Playwrite Occupational Therapy

How can we help?

We’re currently designing a new webinar series and would love to know from you, is there anything in particular that you would like to know more about?

Feel free to answer here or send us a DM.

Exciting news!

Our new webinar series is happening. We will be covering topics related to the development of sensory, gross motor, fine motor and visual perceptual skills as well as their emotional well-being. We are also going to be chatting about age-appropriate play and games for home to help facilitate development in these areas.

If you’d like more info, please send us your email address and children’s ages via DM or email.

We use this incredible web-based app in our practice to communicate with parents, send home activity ideas, and keep our records digitally so we can save on space in the practice. It’s such a handy and useful tool! SpecialT, thank you being innovators with a heart for helping our profession be the best it can be.

If you would like any further info, please reach out to the SpecialT team 🌸

Nicky van Ravenswaay
Amy van Schoor
Michaela Lynne Raw
Catherine Hitchcock
Sally Anne Platt

This one’s for our toddlers. The ladies at Built to Bloom have created a wonderful resource for parents during this time 💕

https://builttobloom.co.za/product/toddler-fun-at-home/

A free resource to download - 3-week activity programme with sensory, gross motor and fine motor fun activity ideas every day.

Mums and dads with older kids - the amazing ladies at Built to Bloom have together this resource pack for you 💕

You asked, we listened...

After overwhelmingly positive response on our toddler activity guide (Toddler Fun at Home) we received numerous requests for a guide for slightly older kids.

We proudly present a 3-week compilation of fun activity ideas to do with older kids at home (age range approximately 7-13 years)!

While having fun, the kids will develop a variety of skills such as fine motor skills, gross motor skills, listening skills, imagination and creativity, and much more!

This product consists of an 8 page activity guide as well as a 39 page printable supplemental document. FREE!

https://builttobloom.co.za/product/kids-fun-at-home/

It’s the start of a month of family time - how exciting!

I know many parents are feeling overwhelmed but we will be sharing a couple of ideas per day to help you thrive in this time.

We get to spend extra time with our precious children, what a privilege!

Today’s idea:

HOPSCOTCH

Draw a hopscotch pattern with chalk on your driveway - older kids can do this themselves and you can even include specific colours and shapes they have to draw in an order.

Practice numbers, colours and shapes in a fun way inside the blocks.

Get them to find garden objects starting with certain sounds (leaves for l; soil for s; etc) and put these in the blocks.

Play hopscotch together and work out the maths for older kids by using 2 dice.

Afterwards, use a spray bottle filled with water to spray away the grid and work those hands.

In the photo below are some ideas of how to change the game to target different concepts for different ages. Post of photo of you playing hopscotch with your children today - we all need to smile 😊

Behavioural vs Developmental approaches... this is a hot topic at the moment.

As a practice, we are advocates of using a developmental approach. We don’t take away from the behavioural approach, but a developmental approach sits best with us as therapists.

Maude le Roux suggests some poignant thoughts on the matter.

What is your take?

5 Fundamental Differences between Behavioral Interventions vs. the Developmental Perspective in the Intervention of Autism Spectrum Disorder Behavioral intervention has become standard care in the world of Autism Spectrum Disorder. As there is no “one size fits all” when it comes to intervening in Autism spectrum disorder, I salute our behavioral colleagues for their success in lobbying their method of care and being so successful in...

We have such exciting news - Maude le Roux from A Total Approach in the USA is coming back to KZN in April.

Please see the info sheets attached and share with your children’s therapists or colleagues. These two days are going to be so beneficial for any therapists assessing or working with children.

Please contact us for more info.

We are big advocates for ‘let them play’. This brief read is a decent summation of why that’s our belief.

Ask anyone who works in a primary school or elementary , and you'll hear a similar refrain. dropping out of their chairs is the new normal. But why? What's going on that's making simply sitting in a chair a physical challenge for our youth?

A highly respected director of a progressive preschool who has been teaching preschoolers for about 40 years says she has seen major changes in the social and physical development of children in the past few generations. “Kids are just different,” she said. “They are more easily frustrated – often crying at the drop of a hat.” She has also observed that children were frequently falling out of their seats “at least three times a day,” less attentive, and running into each other and even the walls. “It is so strange. You never saw these issues in the past.”

She went on to complain that even though her school was considered highly progressive, they were still feeling the pressure to limit free more than she would like in order to meet the growing demands for academic readiness that was expected before children entered kindergarten.

It is through active free play outdoors where children start to build many of the foundational life skills they need in order to be successful for years to come. It is before the age of 7 years — ages traditionally known as “pre-academic” — when children desperately need to have a multitude of whole-body sensory experiences on a daily basis in order to develop strong bodies and minds. This is best done outside where the senses are fully ignited and young bodies are challenged by the uneven and unpredictable, ever-changing terrain.

Preschool years are not only optimal for children to learn through play, but also a critical developmental period. If children are not given enough natural movement and play experiences, they start their academic careers with a disadvantage. They are more likely to be clumsy, have difficulty paying attention, trouble controlling their emotions, utilise poor problem-solving methods, and demonstrate difficulties with social interactions. We are consistently seeing , , and issues pop up more and more in later childhood, partly because of inadequate opportunities to move and play at an early age.

The system, located inside our inner ear, is responsible for our sense of balance and spatial awareness. It also plays an important role in focus and attention, visual skills, and emotional regulation. It is stimulated and developed by moving through space in a variety of directions—particularly at high speeds.

“Inside your inner ear are little hair cells. And we need to move in all different directions so that fluid moves back and forth and stimulates those hair cells, and that develops the vestibular sense. That sense is key to all the other senses. If that's not working right, it can affect everything," says Angela Hanscom, pediatric occupational therapist.

Weaker core and postural muscles, an underdeveloped vestibular sense, and too many consecutive hours spent at a desk without a break for physical activity all add up. Once we put these factors together, we can start to understand why a child might fall out of their seat at school.

Research continues to point out that young children learn best through meaningful play experiences. Education has need to transition towards play-based learning rather than away from it, for the sake of our current and upcoming generations.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1440244018304389

https://www.stack.com/a/the-shocking-phenomenon-that-shows-just-how-movement-starved-modern-kids-really-are

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2015/09/01/the-decline-of-play-in-preschoolers-and-the-rise-in-sensory-issues/

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Parents, try and play with your little ones instead of guiding 💕

Be a best supporting actor in the play, let the child/individual be the director!!!