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In the vibrant tapestry of childhood, play emerges as a powerful force, weaving together the threads of joy, discovery, and cognitive  development. As you navigate the journey of parenthood, understanding how play contributes to your child's cognitive growth becomes key to nurturing their intellectual potential.   Building Neural Pathways: The Brains Playful Connections   Picture your child engrossed in building with colorful blocks or navigating the twists and turns of a pu

Today we’re diving into a topic that affects countless children across the globe: dyslexia. Dyslexia is more than just difficulties with reading and writing; it’s a unique learning difference that needs our understanding and support. So, grab a cup of coffee, get comfy, and let’s explore what dyslexia is, how it presents in children, when it can be diagnosed, and the evidence-based treatment approaches that can make a world of difference for your child or those that you serv

The lessons you pass on to your children will stay with them for a lifetime . If you help them make healthy choices now, they’ll have an easier time making healthy choices when they’re adults. If your kids have special needs, they may need extra attention and care, but you won’t necessarily have to go above and beyond to teach them. Below, McRory Pediatric Services, Inc. explains how parents can help special needs kids make healthy choices: Start by setting expectations If y

Courtesy of Pexels Speech Plus notes that a child with a speech impediment may feel stigmatized at school and among their peers, so it’s natural for them to have anxiety at the prospect of starting speech therapy. However, an involved, proactive parent can play a major role in helping their child feel comfortable about speech therapy and the promise that it holds. Today, McRory Pediatric Services, Inc. invites you to learn more! School Speech Therapy Once it has been dete

Let’s face it, having your child assessed can be a scary time for both parents and children. Regardless of the reason or the type of assessment that your child will have, there are a few things that you can do to help ensure that the process is successful . How you prepare your child for an evaluation is important after all therapists want to see your child at their best. Therapists need accurate information so that they can get a good understanding of where your child’s str

Parents never have enough time and always have too much to do. If you’re a busy, harried parent yourself, learning how to get more organized is well worth it. It will give you more time to spend on the kids, make your chores more manageable, and your life more enjoyable. McRory Pediatrics offers some simple suggestions on how parents can get more organized on a budget: Use parental apps and tools Technology can be a lifesaver for parents. Parental tools can do many things –

Repetition helps children learn language. In fact, did you know that the average child needs 12-15 exposures before learning a new word, and that children with the learning differences need between 40-100 exposures before learning and remembering a new word? Everyday routines create the perfect opportunity to expose your child to a variety of vocabulary words and language concepts. A routine itself is built on the foundation of predictability; in that you complete the task th

Many kids are interested in sports. Joining a sports team is a great way for kids to get exercise and make friends, but sports are often an expensive hobby. If you are looking for a way to support your special needs child's interest in sports without maxing out your wallet, use these five tips from McRory Pediatric Services, Inc . Help Your Kids Practice Getting out in the yard and helping your child train for his or her sports team is the best way to support a sports interes

Let’s face it, you spend a lot of money and time in getting your child the support services that they need to reach their utmost potential. But how do you know if they are getting the most out of their sessions? What can you do as a parent to ensure the best outcome? I have 5 things that you can do today to ensure that your child gets the most out of their therapy program! 1. Participate in therapy sessions. 2. Know your child’s therapy goals. 3. Ask questions. 4

When teaching children new skills, it is not unusual that they will initially require some support in the form of prompts and cues. Prompts can prove to be very effective to help reduce frustration, can ensure progress towards targeted goals, and provide support with difficult tasks to make the learning process easier. To learn more about the different types of prompts that are commonly used when teaching children, be sure to check out my previous blog, “ A Guide for Using Pr

As a clinician who works with children and adults diagnosed with ADHD and their families, the journey to management can often be a challenging one. As with any neurodiverse brain or mental health issue, it is important to begin looking at the areas we have control over to give our brains optimal opportunity to perform at its best. This includes examining quality of sleep, nutrients we put in our body and exercise. Once we see our brain’s optimal capacity, we can then utilize

Seeing your child reach their developmental milestones is a rewarding and exciting time for parents. But when they are slow to develop language, it can leave one feeling worried and wondering what to do. This often can lead to pressure, not just pressure we as parents put on ourselves, but also pressure that we place on our child by asking too many questions or telling them to say specific words. Unfortunately, these techniques do very little to kindle the language learning f

A study by WHO consultant Sophie Jullien on language and speech delays in children found that the average prevalence of isolated speech and language delays and disorders is around 6% among children between two and five years of age in the United States. Addressing speech delays among children is important to reduce their risk of developing learning and literacy disabilities, which include difficulties in reading and writing. This will also reduce their susceptibility to beh

Your child wants something, so they stand in the kitchen with you while you show them item after item, trying to figure out what it is that they want. Does this sound familiar? To communicate effectively, we need three things and often one of those things is missing. Essentially, we need a communicate partner to communicate with, we need a reason to communicate, and we need a way to do so. Sounds like an easy formula, right? But time and time again I see parents who know the

Let’s face it, children can have big emotions and those big emotions can translate to tantrums and other challenging behaviors. These challenging behaviors however are a part of growing up and if responded to appropriately can help children to develop healthy social and emotional skills. Whether you are a parent, an educator or a therapist, there are some key principles that you can follow to help minimize challenging behaviors. Assume ALL Children Can Learn. Regardless of a

If you want to know how to treat a child with special needs, look at their sibling, they will show you. Siblings of special needs children are quite special. They are accepting and loving to someone who is different. Yet having a special needs sibling can come with challenges that may lead to confusion and family conflict. As hard as caregivers try, sometimes their typically developing children are neglected or are expected to do too much. Siblings may develop their own uniqu

Theory of mind involves understanding that people don’t share the same thoughts and feelings as you do. It allows us to predict and interpret the behaviors of others. Another way to think about it is the ability to “tune-in” to other peoples’ perspectives. This is something that starts to develop in early childhood. Theory of mind develops gradually, with intuitive social skills appearing in infancy and then reflective social cognition developing during the toddler and presch

We all want to see our children succeed, especially in new situations or when expectations are different. But how can we set up our children to succeed? We can do this through the use of priming. Priming is a prevention strategy, also known as an antecedent strategy in which we provide relevant information prior to a situation or task. Priming can be especially helpful for children that have a difficult time with transitions or changes in routines. Let’s face it, we all feel

As an occupational therapist who works in feeding, one question that frequently comes up is “how do I help my child learn to chew food?” Difficulty transitioning to solid foods is a common reason children come for feeding therapy. If this struggle sounds familiar to you, you are not alone! Here are a few things I like to consider when I hear a child is struggling with learning to chew: Create interest through hunger Often as parents we become SO concerned with calories that w

As a therapist I am often asked what toys that I would recommend parent’s purchase for their children as their children seemingly are more interested in the toys that I have in my office than the toys that I have at home. The reality is that children are likely more interested in my toys because of the novelty of them. So, instead of recommending that parents go out and spend their hard-earned money on even more toys, I recommend that they consider rotating their toys out. To