Tag Archives: hand skills

Discover Therapro’s Handy Guides

Assessments, Fine Motor, Handwriting, Handy Guides, Occupational Therapy, Sensory, , , , , , , , ,

Searching for the perfect tools, games, or evaluations for your clients can be time-consuming and overwhelming, Therapro’s Handy Guides can help streamline the selection process. The Guides help with making informed decisions. At a glance, you can see color representations of products. These guides are user-friendly, concise, and best of all, they’re absolutely FREE! The Handy Guides cover 5 key categories:

Handy Guides for Fine Motor:

Therapro's Which Writing Tool or Accessory Handy Guide

Which Writing Tool or Accessory: This Guide helps you choose the right tool for your client’s needs, whether it’s for comfort, positioning, or sensory input. For example, a Squiggle Writer Pen may be the right choice if your client would benefit from added sensory input with vibration when writing to alert and focus on the task.

Get a Grip on Grips: Explore a variety of writing utensil grips designed for comfort, finger positioning, and sensory needs. To facilitate a tripod grasp, the Start Right Pencil Grip may fit the needs of your client.

Handy Guides for Sensory:

Therapro's Find Your Fidget Handy Guide

Find Your Fidget: Discover fidgets for calming & organizing or alerting, including popular choices like Squeezies and Theraputty that offer resistance to help with focus and attention.

Choose Your Chew: Select the perfect chew for your client’s needs, categorized by age and chew strength. Chews are organized into Chews for Babies and Toddlers; and Chews in 3 chew levels (Light for mild sensory seekers, Medium for chewers who need more sensory input, and Firm for those who are strong chewers who need maximal sensory input). The benefits of selecting the appropriate chew is essential. Selecting a Firm Chew that a client can bite and chew safely is easy with choices such as the Krypto-Bite pencil topper or a Tube Zillas on a Tether.

Therapro's Free Choose Your Chew Handy Guide
Tools for the Body Handy Guide with link to download

Tap into Tools for the Body: Explore tools designed to provide calming and organizing sensory input that have resistive features to increase proprioception and sensory input. Bouncy Bands for Chairs provide foot resistance when a student is seated in a classroom chair. Selecting tools to enhance attention and focus include materials with a vibratory component such as Senseez Touchable Vibrating Pillows or tools that challenge balance such as the CanDo Wobble Ball.

Handy Guides for Adaptations:

What Can You Adapt: Learn how to enhance upper extremity activities with the versatile EazyHold universal cuff. This Guide demonstrates its versatility for use in many home, school, and community scenarios. It can be used in a variety of activities including brushing teeth, holding utensils, and using art materials.

Assistive Technology: Find the best assistive technology solutions to support classroom participation and daily living activities. Take a look at positioning materials such as Slant Boards, tools for increasing active participation in games and crafts, and tools for enhancing learning in academic areas. Self-help and activities of daily living aides are addressed as well. Switches and switch-activated toys are also included. A myriad of tools are explored to help make a student’s school day and daily life skills at home and in the community successful.

A Handy Guide for Games:

Gear Up for Games: Select from a variety of games to build executive function, visual perception, academic, and language skills. Along with each game, the guide identifies the target audience, age range, and adaptations and modifications to enhance participation and learning. Favorite games: Novenops; Lion in My Way; and Letter Treasure Hunt are included.

A Handy Guide for Evaluations:

Handy Evaluation Chart: A helpful reference for deciding how best to assess your client’s needs. This Guide organizes evaluations offered by Therapro into comprehensive subcategories with age-appropriate designations. 

These Handy Guides are designed to simplify your decision-making process and enhance the quality of care you provide. Each Handy Guide is packed with valuable information and practical recommendations to support your work as a therapist.

Explore them today and discover how Therapro can support you in your journey!

Guest Blogger: Filomena Connor, MSOT-Retired

Tools for Developing Scissor Skills

Accessibility, Occupational Therapy, Scissors, , , , ,

On September 19, 2023, Kelly Wilk-Downs, OTR/L presented Therapro’s first FREE Webinar of this school year, Cutting Made Simple. She offered a comprehensive look at the:

  • Development of scissor use
  • Selecting appropriate scissors for students
  • Prerequisite skills needed for learning to cut with scissors

This blog post comes on the heels of Kelly’s webinar; in this post we are reviewing some tools available at Therapro that are perfect for encouraging the development of scissor skills in beginner scissor users and beyond!

Cover of the book Hats Off and On to Scissors Skills a book for Developing Scissor Skills

Hats Off and On to Scissor Skills: Exclusive to Therapro is a creative publication called Hats Off and On to Scissor Skills, by
Peggy Huntley Spitz, OTR. This book consists of 25 themed hat designs that can be made for 4
progressive levels of cutting skills:

  • Straight line cutting and/or random snipping
  • Curved line cutting
  • Simple shape cutting
  • Complex shape cutting

This is a fun and unique activity book that will help you create an enjoyable project for the
developmental progression of scissor skills!

Comprehensive Scissor Assessment Kit used for Developing Scissor Skills

Comprehensive Scissor Assessment Kit: Therapro offers a variety adaptive scissors that will ensure active participation from all students
learning cutting skills, including those with limited hand function due to weakness, incoordination, and other functional limitations. Check out Therapro’s Comprehensive Scissor Assessment Kit, which includes 15 scissors of 10 different styles, plus a carry case and Manual.

Therapro carries a variety of scissors to meet the different needs of scissor users as they are progressing developmentally. Here is a sample of some of our favorite scissors.

Easi-Grip Loop Scissors for early scissor skills

Easi-Grip Loop Scissors : Easi Grip Loop Scissors are available in two sizes; the Mini Easi-Grip Loop Scissors are great for pre-school children while the standard Easi Grip Loop Scissors are made for the adult sized hand. These scissors are self opening for either right or left hand. They are operated by using pressure between the thumb and fingers or palm and fingers.

Self Opening Scissors

Self Opening Scissors : The Self Opening Scissors are available for left and right handed users. These scissors reopen automatically after hand pressure has been released.

Long Loop Scissors

Long Loop Scissors : The Long Loop Scissors are also available for left and right handed users. These scissors allow the user to use whole hand strength to operate. They also provide greater finger contact, which offers better control.

Mounted Table Top Scissors

Mounted Table Top Scissors : The Mounted Table Top Scissors offer stability with scissors attached to a base. To operate users simply depressing the large handle.

Be sure to check out all of the scissors and scissor activities available at Therapro!

Guest Blogger: Filomena Connor, MSOTR, Retired

Meet Therapro’s Occupational Therapy Authors & Creators

Occupational Therapy, Uncategorized, , , ,

Therapro is celebrating its occupational therapy authors and creators during Occupational Therapy Month. Read on to learn more about these great occupational therapists and their creations!

Letter Treasure Hunt

Jenny L. Clark, OTR/L, BCP is the creator of the “Learn to Move” curriculum and Therapro’s Letter Treasure Hunt. Jenny has helped children over the past 25 years as a licensed pediatric occupational therapist working as a speaker, consultant, private practitioner at her own clinic (Jenny’s Kids, Inc.), school-based occupational therapist, independent contractor for early intervention services, author, and inventor. Jenny’s creation, Letter Treasure Hunt, is a fun and engaging game that targets handwriting skills while weaving in fun gross motor activities.

The functionalhand

Linda Merry, OTR is the co-creator of the functionalhand. She has many years’ experience and extensive knowledge working with children and adults who have disabilities and teaching on a variety of topics. She is a senior therapists at Easter Seals DuPage & the Fox Valley Region in Villa Park, IL and co-owner of Thera-Solutions which designs programs, coaches’ professionals and develops products for therapists, educators and caregivers. Her creation, the functionalhand is an innovative tool to assist with grasping objects for everyday fun and function!

Polly Benson OTR/L is the creator of LegiLiners, “the patent pending, cool little tool to quickly draw handwriting lines”. Polly is a school based occupational therapists with many years experience working with students of all ages. The idea for LegiLiners grew from her love for helping students with functional handwriting. LegiLiners are available in in a variety of styles to help learners of all ages.

Barbara Smith, MS, OTR/L is the author of From Rattles to Writing: A Parent’s Guide to Hand Skills. Barbara has been  an occupational therapist for over 40 years working primarily with children and adults with developmental disabilities.  Barbara’s book From Rattles to Writing: A Parent’s Guide to Hand Skills is a groundbreaking guide that describes the songs, games, toys, activities, and adaptations that help children develop the visual-perceptual skills needed to read and the eye-hand coordination to write.

Jayne Berry, OTR/L is the author of Fine Motor Skills in the Classroom and creator of the Therapro Hand Tool Kit. Jane was a pediatric therapist who worked extensively with preschoolers and school aged children. The Therapro Hand Tool Kit contains all your “hand tools” in a convenient kit! Fine Motor Skills in the Classroom  is a hand skills program developed as a tool to facilitate consultation in the classroom.

Trunks

Diane Long, EdD, MOTR/L is the creator of the game Trunks. Dr. Diane Long is an associate professor and serves as the Chair of Occupational Therapy at Ithaca College.  Trunks is an innovative game that targets working memory; players move their bodies, make sounds and perform actions from memory!

Carolyn Murray-Slutsky, MS OTR, C/NDT, FAOTA has co-authored many publications including: Is it Sensory or is it Behavior? 2nd Edition (2022), Autism Interventions: Exploring the Spectrum of Autism, Developing Visual Motor Integration, and the Sensory Modulation Laminated Card Series. Carolyn is certified in sensory integration (SI) and neurodevelopmental treatment (NDT) for pediatrics, infants, and adults and director of Rehabilitation for Children, Inc, a pediatric private practice.  Her latest publication, Is it Sensory or is it Behavior? 2nd Edition (2022)  answers many questions about the relationship between sensory and behavior.

Fine Motor Olympics

Marcia Bridgeman, MHA, OTR/L is the author of Fine Motor Olympics. Marcia has been a pediatric occupational therapist since 1977, specializing in school based services for students from preschool through 22. Fine Motor Olympics is a program designed for an occupational therapist to provide inclusive and consultative services to teachers, volunteers, parents, and staff.