What is Sensory Integration?
The following post was writting by Marcia Washington OTR/L, who has been practicing pediatric occupational therapy for 20 years. Parents often ask me – What is sensory integration and how can I help my child with it? Here’s my explanation: Picture yourself in the...
How does social and emotional development affect learning?
SEL Teaches Character In 1995, New York Times science reporter Daniel Goleman published the book, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ, which launched the SEL movement. The case he presents and validates with preliminary evidence is that: Character...
How to teach social emotional learning skills
We don’t learn from experience. We learn from reflecting on experience. -John Dewey How to teach social emotional learning To teach social-emotional skills, educators and parents need to build in time for children to imagine, experiment, and reflect on their...
What are Social Emotional Learning Standards?
Social Emotional Learning is about developing the ability to: set and achieve goals feel and show empathy establish and maintain relationships make responsible decisions understand and manage emotions Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Standards list the intrapersonal,...
Body-Mind Development 101
Health, Academic, and Social-Emotional Competence starts at home with daily play and exercise. My interview with Marcia Washington reaffirmed some basic truths about child development that I want to passionately re-iterate! 1. Physical coordination precedes and lays...
Helping Children with ADD/ADHD (VIDEO)
Marcia Washington, OTR/L, has been practicing pediatric occupational therapy for 20 years. In 2009, in her hometown of Pontotoc, MS, she launched KidSense, a clinic that specializes in pediatric therapy, includes a sensory motor gym, and serves clients from over a 70...
How Honest Are We?
I just found out that last Saturday, April 30, has been declared National Honesty Day. On one hand, that’s laughable, given our current political climate in which truth and facts are considered malleable as well as debatable. On the other hand, maybe that’s exactly...
Help Kids Build Confidence with Good Posture & Core Strength
Encouraging young children to practice proper posture and to engage in core strengthening activity is vital to laying a foundation for not just physical health but also for mental-emotional strength. Spinal health is the basis of balance and stability not just in our...
FREE Embodied Mindfulness Video Program for Kids
The free Embodied Mindfulness Video by Wellness Through Movement is an 8-minute animated story (see below for video), designed to be presented to children in 4 two-minute sections. It shows how two children who get in trouble for not listening come to understand what...
4 Ways to Build & Enhance Focus
Building focus requires practice in settling one's nervous system, in strengthening one's eye muscles, and in mylenating the neural pathways in one's brain. To help children build the ability to focus, we must give them opportunities, through playful, meaningful...