therapy ideas

A few therapy techniques that I wanted to remember.

- to help Heidi roll to her non-preferred side, I laid her outside on the grass (on a blanket - Texas has crazy ants). We were on a slight incline, so I put her non-preferred side down on the incline. This way, gravity helped her to roll over that shoulder. Also, when she is on her stomach, I lay next to her preferred side, and thus my body blocks her from rolling that way. She gets frustrated, so I sometimes give her a slight push to help get her started on the roll the other way.

- I was reading a website, and took notice of a great feeding technique. When a baby is trying to feed themselves finger foods, the pieces of food can be small and frustrating for the baby to pick up. Especially since the food has to be small enough to not be a choking hazard, but big enough that the baby can use a pincer grasp or a racking motion to pick up the food. Continue to use small pieces, but on slippery/slimy pieces of soft fruit or vegetables, try sprinkling baby cereal or crushed up cereal or anything else along these lines, to give the mushy food more firmness to make it easier to hold. Awesome idea!!!!

- With the daily stretches I need to do with Heidi, it is hard listening to her cry every time. She is now old enough where she pushes my hand or arm away if she dislikes the stretch. So now I do silly faces, sing songs, have music and lights playing, to all try and distract her. If I don't push a stretch too far, we can now sometimes do a few stretches with no tears. There is one stretch where she lays across my arms, and if we do this stretch while I walk around, she tolerates it fairly well. 

Trying to reach the piano is hard work. Practicing tummy time, in order to build muscles.