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If your child has a disability, finding the right therapist to help overcome challenges becomes vitally important. One of the most crucial types of therapy is the occupational variety.
Occupational therapists through NDIS can help your children to prepare for several of life’s challenges. An NDIS occupational therapist will also assist them with fine motor and gross motor skills they can develop at home.
Because occupational therapy through NDIS can be extended into the home, it’s much easier to help with these dynamics in an independent way. These are the ways an NDIS occupational therapist can help your child with motor skill development at home.
Encourage Less Electronics
Many children with certain disabilities may have an affinity for electronics like tablets and video games. They can become overly attached to these forms of entertainment, and at times this can become unhealthy.
Fine motor development entails much more than just using the fingers to navigate games and electronics. Your NDIS occupational therapist can encourage your child to spend lower amounts of time on their preferred electronic device.
This encouragement will then carry over into the home, allowing your child an extension of motor skill development on a remote basis. Practicing these things at home will ensure your child is ahead of the game when it comes to the motor skills department, if you have electronic gates, include that in the list too.
Show You How to Engage Them with Certain Activities
When you receive occupational therapy with NDIS, your specialist can show you how to engage your child with certain games or activities. Simple activities like encouraging your child to bear weight while crawling on all fours can significantly enhance their fine motor skills.
These activities stimulate the muscles of the hands and arms, helping to build them. The building of these muscles allows your child to use their hands in a more coordinated manner to achieve certain tasks.
Your NDIS occupational therapist can practice these activities with your child first while you’re present. Then, the two of you can easily carry this routine over into the home.
Embed Opportunities for Fine Motor Development in All Areas
When your child engages in occupational therapy with NDIS therapists, they can show them how to develop fine motor skills in all areas of their home life. Believe it or not, these skills can be developed in all the following home areas:
When Your Child Takes a Bath
Squeezable water toys like rubber ducks or even something as simple as a turkey baster can assist your child with fine motor skills. You can also practice with them by allowing them to soak water into their washcloth, then wring it out.
Additionally, you may also cut off the bottom of a milk jug or soda bottle. Allow them to practice scooping water and dump it out into the bathtub. All these areas help them significantly develop fine motor skills.
Laundry Room
Your NDIS occupational therapist can show your child how to pull the laundry out of the dryer and stack it. Alternatively, they can help you switch items between the washer and dryer.
This helps them develop hand strength, which is vital for fine motor development. It also helps if they help you carry or push the laundry basket.
Kitchen
Did you know the kitchen was one of the most significant areas of developing fine motor skills? Helping you knead dough or press cookies can both be great ways to develop needed occupational skills.
This helps tremendously with hand-eye coordination and helps build strong muscles in the hands and arms. Your NDIS occupational therapist can assist you with other tips regarding development in the kitchen.
Use Any Items Around the House
Any items that you notice that could develop coordination or muscles is fair game. Assisting you with placing toothpicks inside a container, squeezing chip clips, feeding squirrels, or squeezing any type of bottle are all great opportunities to develop your child’s skills.
An in-depth exercise that really develops coordination is allowing them to push pipe-cleaners through the holes of a strainer. This develops their coordination, patience, and eyesight. Look for activities that develop multiple areas at once!
Working with your local NDIS occupational therapist, such as Therapy Inc will provide substantial benefits regarding your child’s fine and gross motor skill development. By leaving yourself open to suggestions and forming a strong team, you can work hand-in-hand with your child’s therapist to ensure they develop at the most efficient pace possible.
Keep a score sheet to keep track of your child’s progress and take notes regarding specific areas or when you have questions. Use your imagination and come up with your own ways for your child to develop motor skills at home!
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