-I mentioned the suggestion we rec'd from the clinic OT re: pushing golf tees into styrofoam to work on hand strength. She thought it was a good idea and also suggested using playdoh.
-She also suggested hiding small things in balls of playdoh (small pegboard pegs, buttons, etc) and then letting Kira try to dig them out. Jackson played with it while we were working on other stuff and L varied the activity by asking him to do it with his eyes closed. It's an activity that works on both hand strength and cognitive/memory skills - pretty cool.
-We've been working with putting things like crayons, q-tips, etc into a shampoo bottle - to help Kira practice the hand positioning she'll need for writing. L wants to take it further by having Kira pour the items back out in a more controlled fashion and use her opposing hand to catch and then pull the item out, rather than just pouring everything back out onto the floor. She suggested working on this in the bathtub by putting counting bears and water into the bottle and letting Kira pour it back out - catching the bears as they come out.
-She suggested getting some flat stringing beads - or making some out of heavy cardboard or thick foam (I have a salt dough recipe that I think I'm going to try - I'll post if it works). Kira totally gets stringing the bead onto the needle and that she needs to pull the needle through, but she always ends up pulling the needle and the string coming out of the other side of the bead and not the bead itself. L thinks if we have totally different beads she might get past that. She pointed out that stringing beads is a three step process that is similar to the skill set Kira will need for buttoning.
-We need to keep encouraging Kira to do activities with her left hand. I swear she came out of the womb right-handed, she always leads with her right hand and stabilizes things with her left. L wants to make sure that her left hand is doing as well as her right.
I think that's about it. We discussed the clinic and a little bit more about our upcoming transition. Overall, a really enjoyable hour!
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it all sounds great!
ReplyDeleteWhat great ideas and suggestions from your OT! Good luck getting everything into place. Kira will continue to do great! :)
ReplyDeleteIt sounds to me like Kira has an awesome OT. Lucky girl. All of those are great activities.
ReplyDeleteEvan's EI first suggested that hiding-toys-in-playdough activity for him, and he loves it. We use tiny animals. All 3 of my boys like to do this, so it's appropriate for a wide range of ages. Good stuff.
These sound like great ideas! Get to work Kira--you've got some fun comin' your way!
ReplyDeleteSorry about your kitty, and those nasty stings! :(
I am writing these ideas down and filing them for when Sydney is ready to do them. Thanks for posting them!
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