Signs Your Toddler May Need Speech Therapy

Toddlers are pretty darn cute as they begin to talk - putting sounds, words and sometimes even trying to put short sentences together! As they discover their voice, they will also develop a new awareness of their lips, tongue, cheeks and even their teeth. The most important thing to remember is that every child develops at their own rate.

Toddlers may exhibit a delay in speech development for a variety of reasons. Speech delays can be due to an oral impairment, such as physical complications with their tongue or palate. Frenulum (small fold under the tongue) shortening or tightness which can significantly limit tongue movement and range of motion is another possibility. Lastly, environmental/birth factors such as complications during a mother’s pregnancy or delivery.

Many kiddos with a speech delay commonly exhibit oral motor problems as well. In which case, you may notice challenges with feeding and meal times. When considering challenges in speech development, it is extra important to also take into account any possible challenges with hearing and/or chronic ear infections. In this case you can consult with your child’s pediatrician or ENT.

So now… what exactly should you look out for? What should you be aware of to address any possibly delays in speech development for your child? Here are some important milestones in speech development to consider as your baby grows into toddlerhood:

• 0-3 months, your child should be smiling and engaging with others through their facial expression and eye contact, cooing and gurgling

• 4-7 months, your child should be babbling

• 7-12 months, your child should be making a few sounds and may say their first words, such as “mama” or “dada”

• 12-18 months, your child should be saying a few words, anywhere from 5-40 words

• From 1 1/2 to 2 years, your child will now be putting 2 words together

• From 2 1/2 to 3 years, your child will use 2-3 word sentences to talk about things, and often ask for things

In addition to the production and articulation of sounds/words, it is important that your toddler understand simple instruction and language. If you notice your child is not responding or understanding you, consult with your pediatrician and one of our skilled speech therapists.

If your toddler is talking very little or not at all, an evaluation with one of our skilled speech therapists is strongly recommended. Therapeutic intervention for children is recommended sooner than later, so if you have any concerns, prior to toddler years, come and see us for a complimentary screening. We’re happy to help you, by carefully walking through your concerns and confirm if a comprehensive evaluation for your child is recommended.

The speech therapists at Champion Pediatric Therapy help children of all ages with various speech and language disorders, including articulation, fluency, and language disorders, implementation of AAC devices, oral motor skills, and general communication challenges.  We have an expert team of therapists who are here for YOU and happy to help you and your child in any way we can!

5 St. Patrick's Day Activities to Promote Fine Motor Skills

Spring has arrived! Which means St. Patrick’s Day crafts for children will be something to start thinking about. Here are 5 easy craft ideas that promote their fine motor skills while also having fun!

1. Beaded Shamrocks — In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, shamrocks are one of simplest crafts to make to symbolize this holiday. This is a great way to work on their motor learning skills and bilateral hand skills (the ability to use both hands together). Navigating and twisting the pipe cleaners and beads, certainly strengthens fine motor skills. This activity also helps coordinate small muscles in hands and develop fine motor control.  Here’s how:

-First you will use a green pipe cleaner to shape and curve 3 leaves to form the shamrock. 

-Grab some beads and put them through the pipe cleaner in the certain spots where you would like them. 

-With a second pipe cleaner you will twist the ends together and form the stem to connect all at the bottom. 

- Once all is done, you now have a beautiful beaded shamrock for St. Patrick's Day!

2. Button Rainbow Activity — Rainbows are a fun way to help your children work on the development of color recognition, along with their fine motor skills. This rainbow activity teaches color discrimination, sorting and naming the different colors.  Here’s how:

-You can decide to print out a rainbow or have your children color their own on a white sheet of paper.

-Once you have your rainbow, you will place your colorful buttons on the correct strip of color on the rainbow. 

-If every color button on the rainbow is correct, then you can start gluing them down to create a colorful button rainbow. 

-If you would like to add, you can even draw a little pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!

3. Rainbow Q Tip Painting — This is another fun rainbow activity to engage your child's motor development and pincer grip. This works on their color coordination and placement, and also their hand strength and grip by having them color with a small q tip. Here’s how:

-Draw or print out a rainbow for your children to color in. 

-Once you have a rainbow, set up a plate of paint of each color of the rainbow on it. -Have your kids paint in the lines in the correct color sequence with the q tips to complete your rainbow. 

4. St. Patrick’s Day Playdough Treasure Hunt — Kids will love playing with the playdough and finding the hidden coins for this activity. They can use this to practice counting and strengthen their fine motor skills in many ways. All of the rolling, squeezing, stretching, and pinching is great for their hands and finger muscles.  Here’s how:

-You will need coins or beads and green colored playdough or slime.

-Spread out the playdough and then stick the coins or beads in different spots of the playdough then roll it up into a ball. 

-Have your kids find and count every one they find in the playdough for their treasure hunt.

5. St. Patrick’s Day Straw Art Activity — For this activity you will either draw out or print a shamrock for your kids to stamp with the straw. Using the straw to paint is a great way to allow your kids to work on eye hand coordination to move and stamp the straw all over and in the lines of the shamrock. 

- Have a piece of paper with a shamrock on it.  You can find many free printable coloring pages online.

-Pour some green paint into a small cup. 

-Get a straw to dip and make small circles to cover as much as they can in the shamrock.

-Once they are done stamping the circle, let dry, then cut it out and glue it on a green piece of paper for the finished product. 

Hope you have some St. Patrick’s Day fun with all of these activities!

Spring Break - Gross Motor & Fine Motor Activities

Kids are looking forward to Spring Break! The fresh air and much needed break from school work. Why not tune in to some fun activities that will keep your child going… and growing! These activities will promote gross motor and fine motor skills in your child; as well as keep them busy throughout the week. Check them out!

With spring break around the corner it's time to start planning for some fun crafts and activities for your children to do and here are just a few: 

• Painters Tape Games — use different colored painters tape and create fun lines on your floors. Children can balance across the lines, walking forwards, backwards or sideways. You can also create stations and have your child pause to complete jumping jacks, or donkey kicks.

• Balloon Tennis — use a balloon with rackets, short pool noodles or just hands to play balloon tennis.

• Rock Painting — find different shaped rocks outside, paint them with fun pictures, colors or sayings. Place them in and around your yard or give them to a friend.

• Freeze Dance — have fun with music and play a good game a freeze dance. See who can stay frozen the longest!

• Cook — have your child engage in cooking and meal prep in the kitchen with you. They can help stir things, mix ingredients, and pour.

• Paper Airplanes — engage your child’s creativity to fold and create paper airplanes. Then go outside and see who’s can go the farthest!

• Picnic — have a picnic in your back yard or at the park.

• Create A Collage — go through family photos and cut them out into fun shapes to create a scrapbook collage.

• Bubbles — bubbles are a fun way to promote fine motor skills and eye hand coordination. Use index finger, to pop them.

• Riding Bikes or Scooters — take to the trails, your neighborhood or local park to get some good riding in. This builds muscle strength and agility.

Have fun and stay safe this Spring Break! Let your therapist know which activities you try! We can’t wait to hear all about it!

Therapeutic Benefits of Hiking

Wanna see amazing views and perhaps some wildlife? Hiking is fun and majority of the time, can be done at no cost. There is no telling what you'll find in the trails whether it's animal tracks or birds flying overhead. You can hike the same trail over and over again... yet discover something new each time. Hiking outdoors is full of surprises. It's a great way for children to use their imagination. Hiking outdoors is very beneficial from physical to mental wellbeing. 

 There are many therapeutic benefits of hiking, such as:

1. Strengthens your bones, joints, and muscles.

2. Relieves stress, anxiety, and other mood disorders.

3. Improves memory retention and mental ability.

4. Absorbs vitamin D, which helps boost your energy levels.

5. Releases your inner artistic and creative side.

6. Hiking Burns calories and helps you lose weight.

7. Lowers the risk of cancer, diabetes, and other diseases.

8. Improves the quality of air you breathe, by cleansing your lungs.  

9. Improves and maintains mental and physical fitness.

10. Hiking helps to keep your brain cells nourished and healthy. 

Before heading on the hiking trail you need to Plan and Pack:

• Make sure to bring a map or know your route.

• Bring along a friend and get double the fun and have company and safety. Due to the nature of covid-19, it is easy to socially distance outdoors and especially on a hiking trail. If going alone, let someone know where you are going and the time you plan to return back home. 

• Dress for success: Wear well-fitting clothing and footwear. Such as hiking boots and comfortable clothes. 

• Bring plenty of water to stay hydrated and don't forget your snacks!

• Lastly DON’T forget to have lots of fun exploring the outdoors.

Fun things to do along the way with your children:

• Play I-Spy - you can get creative and do this with colors, animals or even flowers/trees!

• Go on a nature scavenger hunt. Prepare a list of neat things your child(ren) can find along the way, such as: rocks, flowers, leaves, etc.

• Use a compass - have your child engage in the hiking trail by determining the direction you’re going.

• Sing songs - it’s always so much fun, why not sing outside and be as loud as you want to be OR as quiet as you want to be! It’s great to practice both!

• Identify sounds of nature - have your child work on quiet listening skills to identify nature sounds around you on your hike.

When you go on your hike, be sure to tag us at @ChampionPediatricTherapy so we can tune in on your fun!

Importance of Heavy Work for Self Regulation

Heavy work is an important tool that therapists use to help regulate a child’s sensory  system in order to better process emotions and behaviors. As the child achieves greater self regulation, they are often able to be more focused and attentive for other activities. “Heavy  work” is a term therapists commonly use to describe activities that involve pushing, pulling, or  carrying heavy objects. These activities provide important proprioceptive input to our joints and  muscles that allow us to feel where our body is in space and can provide a calming effect. For  children who are often running, jumping, or crashing into things, it is likely that they are already seeking this type of input naturally from their environment in order to regulate their bodies.

Incorporating heavy work into your child’s daily routine helps enrich their sensory diet  and can help them become more focused for schoolwork or other daily tasks. It also provides a  valuable opportunity for your child to improve strength and stability in the muscles of the upper body and trunk. There are many heavy work tasks that can be completed at home with minimal to no equipment required.  

Some of these activities can resemble every day chores, such as: 

- Carrying a basket of laundry 

- Pushing/pulling a heavy basket or shopping cart 

- Pushing a lawnmower 

- Pulling weeds  

- Loading/unloading groceries 

- Sweep, mop, or vacuum floors  

- Helping with cooking tasks and dishes  

Other activities may resemble activities commonly performed on the playground or during play time, such as:  

- Climbing a rock wall or playground equipment 

- Racing on a scooter board while laying on their belly 

- Doing wheelbarrow walks or animal walks 

- Carry weighted medicine balls  

- Push or pull a weighted sled or wagon  

- Smashing play-doh or theraputty  

- Playing in an obstacle course involving jumping, crawling, or moving heavy objects

These activities can be incorporated as a regular part of your child’s routine in order to expand exposure to sensory activities as well as provide an outlet for physical exercise. Ask your therapist how heavy work can be incorporated into your child’s routine! They will be able to provide you with specific tasks that uniquely address your child’s sensory needs and self regulation.

When Should I Get My Child Screened for Occupational Therapy?

Have you ever wondered whether your child is ready to be screened for occupational therapy? It is more common than you think, and every child should have the opportunity to be screened if they are having trouble in specific areas of development. Often times, your child’s pediatrician will determine whether your child should be screened for therapy or not. However, it is even more common for parents to notice some possible developmental red flags in their child - after all, parents know their child best! Common areas of development that are often screened include: gross motor play, coordination, fine motor skills, sensory processing, nutrition, and growth.

At Champion Pediatric Therapy, we are the experts in childhood development. Our highly skilled therapists are always available to schedule a complimentary consultation and tour. We walk with you through our clinic and program and address any direct concerns you may have. This is an exceptional screening opportunity to not only see what we have to offer, but also for us to guide you along your journey with your child. If parents are having trouble teaching their kids life skills activities, then there may be extra support needed.

Standard screening and evaluations are made to identify a child’s strengths and weaknesses. The scoring of the assessment, along with professional clinical analysis will determine whether your child qualifies for occupational therapy. If your child does qualify, then our therapists will establish a unique approach of treatment that can help benefit your child and provide you excellent parent education to help your child along the way.

If you believe your child may need to be screened for occupational therapy, we encourage you to visit our developmental red flags page. In addition, we are always ready and prepared to serve you and your family. Call us any time with questions, or to schedule a complimentary consultation and tour. We are happy to meet you! …and more importantly we are honored to work with your child!

Ways to Encourage Play in Babies

Therapists often use the play method to encourage babies to reciprocate towards people and their environment. Play allows babies to experience multiple developmental skills including sensory motor skills, hand coordination, social skills, language learning, numbers, and decision making. 

Play is very important for a baby’s cognitive development. Through play, babies learn a variety of skills such as, communicating, thinking, remembering and visual skills. Parents can incorporate various forms of play with their babies by reading to them, stacking blocks, bouncing balls, introducing sound/musical toys, cause and effect toys, and light up toys. Back and forth interactions allow the baby to understand different things. For an example, throwing a squishy ball allows the baby to try to crawl towards the ball and to inspect it. In addition, parents can also model facial expressions, and sing with their babies.

It is important to play with babies appropriately depending on their age. Babies at the age of 6-12 months of age may experience advanced play skills than a baby that is 3-6 months. For babies that are 3-6 months of age, it is best to hand them toys to chew on. In addition, they can begin to reach and grasp for small toys such as a rattle or sensory ball. At this age, they love to use their hands and mouth to explore toys/chewables. For a baby that is 6-12 months of age, a parent can dangle a toy in front of the baby to promote hand coordination. They can also have the baby crawl to retrieve toys such as a ball or favorite stuffed animal. When the weather is nice, engaging your baby in play outdoors also helps develop the senses. When a baby is given the opportunity to play, their coordination skills, visual skills and muscle tone strengthens, and they begin to grow confident in themselves. Play is essential for development at a very young age. We encourage you to get on your babies level. Encourage them to engage with you by modeling responses and introducing them to new things.

How Much Should I Help My Child With Special Needs?

Raising a child with special needs requires a lot of responsibility, just like raising any child. You always want the best for them and their safety but there comes a time when kids themselves must begin to perform skills independently. Helping your child too much may result in them relying on you more throughout life. How can you go about this without feeling the need of being overbearing and overprotective? There are multiple ways to approach this and here are some helpful ways to begin…

Providing your child choices instead of deciding for them allows for them to make decisions on their own. It also allows them to make mistakes they can learn from. Practice this by having your child make their own choices. You can limit the options to your criteria, but in the end the child should benefit from freedom of choice. This will also give them a sense of independence and accomplishment. This can be used in any situation, such as choice of wardrobe or to select a meal off a menu.

Resist from helping them out as much as possible and encourage them to try new things on their own. You can also assure them that you are there if they do need your assistance after trying. If they rely on you to simply tie their shoe or open the door, be sure to switch roles with them. Ask your child for help and have them open the door for you. Ask your child to teach you how to do something. This allows them to take control of their actions, reiterate things they’ve already learned and feel independent.

Provide challenges for your child to overcome. Depending on the condition, lay something out for the child to do themselves. Such as asking your child to pick up and object from off the floor and determine where it belongs; or have them maneuver in and out of the house when you are cleaning. This will encourage your child to critically think for themselves.

Set goals and reminders to complete tasks and assignments. A checklist or agenda will allow them to accomplish bigger responsibilities. A picture schedule is also very effective to provide your child with a visual representation of what to expect and a sense of accomplishment when they are finished. When a child is organized, they will have a better understanding of what to expect, a decreased sense of any anxiety and they may not feel the need to come to you in reassurance.

Bottom line, creating new opportunities which allow your child to develop new skills and critical thinking and overall decreasing the amount of assistance you provide them, can be very beneficial to their growth and development in the long run. Encourage your child today with some of these strategies!

Spooky Cool Halloween Activities

Halloween is such a fun and festive time! We can explore with creative activities and use our imaginations to create fun and festive things! We want to share with you some of the spooky cool Halloween activities we’ve been doing in the clinic! Try these easy to do activities at home!

1. Spider Snack

Ingredients: Ritz crackers, peanut butter or any nut butter, pretzel sticks, mini M&M’s

Directions: Spread nut butter onto Ritz cracker, break pretzel sticks in half. Assemble pretzels and Ritz. Top with 2 M&M’s or 10 M&M’s to create the spider eyes. Enjoy as a yummy treat!

2. Spooky Rice Bin

Ingredients: 6 cups rice, 1 tbsp vinegar, 1/2 tbsp water, gel food coloring

Directions: Mix all ingredients together thoroughly in a large bowl. Add more water if gel food coloring is too sticky. Add in fun trinkets like spider rings and dig for them! Use tongs to work on fine motor skills or use your hands to promote sensory processing skills.

3. Spider Craft

Supplies: black construction paper, googly eyes, scissors, glue

Directions: Cut out 2 circles, one larger than the other. Cut out 8, 1” strips. Use both hands to fold the stripes, accordion style. Use glue to place all the pieces together to make your spider. Work on fine motor skills, and bilateral hand skills while folding and cutting as well as working on naming body parts: eyes, legs, etc. for body awareness.

5 Activities to Prepare Your Child for Scissor Skills

Arts and crafts can easily be most kids’ favorite activity! At Champion Pediatric Therapy, we make sure your kiddos are provided with safety scissors when learning scissor skills. In addition, we also take time to work with your child on scissor safety. The basic technique of scissor skills allows your child to develop fine motor skills, and hand/finger strength. Before a child is introduced to scissor activities, we first prepare them through warm up activities and games - strengthening through play! Here are 5 activities that can help prepare your child for scissor activities at home:

1. Rock Paper Scissors — This allows extension and retractions in kids fingers when engaging in this specific game. Scissors beat paper, paper beats rock, and rock beats scissors. 

2. Play dough — Pull apart play dough using their fingertips and roll it into a ball. Their fingers will participate in fine motor control. Roll small pieces of dough to create and sculpt objects using fingertips.

3. Squeeze tweezers — Pick up small objects while using tweezers or kitchen tongs and transfer them into a cup without dropping it. Egg cartons are also a fun and easy sorting container. This activity assists in the grasping technique that can imitate holding scissors in place and eventually writing.

4. Puppet play — In this activity, use a store bought or sock puppet. When in play, the child positions their hand while depending on their wrists promotes the range of motion. Finger puppets are even better to facilitate finger isolation skills.

5. Coloring shapes — Children use their coloring utensil to make shapes of any kind to draw lines or curvatures which mimics how scissors would cut paper. Based on where the dominant hand wants the shapes to be angled, encourages the opposing hand to guide the paper by rotating it.

Now that you child has practiced using scissors through these activities, select a good pair of safety scissors and begin cutting! If your child needs continued assistance, consult with your therapist on the best method and type of scissors for your child.

Promotion of Positive Mental Health In Children Participating in Distance Learning

Mental health has been a global issue increasing among children, especially in tough times such as a global pandemic. Distance learning aims for individuals to learn from home avoiding in-person interaction with teachers and their peers. This type of learning relies strictly on education tools, such as the internet and the educators involved. Even though learning from a distance is a necessity during a global pandemic to reduce the spread of illness, connecting remotely has resulted in negative impact to children’s mental health. 

The change in the accustomed learning environment and the loss of physical social interaction have caused major mental health concerns in children due to increased feeling of loss, loneliness and stress levels; and the inability to concentrate and remain focused. However, physical distancing does not need to equate to social distancing. Here are a few suggestions for parents and caregivers to combat some of these mental health issues children are facing. 

Spend quality time with children to promote their sense of being safe and secure. Interaction can be short periods of time playing, reading, going outdoors, and just having a conversation. It is important that these times with the child are devoted entirely to them without distractions and possible interruptions. 

Stay connected with others outside the child’s physical barriers. Setting times for children to communicate with family and friends by phone, email, text or writing letters supports the child’s feeling of connection, security and normalcy critically needed. 

Abide by the 3 Rs of reassurance, routines, and regulation. The loss of routines makes a child uncertain of their environment. The require reassurance that they are safe and the ones they love are safe. To maintain that feeling of normalcy, daily routines for things like eating, playing, sleeping and learning are important. Help children manage their difficult feelings by encouraging use of their regulation skills such as deep breathing, movement and quiet time. During quality time with the child check in on their emotional well-being by giving them the opportunity to discuss how they feel or to ask questions. 

Do not be discouraged. Research on resilience in the last four decades shows that protective factors can shield children from harm and increase the chances they adapt positively to adversities such as the Coronavirus pandemic. 

Therapeutic Ways to Use Sidewalk Chalk

Encourage your child’s imagination by turning your front driveway into the ocean, circus, or galaxy! Sidewalk chalk is the perfect opportunity to escape the normal indoor routine and to explore their creative personalities by getting them involved into a wellness routine. Sidewalk chalk has been around for hundreds of years and is making a greater comeback today than ever before. Enduring life among a pandemic can be challenging to remain positive in a mentally draining season for you and loved ones.

This hobby is the most popular wellness routine for children's mental and physical state. Chalk art is therapeutic in the sense of mental state by thinking more positively about themselves and their capabilities. Ideas can differentiate depending on each child’s preference. Some may be interested in creating a self-portrait of how they view themselves, while others may like drawing 2-dimensional landscapes or vehicles. Benefits to chalk art include self-expressing, inspiring others and interacting with one another. You can also encourage your child’s body awareness skills by tracing their hands or feet.

Chalk games are therapeutic in building physical techniques of developmental and fine motor skills. Also, you can work on coordination skills by creating an obstacle course with chalk or a chalk game! Ideas for chalk games include tic-tac-toe, number, or alphabet hopscotch, connect the dots and boxes. Physical lifelong skills involve hopping, skipping, balance, and coordination. From chalk art to chalk games, they are both different forms of therapy that could incorporate to your child’s wellness routine.

Another way to change it up with chalk is to incorporate spray bottles and sponges! Utilize spray bottles to encourage fine motor skills as well by to spray water onto the chalk and smear with a sponge - this creates a fun new texture and illusion of the chalk on a sidewalk or driveway. With side walk chalk, the possibilities are endless! Grab some chalk and have some fun while learning and encouraging exploring the senses with your child!

Importance of Outdoor Play for Children

It’s summer time! It is also an excellent reminder for us that outdoor play is vital for child development as it allows children to improve their spatial recognition and simply understand environmental tendencies. Outdoor play improves physical development. Physical development skills are important for growth, physical coordination, and the movement of the body. Mastering gross motor milestones help make fine motor milestones stronger and more precise. Playing outdoors increases the ability to balance, jump, climb, throw, run, and skip.

Outdoor play also increases social development. Children gain social skills by interacting, negotiating, and implementing imaginative play skills with other kids. Being outside is also so important for a child’s brain. The sunlight ensures the child gets vitamin D which helps bone growth, muscle function, and timing of puberty. The bright light from the sun helps kids to concentrate and enhances the formation of the synapses in the brain. Outdoor play boosts activity level and benefits a child's overall cognitive performance. This is also great because kids need cardiovascular exercise for the promotion of good health. 

Research shows that kids who have a strong connection with nature are typically happier and better-adjusted. Research also shows that lifelong exposure to green space may reduce a child’s risk of developing certain behavior problems like hyperactivity and attention deficit. 

Outdoor play should be implemented in every child’s daily activities as it shows great benefits to a child’s development. Along with all the benefits listed above, outdoor activities allow for children to expand their imagination and creativity. Children are given the open window of opportunity to pretend to be anything they want. This in turn allows them to feel free and accomplished while increasing the likelihood of them wanting to be outdoors. If you haven’t already, spend time outdoors. Encourage imaginative play with your child. Let them take the lead and discover all of their amazing abilities!

5 Beach Themed Fine Motor & Sensory Activities

To encourage fine motor strengthening and sensory processing skills, try these fun activities at home with your kiddo(s)! Each of these fun activities were tried and tested throughout our “beach week”. Making learning and summer FUN is one of our favorite things to do! Enjoy!

1. Toilet paper roll squid

   1. Supplies:

      1. Paint & paint brush 

      2. Yarn

      3. Toilet paper roll

      4. Scissors 

      5. Hole punch

      6. Google eyes

      7. Card stock 

      8. Glue  

   2. Instructions:

      1. Paint toilet paper roll, punch 10 holes around bottom of roll, and cut two slits across from each other on top of roll 

      2. Cut ten 12 inch pieces of yarn and one rounded triangle out of card stock 

      3. Attach rounded triangle to toilet paper roll 

      4. Glue on googly eyes above yarn 

2. Paper jellyfish

   1. Supplies:

      1. Paper plate 

      2. Scissors 

      3. Yarn 

      4. Paint  & paint brush 

      5. Google eyes

      6. Glue

      7. Hole punch 

   2. Instructions:

      1. Cut paper plate in half and hole punch 10 holes across bottom

      2. Cut ten even pieces of yarn 

      3. Paint paper plate whatever color 

      4. Attach yarn and googly eyes right above yarn 

3. Celery stamping rainbow fish 

   1. Supplies:

      1. Printable rainbow fish printable 

      2. 1 stick of celery 

      3. Red, orange, green, yellow, blue, and purple paint 

      4. Googly eyes 

   2. Instructions:

      1. Cut up stick of celery into 6 pieces for the 6 different colors of paint 

      2. Starting from front of fish, stamp the celery so it looks like scales 

      3. Place googly eyes on face of fish 

      4. Paint tail whatever color or continue the stamping of celery 

4. Ocean in a bottle 

   1. Supplies:

      1. Water

      2. Cooking oil

      3. Little sea animals

      4. Blue food coloring 

      5. Plastic bottle

   2. Instructions:

      1. Fill bottle ⅔ of the way with water

      2. Add a few drops of food coloring and shake bottle

      3. Add some cooking oil and little sea animals 

      4. Flip upside down to see your ocean come to life! 

5. Sand slime 

   1. Supplies:

      1. ½ cup of Elmer’s washable clear or White PVA school glue

      2. ¼ up of liquid starch 

      3. ½ cup of water 

      4. Beach sand, play sand, or craft sand 

   2. Instructions: 

      1. Add glue to bowl 

      2. Add water to bowl and mix well with glue 

      3. Add several tablespoons of your sand to glue and water and mix well 

      4. Add starch to bowl and mix 

      5. Keep mixing up until the slime pulls nicely away from the sides of the bowl 

      6. Knead slime until desired consistency

      7. Add shells or sea animals for fun!

Sensory Activities to Try at Home

Here at Champion we want to share some more of our favorite fun activities that you can do with your kids at home. They will help you bond as a family, and provide your child with essential developmental skills! We encourage you to take these activities outside and soak up some vitamin D!

Make Home-Made Play-Doh

You will need:

• 1 cup of flour

• ½ cup salt

• ½ cup water

• Food coloring
  
  Mix all ingredients in a bowl. If too sticky, add flour. If too dry, add water. Roll in food
  coloring to desired color. Make lots of cool shapes. If you make a cool sculpture you’d
  like to save, bake at 200 degrees F until hard. Check about every ½ hour.

Rock Painting

It is as simple as it sounds. If your child does not already have a rock collection, gather
some around the house outside, or while on a family walk (maintaining social
distancing). Bring your collection inside and paint! You can finger paint or use brushes.

At-Home Sensory Bins

You will need:

• Plastic Bins – at least the size of a shoe boxes

• Fill the bins with: small rocks, sand, rice, beans, cotton balls, pasta, etc.

• Add small toys, puzzle pieces, scoops, funnels, etc.

• Hide the toys. Let your children find the items, Dig in the box. Make towers. Explore to
  your heart’s content.

• Need a greater challenge? Use kitchen tongs or fine motor tongs to promote tripod grasping while searching for hidden items.

Building Contests

Use blocks, LEGOs, Duplos, etc to build whatever you or your child want. If you want to
build together as a family to avoid a contest, that works as well. Basically, have a family member pick a theme and have everyone build something that works. Just make sure to think about how you want to judge the contest. Is there one winner and loser? Categories for each winner? Great creative and have fun with this. This is also a great social-emotional game to practice winning AND losing.

Bubble Art

You will need:

• Bubble solution (or make your own with dish soap and water)

• Bubble Wands – use ones that come with bubbles or make your own

• Plastic Cup/bottle- punch a hole in the bottom to blow through. Dip the
  large end and blow from the hole.

• Pipe cleaners – create a shape and then make a handle with one end

• A funnel

• Drinking straws

• White Card Stock or Printer paper

• Small plastic cups

• Food coloring

Pour bubble solution in each cup. Add about 5 drops of food coloring to each bowl.
Make lots of colors. Stir the color in. Lay your paper on the grass or sidewalk. Dip your
wand into the colored bubbles and blow onto the paper. As the bubbles pop, really cool
designs will form!

Have FUN with these activities! This will promote your child’s imagination and creativity. Tag us on Facebook or Instagram so we can see your amazing artwork and creative spins on these activities!

Helping Children with Special Needs Understand the Coronavirus Crisis

The process of explaining a global pandemic to any child is no easy task. The explanation process is even more challenging to explain to children. The COVID-19 crisis has caused the lives of many to come to an abrupt stop. Children are struggling to understand why their lives have changed so much, especially children with special needs. The following tips are way to help them understand what is going and transition into this new, temporary, lifestyle. 

Sit down and talk to your child. The best way to explain the COVID-19 situation to your child is using words and pictures. Using simple pictures and explanation, help your child understand by telling them in a story. You can start by possibly explaining that people are becoming sick. Then try to explain the transmission cycle of infectious illnesses in simple terms. Show the child simple cartoon-like images explaining how a person becomes sick and how it is transmitted person to person. Keep it simple, in child-friendly terms to not frighten your child. Also, maintain a very positive learning experience and emphasize the focus and importance on preventative care such as washing hands, covering mouth when sneezing, and not touching one’s face as much. 

Maintaining a daily routine to as normal as possible is vital in helping children with special needs adjust to the COVID-19 situation. By sticking to a familiar or regular schedule, children can be ready for the day’s activities and anticipate doing them. Having a picture schedule is most effective since it provides a visual aid to the activities that can be beneficial to the child. You can also use a weekly or monthly calendar with pictures/words so your child can know what to expect in the coming days. If your child tends to perseverate or have anxiety about the future, keep your schedule to a daily schedule to help avoid them worrying about the future and help them feel more in control. Limiting news and social media consumption might also be a good idea to prevent over exposure to information that is out of their control.  As we know, dramatic news and social media can cause a major misinterpretation of the reality of a situation. You can still keep them up to date by putting the latest current events into your own words - making it more child-friendly and easy to learn.

Use technology to interact with your child’s loved ones. Children are often very attached to friends or family members living outside of the home. Keep up the communication with them via webcam calls or phone calls. Have your child engage in other ways to interact with loved ones through crafting, for example, have them decorate a card for their loved ones and engage them in the process to put it in the mail for them. When your child asks why your family is not visiting as much, reassure them by saying that you will see them soon instead of trying to explain social distancing regulations. Keeping up with loved ones virtually, over the phone and via exchange in mail can provide a sense of comfort for children feeling lonely during this time of quarantine.

Our therapists are here to help you keep your child up to date in the most caring, child-friendly and sensory-friendly ways possible. If your child is struggling in a particular area of routine or understanding, please consult with your child’s therapist. We are here to help and support you as well as give you continued home activities to promote skill development and social emotional engagement.

Working Memory - What Is It?

Working memory helps us to remember and then process information at the same time. We use working memory to remember information until we need it. It helps us to follow many-step directions and complete tasks with focus. Our working memory is not unlimited. Sometimes we forget something in a grocery list or forget to drop off the trash at the end of the driveway on Tuesday. This forgetfulness is not something to typically worry about.

Sometimes children may have a harder time using their working memory. They might have difficulty with effective time management, following directions, focusing, multitasking, self-regulation and more. 

Working memory is a really important skill that you can easily work on with your child at home. The following activities can help develop short term memory, organization skills, and planning for long-term success. Here are some fun working memory activities for you to try!

1. Distraction: all you need is a deck of cards! Each player draws a card and puts it on the “discard pile”. When you draw a card, you must remember all the cards that are in the pile by saying them out loud. When you draw a face card, start the pile again. Advanced: If someone messes up, have them do a short activity. (Jumping Jacks, crab walk, wheelbarrow, etc). 

2. What’s the Difference? Click Here this visit this website and have your kids try to find the differences between the two pictures. Get clues if you need and load new pictures when you’ve found them all!

3. Memory: this helps a child with focus, concentration, and working memory. It can be played with a deck of cards or the actual Memory brand game. Lie all the cards out face down. Have your kid try to match pairs. Make it easier by using less cards. 

4. What’s Missing? put a 3-10 items on a small tray. Spend time reviewing the items with your kids. Talk about the items. Touch them. Etc. Go into another room / have your child turn around. Remove one or more item from the tray. See if your child is able to identify which item(s) are missing. 

5. Card Games: card games like Crazy Eights, Go Fish, and Old Maid are perfect for working on this skill. 

At Home Indoor Activities to Burn off Some Energy

With more and more people working and doing school at home, some of our Champion family might be feeling a bit stir crazy. That is especially true if kiddos aren’t getting enough exercise. Here are a few ways to help burn some energy and cure some boredom.  

1. Dance Party - play some music over a speaker/radio/phone and have a few spontaneous dance parties throughout the day. It is a great way to burn some energy and have fun.  

1. Hot Lava Game – be creative. Use whatever you have in your house (pillows, chairs, blankets, and more). The object is to avoid touching the floor. One parent can also be a hot lava monster who tries to “get” the kids who touch the lava.  

1. Paper Airplane Races: have members of your family create their own paper airplanes. (with smaller kids, you can help them). Throw the planes to see who can make theirs go further. Give it a running start. Throw from different locations in your house (stairs, porch, etc) for different variations.  

1. Building a Fort: build a fort using whatever you’ve got in the house: boxes, chairs, blankets, etc. The act of building the fort is a great way to burn some energy. Afterwards, encourage doing some quiet activities in the fort with flashlights if you can.  

1. Activity Stations: Write different activities on paper and tape them throughout the room/house. (10 jumping jacks, 15 toe touches, 20 bridges. Etc). Time your kiddos to see how fast they can go. Have them crab walk, wheelbarrow, bear crawl, etc to the next station.  

Minute to Win-It Games You Can Do at Home

Hello Everyone! To hopefully ease some anxiety and boredom many families are experiencing at home, we wanted to provide y’all with a few different games you could play as a family. These games use common household items and can be modified in many ways to fit specific family needs. 

Defying Gravity

 Blow up one or more balloons. Have your child try to keep the balloon(s) in the air for one minute. Make the activity harder by increasing the number of balloons, or by only letting the child use a specific body part to keep the balloon up. To make it a bit easier, use only one balloon and let the child hit the balloon in any way.  

Dice Balance

Grab dice from board games or other activities around the house. Also locate a popsicle stick or a wooden spoon. Have a competition to see how many dice you can stack on the stick/spoon in one minute. 

Apple Stack

Stack as many apples as you can on top of each other in one minute. IF you don’t have apples, try other fruit and see what happens.  

Penny Tower

How many pennies (or other coins) can you stack in a tower in one minute? Depending on your children’s abilities, allow them to use one or both hands when stacking.  

Go Fish (or Marshmallows)

Use a straw and two plates to complete this activity. Put a bunch of goldfish or marshmallows or another small snack item on one plate. Give children a straw and see how many fish they can move from one plate to the other.

Easy Cooking Activities to Do at Home with your Kids (Simple Ingredients)

Cooking with kids can be a really fun and inexpensive activity to do as a family. It teaches them important life skills, works on fine-motor skills, and you’ve made a meal (or snack) at the end of it.  

Tortilla Pizzas 

Set it up like an assembly line. Let each kiddo (and adult) make their own 

• Crust: tortillas or pitas or crusty bread (like a baguette), or even store-bought crust  

• Sauce: marinara, pesto, olive oil and garlic, barbecue  

• Cheese  

• Toppings! – whatever you can think of  

1. Pre-heat your over to 425 degrees  

2. Put the bread on a baking sheet, in a glass dish, or on a stainless-steel pan 

3. Spread sauce evenly on the crust  

4. Add cheese and toppings that you want  

5. Bake for 10-14 min (when cheese is bubbling) 

Smoothies   

• Fruit juice / milk / yogurt  

• Fruits and/or veggies (fresh or frozen)  

• Add ins: cocoa powder, seeds, peanut butter and more  

• Blender 

1. Basically, this one is completely customizable. You can look up specific recipes online if you’d like, otherwise just add some combinations of the above ingredients together into a blender!  

2. Try lots of different combinations and have fun with it.  

French Toast Roll Ups

Let the kids assemble the food and parents cook!  

• Slices of sandwich bread  

• Eggs (1 egg per 3 slices) 

• Milk (1 teaspoon per egg)  

• Cinnamon (as desired) 

• Vanilla (1/4 to ½ tsp.)  

• Extra ingredients: cream cheese, strawberries, peanut butter, banana, sausage links 

1. Roll each slice of bread flat with a rolling pin or can or wine bottle  

2. Put the extra ingredients in the bread and roll up  

3. Ex: spread bread with peanut butter and add bananas and roll us  

4. In a bowl, combine eggs, milk, cinnamon, and vanilla  

5. Dip each roll in the egg mixture and fry in a buttered skillet  

Fruity Yogurt Parfaits  

• Yogurt  

• Fresh or frozen berries (or any fruit really) 

• Granola or cereal  

1. If needed, slice up the fruit  

2. Put out the ingredients in individual bowls  

3. Let kids scoop from each bowl to layer up their own parfaits  

Meat and Cheese Roll-Ups  

• Tortillas – 6  

• Sliced deli meat / leftover turkey or chicken breast  

• Sliced Cheese  

• Cream cheese  

• Salsa (1 cup)  

• Plastic wrap  

1. Mix cream cheese and ½ cup of the salsa together in a bowl  

2. Spread on tortillas  

3. Add meat and sliced cheese in thin layers  

4. Roll up using plastic wrap  

5. Refrigerate for an hour  

6. Slice up and enjoy