Starfish Therapies
Starfish Therapies Newsletter
Back to School!September 2012
Volume 46
In This Issue
Updates
Out and About
Just For Fun
Making Sense of our World
Grasp Development
Starfish Updates
starfish
Blog:
Check out our most recent blog posts! We had another guest post at PediaStaff this month.  This one was a reprint of our post on ways to encourage good posture. Our other blog posts looked at having fun with horse races, making a clean mess, backpack safety for back to school, what's the difference between conscious and unconscious movement, and the Olympics for inspiration.  We also showed some fun ways to play activity bingo, use kazoos, surf on dry land, work on handwriting with stencils, and my 2 cents on the Bumbo recall.
We would love to hear any ideas you have for blog topics please email
Stacy with your ideas.     
 
Welcome to Rachel Salazar - our newest physical therapist!
Rachel is a New York native and has her Doctorate of Physical Therapy from Columbia University in New York City. Rachel has experience in a variety of pediatric physical therapy settings including: early intervention, schools, outpatient, neonatal intensive care unit and acute care.   She has past experience with serial casting.  Rachel is fluent in Spanish and has traveled to Guatemala, Haiti and the Dominican Republic to provide physical therapy needs to children in underserved areas. Rachel believes in advocating for children and families in order for children to participate as well as possible at home, school and in the community.
Her bio should be up on our website shortly 


Motor Smart Kids
Motor Smart Kids: 
Our 6 week session began Tuesday September 11th from 2:45-3:30.  Cost is $90 for all 6 sessions or $20 for drop in sessions.  For any questions or to sign your child up please call or
email Corinne at 650-638-9142. We hope to see your child at group!



Quick Links...

logo small
Like us on Facebook
pinterest
Follow us on TwitterFind us on YelpVisit our blog
View our videos on YouTube
Join Our Mailing List
Out and About
 

The new school year has started and many children have IEP's. For families that are new to this process or for those that are veterans, a great resource is Wright's Law.  They have a great blog with information that can be helpful for you and your child, as well a facebook page that puts great posts up regularly and a newsletter that they send out. 
Just For Fun
 
Paper Plate Crafts:  Need some fun ideas to stimulate your kids creativity?  Look no further than a paper plate!  Here are some easy paper plate animals that allow your child to be creative with their creations!
Greetings!

Hello! We hope you will enjoy reading this month. In this issue you will find some insight into oral motor input and the development of grasp patterns. Check out our updates to see what is new!  
Common Questions About Oral Motor Input Answered!

 
chewy tubes     

Why is my child always putting things in his or her mouth?

 

When a child puts something in his mouth, he or she may be seeking oral motor input, which basically includes anything that gives the child sensory input to the mouth and may result in a motor behavior such as sucking or chewing. In short, oral motor input is organizing, meaning that it provides us with sensory input that elicits motor behaviors that help us calm down and focus. This is true not only for infants and children, but across the lifespan. In fact, before babies are born, they develop a sucking reflex that will allow them to feed and get nourishment. Thus, from the early stages of life, we learn that getting input through our mouths is a way to satisfy our more basic needs (i.e. nourishment) so that we can focus on more complex needs (e.g. learning from our environment, engaging in social interaction). Even older kids and grown-ups sometimes continue to seek oral motor input- think about chewing gum, biting nails, snacking "just because" or chewing on a straw or pen.

 

What's the big deal?

 

Seeking oral motor input can become problematic once children move beyond the toddler stage, as it becomes socially inappropriate and of course potentially unsafe for them to be indiscriminately putting things in their mouths. Children may develop maladaptive patterns such as overeating, biting other children, or mouthing objects that are potential choking hazards.

 

What can I do about it?

 

We can use behavioral strategies to "teach" older children not to put toys or other inedible things in their mouths; however this may not change their basic need or craving for it. This is why we shouldn't just ignore it- it certainly won't do kids any good in the long run, particularly in the social arena, to allow them to mouth toys that are shared by other kids in the classroom, chew on their sleeves, bite their siblings during horseplay, or chew the ends of their pencils to bits. What we can do in these cases is provide alternatives or preparatory strategies to meet the child's oral motor needs (see list below). This means either anticipating the need and providing oral motor options ahead of time, or having alternatives on hand to replace the inappropriate object/behavior.

 

What are safe/appropriate ways to provide my child with oral motor input?

 

-       Use an electronic/vibrating toothbrush in the morning before school

-       Chew foods that are crunchy like carrots or pretzels, chewy like taffy or peanut butter, sour like citrus fruits, or icy cold like a popsicle

-       Drink something sour like water flavored with lemon juice (for more input, use a narrower straw)

-       Use a thick straw to eat yogurt, pudding, or jello

-       Play with whistles, harmonicas, blow bubbles, or blow up balloons

-       Use a "chewy" or a vibrating teether

 

Remember, children should be supervised during oral motor activities to make sure they are using these tools safely!

 

Development of Writing Utensil Grasp

 
As children are getting back to school, we often hear questions about children's writing utensil grasps. Teachers may point out the way a child holds a crayon or pencil, or parents may take notice when one child doesn't follow the same pattern as older siblings. But why is pencil grasp so important? The quick answer is: the way a child grasps a writing utensil affects his or her efficiency and accuracy. It follows then, that if the child perceives handwriting as a particularly difficult, tedious, or even painful task, they are more likely to have decreased confidence in their performance and this might affect willingness to engage in writing necessary for school or other everyday tasks.

 

But how do you know whether your child's grasp is appropriate? The first thing to recognize is that children's development of writing utensil grasp tends to follow a particular progression. Toddlers first grasp a crayon or marker by wrapping their whole fist around it, and scribbling with the pinky side of their hand toward the paper. This is called a palmar supinate, fisted, barrel, or cylindrical grasp, and it tends to begin around 12-16 months and is illustrated below.

 

palmar grasp  

 

Next, as children experiment with grasp and develop more dexterity in their forearm, wrist, and hand, they learn that they get more precision by turning the palm downward, with the pointer finger toward the pencil tip and the paper. This is called a digital pronate grasp and can be expected to emerge between the ages of 2 and 3. 

 

digital pronate  

 

Later, as the many small muscles of the hand develop increased strength and coordination, the child develops what is known as the static tripod or quadrupod grasp, in which the thumb is opposed to the next 2 or 3 fingers, with the pinky side of the hand toward the paper and the top of the pencil extending up from the space between the thumb and index finger. This grasp generally emerges somewhere between 3-4 years. Finally, as the child develops even more dexterity, the grasp becomes a dynamic tripod or quadrupod, in which the pencil is held in the same general orientation as the previous grasp, but the wrist and fingers are now able to create small, refined movements rather than depending on using the arm as a whole. This grasp tends to develop between 4 and 6 years of age.

 

tripod  

 

When to consider OT

 

Just because your child's grasp doesn't follow the developmental pattern above does not necessarily mean they will have problems requiring intervention. There are other grasps that may also be considered functional, and there are children with appropriate grasps that still develop problems due to other factors. Your OT can help determine the best way to help your child develop a functional grasp, including working on other factors that may help, such as posture, adaptive aids, or strengthening activities. Here are some other things to look for that might signal a problem worth looking into:

 

-       Child frequently putting utensils down to wiggle or shake out fingers

-       Writing that is too light or too heavy (i.e. too light to read, or heavy enough to break the pencil/crayon)

-       Writing with arm not resting on the table

-       Using the whole arm to write rather than wrist and hand movements

-       Poor posture

 

Please don't hesitate to ask your therapist if you are concerned about your child's writing utensil grasp- we're here to help!
Thank you for reading this month. See you in October for national physical therapy month!
 
Sincerely,
 

Your Friends at
Starfish Therapies