Skill Builderz Pediatric Therapy

12/25/2020

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

12/11/2020

As this holiday season draws closer, I’m reminded daily of the ways in which this year will be “different” for many of the clients, families and members of the community that I have the pleasure to work with. “Different” is hard, and can sometimes be uncomfortable. But different can also be celebrated!

My life journey, like others that I know, has not always been linear (or traditional). Life has challenged us to celebrate life’s typical milestones and holidays in different ways, sometimes without those we care about most. This can be exceptionally challenging when you have kids.

Over the past few weeks, we have gradually had the challenging conversation(s) with our children that our holidays will be different to protect those we care about. Initially, we were met with tears and words of frustration. Once past this stage of grief, my children quickly jumped into problem solving mode, reminiscing all the different ways we have celebrated the holidays in the past. Some of them occurring during years of their lives I never thought they would remember. As a parent or caregiver, you can imagine how this conversation quickly turned into a line-up of requests!

So who is up for a challenge?!? INSPIRE and HELP others by sharing a past/new idea you will be doing to make this holiday season more memorable! In the spirit of CREATIVITY, we will be giving away $50 gift cards to TWO individuals who POST an idea (in the comment section), LIKE or SHARE. Those that participate by Sunday (December 13th) at 11pm will be entered into the drawing!

Determination of where the gift cards will be purchased from will be based on the location of the recipient with emphasis placed on supporting local.

11/26/2020

10/10/2020

IMPORTANT SKILLS CHILDREN LEARN WHILE PLAYING TO BUILD THEIR BRAIN

http://gooeybrains.com/2016/04/10/using-play-to-build-the-brain/

07/02/2020

LEARNING FOUNDATION PYRAMID

Great pyramid that shows you what is needed for each aspect of learning and what learning concepts fall into each category.

https://www.learningfoundations.com/our-programs/cognitive-skills-training

06/24/2020

When kids show delays in developing skills, Occupational Therapists are often the first called in to evaluate symptoms and offer solutions.

06/24/2020

"We don’t just read to our kids, we read with our kids."

05/26/2020

One of my children came to me with this YouTube video this morning with tears in her eyes. She said "I want to be just like her". The video exemplifies a story of hope and one's ability to overcome adversity. Please take a moment to watch if you haven't seen the video already. Mandy Harvey is truly inspirational!

Deaf singer follows her dreams and earns a Golden Buzzer from Simon Cowell with her original song "Try." » Get The America's Got Talent App: http://bit.ly/AG...

05/24/2020

Did you know occupational therapists help children develop perspective taking?

Do you have a child who has difficulty taking the perspective of another person? This is a developmental skill that usually emerges between ages 4-5, but many children struggle with this skill throughout childhood. (And I would argue: lots of us adults still have difficulty taking the perspective of another! We naturally assume others see the world as we do.) This article shares some simple research-based ways you can teach your child to be open-minded to hearing the perspective of others. http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/the_importance_of_perspective_taking_for_young_children?utm_campaign=meetedgar&utm_medium=social&utm_source=meetedgar.com

05/20/2020

A great perspective of how many parents with special needs children have been feeling! I’m so thankful to have been able to continue to provide OT services via telehealth.

When all of his services ended in March, seemingly overnight, I said out loud...we are going to lose him.

When we were offered telehealth appointments, I said what’s the point. They will never work.

When in-home therapy was mentioned I felt like covering my ears and stomping my feet and screaming about how hard I worked to get my son into a center and to find him the right services and that in-home would never work.

I was scared. Actually that’s an understatement. I was scared to death of losing everything my son had worked so hard to achieve.

I also felt like he was forgotten. Like him, and all the kids like him were just left in the wind when the world shut down.

But, most of that was on me. It was built up worry. And built up fear. All from fighting for so long.

See, special needs parents live in this upside down, inside out world where we are always fighting for equal and fair and for our kids to be seen and heard and valued.

So I think...a lot of that was on me. I was mad and with each regression Cooper had, I got more and more frustrated.

But, and if I know anything I know there is always a but, Cooper started thriving in other areas. Because our family dug in like we always do. We rallied. We focused our efforts and refused to give up.

We started in-home therapy last week and it’s going fantastic. We are doing telehealth occupational therapy and it’s adorable and we laugh and high five and do virtual fist bumps.

I guess I’m saying I have baggage. Emotional, deep, baggage. But it comes from a good place. There’s that ‘but’ again.

I just worry. But today I put that aside and just focused on the resilience of this kid and how proud I am of him.

And I want to say thank you to each and every person who works with (the cool) kids like mine. Thank you. ❤️