Meet another amazing LLA Therapy staff member, DeAnna Smith! DeAnna is an Occupational Therapist. She has been with LLA since late summer of 2021. DeAnna works in both our clinics and with our school partners. She has always had a passion for working with kids. However, it wasn’t until she had exposure to the profession at a camp for kids …
Ages 2 years + Triangular Crayons: Encourages appropriate grip on coloring and drawing utensils Fine Motor Keys and Shape Sorter House: Promotes dexterity and visual Skills Learning Resources Smart Snacks Rainbow Color Cones: Learn colors while strengthening hands Shape Sort and Match: Promotes bilateral coordination while learning shapes and colors Fine Motor and Strength Animal Match: Practice Animals Names/Sounds as …
Is it Santa’s Workshop, or an LLA clinic? You would be hard pressed to know the difference if you visited one of our locations. That is because we have toys, and lots of them! Think of toys as our tools. Not only do we use them to motivate our clients, but we use toys each and every day for therapeutic …
Many parents often wonder how to work on their child’s speech and language goals at home. Below are five amazing ideas on how to enhance your child’s speech and language through a more natural environment. These activities can be implemented at home no matter what your child’s age is. Continue reading to find out more! 1.Baking or Cooking We can …
You might not think about how critical wrist extension is to perform everyday tasks. However, this body movement plays a major role in life. Wrist extension is the ability to move your hand backwards, towards your forearm. This motion allows the hand to be placed in an optimal position, which will allow children to manipulate objects in their environment. Children …
Storytelling lies at the heart of every culture. It’s the way we capture people’s attention, build social connections, and share our experiences with one another. Although storytelling may make you think of someone crafting elaborate tales, storytelling is actually an everyday, functional skill that we use to talk about everything from a funny, unexpected event that happened while we were …
When a child is referred for evaluation in the schools or as new client in the clinic, one of the most important and frequently used tools is norm-referenced testing. Norm-referenced testing can also be useful when re-evaluating a child by comparing previous and present scores to get a sense of their progress. However, if you and your child are new …
Self-regulation is the ability to manage one’s own emotions, behavior, and body movements while still focusing and attending to a task at hand. Self-regulation involves being able to self-calm when anxious or upset, resist highly emotional reactions (crying, hitting, screaming, etc.) to stimuli, and adjust to changes in expectations/routines. Children who have difficulty with self-regulation may have difficulty identifying their …
Summer is here again! That means the kids are off of school and families are searching for some fun, outdoor activities that the entire family can enjoy. I’m always on the hunt for new adventures (that fit my budget), too. So today I wanted to share 4 all-inclusive parks that I have stumbled upon. 1. Hine Memorial Fund Playground This …
Thumb. What a funny sounding word for a finger. You probably don’t think twice about how critical the thumb is during every day activities. As a pediatric occupational therapist, in a school-based setting, I look at the thumb on a daily basis. In fact, I find the thumb quite interesting because humans are the only primate that can oppose the …
