Dysphagia therapy encompasses many treatment options and approaches. There is always considerable debate about the efficacy of one treatment approach or another. This week, as I continue on with my advice for new clinicians in the SNF, I'd like to focus on swallowing therapy. Firstly, let me remind everyone that the resources and equipment ...

I'm still focusing on therapy materials that new clinicians in the SNF or geriatric setting might want to collect. One of the most versatile therapy tools you can use are everyday objects, which work for naming, following directions, describing, attention, memory, orientation, speech intelligibility and auditory comprehension. So many skills can ...

Happy spring! This week is ''R'' week at our school, and one of the themes the children are learning about is the rainforest. Tropical Ice Cream is a fabulously delicious recipe that the occupational therapist at our school created. The dish turned out to be a fun, educational and wonderful sensory experience for even our pickiest of ...

Welcome to ''B'' week at our school, where the focus has been on beans, beads, bears and the color brown! For our speech and language group lesson this week, we made our own very round and very delicious ''Brown Bear'' face. I developed the idea after I Googled ''bear recipes for kids'' and a polar bear recipe came up! It requires a rice ...

As we consider sensory changes that occur throughout the aging process, it is important to remember the subtle differences that will manifest and how they might affect a patient's participation in therapy and daily activities, as well as his or her quality of life. My colleagues and I often notice that while we are usually warm, often ...

I have heard parents say this many times when we discuss the eating habits of their ''picky eater:'' ''Hes/she used to eat (preferred food), but not anymore! Now I can barely get them to eat or try anything new. He/she eats the same things over and over.'' Our family has been dealing with this at home with our two-year-old picky eater. ...

Schools are closed this week and little ones are home for the holidays! Today's post includes some new ideas to keep them occupied as well as some flashbacks to posts from the past! If you're staying in for New Years Eve this year with your little ones, why not plan out a fun, kid-friendly dinner that they can both help you make and ...

During the month of December we have been celebrating the holidays of Hanukkah, Christmas and Kwanzaa at our preschool. The holiday of Kwanzaa, like any holiday, embraces certain symbols that embody the message and purpose of the holiday. Here you can find a complete description of these symbols, one of which is corn. I decided to use ...

At the preschool where I work, we teach about the three holidays of Hanukkah, Kwanza and Christmas during the month of December. As you may or may not know, each holiday has various foods that are an important part of the core celebration, just as turkey is a key part of any traditional Thanksgiving meal. Last December I shared two ...

Earlier this past week, one of the teachers I work with, Jamie Zarmanian, shared with our preschool classes this fabulous recipe for pumpkin spice Play-Doh. The entire classroom smelled like cinnamon cookies! The texture was perfect - soft, but not sticky and children really seemed to enjoy using a different type of Play-Doh to roll, ...