Butterfly Occupational Therapy Clinic

Wonderful celebrations today at the 2024 Network Ireland West Cork Businesswoman of the year awards 🎉 congratulations to all those nominated and to all the winners! It is always so inspiring attending these events and being surrounded by such driven, accomplished women! 🥰
A big shoutout to Susan Collins-Duggan from who won her category of Solo Businesswoman 😊 Susan taught me Speech and Drama from the age of 5, a lifelong friendship and I am so thrilled for her! ❣️
Thank you to for a great event and to the amazing MC .ie 😄
Also I have to mention the fantastic raffle prize I won from 🤤

🦋 European Mental Health Week 2024 🦋

Beautiful rainbow crafts created by some of my clients recently 💜

🦋 Happy International Women's Day 🦋
#2024

🦋 Prepare - this is giving your child information about an upcoming change to their environment or routine. This gives them time to prepare themselves for this change. This could include marking it into a calendar to see when it is going to happen and showing them pictures.
🦋 Discuss - allow your child to ask questions about the upcoming change. The more questions they ask the better as this will help them to understand what is going to happen.
🦋 Involve - where possible involve your child in the change. This could be going somewhere with you for the first time or changing the layout of a room in their home.

If you have any questions, please let me know 😊

🎄🎄Important Christmas Tip🎄🎄

Excellent work today in a group creating Christmas Snowmen 😁☃️

Safe to say this is my favourite time of the year 😁🎅

🦋 The Clinic has reopened 🦋

🦋 Clinic Closed 🦋

🦋 Mind yourself first 🦋

📸 Credit:

I attended my first event last night with . A great event full of important discussions about helping women in business and what the government's role is in this 🦋

Fantastic night last night at the event held in the 🦋

It was great to see the different services available in the munster region. It was also lovely to meet parents, families and other professionals who came to the event. 🦋

Half Marathon completed today to raise funds for 😁 great to see such a fantastic turnout for such a brilliant charity 😁

🦋 Please keep motivated and keep putting in the work with your child. It will pay off and the results will show in time. Even the smallest change can mean so much 🦋

Visual from

With good weather, comes great opportunities for skill development ☀️

From balancing on small plastic beams or stepping stones, to chasing bubbles. From building sandcastles in a sandpit to drawing out an obstacle course with chalk on the ground - the possibilities are endless!! 😁🌟

Bring toys outside, build forts out of pillows, think outside the box 🤩 Let yours and your child's imagination and creativity flow. And most of all, have fun! ☀️🦋

This amazing outdoor space is located in Down Syndrome Centre Cork for their service users and families 💟

🦋 A little reminder 🦋



Photo credit Liz Fosslien

I have completed the walk annually for the past 5 years. This walk is a symbol of 💛 and a reminder that you are not alone 💛

The tireless work and services .house offer are so necessary for people across all age ranges 💛

If you do anything today, ask a friend how they are. Start up an open, honest conversation with them about how their life is going. You never know how much they might need it 💛

🌟 JAM card 🌟 (swipe for examples of cards)

The allows a person with hidden challenges and communication/social difficulties to ask for patience from others when needed.

A person can use a physical card or the JAM Card app to access a card suitable for them. For more information go to the website www.jamcard.org

Thank you NOW Group for sending out these information leaflets, poster and sample cards for the clinic 🦋

🦋Organising School Materials - why should I involve my child in this process?🦋

The benefits of involving a child in the organisation process of their school materials benefits a child in the following ways-
🌟 the child takes ownership of how they would like their books/sheets organised i.e., the colour of the folder for each subject, the way their books are organised in their school box or on the desk
🌟 the child is more informed as to how to maintain this method of organisation therefore increasing the chance of it being maintained within the school environment
🌟 the child becomes more independent and less reliant on the assistance from their teacher, peers or parents
🌟 the child's confidence grows with this increased level of responsibility and knowledge

🦋 Remember you are not being selfish by putting your own needs first 🦋

Self-Care is Key ❤️

Tag the powerful, inspiring women in your life ❤️🦋

The importance of Co-Regulation 🦋

To help a child to regulate, a parent firstly has to be regulated themselves. Using the above image, if more waves were added to the storm, the dysregulation level of all involved would rise considerably. To help to "calm the storm", a parent has to assist the child in lowering their arousal levels to a more optimal level. This enables the child to participate and engage in day-to-day life and reach their full potential.

The overall goal of co-regulation is that the child will eventually learn what helps them to transition into a more calm state and learn how to self-regulate overtime.

Great result for such a brilliant cause 😁❤️

Kilbrittain Tractor Run

🎄 Christmas Holidays 🎄

I will be helping out at this amazing event again this year 🎄 such a lovely morning out for such a great cause ❤️ with the possible appearance of someone special 🎅

Kilbrittain Tractor Run

🌟 "Mirror, Mirror on the wall...." 🌟

🦋 Mirrors are a great tool to help a child "learn through seeing". They can observe how they are completing a task which helps to improve their skills such as motor planning and sequencing.

🦋 Mirrors can also be used by a child to make eye contact with a person. It makes this action less intense when completed through the mirror.

🦋 Mirrors are very useful when practicing different facial expressions and labelling emotions. Again, the child looks at their own face, making the task personal. By exaggerating the facial expressions, this activity can be made fun for the child.

🦋 Happy World Occupational Therapy Day 🦋

Getting into the Halloween spirit 🎃

🦋 Activities that involve scissor work focus on a child's fine motor strength and coordination. They also develops a child's visual motor integration skills which are important for handwriting and other fine motor tasks. 🦋

The creative process involved in making Gratitude Jars in a session today 😄

🦋 Each day the child selects a piece of paper from the jar. The paper gives them the start of a sentence that they complete with a positive experience/feeling/event from the day ☺️ the aim of this activity is to re-frame a child's thought process and help them to become more positive. It can also be used as a family activity so everyone gets involved in recognising things to be grateful for and sharing this with each other 🦋

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