Welcome to our parent resource library! By making available comprehensive parent resources, Nurtured Pediatrics aims to expand its service offerings, support parents in understanding and participating in their child’s therapy journey and promote overall family well-being through accessible educational resources and community engagement. These initiatives align with the company's goals of providing high-quality occupational therapy services and nurturing holistic development in children.
Infant general development covers the physical, emotional, behavioral, and cognitive growth of children from birth to 3 years old. During this vital time, children develop motor skills, thinking abilities, language, and social-emotional skills, while their brains are forming. The following resources will provide information and suggestions to facilitate age- appropriate development.
Gross motor skills involve movements made with large muscles in the legs, arms, and torso. These skills, like walking and waving, require coordination and function of skeletal muscles, bones, and nerves. They are also linked to balance, coordination, body awareness, and reaction time. Issues with gross motor control can arise at any age, but healthcare providers emphasize their importance in child development.
Fine motor skills are precise movements made with hands, fingers, feet, and toes, requiring coordination of muscles, joints, and nerves. They primarily involve hand, wrist, and finger movements, such as pinching objects with the thumb and pointer finger. In children, fine motor skill development includes control of the hands, fingers, tongue, eyes, and toes. These skills are crucial for tasks like eating, writing, manipulating objects, and dressing.
Sensory child development entails the maturation of the five senses: hearing, smell, taste, touch, and vision. Sensory play helps children enhance language, fine motor skills, and cognitive behavior. The sensorimotor stage, from birth to age two, enables children to use skills to explore their environment.
Self-care skills in children include dressing, self-feeding, toileting, and grooming. These skills foster independence and help develop motor skills, visual-motor coordination, sequencing, attention to detail, and organizational skills, boosting overall confidence. Engaging in these activities enhances daily functioning and lays the groundwork for future self-sufficiency.
Reflex development is crucial for children, indicating vital nervous system growth and function. Reflexes play key roles in movement, visual development, protection, and sensory processing. Some persist into adulthood, while others fade after serving their purpose. Recognizing these reflexes is essential for understanding a child's growth stages.
Beckman Oral Motor Protocol
The Beckman Oral Motor Protocol helps improve oral motor skills through guided movement and stretch reflexes. It assesses how the lips, cheeks, jaw, tongue, and soft palate respond to pressure and movement, checking their range, strength, and control. The goal is to stimulate muscle contraction, build strength, and increase flexibility in these areas.
The Feeding Tube Awareness Foundation is a non-profit organization founded and run by parents of children who are tube fed . Their mission is to provide parents and caregivers with the information they need in day-to-day life caring for a child who is tube fed. They also raise awareness of tube feeding as a positive life-saving medical intervention, so that parents can get the support and understanding they need. Their Facebook page is the largest online support group for tube feeding in the world. Thousands of parents and caregivers are available to offer support, resources, knowledge, and experience. They make it possible to connect with other people in similar situations.
Cheryl Pelletier, a speech-language pathologist and the owner of Gnosh, Inc., created the Side Biter and Mini Biter tools. These innovative, mouth-safe devices are designed for people aged 2 and above who have physical, neurological, oral motor, or sensory food aversions, as well as feeding or swallowing difficulties. The Side Biter Kit (3 Levels) allows skilled therapists to systematically motivate patients to gradually accept therapeutic amounts of diced or frozen food in their mouths, stimulating sensory-muscular skills and exercising the lips, tongue, jaw, and swallowing. The Mini Biter, measuring 2 inches in length with 6 holes, is designed for smaller mouths (7 months and up).
NinniCo. was founded by to create the first truly, breastlike pacifier. Breastfed babies use different mouth muscles when feeding and latching on to their mother. Unlike the tight, pursed-lip grasp used on a regular pacifier or bottle, the NinniCo. pacifier activates the muscles and oral movements needed for breastfeeding. It requires an open-mouthed grasp, where the baby pulls the silicone nipple portion back to the soft palate of their mouth, and the tongue moves in a wavelike motion to keep it in place.
Provide a tool that helps children and adults with oral sensitivity, feeding, and speech therapy. The Buzz Buddy offers quick relief with a vibrating core and soft, interchangeable heads. Its convenient design makes it easy to use at home, school, or while traveling, supporting oral sensory needs effectively.
A sensory diet is a series of activities tailored to a person's needs. These specific activities are planned into a child's day to help manage their energy, focus, and reactions.
The Wilbarger brushing protocol, or sensory brushing therapy, is a technique for those with sensory processing disorders. It applies deep pressure with a surgical scrub brush, followed by joint compressions.
Sensory traits influence food choices and eating habits. Many children with sensory sensitivities struggle with eating and drinking. These issues can include very limited diets due to taste or texture aversions, as well as mouthing or chewing on items.
A child's vision involves the brain, eyes, and the nerves that link them. At birth, this system is not fully developed and matures during early childhood. Good vision is essential for a child's healthy growth.
The auditory system is crucial for pediatric development as it underpins language acquisition, cognitive processes, and social interactions. Good hearing facilitates effective communication, supports emotional regulation, and contributes to academic success. Overall, proper auditory function is essential for language skills, cognitive growth, and social and emotional development.
Olfaction plays a vital role in pediatric development by influencing sensory experiences, memory formation, and emotional responses. Early exposure to different scents helps in developing sensory discrimination and can affect eating habits and social interactions. Overall, a well-functioning sense of smell supports cognitive, emotional, and social growth in children.
The tactile system is essential for pediatric development, as it helps children understand and interact with their environment through touch. It supports sensory integration, fine and gross motor skills, and emotional regulation. A well-developed tactile system contributes to a child's ability to explore, learn, and effectively respond to sensory stimuli.
The vestibular system is found deep in the inner ear and helps us sense movement and position. It detects gravity and head movement, working with other senses to keep us balanced.
The proprioceptive system is vital for children's growth and coordination. It helps them know where they are located within space so that they can move, play, and explore effectively. This system also supports emotional regulation, behavior, and focus.
Solid Starts is a website that offers guides, videos and recipes for feeding babies and toddlers. Learn from pediatric feeding experts and doctors how to start solids, prevent and reverse picky eating, and introduce any food safely. Our partnership with them allows us to offer the following resources.
Below are feeding and eating resources created by our team for you to implement with your children at home.
This comprehensive set includes a convenient 3-pack of innovative ezpz Oral Development Tools, which are specially designed sensorimotor devices aimed at helping babies and toddlers practice essential feeding skills such as munching, biting, and chewing. Additionally, it features Tiny Pops, which is a well-thought-out popsicle mold specifically designed for infants. Together, these tools allow children to effectively practice their pre-feeding skills in a fun and engaging manner.
Sleep is crucial for babies and young children. It has been consistently linked to improved cognitive performance, enhanced social skills, and overall quality of life. For newborn babies and infants, adequate sleep is particularly important for their growth, healthy development, and necessary restoration of energy and bodily functions.
Dysphagia is a medical term for difficulty swallowing. It can present as an impeded transport of liquids, solids, or both from the pharynx to the stomach. The following resources will provide information and therapeutic exercises to support this diagnosis.
Vocal Cord Strengthening Tools
These play tools are designed to effectively promote lip closure, enhance abdominal grading, and facilitate controlled oral airflow. By doing so, they contribute to the further strengthening of swallowing structures while also promoting an overall increase in oral motor functioning, which is essential for healthier eating and communication skills..
TalkTools’ Horn Hierarchy helps develop important oral-motor skills used in Oral Placement Therapy (OPT). Created by Sara Rosenfeld-Johnson, this therapy focuses on improving abdominal control, which is necessary for better velopharyngeal function and specific speech sounds. When used with the Straw Hierarchy, it effectively reduces tongue thrusting and can help decrease or stop drooling.
Training infants to use a bottle and cup is important for their overall development and growth. It plays a vital role in helping them develop fine motor coordination, as well as building strength in various muscle groups necessary for handling utensils. Additionally, this training fosters a sense of independence in their ability to eat and swallow on their own, which is essential for their journey toward self-feeding.
When choosing a bottle and nipple for your baby, focus on two key aspects (1) nipple flow rate (how quickly or slowly the liquid comes out) and (2) nipple shape. Bottles and nipples are often called a bottle system. Your baby’s care team can help you understand what to consider regarding flow rates and shapes. Flow rates vary based on manufacturer. The actual flow rate may be different from what is listed on the package. A flow rate comparison study is listed below for an additional reference.
Open cup training is important for pediatrics because it plays a significant role in helping children develop the necessary oral motor skills that are vital for their growth and development. This training teaches children how to properly swallow small amounts of liquid, which is essential for feeding and speech development. Experts recommend introducing open cup drinking around the same time that solid foods are introduced into a child’s diet, which can be as early as six months of age.
Drinking from a straw plays an important role in promoting your baby's oral development. It encourages better swallowing skills, builds the strength of their lips and cheeks, and assists them in learning how to properly seal their lips around a straw. These skills not only aid in feeding but also contribute to overall speech and language development as your child grows.
A weighted straw cup is recommended for children 8 months and older. As they sip, these cups help strengthen their tongue, lips, and cheeks, promoting important oral skills essential for further developmental milestones.
Emotion regulation is the ability to manage your emotions. It means recognizing and controlling how you feel or react to your feelings. This process can involve starting, stopping, or adjusting your emotions or actions in different situations. Developing this skill is a lifelong process, but starting it in early childhood can help create lasting resiliance.
Social stories are customized visual guides that help people, especially those with developmental disorders like Autism, understand social situations, routines, and social rules. They can lessen anxiety in new or challenging social settings and promote independence. Social stories include pictures or illustrations to enhance the text while explaining specific topics.
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a developmental disability characterized by differences in the brain. Key features include problems with social communication and interaction, restricted or repetitive behaviors or interests, different ways of learning, moving, or paying attention, and varying abilities and needs. The following tools and resources will promote a better understanding of the diagnosis and should be used to promote participation in daily routines.
DIR® stands for Developmental, Individual-differences, and Relationship-based model. It helps us understand how people grow and learn, recognizing that everyone experiences the world differently. The model emphasizes the importance of social-emotional development from birth throughout life. It shows that relationships and emotional bonds are vital for growth. By understanding the developmental process (D) and individual differences (I), we can use relationships (R) to encourage healthy development and help people reach their full potential. DIR® is based on human development science and offers a simple way to foster healthy growth through connection, understanding, love, communication, and engagement.
Craniosacral fascial therapy for children is a gentle and non-invasive treatment that involves massaging and lightly touching the various skull bones. This therapeutic approach aims to effectively reduce pain, support healthy growth and immunity in young patients, and assist newborns and infants in recovering from potential birth injuries. Through these calming techniques, children may find relief and benefit from an overall sense of well-being.
Welcome to Our Parent Resource Library Community Partners and Referral List! We hope this carefully curated list can seamlessly connect you to the various organizations and providers that we wholeheartedly trust to support your family within our vibrant community.
Our Amazon storefront features high-quality items, including sensory toys, developmental aids, educational materials, and therapy equipment, all carefully chosen by our experienced occupational therapists. Whether you are a parent, caregiver, or professional, you will find everything you need to support the children in your care. Explore our collection and see how we can positively impact your child's developmental journey.
