Health and Development

Course Notes: Challenging Behavior, Pt. 1

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

The shrieks! The screams! The calamity of it all!

No, this isn’t a trailer to the newest horror flick. It’s just another day in my house with the kids. *sigh*

Children are not easy obviously, but especially so when their behaviors are on another level. But behind every bit of challenging behavior lies a need that your child can’t quite articulate.

Last fall, I took a CEU course called “Identifying the Root of Challenging Behaviors.” So this week, we are giving you the parent takeaways. This first part on the developing child brain is a lot of what we’ve previously written about, but it sets the stage for how all of these parenting/OT approaches and strategies come together effectively.

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Patti’s Favorite Posts: 2023

| Patti Webb

My favorite 2023 post was our Treetop Quest playdate review. 

I was so excited to find this activity and overjoyed at the mental and physical determination our kids displayed. Mary and I could only help or talk to our kids from a distance. We also couldn’t exactly show or model how to do the courses ourselves. They had to assess the situation, work their equipment, motor plan, and overcome a bit of reluctance. Our kids showed true teamwork, were cheerleaders for each other, and it was impressive. Such a proud mom moment. 

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Holiday Gift Guide 2023: Toddlers & Preschoolers

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

Toddlers are experimenting with and refining their newfound developmental skills, from walking to using words to get what they want. They are also using pretend play to understand the world around them. This means more self-awareness, imagination, independence, autonomy, and tantrums (sorry, there’s no way around this).

Here are our gift picks for toddlers ages 1-3:

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Fear Street: Irrational Fears in Kids

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

Everyone gets scared. Fear is a primary emotion signaling that we are in danger, essentially ensuring our survival from a hostile situation. Although it can be overridden by our executive functions, some fears can’t be shaken, no matter how irrational they are. This is especially true for kids. Despite how trigger-happy their fear response is to the most random things, it’s all part of their growth and development.

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Nightmare on Elm Street

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

“Whatever you do, don’t fall asleep.” – Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

Remember when you were a kid, you watched a horror film you probably shouldn’t have and from then on, your dreams were nothing but nightmares? Yeah, that happened to me, and that movie was Child’s Play.

The truth is kids will experience their version of a Freddy Krueger dreamscape regardless of whether they see a scary movie or not. In fact, nightmares are part of typical child development as they process what they have observed and experienced in their world thus far. But does it have to be in the form of bad dreams?

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