Whew! We just wrapped up our Handwriting and Social Skills Summer Camps here in the office and it seems like it flew by! We packed a TON of activities and skills into 10 days! Take a look!
Handwriting Camp
Waking up our bodies so that we know where all of our parts are helps with posture and with being able to manipulate tools such as pencils for better handwriting skills.
Launching Popper Balls into a bucket helps improve grip strength, thumb opposition skills, and visual-perceptual skills, among other things. These skills all work together to produce functional handwriting skills.
Shaping putty into letters, then pushing small beads into it is a fun way to work on letter recognition, letter formation (which parts do we make in what order?), and fine motor skills.
Social Skills Camp
Social Skills Summer Camp was so jam-packed that we didn’t even take pictures until the last day! We learned many useful self-regulation techniques, and we practiced them all week long. We also learned some very important conversation skills, how to assimilate into a group of other kids, how to “build up” instead of “one-up” others, how to accept “no”, different voice volumes and when to use them (some of us might still be working on that skill!), and so much more!
Sitting in a bean bin can be calming.
Doing hard work and building things can help us organize our brains.
Sitting in dim, quiet spaces, and having an item (in this case, a stuffed sloth) in front of us can help us feel more comfortable when conversing with others, and can place a protective “barrier” between us and someone new. (These two were very engaged while talking about their favorite foods!)
Swinging and fidgets in our hands can be very organizing when conversing with someone new.
Practicing building others up by allowing them to share a story or experience while we “shine a light on them” with our headlamps!
We know these kids will go home with many new skills to share with their family and friends! They all did such an awesome job!
Mom Workshops
There will be no Mom Workshop in July. Happy 4th of July!
The next FREE Mom Workshop will be on August 1st at 6:30pm. Ashley Schmid, Psy. D., from Life Connections Counseling Center will share information regarding Psychoeducational Testing for Children & Teens. Make plans now to join us!
Getting Ready for the School Year
Can you believe that we are already gearing up for the new school year? We are scheduling new evaluations every day, and are providing summer therapy to help students be able to start the new school year with a better foundation for success! Our evaluations provide valuable information about how the brain processes information, and that can help guide someone to a higher level of function and learning. There is no obligation for treatment, should it be recommended.
In addition, we are scheduling teacher and parent workshops with our local schools, homeschool co-ops, and daycares. If you’d like to have a workshop at your school/co-op/daycare, give us a call! 813-803-3470
Remember that progress is progress, at any speed.