Dr. Pinocchio Pediatric Wellness Center

A HEAVY WORK play activity such as pushing this weighted medicine ball through the tunnel stimulates the nervous system through proprioception (deep squeezing compression of our joints) as you crawl and push. 🎾🤸🏼‍♂️

The proprioceptive system typically produces a calming and organizing effect to the body which makes heavy work a great idea before a high demand task such as sitting at a table for handwriting. 💪🏼➡️📝

How are you implementing heavy work in your kiddos day? We know there is a lot of high demand seated Zoom time going on these days 😜🥴

For these HOT days our wonderful OTD student came up with this handout on ideas to keep cool by exploring ICE! Such a great sensory experience! ☀️🧊

Temperature is processed through our sensory system. Some kiddos, and us adults, have a greater sensitivity to changes in temperature so hot days can mean more upset and dysregulation. In addition, playing with the cold ice might be challenging. If your child shows sensitivity to the cold temperature of ice offer gloves or place ice cubes in a plastic zip bag to allow for tactile exploration with the layer of plastic in between for a little ease. 😊🙌🏻

Vision development is one of the first systems to be stimulated and progress in the newborn stage. Babies are stimulated by high contrast items and spend lots of time happily checking designs and patterns out. Using a play gym as pictured, placing baby near a window with light coming in, turning on the ceiling fan, and holding up pages of books with contrasting colors and pattens are all ways to stimulate the visual system and capture baby’s interest 👀👶🏼

ALERT: New PLAYGROUP PROGRAM coming to a center near you!

Email [email protected] for further detail and registration

Everyone is itching for some social interaction more than ever these days...

Our PLAYCARE program is (re)starting in October! Playcare is a three-half day per week social group for 3-5 year olds focused on developmental learning. Mondays Wednesdays Fridays 9AM-12PM each week. {The three day commitment is required for all littles}

We are THRILLED to soon be back with the best group of learning littles and our fun-filled days!

We were previously at capacity with a waitlist and at this time have spots to accept new friends for our October 2nd restart date! Send a message here or email [email protected] if interested ☀️👧🏼🤸🏼‍♂️🧘‍♂️🍴😊

Addressing skills head to toe in this ring toss game! What’s included? Dynamic balance, eye-hand coordination, trunk control, attention, visual motor integration, and motor planning... 🧠 🤚🏻 🦶🧒🏼 👁

Add a balance disc to any activity for an extra challenge and extra fun! Don’t have a balance disc? Use a pillow or cushion!

TUMMY TIME! When can it start❓Right now! The day your baby is born tummy time can begin. How❓In those early newborn days, placing baby on your chest or tummy-to-tummy can feel the most cozy. Then transition to a blanket on the floor. Why❓This position allows the neck and back muscles to strengthen for future sitting/crawling/walking, progresses vision development allowing the head to see at different angles, enhances the sensory system by being in a different plane of gravity in addition to touching and feeling different surfaces, increases body awareness, AND can prevent positional differences in the head and neck such as torticollis and plagiocephaly.

So get on that tummy! I like to lay on my tummy with my face right next to baby’s and chat 💭👶🏼

*⏰ If you google tummy time you will find a lot of recommendations stating specific amount of times per day that baby should be spending in tummy time. My advice is to ignore the clock and instead focus on implementing tummy time into your and baby’s daily routine and stay here until it is no longer calm or fun 🙌🏻

Pretend play! ✨ Having the idea, building the idea, and then interacting and engaging with the idea are all hard work and high-level learning.

Another element of this photo is our current fieldwork student! She is working on her doctorate in occupational therapy and is with us for three months as part of the school curriculum. 📚 🙌🏻

I knew I wanted to be a mom before I knew I wanted to be an OT.

Combining an OT frame of mind with the mom I hope to be, these are a few things that were important to me in terms of bringing a child into the world and the first days at home.

1. Doula Support! 🌎 How a baby is delivered into the world can have impact on development and sensory processing immediately and long term. Knowing that there are many items that are out of a parent’s control during labor and delivery, I wanted to have the most knowledge and support possible to bring Truby into the world. To do this, was at our side through birth classes during pregnancy as well as labor and delivery. I can not recommend the support and knowledge of a doula, specifically this one, enough. Thank you Ashley! 🙌🏻💗
2. Lactation Support! 🥛 Feeding is one of the first forms of attachment and a significant bonding opportunity for mom and baby. No matter which form of feeding a mom chooses, the importance of the feeds are top priority in these newborn days. I chose to address breast feeding from a preventative approach, before things got difficult or frustrating. To do this, I took breastfeeding classes during pregnancy and set up lactation consultant appointments the day we arrived home from the hospital. Thank you to Meredith from for the tips, reassurance, and encouragement! Breastfeeding does not come natural (for most) and I believe everyone wanting to breastfeed should schedule with a lactation consultant once you are home with baby in your arms to get begin your feeding journey on a positive note.
3. Sensory! 🏡 From a sensory perspective, transitioning from being in utero for 40+ weeks to our bright, fast, loud world can be dysregulating to the nervous system. Replicating some of the significant features of the womb in the outside world can be calming and regulating to baby’s nervous system. White noise, dark sleep environments, rhythmic movement, swaddling, sucking, and lots of skin to skin are all great tools for a smooth transition during the newborn stage.

Sharing this because we have access to many resources and sometimes do not access these until there is a problem. Using specialists for additional knowledge and support in a preventative manner can bring such value 🙌🏻

Occupation Deprivation. In the world of occupational therapy, “occupation” is something that is meaningful and purposeful to you. In the world of pediatrics, typical occupations are playing, socializing, learning, eating, sleeping.

Current circumstances are negatively impacting all of the above occupations of our little ones. Although play and learning is still taking place, it all looks and feels a little different.

When our days are rolling by as normal, we do not realize the significance of the meaning and purpose that engaging in these occupations holds for each and every one of us - children too! A five year old waking up and not going to his school day, a ten year old not going to her ballet class, a three year old not having play dates.

Unfortunately (if you’ve read this far) I do not have a magic solution for this. I wanted to put a word to what our kids, and us alike, are all feeling lacking this meaning and purpose in our days. Perhaps putting a word to it will help to get through these next few weeks as we stretch patience and understanding as tantrums get bigger, hits towards siblings swing faster, and voices get louder. Our occupations bring us life and happiness to our days! And soon enough we will be back to engaging in all of those! 🙌🏻💗☺️🎉👶🏼

Although we have still been doing yoga 🧘‍♀️🧘‍♂️ through telehealth live screens I am happy to share that beginning June 1️⃣, FACE-TO-FACE THERAPY SESSIONS will be offered as an option to all families.

✳️ Telehealth will also still be an option for those who feel most cozy and safe at home.

Your specific therapist will be chatting with you to see what works best for your family! 🏠☀️

Center Update‼️ Our PLAYCARE program is (re)starting beginning June 1st! Playcare is a three-half day per week social group for 3-5 year olds focused on developmental learning.

We are THRILLED to soon be back with the best group of learning littles and our fun-filled days!

We were previously at capacity with a waitlist and at this time have spots to accept new friends for our June 1st restart date! Send a message here or email [email protected] if interested ☀️👧🏼🤸🏼‍♂️🧘‍♂️🍴😊

I love everything about this photo! This was a day that we happened to have all girls at Playcare. Miss Barbara and I initiated this cute front step photo opp and here’s the perfect result. Looking at the camera and smiling all at once is hard!! 📷 😊👧🏼👀

With all of the uncertainty in the world, I failed to make an announcement regarding the Center and current services.

For the safety of all, we have transitioned to offer live video “telehealth” sessions from the comfort of your 🏠 ! Using a HIPAA compliant program, we meet via computer/tablet/phone and hold our therapy session.

This is the second week of telehealth for our center and things are going really well! In today’s modern times, children are easily engaged with a screen. When their typical, known therapist appears on a screen in their own home - attention is captured!

Emotional regulation, fine motor skills, feeding, yoga, balance and strengthening ➡️ it can all be done virtually. So awesome!

Hope everyone is happy, healthy, and cozy 💗

April is National Autism Awareness Month and this picture is so appropriate -
Change in routine can be a challenge for ALL of us!

Happy Valentine’s Day! We have been celebrating all week with pink slime, brownies, valentine crafts, and more!
💗❤️💗❤️💗❤️💗❤️💗

Boat pose and downward dog! Today, engagement in our yoga poses lasted roughly 2-3 minutes before mats began to be tossed around, yogis began leaving the area, and one friend even verbalized “I get sick of this” - perfectly age appropriate! Attention span is one minute per year of age, IF it is something that is motivating and interesting to the child. Yoga is complex and requires whole body work, so after 2-3 minutes we met criss-cross to say our namastes and moved on 💪🏼

Touch your toes! (or take a rest on your mat if you need an extra minute 😉) I love our moments of yoga so much - attention, focus, purposeful movement, coordination, and calming our bodies. A favorite part for most is to say namaste at the end of each class 🙏🏼

Zones! The Zones of Regulation is an approach focusing on social-emotional learning. It describes emotions in four colors which allows for the complex topic of emotions to be talked about in simple, familiar terms. This board game has been a great addition to my Zones toolbox.
🟢=happy, calm
🟡=nervous, scared
🔵=sad, tired
🔴=mad, angry
Which zone are you in?!

Things move fast with a group of 2-5 year olds ➡️ and even faster when you add a dog into the mix! This is Peter the goldendoodle and he sometimes pops in for a visit at the Center.

Here we are working on gentle touch. Bringing a dog into any learning or therapeutic setting brings such value that can not be replicated through human-only interactions. 🐶❤️

More work on our bellies! Painting was a HUGE hit today! Even little bodies who love gross motor movement settle in to a calming, grounding painting on their stomachs. This position helps with attention and engagement while strengthening so many muscles 💪🏼 Tape some paper on the floor and give it a try today!

How we get back into the groove after a holiday - sensory submersion!

Creating a sensory bin that is large enough for your child(ren) to climb into is a dream come true ⭐️ This under-the-bed shoe storage container works perfectly and it comes with a lid! This type of tactile play can create a calming and regulating effect on the nervous system ✌🏻

Coloring on your stomach! As an adult, try it out and you’ll quickly notice the muscles it requires. It is hard work!

Benefits of “tummy time” do not stop after a little one is rolling and crawling. Laying on your stomach offers a grounding, calming sensation from a sensory perspective and can help with attention. This position helps develop muscles in the back and shoulders to help with balance and sitting upright in a desk.

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Screen time is a frequent topic of discussion in our tech savvy world. Typically my response is everything in moderation, but this article and imaging is a clear picture.

MRIs show screen time linked to lower brain development in preschoolers "This is the first study to document associations between higher screen use and lower measures of brain structure and skills in preschool-aged kids," said the lead author.

We have an interactive visual schedule at the center - TO DO and DONE ✅ This allows us to select photos of activities, place them in order, and get to work.

Visual schedules offer benefits which include providing structure and organization, decreasing anxiety, assisting with transitions, increasing engagement, and allowing children some control within tasks. Visual schedules also help keep us adults organized in the midst of things. 😉

If morning, homework, or night time routines are challenging in your home try a TO DO and DONE chart. Using post-it’s and stick figure drawings is an easy and efficient way to DIY.

The ramping up and down, stretch and reaching is an added bonus! 💪🏼 @ Dr. Pinocchio Pediatric Wellness Center

For those who don’t know, PLAYCARE is a part-time, half-day alternative daycare with a developmental play based approach to learning prior to entering the school environment.
👍🏻🧶🌞⭐️💦🍎🍴🏀🧘‍♂️🎨🎸💡🧸
The first week of PLAYCARE has been an absolute blast and confirmed to me why this program was developed. The social interactions, the learning, the play, the laughter, and the conversation shows growth, learning, and so much fun!

Love this! It goes in line with the motto for our center. - A place for ALL children to grow, play, and learn.

At the end of consultations and evaluations, my most frequent recommendations are related to MOVEMENT!

Sensory processing differences are impacting an increasing number of children and teens due to an increase of technology, increase of academic demand, and a significant decrease in movement. Our proprioceptive and vestibular systems have to be activated and exposed through jumping, spinning, running, climbing, playing in order to integrate and process efficiently.

These two systems are looked at in depth in a sensory integrative occupational therapy session. Reach out to your OT for further help with sensory processing!

The most overlooked reason why your kids won't listen, focus or sit still. My son climbed to the top of the monkey bars and snaked across them from above. He's not strong enough to...