Parent Friendly Guide to an IEP Meeting
An IEP meeting has been called on behalf of your child: now what? The process can quickly become overwhelming and daunting for parents. Especially if it is your first time navigating the process. So, it’s important that you know what to expect! Also, to keep in mind your rights as a parent throughout the process. Domain Meeting An IEP is …
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Under Pressure Potty Training
It’s a new year! Is Potty Training on your family’s resolution list? Do you hope and dream for a day where your child is staying dry throughout the night? Are they telling you they want a diaper change, or showing signs of discomfort when wet? If you answered yes to any of those, then it sounds like you and your …
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Benefits of Nursery Rhymes
Some of our earliest and fondest memories from childhood come from being read to and singing along to nursery rhymes. There’s a reason that “Wheels on The Bus” and “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” come so natural to us. The repetitive nature of these sing-a-long rhymes makes them easy to memorize. Above all, Nursery rhymes pave the way to many different …
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Build Handwriting Skills with these 4 Pencil Grips
Teachers often recommend pencil grips as a way to support your child’s grasp and handwriting. That sounds like an easy fix, right? There may be more to the story though. We, as occupational therapists, evaluate the factors that are impacting a child’s ability to grip a pencil and write. Additional factors involved in hand writing include: body awareness, strength – …
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Valentine’s Day Crafts – Fine Motor Fun!
Valentine’s day is right around the corner! Here’s some craft ideas to wash those winter blues away and add some colorful decorations to your house, all while working on those love-ly fine motor skills! Heart Card Great activity for children to work on hand strength, visual-motor skills including scissors and lacing. Materials: 2 different colors of construction paper (white, red, …
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11 Reasons to Choose Chicago Therapeutic Children’s Academy
Chicago Therapeutic Children’s Academy (CTCA) is a state-of-the-art therapeutic school readiness program. At CTCA, we see children as early as 18 months old. All our students are taught in a dynamic environment that we specially cultivated to promote each child’s development across a variety of domains. Our evidence-based curriculum is both stimulating and individualized to each student. With them we …
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Holiday Gifts for Fine Motor Coordination
Finished Shopping this Holiday Season? Are you looking for ideas for toys or holiday gifts for your child? Here are few ideas that help to promote fine motor coordination in children ages one year and up! Although not endorsed by CPTWC, some of these toys below are also utilized at the center and can help to facilitate hand strengthening, grasp …
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3 Halloween Crafts For Preschoolers
Spooky Season is here and we have three fun and festive Halloween crafts that focus heavily on fine motor development and sensory play! Each of these Halloween crafts has an emphasis on development of pincer grasp, tripod grasp, and index finger isolation. Through these crafts, your child will explore touch senses and messy play with glue, paint, and tissue paper …
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Occupational Therapy at CTCA
Occupational therapists are experts in all things fine motor, sensory processing, play, self-care. They also specialize in all the other tasks or activities that children participate in daily. Within the Chicago Therapeutic Children’s Academy (CTCA), we offer both individual and group occupational therapy sessions to target these areas of development. Individual sessions: An occupational therapist can work with a student …
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Backpack Safety for Children
With progressively challenging curriculum and advancing technology, your child’s backpack is not getting any lighter. Between heavy textbooks, computers and tablets, the contents of your child’s backpack can add up to quite a load. Have you found yourself wondering if all that added weight is safe? Or, maybe you’ve questioned what you can do to lessen the stress a backpack …
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