How can I help my child at home?

We as therapists are sometimes asked “How can I help my child carry over therapy techniques at home” Our suggestion would be “make it fun and it won’t seem like homework” Carryover activities are not intended to be one more thing to do in a long list of many homework tasks.

Core and upper body strengthening are two developmental areas that we always encourage parents to work on at home. We recommend that at home parents need to make sure that their children are sitting properly when they work at a table and are eating meals. Their backs should be straight and resting against the back of the chair with their feet flat on the floor and their head and eyes positioned forward. It is preferable that children don’t hold their heads up with their hands or have their heads lying on the table or desk when they are writing. Books or boxes for footrests are helpful to maintain correct posture. During writing activities it is encouraged that the non-dominant hand needs to stabilize the paper at all times.

To help increase core and upper body strength and stability, we suggest that parents try some of these activities:

• Wheelbarrow walking around the house or garden. Have them measure how far they can go.

• Crab walk forward, backwards, and sideways

• Tug-of-war

• Knee or wall push-ups. Have them keep count of how many they can do.

• Climb the jungle gym or monkey bars at the playground or park.

• Work on their tummies when watching TV, drawing, or writing. Have them lie on the floor on their stomachs holding themselves up using their elbows and forearms propped on the floor. Do not allow them to hold their heads up with their hands. 

• Write/draw/paint on a chalkboard or easel or any vertical surface such as a wall or window

• Complete household chores such as carrying groceries or yard work.

Another area to focus on is hand skills. Parents should encourage their children to hold pencils and utensils correctly. Students who have difficulty with this should be encouraged to participate in the following activities:

• Use an eye dropper with coloured water for painting or colouring activities

• Use tweezers to pick up macaroni, cheerios, rice or pasta and place them in a cup or in their mouth

• Spin tops by pushing the thumb and index fingers in opposite directions to make them spin

• Flick coins, ping-pong balls, tiddily winks, or cotton balls with their thumb and pointer fingers. Make this a game of hockey or try to aim for a target.

• Snap fingers -  start with the dominant hand and then both hands.

• Use a spring clothes peg to pick up small objects and place them into a container.

• Play with clay, play dough, or theraputty. Hide small items such as buttons or coins for them to find.

Even in today's world of technology, our children still need to learn to write legibly. It is important that they form the letters in the correct direction. We encourage parents to remind their children to take their time when writing and forming letters. To improve letter formation parents can:

• Write letters on the wall with a torch.

• Write letters in a tray or pan filled with salt, sand, shaving cream, whipped cream, or pudding.

• Write on the shower wall with shaving cream, soap or bath crayons.

• Mystery writing – one person holds a piece of chalk or a pencil and then closes their eyes. The other person moves their hand to write a letter or word. Or one person can write a letter with their finger on the other person’s back or palm of their hand. 

• Rainbow writing –write a word or letter on the paper or chalk board and have their child trace or several times in different coloured chalk or crayons.

We really want to emphasize with parents that they should always remember that these activities should not be viewed as “homework” but rather as games that are fun and can help to increase skills critical to classroom success. They should think of the outdoor games such as catches, hopscotch or jump rope that they enjoyed as a child and teach these to their children. We never knew that having all that fun was good for us. 

The best piece of advice we can give parents is, “Have fun ‘working’ with your child!”

Written by Angela van der Watt