The SMILE Center

Celebrating all the amazing dads out there. Thank you for your love, wisdom, and unwavering support. Your impact is immeasurable, and we are grateful for everything you do.

Wishing all fathers a day filled with joy, relaxation, and love. You are truly appreciated!

September 13 - 14 (Friday & Saturday) 2024 🍎 Manhattan 🍎 NY

We are so excited to share that Lois Bly will be returning in person courses with SMILE in September! We hope you can join us!

REGISTER ONLINE: https://bit.ly/3V9h7B1
PRINTABLE REGISTRATION: https://bit.ly/LBNDT24

This two day in-person course is designed for experienced physical and occupational therapists currently working with babies. Lecture information will focus on NDT Infant Treatment Principles. Labs and videotapes will be used to problem solve system impairments for infants in general and for the specific infants who will be treated in demonstration sessions. Labs with dolls will augment the therapist's understanding of infant treatment techniques. Participants should wear comfortable clothes for labs.

NDTbabytx 2days with Lois 2024 Sep 13-14.pdf

Wishing you a warm Thanksgiving celebration with your family! We are so grateful for all of our SMILE kids, past and present, and the opportunity to work with such amazing families. Thank you for allowing us to be a part of your circle.
All our love,
SMILE

Happy Halloween!!! Love, your friends at SMILE 🎃👻

Sensory integration is one of the main focuses at The SMILE Center where we help our kiddos organize sensory information from both their body and the environment and use this information to adapt and complete tasks across environments. The auditory system is a critical link in sensory integration, connecting our body to the environment through the sounds we hear. Hearing is passive, happening mindlessly throughout our day, however, listening is an active process that requires active attention and encompasses the whole brain and body. Listening is a continuous process involving engagement (what is that sound?), interaction (what does that sound mean to me?), and discrimination (should I listen more closely or move away from that sound?).

Many of our SMILE OTs are trained in Therapeutic Listening (TL). This program involves listening to specially recorded and enhanced music, on headphones, in OT sessions, and in a home program, created between the family and the child’s therapist. Some of the skills which can be influenced by a therapeutic listening program include attention, regulation, postural control, bilateral integration, spatial processing, and more. We have a full blog post on the website today to share more information about Therapeutic Listening - follow the link to learn more, and contact your child's OT if you think that TL may be beneficial for them!

Therapeutic Listening at SMILE — The SMILE Center Contributed by SMILE Senior OT, Jayme Petronchak. Thanks Jayme!

Hopscotch is one of our favorite activities that we use across disciplines at SMILE! Hopscotch helps to build strength, balance, bilateral coordination, and number recognition skills. It is also an activity that is easy to replicate at home – on the sidewalk with chalk or on a tile or playmat floor indoors with tape. We also love to use hopscotch as an activity that can grow with your child as they build their gross motor skills. Here is the progression from easiest to most challenging way to play:

-Start with jumping forward with two feet, using “jump apart” and “jump together”

-Progress to jumping diagonal and sideways with two feet to each number

-Next is the “classic” hopscotch, alternating between jumping on one foot and two feet

-The hardest progression is adding a beanbag toss to skip one of the numbers when you are jumping!

Have any questions about how to work on hopscotch at home, or new ideas to share? Leave them below in the comments!

Trying to find ways to beat the heat? Ice cream in a bag is a great activity that the whole family will enjoy! It is also a great way to target so many speech and language skills! This week at SMILE our kiddos beat the heat by making ice cream in a bag! We worked on sequencing skills by following a colorful step by step visual on what ingredients to mix together and place in the zip lock bags! We targeted turn taking by making the ice cream in small groups. The kiddos learned all about different vocabulary words through real time experiences such as “cold” ice, “sweet” vanilla, “crunchy” sprinkles! We are not sure who had more fun, the kiddos or the therapists 😁🍨

Vertical Surface Play!!

Moving kids’ play up from the floor to upright, in a vertical position, has a TON of benefits. Make it even more fun for kids by using household surfaces, not typically used for play, such as the refrigerator, walls of the bathtub, and windows as the stage for play. By modifying the play environment with this one change you are also changing the muscles that are activated in the body. When children work on a vertical surface they increase wrist extension, elbow and shoulder stability, and improve upright posture. While playing upright, they are using more of their core muscles and also targeting weight shifting, bilateral integration, midline crossing, visual skills, and spatial awareness. Here are several play ideas on a vertical surface to try at home. Try the activities in different positions like standing, kneeling or sitting on a therapy ball for an added challenge.

Shaving cream play in the bathtub
Building with magnetic tiles on the refrigerator
Painting on an easel
Suction toys play on the windows
Tape a coloring sheet to a wall for your little artists
Washing a car outside
Using chalk on an outdoor wall
Using removable stickers or dry erase markers on windows and mirrors

Have any other ideas for vertical play? Share them in the comments below!

One of our favorite pieces of equipment to use in physical therapy at SMILE is our indoor playground!! This large therapy tool has a ladder on one side, rock wall on the other side, and a large playground slide down the middle. For toddlers and school aged children, physical therapy can help to work on some of the key gross motor skills that help children play independently and safely on playground equipment at parks and schools. One of the areas of development that play key parts in playground navigation include functional strength in a child’s arms, trunk, and legs which allow them to push and pull themselves up ladders and rock walls and keep themselves upright while sliding down slides. Another component is bilateral coordination, which is a child’s ability to utilize the right and left sides of their body differently at the same time, such as shifting their weight onto their right leg while lifting their left leg to the next rock on the rock wall. SMILE’s playground set also allows our physical therapists the opportunity to work on body and safety awareness with each child, to help them be as safe and independent as possible while on raised surfaces during gross motor play outside of therapy. If your child could use help building their playground gross motor skills, talk to one of their therapists to see if a PT evaluation would be beneficial.

To celebrate Better hearing and speech month and the start of spring, The SMILE Center grew butterflies! First, we transferred the caterpillars into little habitats to grow into cocoons and named them. Our kiddos came up with such creative and fun names. We then transferred them into a shared netted space where they continued to grow. We checked on them every day to see if they came out of their cocoons. Once the Butterflies came out of their cocoons, we fed them oranges and watermelons as a sweet treat! Last, we set them free at the park near our center. All of the kiddos cheered them on as they flew into the sky! What a special whole center project we were all about to be a part of! We can’t wait to watch them grow again next year!

At SMILE, we love 🦸‍♀️🦸🦸‍♂️SUPER SUITS🦸‍♂️🦸🦸‍♀️!!!! A “SPIO,” or, Stabilizing Pressure Input Orthosis, provides continuous deep pressure input to children while wearing the garment. Wearing a “SPIO” offers a ton of benefits including increased organization, connection to the environment, improved posture and improved self-regulation skills. It provides stretch and tension towards the body’s midline to provide sensory information to the child’s proprioceptive system increasing awareness of body position, movement of limbs and increase postural muscle activation.

We’ll often have kids wearing them through their sessions at The SMILE Center but many families work with nearby clinics in order to get their child a personal SPIO Suit to wear across environments. “SPIO suits” help children maintain attention longer, improve body and spatial awareness for increased safety in the community and improve alignment and muscle activation to increase tone and postural limitations. We encourage wearing them daily through all structured activities and routines outside of their therapy sessions. Talk to your child’s therapist to learn more!!

Let's take a moment to honor all the incredible dads out there paving the way for their kids to fly!

Tummy time is such an important tool to use to help your baby’s gross motor development. “Tummy time” refers to any time that your baby spends lying on their belly, whether that is on the floor, chest to chest, or propped over a toy or towel roll. Tummy time can begin as a newborn, and should be incorporated into your baby’s schedule multiple times a day if possible. This time spent on their belly allows them to build the important core, arm, neck and leg muscle strength that they need to eventually start moving on their own. Consistent tummy time can also help prevent brachycephaly and plagiocephaly in babies, which is flattening of the back or side of their head before their soft spots close. To help your baby enjoy tummy time, try using high contrast toys like black and white books to provide visual input that is easy for babies to see and helps to engage their vision to help them to actively lift their head up.

Also, tummy time is something that can continue to be incorporated into your child’s development long after they are infants! Spending time reading a book or playing a game on their belly helps to build core and shoulder endurance that helps young children build the proximal stability in their shoulders to help them with fine motor skills like writing and throwing as they grow. If you have any questions about tummy time, ask your child’s PT to help answer them!

We have had the most wonderful at SMILE all thanks to our SMILE social butterflies. We are so grateful to work with such a strong team of Speech therapists who pride themselves with using a child led approach. SLPs evaluate and treat speech, language, voice and fluency disorders, as well as feeding difficulties and swallowing disorders. Our SLPs support and encourage social/pragmatic language to bring each child to their social/emotional potential. We are so grateful to our team for how they support their colleages, our SMILE kids, and their families! Please join us in wishing our SLPs a Happy Better Hearing and Speech Month!! Swipe left to see how our SMILE therapists integrate sensory approach using our sensory motor gym equipment.

Did you know it can take your child 10-20 exposures before eating a new food!? When introducing a new food, it is important to build positive interactions and associations while allowing your child to feel in control. It is important that your child feels comfortable and confident so they will want to initiate trying it! If your child is not quite ready to try a new food yet, that is okay! Support playful and positive interactions by encouraging them to touch the food, smell the food, kiss the food, or even lick it! If a child is able to interact with the food, then they will be more likely to try it. Use less direct language such as “try it” or “eat it”. Instead try encouraging language such as “I wonder if the pepper will make a loud or soft crunch” or "look! I can put this pepper on my lips to make a mustache!"

Have you seen these brushes used in your child’s OT sessions?? These brushes are used specifically for the Wilbarger Deep Pressure and Proprioceptive Technique (DPPT), sometimes referred to as “The Brushing Program” or “brushing.” This program is typically done at the start of a child’s OT session, and at home, and can help decreased sensory defensiveness, increase alertness and body awareness as well as helps organize the body for improved attention and focus. A child with sensory defensiveness may perceive the world as dangerous, alarming or irritating. “Brushing” is believed to enhance the mind-brain-body connection and influence positive change for the child to better accept the sensations which cause them fear or discomfort.

This technique was developed by Pat Wilbarger, M.Ed., OTR, in order to reduce an individual’s over-reactivity to harmless sensations. The Brushing Program uses a specific pattern of brushing over the child’s arms, legs and back with a special type of brush, followed by gentle joint compressions. Some of the benefits of “bushing” may include decreased tactile sensitivity, improved ability to transition between activities, improved attention, increased body awareness and increased engagement and self-regulation skills. Ask your child’s OT if you think this may be beneficial for your child!

On this special weekend, we want to take a moment to thank our SMILE moms for all the hard work you do. Being a mom requires endless love, patience, and dedication. At The SMILE Center, we know firsthand just how much you do for your children, and we appreciate all the sacrifices you make to ensure their wellbeing.

We see the hard work you put in day in and day out, whether it's attending therapy sessions, managing appointments, or simply being there to support your child through every step of their journey. We know it's not always easy, but your unwavering commitment to your child is truly inspiring.

So on this Mother's Day Weekend, we want to extend our heartfelt gratitude to all the amazing moms out there. Thank you for all that you do, and for being a constant source of love and support for your children. We are honored to be a part of your child's journey, and we look forward to continuing to work with you to help your child thrive.

With love,
The SMILE Center Team

We just wanted to thank our OTs for an amazing Occupational Therapy month! Our SMILE occupational therapists use a variety of sensory, neuromotor and child-led strategies to help children reach their individual goals across environments. Some of the many things our occupational therapy sessions work towards include: improving the child’s motor skills, sensory processing, engagement, play skills, self-care skills, attention, regulation, and more. Our OTs also work hard with our kids’ families, teachers and other caregivers to collaborate and provide strategies for home, school, and beyond, for success across environments. Thank you SMILE OTs for all of the fun OT Month activities you provided last month! We appreciate you!!

Swinging is a great activity that can help in so many ways. Swinging helps to activate and integrate our vestibular system which is responsible for alerting the body of changes in head position in space. The vestibular system helps us determine if we are upside down or right-side up, moving or stopped in a car, or swinging bath & forth or spinning on a swing. The vestibular system is closely linked to the visual system, both of which work together to alert us of where are bodies are in space, and coordinate our eye and head movements. While swinging we are alerting our body to increase arousal, attention and can help normalize tone and increase muscle activation. Swinging also helps us coordinate our breathing, improve balance and improve bilateral integration. Don't have time to go to the park? Try using a sheet and having your child lie in it like a hammock for simple at-home swinging!

It may look like “playing” but there is much more going on. In OT sessions at SMILE, we are looking at our children from a whole body perspective to reach their optimal performance across environments and use sensory and neuro-motor based strategies to reach their goals. Upon entering the gyms we read the child’s body and decide what to do first. Do we need to wake our body up? Do we need to slow our body down? Do we need to target tone? We often address their attention, regulation, focus and organization first, to prepare their bodies for structured tasks. To do this, sensory activities that are appropriate for the individual child are used, such as vestibular input to target arousal, attention, engagement or even muscle tone and proprioceptive input to target organization, regulation and connectedness to the environment. From there, we move on to more structured activities such as obstacle courses, games on suspended equipment for timing and coordination, fine or visual motor tasks or bilateral and bimanual tasks. All this play surely has a purpose!

Thank you for a wonderful year ❤ we are so grateful for you!

Getting ready for the holidays? If your child has difficulty with changes in routine, large groups of people, and unfamiliar foods and smells, we found this list of tips from Feeding Matters to be really helpful. We hope you have a wonderful time with your family and that it is an enjoyable holiday for all!

Holiday Tips from our PFD Families - Feeding Matters For families of a child with PFD, holidays can look different. We gathered tips from our families that have helped make the holidays easier for their children. We try toRead full post...

October is Physical Therapy Month! In physical therapy sessions, therapists may target strength, balance, bilateral coordination and body awareness activities. Our SMILE PTs have put together tips on how to incorporate these activities into your child's daily play activities at home!

Friday & Saturday September 16 - 17, 2022 🍎 Manhattan 🍎 NY

We are so excited to share that Lois Bly will be returning in person courses with SMILE in September! We hope you can join us!

REGISTER ONLINE: https://bit.ly/3zttX3W
PRINTABLE REGISTRATION: https://bit.ly/3Q88qUn

This two day in-person course is designed for experienced physical and occupational therapists currently working with babies. Lecture information will focus on NDT Infant Treatment Principles. Labs and videotapes will be used to problem solve system impairments for infants in general and for the specific infants who will be treated in demonstration sessions. Labs with dolls will augment the therapist's understanding of infant treatment techniques. Participants should wear comfortable clothes for labs.

Our SMILE SLPs went out for gelato to celebrate a wonderful Better Hearing and Speech Month! We're so grateful for the work they do every day ❤🍦🍨

One part of SLP’s role is to target feeding skills. Whether your child has difficulty chewing/swallowing or is a selective eater, we are here to help!

👩‍🍳 Getting kids in the kitchen is a great way to involve them in the cooking process.
💐 Since we are focusing on growing communication and feeding skills this month, so we decided to make a garden out of some fruit and veggies! This is a great activity to encourage trying new foods and a way to get the whole family involved!
🪴 Do fruit and veggies seem like too big of a jump from the beloved snacks your child typically likes? Try a fun “Dirt cup” made from chocolate pudding and crushed cookies on top!

As speech therapists, we support children’s language production and comprehension. You might see this referred to as “expressive language” and “receptive language.” This year, our Better Hearing and Speech Month theme is “look how far we will grow.” Nature can be motivating and exciting for children to explore. Here are a couple of nature inspired ideas to support your children’s language growth!

🌳 ☀️ Get outside! Some of our children’s earliest sensory exploration can come from nature. We love an opportunity to support language through sensory exploration.
- 🗣 Talk about what your child is exploring using concise language. Allow them the opportunity to process and potentially respond through gesture, word approximation, or words. If they respond, expand upon what they are saying to provide additional language models talking about what you see, hear, smell, feel, touch. Some examples... “see clouds”, “wow so fast”, “big blue sky.” “Touch grass”, “green grass”, “grass feels soft.”
- 🧠 Play “I Spy” to search for different aspects of nature. For example, I Spy something green. Let your child’s imagination run wild to see what they find. Allow time for them to process and respond. If they do not find anything, show them different parts of nature that are green.
🎨 🌸 Art project! Supplies needed: paint, flowers, paper
- 🗣 Provide ample opportunities for children to both learn and imitate a word (I.e., dip, dip, dip). After modeling an action in conjunction with word, leave a pause for child to take a turn saying the target word.
- 🗣 Narrate, narrate, narrate. Use short phrases to describe your surroundings. “Yellow petals.” “Green stem.” “Pretty flowers.” “Oooo smells nice.” Point to what you are describing allowing your child a chance to make the connection. Take pauses to allow child to react.
- 🧠 Allow opportunities for child to follow one step directions (I.e., stamp the flower). Model the direction then let the child take a turn.
- 🧠 Work on matching. Find the color that matches the flower. Remember children learn best through you! Model, model, model if they do not know which color matches. This is how they will learn.

Wishing you a very happy Mother’s Day ❤️

Did you know speech therapists also support social communication? You may also hear speech therapists use the term “pragmatic language”. Social/pragmatic language is a big part of communication as it is the way we interact, share feelings, and relate to others. Spring is a great time to work on those social language skills as the weather warms up.
Here are some indoor and outdoor social activities your young ones and their friends can enjoy during a “play date”.

Outdoor:
🌱Grab your gardening gloves and shovels and plan to plant some seeds in cup, pot, or home garden. This is a great activity to work on and understand sequencing (first, second), compromising (who goes first), patience, and turn taking!
🖍Side walk chalk drawing! Encourage your little ones and their friends to guess what each person is drawing, play cooperative games such a drawing a joint scene together, or come up with your own game and rules using sidewalk chalk!
📝Create your own play date day. If you’re feeling adventurous, let your little and their friend plan the day! Work together to organize a schedule of activities. This is a great activity to work on building independence and feeling of accomplishment that will definitely be memorable!

Indoor:
🍪take advantage of a rainy day by choosing something to cook or bake! This is a great cooperative activity which works on sequencing, labeling, following directions, and compromise.
🏰let your little one’s imaginations run wild by using chairs, pillows, and blankets to build a fort! This works on social problem solving (working together with your friend to come up with solutions), ideation, and flexibility in play!
🎨Arts and crafts is a great way to target social language skills. Working together to decide what craft to make, learning to comment or offer support to what their peer is creating is an important part of social development.

May is Better Hearing and Speech Month! At The SMILE Center, we have a wonderful team of speech-language pathologists. In speech therapy sessions, therapists may target speech, language, play, feeding and swallowing skills! Throughout the month of May, they will be posting some tips and are available to answer any questions you may have!