​Teaching our kiddos to use a zipper can be a difficult task.  The truth is, it’s a very complex skill that encompasses many developmental areas! To zip a zipper up/down you must be able to motor plan, have bilateral coordination, display finger isolation, separate the two sides of the hand, have eye-hand coordination, have a strong pinch, and master the pincer and tripod grasps. 

Looking for zipper tools?  Try a zipper board, a clothing fastener vest, or a fun cargo vest with zippers for creative play and zipper practice.

​Questions? Ask one of our awesome occupational therapists or contact us to schedule an evaluation!

Have you heard that we are EXEMPT from the mandated Superior/COFK program?!

Siblings of children with special needs have their own challenges.  People who grow up with a sibling with special needs are often equipped with amazing qualities like patience, kindness, empathy for others, and loyalty, all amazing traits for anyone to have. Here are some terrific books to check out if you love a sibling of a child with special needs.
                                                                                    *Click on the desired book cover for more information*

TRUTH. Our words matter; chose them wisely. 

​April is Occupational Therapy month!  We want to take this opportunity to express our gratitude for our amazing occupational therapists and commend them for all they do! We also think this is a wonderful time to explain…  What is Occupational Therapy?

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is combined array (a.k.a. spectrum) of disorders which were formally diagnosed separately as Autism, Asperger's Syndrome, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder, not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS).
 
Autistic individuals may have weaknesses in the areas of social skills, communication, self-care, sensory integration, fine/gross motor skills, masking, and self advocacy. Autistics can range from non-verbal to speak eloquently and possess an extensive vocabulary and early literacy. Knowing the signs of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is the first step to early identification and self empowerment.  


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Some of the most noticeable symptoms of ASD, according to the CDC are:

Well, friends...it's about that time of year...to start planning for the summer months!  We all know what that means...SUMMER CAMPS! It's often a challenge to find reliable and vetted summer programs for our special little ones...fortunately for us, our friends at AISD did the leg work for us! Click the photo below to download your copy.  As always, if you have ANY questions feel free to email, call, or visit with me.

All of us at TCOB are heartbroken to hear of the ongoing events in Austin (and Schertz) with the explosive devices.  We have a safety protocol that was established prior to these events and we will continue to honor those safeguards.  There is no direct threat to our facility; however, we ask our families and our community to remain vigilant and aware of your surroundings.  Please report any suspicious activity or packages/items to authorities immediately by calling 911.  As these events continue to occur it is important that we educate our children and also find ways to talk to them about what is happening while not traumatizing them and making them fearful to step outside of their home.  Our friends at The National Child Traumatic Stress Network published the following (unedited) document on how to talk to children about bombings.  We though it was a good time to share with our families and those beyond our walls.  Sending love to all those victimized.                                               

March is Trisomy awareness month, so it’s a perfect time to explain “what is trisomy?” Most people have 23 pairs of chromosomes, for a total of 46 chromosomes total.  Trisomy is a genetic disorder in which an individual has an extra chromosome (partial or whole). Early identification is important in order to best evaluate, treat, and monitor for any possible developmental deficits or possible medical complications.  Educating others of trisomy is important to not only provide a better understanding of the syndromes but to reinforce the notion that early intervention is vital for academic and social success.

Most common Trisomy disorders:

Narrative language skills are vital to a person’s ability to not only have successful social relationships but also impact academic work (e.g., written language).  Narrative skills are the ability to use language to tell a story.  These skills begin to develop at the young age of 2 years! As a child’s narrative language skills develop they will begin to follow rules of storytelling (e.g., sequencing events, including characters, having an event/dialogue/solution, and an ending). Narratives may be fiction or non-fiction.

What should your child be doing? Check out this chart of narrative development.

The term “stutter” is terribly outdated and oftentimes negatively viewed, rather I like the term “disfluent speech.” It is important to remember that we all have moments of disfluent speech, that doesn’t necessarily mean we all need speech-language therapy to address it.   The line that we draw to determine if therapy is recommended is the impact the disfluent moment have on one’s life, the severity/ frequency/duration of disfluent moments, and the accompanying tension with the disfluent moments.

Some of the most common types of disfluent speech include:

• Single word repetition (e.g. “I I I I I want a hamburger.”)
• Phrase repetition (e.g.,” I want a ham-ham-hamburger.”)
• Blocking (e.g., “I want a ham (pause) burger.”)
• Prolongation (e.g., “I want a hammmmmmmburger.”)
• Avoidance (avoiding saying word/s because the speaker anticipates a disfluent moment)
• Fillers (inserting words/sounds to offer the speaker more time to prepare for what they are saying; "like, "uh", "and".)
  

For many children with Dysgraphia, just holding a pencil and organizing letters on a line is extremely challenging.  Many struggle with spelling and putting thoughts on paper.  It is important that we remember Dysgraphia is not “laziness” or “sloppiness,” using these terms in from of your child with Dysgraphia can negatively impact their self-esteem and increase their anxiety resulting in refusal to write.  Many children diagnosed or suspected of having Dyslexia also exhibit symptoms of Dysgraphia.  Symptoms of Dysgraphia  include:

• Illegible handwriting
• Slow, labored writing
• Mixing print and cursive letters
• Spacing letters and words oddly
• Poor spelling and grammar
• Difficulty gripping a pencil
• Incorrect punctuation
• Run-on sentences and lack of paragraph breaks
• Trouble organizing information when writing

If you suspect your child may have Dysgraphia talk to your pediatrician or call us to see if occupational therapy could help!

Pragmatic language; also known as social skills, is the ability to understand and adequately maneuver daily interactions with other people.  This includes what we say (and don’t say), how we say it, and body language that accompanies our words.

Here are some examples of pragmatic language skills:

• Social greetings
• Understanding and respecting personal space
• Story telling
• Eye contact
• Understanding body language and gestures
• Having conversations (without the adult having to maintain the conversation)
• Joint attention (when two people use gestures and gaze to share attention with an object/action/person)
• Playing reciprocally (turn taking)
• Understanding emotions of self and others
• Knowing how to act in different social situations
• Knowing what a “friend” is and how to make/keep friends
• Understanding metaphors/sarcasm/jokes/idioms
• Asking for or offering help verbally
• Asking for clarification

Sometimes people with pragmatic language impairments gravitate towards very young children or only adults.  Autistic children typically have difficulty with pragmatic language skills; however, it is important to remember a person may have pragmatic language difficulties and not be on the Autism Spectrum. 

If you want to learn more about pragmatic language skills or suspect your child has difficulty with pragmatic language talk to your pediatrician or contact us to see if we can help!

Sometimes I get the questions “why isn’t she talking yet” or “will he ever talk?”  In these moments it’s important to explain the communication pyramid.  The skills at the bottom of the pyramid (purple and blue) must be acquired before the skills at the top can be.  This is why we have to address play skills and receptive language before we can expect them to use sentences or master a conversation.

Do you have your tickets to the Day Out With Thomas yet? Don't worry,  we have you covered! We have TWO tickets to this awesome event we will give away this Friday (September 29, 2017) at noon. Want to throw your name in the drawing? All you have to do is write a review for TCOB on Google, Facebook, Yahoo, etc. Each review that gets posted gets entered to win (This means you can be entered several times if you post on different sites)!

DAY OUT WITH THOMAS TICKET includes a scheduled 25 minute train ride (October 1, 2017 at 11am) behind Thomas the Tank Engine, all day admission to the Day Out With Thomas events at the Burnet Community Center, and the following activities:

• Photos opportunities with Thomas the Train and Sir Topham Hatt
  *Photo packages can also be purchased by on-site photographer
• Rock climbing wall
• Inflatable Cranky the Crane
• Miniature golf
• Thomas Imagination Station of interactive play
• Temporary tattoo station
• Arts and crafts at Imagination Station
• Traveling balloon twisters
• Wooden Thomas play station
• Live children’s musical performances
• Storytelling and videos
• Magician
• Gift shop

http://www.austinsteamtrain.org/special-events/day-out-with-thomas/
 
**The winner will be announced via our Facebook page and the winner MUST pick up their prize by 6pm Friday September 29, 2017 at our office location (photo identification MUST match the name of the person shown online as the reviewer).**

Don't we all want to give a synopsis of our kiddos for their teacher/s at the beginning of the school year? Basically give them a resume of likes/dislikes/what works and doesn't? Well, you are NOT alone! We made this handy PDF to fill in the blanks and even add a photo of your child.  When you meet the teacher/s, aides, therapists, or even babysitters just hand them this "All About Me" page so they are sure to know all about your kiddo.  Download is available for FREE, just click the Download File button below and start filling in the blanks!

Therapy Center of Buda Summer Fun Theme Weeks

                Summer has come and the staff at Therapy Center of Buda is ready to celebrate! Each week in July will be a theme week, where therapy activities will revolve around a summertime theme.

Themes for the month include:
July 3rd- 7th – 4th Of July Celebration
July 10th- 14th – Ocean Adventures
July 17th-21st – Amusement Park Fun
July 24th-28th – Summer Fun Activities
          
      The first week will kick off with a bang on July 3rd- with a 4th of July themed celebration. During this week the therapy gym will be decked out in red, white, and blue for a fun 4th of July Scavenger Hunt. Come and enjoy other activities such as making your own confetti poppers, painting fireworks, Pop Rock Goop, and much more! We can’t wait to celebrate summer fun with you all month long!

Meet the newest addition to my therapy room… WATER BEADS! They are squishy, bouncy, and great for playful learning. There are so many ways to use water beads in order to develop speech and language. I created a sensory bin with my water beads and I wanted to share my ideas with you!

1. Place your child’s favorite toys in the sensory bin to target requesting, spatial concepts, following directions, identifying, answering questions, and labeling. “Can you find the cow? Where does a cow live? What does a cow say? Can you put the cow at the bottom?”
 
2. It is so easy to target articulation goals with a sensory bin. Place laminated flashcards inside and have children say the word using their “good sounds” when they find it. This is much more fun than sitting at a table and doing boring homework. :-)

3. Let your child explore! Teach verbs (digging, pouring, mixing), adjectives (slimy, bouncy, squishy, wet), colors, and sizes. Use kitchen utensils for pretend play. Get creative and have fun!

I purchased a package of water beads on Amazon, a container from Dollar Tree, and used flashcards and toys we have around the clinic. This is an inexpensive project that can make targeting speech and language goals more fun and engaging. I hope you enjoy the water beads as much as I do!

Meagan Milligan, B.S., SLP-A