Connectionstx

09/03/2021

PC:

Who doesn't love a good visual!

"🔸Just look at all of the ways babies learn to communicate prior to having an abundance of spoken words.

🔸Gesture development starts early, around 6 months of age. These examples are just the most commonly used gestures.

🔸The sky is the limit for the number of gestures you can teach to help your child better communicate!

🔸Model gestures as you go about their day and encourage them to use gestures by creating opportunities to communicate and waiting to give them a chance to show you!

🗨️ What new gesture has your baby recently learned?"

09/02/2021

Service Coordinator: Connections family-centered therapies has an immediate opening for a Service Coordinator to work with Early Intervention families in Onondaga County.

Connections offers an excellent benefits package including:

• Excellent Compensation
• Paid Vacation
• Flexible Schedule
• Continuing Education
• 401K with Company Match

Job Description:

The ideal candidate will have experience with children with a wide range of developmental challenges. You must be outgoing, friendly, self-motivated and possess the ability to work independently as well as part of a team. The service Coordinator will also:

· Establish rapport with families and work directly with them in their homes

· Be Responsible for ensuring that IFSPs are being implemented

· Have knowledge of and inform parents about Medicaid, private health insurance, and how they apply to Early Intervention.

· Obtain medical information from pediatricians

· Participate in IFSP meetings, write reports, and complete online billing

Job Requirements:

· Associate's Degree plus 1 year of Service Coordination Experience or

· Bachelor's Degree in a Health or Human Services Field

· A passion for working with children is essential for your success with Sprout.

* Candidates must have reliable transportation.

08/31/2021

Core strength is the foundation for children to be able to assume and maintain an upright posture while standing or sitting.

If a child has poor core strength they will struggle with both fine and gross motor skills?

Which is your child’s favorite?

08/26/2021

https://www.730sagestreet.com/keeping-kids-healthy-active/

As parents, we are always looking for new ways to encourage our kids to take on healthier habits! But let's be honest, it isn't always easy to get them to put down the iPad or eat healthier foods.

Kids don't always like their vegetables, but they do like games! Check out this fun (and healthy) Simon says game created by 730sagestreet.com. Make one yourself, or simply print out the free handout! Easy as can be! You and your kids will love it.

If you try it out let us know what you think :)

Simon Says Workout for Kids! Your kids will get a workout without realizing it when you make fitness into a fun game.

08/25/2021

How do you practice language skills with your children? 🤔

Some easy ideas you can do at home.

Information provided by abcpediatrictherapy.com

08/24/2021

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

❤️Client Review ❤️

"We have had a wonderful experience with Connections. We are grateful for the year that (our son) had (SLP from Connections) as our therapist - she is a very dedicated therapist."

08/24/2021

Mary Beth Witte is a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant with thirty-four years of experience working with children between the ages of 0-5 years with various developmental disabilities. Mary Beth recently completed a bachelor’s degree in psychology at Le Moyne in May of 2019. Mary Beth is part of the Connections Family Therapies team and provides itinerant occupational therapy within the Syracuse communities. Mary Beth is the co-founder of the Sensory Processing and Caregiver Education Program (SPACE), providing detailed recommendations to parents, and caregivers regarding sensory processing delays that affect the overall occupational performance of their child across a variety of settings. Mary Beth mentors hopeful college students as they enter the field of Occupational therapy providing hands-on experience for increasing their confidence and abilities in the pediatric setting. Mary Beth is inspired by working with children daily. In her free time, Mary Beth likes to spend time with her 3 grown daughters, ride a bike, go for walks with her dog Onyx, and relax by looking at what new and exciting therapy toys are available on Amazon.

08/23/2021

Great posts by .pediatrics

As children develop so does the complexity of their fine motor skills and coordination.

08/23/2021

Happy Monday!

In the past, we have talked about the importance of fine motor skills and hand control. Poor hand control can affect a child’s ability to eat, write neatly, use a computer, turn pages in a book and perform personal care tasks, such as dressing and grooming. If hand control is compromised, it can influence attention to academic tasks, ease of transition into school, and a child’s ability to display their intellectual capacity on paper or in assessment. (information provided by childdevelopment.com)

The x rays below show the hand of a 3-year-old, 6-year-old, and 14 years old child. Notice a difference?

Not only does this photo depict the developmental changes as our children grow, but it also explains why children cant do some fine motor activities and what teachers have to take into consideration before requesting services. It may not be that a child has hand difficulties, it may just be maturity!

What are some of your child's favorite fine motor activities?

👉save for later
💌share with a friend

08/18/2021

What is early intervention?

08/17/2021

The past year or two have been a challenge, to say the least, especially for those who have children with sensory processing concerns! Children with sensory processing concerns have a heightened awareness of their immediate surroundings and can act out behaviorally.

The Space program at Connection's Family-centered Therapy consists of 6 approved visits listed on the IEP that occur monthly. Consideration of implementing the SPACE program in this time of need may reduce the frequency, intensity, and duration of maladaptive behaviors and increase abilities for coping with underlying sensory processing dysfunction. Socially disruptive behaviors can impair progress in academic skills, impede the achievement of developmental milestones and create impairment in family routines, social participation, and quality of life.

To learn more contact us or visit our website.
e-mail us at connections@connectionstx.com
or call us. (315)468-3414

08/16/2021

Hand dominance FAQ

If you have any other questions regarding your child hand dominance, feel free to leave your questions below in our comment section!

08/16/2021

Check out this article, to answer all of your basic hand dominance questions.

Have any other questions?? Post them below!

These hand dominance activities help with laterality and hand preference in kids. Kids who switch hands during activities can work on hand dominance.

08/12/2021

What child doesn't like to play??

At Connections, we believe "a child's work is play". We engage children through play-based therapy, which incorporates specific treatment goals into natural play settings. Therapists utilize age-appropriate toys, books, games, activities, movements, and music to promote individual development. This child-centered approach provides your child the opportunity to explore and develop new skills while playing.

What are ways your child learns during playtime?

08/12/2021

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Staff Spotlight! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐

"My name is Aftyn Bartholomay. I have been a speech therapist for Connections Family Centered Therapies for 6 years. I graduated from Syracuse University with a Master of Science in Speech & Language Pathology in 2013. Prior to that, I graduated from the University of Connecticut with a Bachelor's Degree in Communication Disorders (Don't worry I am a Syracuse Orange fan!!!). While attending Uconn, I worked as an Early Interventionist Associate, providing services to children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. This is where I developed a passion for Early Intervention services. I believe we should invest in our children as they are our future! I have experience with pediatric dysphagia (prematurity, reflux, G-tube feedings, oral aversion, sensory, oral motor), apraxia, autism, articulation disorders, language disorders, fluency, and aphasia. Additionally, I am part of Connections “Parent Empowerment Program”, educating families on behavioral interventions and helping to develop confidence while building a strong parent-child relationship. I take pride in developing family-centered and multisensory approaches that are individualized to each child and their family. Outside of work I have an affinity for the outdoors. I love gardening, hiking, art, music, cooking, & reading.️⁠"

08/11/2021

Great ideas by The Healthiest Baby.

How to encourage a late talker? 🗣
Is your child late to the talking stage? Try these tips!

1. Don't endlessly ask your child "what's this?"
2. Make eye contact
3. Talk about what you're doing, and talking about what your child is doing.
4. Add one word to what your child says
5. Use repetition
6. Pause after talking
7. Read to your child and leave spaces so they can fill in the blanks
8. Count as you walk up and down the stairs

08/11/2021

What are the benefits of Speech Therapy?
1. Social skills: Speech therapy can help a child's social development in multiple ways. Examples include but not limited to, teaching a child to carry on a conversation or helping a child identify body language.

2. Improved communication: Speech therapy can help a child, beginning at the most basic level, to simply communicate their needs and wants. This communication may be nonverbal such as through gestures or facial expressions, sign language. The ability to communicate in any form is powerful and begins at a very young age. Speech therapy continues to help improve communication abilities over time.

3. Improve cognitive development: Speech therapy can improve overall cognitive development; this is because speech and communication are key to cognitive development. The human brain is designed for speech, and even many thinking and reasoning activities involve the use of speech and language.

4.Develop Reading and Writing Abilities: Children learn that words are made up of individual sounds, and these individual sounds correspond to different graphemes, or written letters. Learning these building blocks prepares a child to begin reading, and over time, spelling.

5. Improve feeding problems: Some children have problems eating because the muscles in their mouths are unable to do what they need to do to hold, chew, and swallow food. Speech therapists can identify where the breakdown is taking place. They can strengthen those muscles and improve coordination, too!

6. Correct tone of voice: Speech therapy can correct a tone of voice that is flat or sounds “robotic”, lacks intonation or emotion, sounds angry, or sounds atypical in any other way.

08/10/2021

We are providers of evaluations and treatment to children and adults in Onondaga and surrounding counties. We love what we do, and when we say "We'll meet you where you are!" we mean it both literally (we provide itinerant services, traveling to our clients) and figuratively - we meet our clients right where they are developmentally and customize our services to best facilitate their progress.

We provide customized speech-language therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and special teacher services to a wide variety of clients.

Our clinicians enjoy a flexible, family-centered, caring workplace which supports the notion that while our employees love the work they do, they love their lives outside of work, too. We strive to find ways to help our employees strike a work-life balance, realizing that happy, healthy people make happy, healthy, employees!