Priya-the-OT

  V is a fifth grader, who according to his mother, has 'horrible' handwriting. V has ADHD and was my regular client at the clinic. His mother was fed up with the reports from V's school with negative remarks about his handwriting.  "No matter how much I scold him, he never writes within the lines. And nobody can read his handwriting. I am tired of going to his school to meet his teacher", mum poured out her frustration one day at the clinic. "Why do children need to write, anyway! We are in a world of computers and advanced technology. Why can't they switch to typing?! Handwriting is so outdated....who writes, anyway!" It is the memory the conversation I had with V's mum that prompted me to share with you a topic very close to my heart and a constant in my practice - Handwriting. Traditional handwriting vs digital writing Most adults today 'write' using a keyboard and computer. It is often easier to open a laptop and type or take out you

  If you would have noticed, you would know that children love lining up their toys or placing objects in very specific ways. It may not necessarily make sense to an adult but it definitely makes complete sense to their little minds.  They find it best to have things a certain way, that if ever a parent tries to reorganize or upset their ‘pattern’, it may result in tears or screams of frustration, followed by a tantrum, even. Sometimes children position, order and arrange objects in very obsessive and rigid manners. For example, lining up things in order of size, colour or shape or even texture. Some children also like their food to be placed in a certain way on their plate and they can be very upset and react strongly & negatively if certain types of food are touching.  Lining up things can be looked at, from a child's perspective, as organizing or sorting. When they put similar items close to each other in a row, or stack them one above the other, they are actually learning t

  Schemas, in general, are experienced by children, as strong, repetitive urges, which makes it very difficult for them to stop throwing things, or jumping from heights no matter how much you ask them to! Some schemas last for a long time or reappear at different developmental stages and others may come and go. Schemas may not always appear one at a time or in a particular order. A child may develop one or many schemas together at the same time. We looked at few schemas in the previous post. There are more schemas in that list and let's take a look at those. Common Schemas for Play (continued) Schema 5: Orientation/Orienteering Children are often seen ‘liking’ to hang upside down or to get a view from under the bed or from on top of the table. Bending over and looking backwards from in between the legs is a very common ‘act’ displayed by toddlers and young children. What they are doing here is looking at the world from a different perspective, literally.  As children grow older, it

Now, now! I’m sure I have at least of couple of readers who just raised their eyebrows and sported a puzzled look, on reading the tile on this post. ‘Schemas in Play’ is definitely not a familiar phenomenon by name, but let me explain what it is, and it will have you going, “Ah! So is that what ‘it’ is called? ‘Schema’!!” So, what are these ‘Schemas’? We have learnt to do many things from our very early years, e.g. bouncing a ball, turning a key, etc. These actions, and many more have taught us a lot of concepts. Let’s take the bouncing ball activity. If you have observed a little child throwing/dropping down a ball, you would have also noticed that he found it amusing and kept doing it again and again. If it was a rubber ball, it would have bounced back. If it was a plastic ball, well, may not that much. If it was an inflated ball, it wouldn't have bounced back at all. Now, if it was an egg, it would have broken! From this action, what can the child learn? ….that a ball