a water balloon toss in the backyard. Place a small water balloon on a spoon and try not to let the balloon fall and pop.  Remember to clean up the broken balloon after the fun! 

Community Activities
​ 

• Playgrounds 
  • Some of 2019's top rated local parks to visit this summer include East Palo Park, Scott Carpenter Park, McKay Park, and Founders Park. Check these out to help your child develop their unique motor skills. 
• Community pools
  • Make a splash in the water to cool off on extra hot days! 
• Picnic 
  • Pack a picnic blanket, basket, some fun park toys, and head to a local park or grassy knoll to enjoy a snack and some outdoor fun. 
• Walking around the block 
  • Take a walk around the neighborhood observing any animals, cars, or other objects to name and discover. Maybe bring your four legged friend on the walk as well! 
• Riding a scooter, strider, or tricycle
  • Go for a ride around the neighborhood, on a trail, or to the park.
• Go to a farm to pick fruits 
  • Have your child help you pick out some fresh food to take home to cook for dinner. 
• Visit the Denver Botanical Garden 
  • Free days this summer include July 10th and September 3rd; Children under 2 are always free! 
• Go for a hike
  • Coal Creek trail, Stearns Lake and Rock Creek Farm, Waneka Lake, or Harper Lake trail are some local kid friendly trails to visit.

Books are an essential building block to growing each child’s language, reading and writing skills. How can you make the most of the time you spend reading with your child? Whether you’re a parent, family member, friend, or mentor in a child’s life you can expand their language skills every day just by increasing interaction in various ways while reading a book. This is not something you need to add into your busy schedule, all you need to do is take advantage of the time you already use every day reading with your child. A resource from “Talking is Teaching” demonstrates simple ways to expand language beyond the words on the page.

A helpful way to remember the 4 simple steps to make the most out of reading time is “Follow the CAR.”

• Follow the child’s lead
• Comment & wait 
• Ask questions & wait 
• Respond by adding a little more & wait 

The following example illustrates how you can use these tips. Let’s pretend that you are reading a book involving a dog eating a bone. First, you can Follow the child’s lead after they say “Dog!” As the adult in this interaction you can Comment by saying “That is a dog!” and wait. Then you can also Ask questions such as “What is the dog eating?” or “What color is the dog?” or “What does a dog say?” and wait. Lastly, you can Respond to the child’s response and add information by saying things such as “That is a big black dog eating a bone!” and wait.

As you implement this strategy more it will become second nature during all of your reading time with your child. Other ways to expand language during reading include:

• Making predictions about the book before reading it & if they say “I don’t know” prompt them to give their best guess
• Reading the book using expressions and gestures
• Using open-ended questions that encourage more than one word answer

What if your child doesn’t want to engage in any reading? Some children may not want to read books, but it is important to still expose them to it. You can start by just flipping through the pages of a book very quickly, say a short sentence about what happened, and then say to the child “You did it! You read a book!” This will let them feel like they accomplished the task and over time increase their motivation to read books. Another way to follow the child’s lead is to offer two book options and let them choose which one they want to read. This will lead to a more positive reading experience and better chance they will want to pick up a book again.

By: Emily Dyer, Speech Therapy Student 

Blog by: Caitlin Kraft, Student Occupational Therapist 

​The holiday season is a time of giving, and we'd like to share with you some of our favorite developmentally appropriate toys. Each of these toys are broken into to categories that are designed to help your little one improve critical developmental skills while playing, just like we do in the clinic.

• Fine motor skills:
  
  • stringing beads
    
  • lacing beads 
    
  • legos
    
• Gross motor play:
  
  • wooden bowling set 
    
  • mini trampoline 
    
  • curvy balance beam
    
• Pretend play:
  
  • play kitchen 
    
  • baby dolls 
    
  • cooking set
    
• Tactile sensory play:
  
  • flubber 
    
  • kinetic sand 
    
  • dried bean bin
    
• Calming play:
  
  • weighted stuffed animal 
    
  • create cozy corners with beanbags
    
  • kid's teepee
    
• Language growth:
  
  • Snail's Pace Race board game
    
  • books

This list is in no way exhaustive. These skills can be obtained through a variety of ways so don't be afraid to be creative in exploring options that may help your child's skill grow. 

​Exercise! 

Getting physical activity helps us all improve our coping and can help us be more tolerant and flexible. It can also help stimulate our appetite and help our body and brain focus to sit for eating. 

Prior to the big meal get out for some exercise; such as a hike, walk, Yoga, bike ride or play at park. 

Take a break! 

If you are eating with a large family or friend group, make sure to schedule some breaks from the crowd. Some children can be sensitive to larger groups and small spaces. It may not seem loud, but the hum of a busy room can be overstimulating. 

Plan ahead and think of a quiet area or activity for some down time to for your child to recharge. You can also use headphones (noise cancelling or just regular music headphones) to help reduce auditory stimulation. 

Be flexible! 

Sometimes there are a lot of new and unfamiliar foods on the table for this meal. That can be overwhelming and be enough to cause a picky eater to shut down. 

Let your child have at least one of their preferred foods as part of your Thanksgiving meal. You may want to try serving the meal family style, allowing your child a sense of control about how much and which foods they put on their plate. They may even be more willing to accept a new food on their plate and possibly even taste it!

Let it go! 

Family holiday gatherings can be a great opportunity to see friends and family members. Sometimes a well-meaning loved one can be a fountain of unsolicited advice on how to get a child to eat or behave. 

Just remember that you are an expert on your child and that you are doing the best you can, and that is what is most important.