Just Write Occupational Therapy for Kids

27/09/2022

When we ask our kids to go outside and play, we are also encouraging them to build the strength in their hands which is required for handwriting.

🏖️ When they are digging holes, making tunnels, carrying buckets and building sandcastles their strength is increasing.
🈷️ When they are hanging on the monkey bars their strength is increasing.
🧗‍♀️ When they are pulling themselves up ladders and climbing frames their strength is increasing.
🏀 When they are throwing, catching and bouncing balls their strength is increasing.

Watch them grip, hold, carry, hang, pull, push and most importantly play.

17/09/2022

We love seeing the tools in the ✋Just Write Fine Motor Box🤚 in action.

Here are some little hands:
💪building their strength
🖐️developing their hand arches and
👌thumb opposition.

💌 PM us your pictures 📸 of your tools in action so we can share your play ideas with other families.

Just Write OT for Kids shared a post on Instagram: "We love seeing the tools in the ✋Just Write Fine Motor Box🤚 in action. Here are some little hands: 💪building their strength 🖐️developing their hand arches and 👌thumb opposition. 💌 PM us your pictures 📸 of your tools in action ...

06/09/2022

08/08/2022

The SNAP IT is a fun and powerful fidget to assist in building our hand strength.

The SNAP IT builds strength in the intrinsic muscles of our hand, assists in developing our arches in the palm of the hand and promotes thumb opposition.

The SNAP IT can be found in our Fine Motor Box. To place your order today, email: justwriteot@gmail.com.au

08/08/2022

To order your own✋Just Write 🤚Fine Motor Kit and watch your little ones hands do BIG things, email: justwriteot@gmail.com

07/08/2022

Parents and teachers are asking how many times do our kids need to squeeze the stress balls to build their strength?

Our kids muscles will grow stronger when they are made to work harder than usual. This is known as the overload principle.

We can achieve this in two ways, through either increasing the resistance their muscles need to work against, or increasing the number of repetitions they need to complete.

We recommend starting with 10 squeezes and monitor for fatigue.

You will be able to tell if your kids hands are getting tired as they will:
- slow down their movements
- use less smooth and coordinated movement
- speed up the activity to get to the finish line not bothered by their accuracy or technique or
- completely avoid finishing the activity.

Our kids hands won’t become super strong overnight. A little practice everyday will gradually increase their strength which will allow them to grip and manipulate objects that are heavier in weight as they grow older.

07/08/2022

STRESS BALL EXERCISES

❤️ Heartbeat Pulses - Hold stress ball in the palm of your hand. Try not to rest your hand on the table throughout this exercise. Do 2x quick squeezes (pulses) before releasing. Note: An adult can set the pace by making heartbeat sounds ‘boom boom’ to keep up your endurance during this exercise.

🙏 Praying Hand Holds - Hold the stress ball between your two hands. Try to keep your fingers and hands flat throughout the exercise. Press your hands firmly together to squeeze the stress ball. You should feel a gentle pull in your shoulders which will let you know your muscles are engaged.

🕷 Spider Squeezes - Place the stress ball in the palm of your hand and spread your fingers apart, interlace the fingers from your other hand to make your spiders legs.
Turn over your hands so fingers are on top of the ball and your elbows are raised horizontally. Use your strength to squeeze your hands together.

🥞 Pancake Stacks - Put ball on a table and place the palm of your hand on top of the ball. Try to keep your fingers and hand flat. Roll the ball in small circles maintaining contact with your hand the whole time. When you are ready use all of your strength to press the ball down, making it flat like a pancake. Hold for a few seconds before releasing.

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07/08/2022

We love seeing the tools in the ✋Just Write Fine Motor Box🤚in action.

Here we are squeezing the STRESS BALL… remember to squeeze it in your dominant and non dominant hand too.

💌 PM us your pictures 📸 of your tools in action so we can share your play ideas with other families.

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07/08/2022

Have you ever stopped to think about how truely AMAZING your HANDS are? 🤔

We use our hands to interact with the whole world around us.

We use them every moment of the day to help us perform daily tasks, from turning off the alarm clock ⏰ when we wake up in the morning, to eating our breakfast 🥣, brushing our hair 👧 👦 and teeth 🪥 and getting dressed for school 👕.

Our hands consist of our wrist, palm and fingers. And our hand anatomy is complex and intricate to help us with very precise fine motor movements.

Each hand consists of 27 bones, 29 joints, 34 muscles and over 100 ligaments and tendons with many blood vessels and nerves.

These parts of our hands work together in harmony to allow us to change our hand position from being flat ✋to clenching our fists 🤜. From bending our fingers ✊, spreading them out 🖐, wiggling them 👋 and moving our fingers one at a time 👌. Our hands can even point 👉, poke 👆, pinch 🤏, grasp 🫰, lift 🫳, hold 🤲 and carry 🤛.

🙌 HANDS UP 🙌 if you think our hands are truely AMAZING!

02/07/2022

28/06/2022

The STRESS BALL is a very effective tool to develop our hand and finger strength.

The STRESS BALL can be found in our Fine Motor Box. To place your order today, email: justwriteot@gmail.com.au

11/06/2022

WORKING ON A VERTICAL SURFACE is one of the simplest adjustments you can make to improve a child’s core strength, shoulder stability and control and much more!

Moving away from the traditional table top (horizontal activities) encourages a child to move and adjust their posture to master the task in front of them.

They might choose to stand, kneel or lean forward to gather their supplies and get involved. All these positions activate their core muscles. There are no chairs to rest back into or tables to prop ourselves up on.

The large vertical surface requires the child to reach out and move, using big arm movements in all different directions. This increases a child’s upper limb strength and endurance as they have to sustain these positions against gravity for the duration of the activity.

Try setting up some of your activities this week using a vertical surface, at home or in the classroom.

This could be as simple as incorporating:
- Whiteboard markers on a whiteboard
- Chalk on a blackboard
- Drawing or painting at an Easel
- Sticking worksheets on the wall to write and draw on
- Finger drawing on a steamy shower screen
- Washable bath crayons on the windows or bathtub

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