Starting this Fall, we will be offering a Mini School for children aged 3 and 4. The school will be one afternoon a week for 1.5 hours and is for children with excellent academic abilities who are ready for advanced developmental instruction and sensory exploration that will enhance and refine learning skills. There will be a 3's and a 4's class, each with a maximum of 10 students.
Thank you for the calls about summer camps this year. I have decided not to do summer camps this year due to needing the space for our current OT, Speech, and Mommy and Me clients. For those that are looking for handwriting camps, I have added weekly group handwriting classes. These classes are for preschoolers all the way to 3rd and 4th graders wanting to learn cursive. Thank you to all of my past campers! I'll miss you!  Functional Grasp I recently completed kindergarten screenings for a few private schools. I look for age appropriate copying skills, pencil grasp, sensory motor, fine motor and self help skills. One of the most "flagged" areas is pencil grasp. Yes, about 50-70% of our kindergarten kids are not using a functional pencil grasp. Why is holding your pencil correctly so important? The way we hold a pencil determines how much pencil control we have as well as which muscles are being utilized during handwriting. Holding a pencil ineffectively changes handwriting/coloring from a task using finger muscles to a task using the large muscles of the hand, arm and shoulder. The latter causes muscle fatigue, especially as they reach 2nd grade. How can you help?
Have you seen our new rock wall? Each child that comes for OT or handwriting tutoring gets the opportunity to climb our rock wall. Traversing a rock wall helps to increase upper and lower body (including finger) strength, core strength, planning, and bilateral use. You may find pirates, frogs or lizards "hiding" on the rocks. Fine them and find a spot for them in our tree! Say "yea" is O.T. is fun!!  Welcome to our 2nd year of summer camps at Learning Charms! We are excited about our camps and another fun summer! All of our camps max out at 15 campers (with "My Kindergarten Friends" maxing 20) with a ratio of at least 1 staff to each 5 kids. Each camp has ample play in our 1,000 square foot gym each day. Some themes for this year include: Kooky Pens and Smencils (handwriting), Recycled Art and Green Thumbs (art /composting/gardening), Camp PLAY, Sensational Speech (led by speech therapist), Fancy Little Girls' Camp (all girls! crafts/arts), Fancy Letter Girls' Camp, Fine Motor Madness (crafts/arts/fine motor/gross motor fun), and more! Remember that camps will close once we have registered 15 campers, so be sure to register now and get in on the fun! Parents of rising JK and kindergarten: We now have two "clubs" especially for this age group. The Going to Kindergarten Club is a two hour, drop off class to encourage fine motor and handwriting skills in a fun and movement based curriculum. This is ideal for boys that need a little boost prior to formal school. We also have the "Early Writer's Club" . This is a drop off class that is ideal for rising K students who are ready to learn a formal handwriting program. This is a great class that is movement based and also has fun arts and crafts to encourage handwriting and fine motor skills. These are fun ways to prepare your child for kindergarten and to give mom and dad some time to get those errands done! Handwriting component is taught using Handwriting Without Tears curriculum. Screening is required for both clubs and space is limited to 5 children per club. As far as summer seems to be from us, this is the time that I start putting together the curriculum and schedule for our 2nd year of summer camps at Learning Charms. Camp Schedule and registration will be available on February 1st. Camps will begin in early June this year. Campers will enjoy our new gym springboard, balance beams, obstacle courses, and trampoline. Returning camp themes will include: handwriting (manuscript and cursive), Fine Motor Madness (crafty focus to explore and improve fine motor skills), Fancy Letter Girls' Camp (journaling, friendship bracelets, crafts--rising 3rd-5th girls), and Sensational Speech (speech therapist led). Some newbie camps include: Little Fancy Girls' Camp (rising K-2nd), Recycleable crafts and green thumbs, and more. I talk to parents every day who enroll their child for occupational therapy for the first time in order to give their kids a boost in pre-kindergarten skills. Often, the teachers recommend OT to help with pencil grasp, scissor skills, pre-handwriting, or attention / focus issues. I know it is easy to think that these skills will get better, but if you are working with your child and not noticing progress, don't wait any longer to see an occupational therapist. All of the areas above can be so easy for an occupational therapist to improve...IF caught early. The longer a child uses, for instance, an inefficient grasp pattern the harder it is to change as it becomes more ingrained. Feel free to call the office and speak to Stephanie if you feel your child might benefit from some occupational therapy. | Stephanie's
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