Priya-the-OT

There are many things I disagree with and the usage 'Differently Abled' is among few others on the top. When I first started working as an Occupational therapist in 1999, the word  'Mentally retarded'  was common.  It did feel then (and does even now), quite a 'disgraceful' word to use when referring to an individual, though I agree it was a 100 times better than a couple of its predecessors, which I prefer not to name.  Mental retardation slowly evolved to 'Intellectual Disability' which stole the show for a brief while before giving way to include specific tags like 'Learning Disability', 'Dyslexia', 'Dysarthria', 'Dyscalculia', and the like, which are actually the diagnoses themselves, and some other fancy titles like 'Slow Learner', 'Late Bloomer', etc.  Coming to the physical disability part, 'Handicapped' was the most common usage at one time which then went through a very happening metamorpho

  Let me present to you, some scenarios I commonly come across on a daily basis. Whenever a mother or father raises a concern over their child, who may seem to have a delay in development or a trait of some condition, it is most often brushed aside by the immediate family and friends. Most often these family members and friends have no medical background or experience in the related field, but they succeed in helping the concerned parent ignore the problem and unknowingly feed the damage which in turn grows uninterrupted, eventually hindering the child's development. Take a look!

  We looked at the different stages a child goes through while developing through play. Those stages are commonly referred to as the 'Social stages of Play Development' and they are important and vital to your child's social development. At the same time, Play Development is also classified according to type or nature of play behaviour. These 'Types of Play' also largely contribute to a child's development and learning.  Children’s play activities mainly fall under two main categories: Structured Play and Unstructured Play.  Structured Play : Like the name suggests, Structured play, is goal-oriented play, or 'play with a purpose' kind of activity which is generally adult-led or supervised. It may involve a specific task that would help a child learn a new skill. eg: an ADL activity like buttoning, tying a shoe lace, etc, or a specific learning objective like days of the week, or colours of the rainbow.  Structured play involves following rules or instr

It is not an uncommon fact that children learn through play. The only occupation of a young child is play and almost all stages of development that he/she goes through has play as the key element.  What is Play and why is it important in Child Development?  Very simply put, 'play' is a time when we are having fun. Actually it’s more than just fun and games! Play is where a child is being creative and spontaneous. It is where he/she learns to form ideas and act upon them.  Play is important because it is the medium that helps children learn about themselves and the world around them. Play allows them to explore different interests and passions, and encourages interactions, sharing, and socialization to help develop social-emotional skills. Children begin learning life skills through play. Occupational Therapy in Pediatrics is all about play.  Stages of Play Play evolves in stages, and you may notice that the way children interact with toys, other children and adults, and even wi

Parent-Teacher Meetings came by twice a year at the Centre I worked in. There was one right after the IEPs for the year were made and another towards the close of the year. When most parents were happy with their child's progress and eager to know what the next steps were, there was one particular couple that had something very different to say. 'S' was a little girl, 5 years of age. She was on the Autism spectrum and was non-verbal. When she first joined the Centre, S had poor eye contact, a decreased attention span, poor recognition of common objects, and poor comprehension of facial expressions & environmental cues. By the end of one academic year, S was by then able to identify her school bag, could point to the picture of a glass to ask for water, and signal for 'toilet'. She would recognize the names of the most common things she carried in her snack box, like banana and sandwich. S could also eye-point to the identify her teacher and the class helper, whe