Little ones spend a good amount of time in their high chair, so it is important for them to have a great one, especially when they are ready to eat solid foods (usually around 6 months of age). The best high chair should keep your child secure, safe, and promote good posture during meal times. So, how do you as a parent decide which high chair is best for your child? Our guide to the Best High Chairs of 2016 breaks down each nominee into the most important elements: Safety Postural Support/Positioning Portability Adaptability The ideal high chair adapts with your growing child and their changing needs. Early on, little ones require stability and external support to maintain upright sitting p
When I ask a parent if their child uses scissors I often get the response, "Oh, no I would never let them use scissors now." Of course you are not going to give your child a pair of scissors and walk away; however, working together and practicing with scissors is very important for children as it is a part of their development. Snipping with scissors is a skill that usually develops a little after 2 years of age! Why is cutting so important? Cutting helps build up the small muscles of our hands Helps with eye-hand coordination Encourages the use of bilateral coordination How to teach your child to use scissors: If your child has never held scissors, allow them to practice the open/close mo
A common question parents ask is “what is low muscle tone?”. As a pediatric therapist, I forget that most parents don’t understand health care professional terminology. It’s important for families to understand our terminology when speaking to them. As therapists, we work with children that have low muscle tone and explaining this to parents can be quite confusing. Let’s first understand the concept of low muscle tone and how we as therapists can help explain this better for families. Then we can go into different treatment ideas for children with low muscle tone. What the research is defining muscle tone as: Muscle tone is defined as “resistance to passive stretch while the patient is a
