Lots of Activity at the Activity Table

My new favorite toy for my 8 month old baby is his activity table! I wanted one to encourage standing and found it to help with so much more. Keep in mind that these little tables can be a bit costly when you purchase new...anywhere from $40-$75 dollars depending on the brand, so I headed to our local child consignment shop where I found a very gently used LeapFrog brand table for only $10! This girl LOVES a bargain so that price most definitely helped this table earn a "favorite" spot in my book.

First of all, Liam likes getting his chunky little legs up straight and tall to stand and play with the lights and buttons on the table! He's only 8 months old so he needs close physical supervision as he will tumble right over (or backwards) when he gets distracted or tired. He still leans into the table and it helps to have it pushed up against the couch so it doesn't get away from him. Within the next few weeks, his standing practice will lead to "cruising" practice as he learns to take some steps around the table while holding on.

It seems that most brands have removable legs on the activity tables so for little ones who aren't quite standing, you can use the table top on the floor. In this case, I actually boosted it up just a bit on a pillow so that he could reach the buttons better. I've found this to be a great way to practice dynamic sitting balance as he tries to reach across for all of the lights and sounds but still has to try to maintain his sitting. He's getting much better at this!

Instead of removing ALL of the table legs, I can also remove just 2 to make more of an inclined position. This is another option for sitting to encourage higher level reaching and eye-hand coordination. He can also be placed on his tummy which is ALWAYS an OT's favorite position for babies! In this picture, he is on his tummy over the pillow, mainly for comfort so he'll play here a little longer. He had started on his tummy without the pillow before I added some cushion. Ironically, once he was on the pillow, he was quickly enticed by the TAG on the pillow and of course had to check it out! Who needs all of those lights and sounds when you can chew on a tag, right?!

This was well worth my $10 investment! Liam is strengthening his motor skills and is quite entertained as well. Did I mention that words and songs can be played in English OR Spanish? Put it all together and it makes for a very happy baby (and mommy)!

Jen Dermody, OTR/L

A Little Attention Please

I've been very lucky to work in some really amazing early childhood classrooms over the past 9 years!  The little cuties returned to class this week and everybody is learning the new routines for the day.  Our class is an integrated classroom that consists of 6 typically developing children and 6 children with special needs that can range from speech delays to developmental delays to cognitive impairment to autism....and everything in between.  I've learned A TON from working in these classrooms with outstanding team members.

We work hard to help our kiddos increase their attention span so that they can maximize their learning.  Sometimes our goal is to help a child attend for even 1-2 minutes with a specific task such as cutting with scissors or coloring.  One or two minutes might not sound like a whole lot of learning time but it can be a real challenge for some kiddos. 

My own baby girl started high school last week and she attended an assembly this week where the speaker talked to the freshman class about how to be "successful learners".  One of the ideas she brought home to share is a tidbit that is good for all of us to remember when working with children.  She was taught that a person's optimal attention span is equal to their age + 2.   That would mean that a 3 year old has an optimal attention span of 5 minutes.  Obviously this is a general equation and some folks will have longer attention spans and others will have less.  The key word here is "optimal" and I think that's pretty important when it comes to educational tasks.  If you take time to work on a targeted skill such as learning letters or writing activities,  consider that you can expect the best learning to occur within that "optimal range".  In other words, planning  three 5 minute tasks will likely be more successful than one 15 minute task when working with a young child.

I don't know about you but I think this equation idea takes a turn at some point!  My attention span seems to diminish with every birthday :-)

Jen Dermody, OTR/L

Join the Club

If you're visiting Jen's OT For Kids, then you must have an interest in child development, right?  I was introduced to a new website this week that I love and wanted to share with you!  It's called Child Development Club and it has loads of information.  This site was started by another OT, Laura Efinger, who splits her time between practicing in the US and Egypt!  She initially started a Facebook page related to her experiences in Egypt and as it grew, she saw that there was a need for a full blown website to encompass forum discussions, exchange of resources, networking, blogging, and sharing great ideas.  I am excited to say that Laura has asked me to be an active contributor on her website and I'm looking forward to it!  You'll want to take a look....I know you'll learn something new! 

PS---The web address for Child Development Club is http://www.childdevelopmentclub.org/

Jen Dermody, OTR/L