Category Archives: 08. Self-care skills

MamaOT’s Makeover!

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It’s only been one month since the official launch of MamaOT and, already, exciting changes are coming. To those of you who have read, shared, linked to, or subscribed to this blog: THANK YOU! from the bottom of my heart. Thanks also to those of you who have commented, called, emailed, or Facebook messaged me to tell me how much you love the posts on MamaOT (you know who you are). This blog is for all of you!

You may have noticed MamaOT has undergone a bit of a makeover in the past few days. Well, I have two big announcements to make. Are you ready?

(drum roll, please…)

ANNOUNCEMENT NUMBER ONE:

MamaOT is now on Facebook and Twitter!

To get MamaOT in your Facebook news feed, click the “Like” button on the right-hand side of the Home screen, or go to www.facebook.com/MamaOTblog and click “Like”. This will give you additional access to helpful tips and tricks, as well as links to articles and other resources related to kid-life.

To follow MamaOT on Twitter, click the “Follow @mamaotblog” button on the right-hand side of your screen or click here.

You can still subscribe to MamaOT via email or Google Reader and follow on Pinterest, so what are you waiting for???

Okay, I know that was really exciting. Take a moment to collect yourself. Alright. Ready for MamaOT’s second big announcement? Here we go!

ANNOUNCEMENT NUMBER TWO:

For those of you who aren’t into the whole social media frenzy (or who just want good information, plain and simple), I’ve added a brand new page to the blog just for you!

“Recommended resources“ is MamaOT’s newest page and is all about, well, resources I recommend. It’s an ever-growing list with alphabetized categories covering everything from pregnancy to activity ideas for little ones to autism to feeding/speech-language skills to…well, I guess you’ll just have to hop on over and check it out for yourself, won’t you? Don’t see what you’re looking for? Leave a comment on the new page or send an email to mamaotblog [at] gmail [dot] com to let me know and I’ll see what I can dig up.

I hope you enjoy these two new additions to MamaOT and, hey, if they make you love the blog more than you already did, would you mind doing me a favor and taking a moment to subscribe or share this blog with someone who you think would love it, too? The more the merrier.

Thanks for reading!

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Official launch of Mama OT!

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After several months of dreaming and brainstorming, I am excited to announce the official launch of Mama OT. My vision for this blog is that you will find practical tips and tricks to care for children, whether you are raising your own or caring for someone else’s. These tidbits of insight are inspired by my many adventurous experiences as both a new mom and pediatric occupational therapist.

You have no clue how many ideas are swirling around in this sleep-deprived brain of mine! Someday I hope to expand into a greater range and number of topics (pregnancy, product reviews, issues related to children older than 5…oh the ideas!), but for now I will keep it simple and stick to the categories you see on the right-hand side of the home page. You can read more about me and the story behind this blog by hopping over to the Who is Mama OT? page.

Go ahead and check out the few pages and posts I’ve already written in order to get things rolling. If you like what you see so far and want to be kept in the loop, consider subscribing to this blog or adding me to your Google Reader so you can be updated of new posts. And if, after you subscribe (hint, hint), you think one post in particular is totally awesome, feel free to share it on Pinterest by clicking the “Pin it” button at the bottom of each post.

Can’t wait until the next post to hear from Mama OT? Then climb aboard and follow me on Pinterest — simply click the button on the right-hand side of the home page that says “Follow me on Pinterest”. Easy peasy.

So have fun clicking around, leave a comment or two, and stay in touch as Mama OT moves forward!

 

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One simple trick for improving kids’ self-dressing skills

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Much of what I do as an occupational therapist aims to help children improve their independence in what we call Activities of Daily Living (ADL). While this includes a vast array of skills, one common activity I frequently address is the task of self-dressing. Sometimes kids are very set on dressing and undressing themselves, and they have the fine motor and cognitive skills to easily accomplish this. But sometimes kids need a little extra support to develop these skills, especially when it comes to figuring out how to open and close the fasteners that allow them to take off or put on a particular item of clothing (e.g., pants, shoes, jackets, etc.).

While it’s certainly worthwhile to practice the actual act of undressing and dressing, it can be pretty boring. But take heart, becuase there are actually some fun ways to sneak in self-dressing practice into a child’s day without them even realizing it!

Here is one simple trick for improving kids’ self-dressing skills that I have found to be extremely effective:

Consider the container.

I imagine the child you care for likes to play with toys, right? Well, what kind of container are the toys in? Are they easily accessible, requiring little to no fine motor effort to obtain? Or are they stored in bags requiring them to slide, zip, tie, and snap?

Here are some examples of how you can store kids’ toys such as playdough, mechanical animals, Potato Head, and puzzle pieces (click on image for larger view):

I have found that simply by keeping toys in individual bags/containers such as these (most of which you can obtain by saving the packages of commonly purchased items you would normally just throw away, like curtains or baby clothes), it gives kids the chance to practice operating various fasteners relevant to self-dressing. All their experience with zipping, tying, and snapping in order to access the toys has the potential to carry over to being able to open and close fasteners on their own clothes and, what do you know, suddenly their self-dressing skills improve even though they never “officially” worked on them! Funny how that works. Keep in mind that undressing typically comes before dressing. It’s easier to take off than put on (e.g., socks, shoes, shirts, pants) and, similarly, it’s easier to open fasteners than to close them (e.g., unzip, unsnap, untie).

As an added bonus, storing the toys in separate bags/containers makes them much easier to clean and keep track of. My speech therapy colleagues would also add this provides kids with increased opportunities for communication and language development as they ask for help, identify/imitate words and phrases such as “open”, “close”, “in”, “out”, “more”, “please”, “thank you”, ”all done”, “clean up”, and imitate/produce multi-word phrases either verbally or through signs and gestures such as “want more” or “open please”.

So the next time you are going through your child’s toy bin, consider the container. Ask yourself whether your current toy storage situation will encourage your child to practice the skills necessary for self-dressing. If not, then what are you waiting for? Make this one small change and watch to see how it affects their fine motor skills and the development of their ability to tackle the big kid task of putting on and taking off their clothes all by themselves!

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*Photo credit for photos 1 and 6.

 

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Welcome to Mama OT!

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Well hello there! My name is Christie. I’m a California-based mom and occupational therapist with a background in gymnastics, psychology, and education. I’m so glad you’ve taken a moment to check out this blog!

I became a mama in 2011 and then, three months later, I began my career as a pediatric occupational therapist (OT). Thus, the origins of Mama OT! I have found myself in the unique position of learning how to be both a mom and an OT simultaneously, and the really amazing thing is that each role teaches me how to do a better job in the other.

Being a new mom has given me a very unique perspective as I work with families to further their children’s development, especially when it comes to working with very young ones (as young as 5 months). I can really empathize and connect with the parents of my clients when they ask me about things like sleep deprivation, teething, feeding, or baby toys because I am going through it right along with them!

Conversely, being a part of the OT world has given me such a great pool of knowledge and hands-on experience from which to pull as I interact with and care for my own baby boy. What a blessing! Every time I learn something new as an OT, I think to myself, I wish everyone who worked with kids knew about that!

Hence, this blog.

They say it takes a village to raise a child, and I am learning first-hand that that is absolutely true! No one of us can do this by ourselves. We need other people to support us as we invest ourselves into caring for children of all ages. So whether you are a parent, foster parent, family member, babysitter, nanny, or a friend who’s just helping out, my hope is that I can be a part of your “village”. I will do my best to supply you with helpful tips, tricks, ideas, and resources that will boost your ability to care for the kids in your life.

Although many topics I address on this blog will be the direct result of something I’ve experienced while raising my own baby boy (thus often reflecting ideas beneficial for other children of his similar age), I will aim to cover topics that can be applied to older and younger children as well. Please take a moment to check out the categories covered on this blog by clicking on the “Home” tab at the top of this page and then reading through the list on the right side of the page. My vision is that this blog will be a lighthearted space filled with helpful ideas and information, rather than something to make you feel insecure about how your child is developing relative to generic lists of what kids “should” be doing at various ages. If you are interested in reading about issues related to a particular stage of life or skill level that have not yet been covered, let me know by sending me an email and I will do my best to put together a post that will help you out (though I can’t guarantee it). My contact info can be found on the page titled “Got a question?“.

Although I am a registered and licensed occupational therapist, this is not a place for skilled therapeutic intervention or medical advice. The ideas presented on this blog are for informational purposes only and should not be misconstrued as anything other than that. A kid-oriented website, no matter how useful it may be, can never replace an individualized treatment plan developed as the result of standardized assessment, clinical observation, and collaboration between therapist, caregiver, and (if applicable) child. If you are concerned about the development or functional abilities of a particular child in your life, then that child’s parent should talk with the pediatrician or seek out the services of a developmental pediatrician or a local occupational therapist/therapy clinic.

Thanks so much for allowing me to be a part of your “village”. I hope this blog will be a helpful resource to you and I look forward to the journey that lies ahead!

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