Pediatric Occupational Therapist

Specializing in Child Development & In-Home Therapy

Providing both in home sessions throughout Fairfield and New Haven counties as well as outpatient sessions in Trumbull, Connecticut.

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Sensory Integration

Mastering senses, gaining independence.

Primitive Reflexes

Small steps, great growth.

Purposeful Play

Purposeful play, proven progress.

About

Annmarie is a pediatric occupational therapist providing in home visits with a focus on child development in Fairfield and New Haven County, CT. She specializes in sensory processing, developmental delays, primitive reflex integration, as well as children with autism and ADHD.

Treatment sessions include a variety of activities that utilize "purposeful play" to accelerate development. It is a value of Annmarie's practice to educate parents on how to implement these occupational therapy practices into their child's daily lives.

You are welcome to contact Annmarie personally for an introduction.

Huge thanks to @yourfriendlyneighborhoodmoose for being the absolute best and finding this space for me! Can’t wait to take you all along on this journey. As always, thanks for being here ❤️

12-18 month Holiday Gift Guide! Link is in my stories🎅

6-12 months 🎁 Click the link in stories of head over to my blog!

Holiday Gift Guide 0-6 months! Click the link in my stories ��🎁

Looking for a different way to promote strengthening and bilateral coordination? Try this activity!

The fleece bungee is linked in my stories🤗

I use this activity as a precursor to spinal galant and spinal perez integration exercises if a child demonstrates tactile hypersensitivity. This is also a great activity to support regulation!

Have the child lie down on their belly and tell them you’re going to make a pizza 🍕 Roll out the dough, spread out the sauce, & sprinkle on the cheese (and any other toppings they may want!)

Use medium, even pressure to provide calming proprioceptive & tactile input during this activity so it is predictable and regulating!

Another simple dressing activity!

Dynamic balance is important when engaged in lower body dressing. Practice single leg stances to prepare your child (think yoga poses and stepping over items while engaged in an obstacle course.)

Create a large circle with the pop tube and encourage the child to step into the tube, then pull the pop tube up as if they were putting on a pair of pants.

Here’s a simple way to help our little ones learn to put on their socks. Use a pop tube and make it into a circle. Encourage them to put their foot through the tube and pull it up. This can help your kiddo with the motor planning aspect of putting on their socks! Scrunchies also work well too. Let me know if you try this activity!

Here’s a variation of ball kicks that can be done on a swing! If a kiddo has a retained STNR this activity can be helpful for integration purposes and teaching them how to pump.

Many kids like this activity as it provides proprioceptive input to their feet & vestibular input (linear movement while swinging.)

I love this activity for so many reasons. Especially if a kiddo needs to focus on core strength and endurance. Also, if they have a retained TLR and have difficulty holding the “meatball” position (iykyk), this is a great activity to begin to promote strengthening for that isometric hold.

Stereognosis. It’s one of my favorite words 🤓

It’s our ability to identify stimuli placed in our hand without looking at it. Basically, the ability to perceive an object by using our tactile sense.

We do this frequently! Think of a time when you were digging through your bag or purse while trying to locate your phone, wallet, or maybe a pen. I’m sure you were able to locate the object you were searching for by touch alone. If you have real pumpkins left over from Halloween, it’s a great opportunity to use them for this activity. If your little one is hypersensitive to tactile input, you can use a pumpkin trick or treat bucket or a cardboard box instead! Hide a few common objects inside & ask the child to close their eyes and have them locate an object by touch alone. Have fun!

Buckle up! I have some major announcements to make in the coming months! To my CT families, I promise I’m not moving to LA 🫶🏼

Stay tuned…

Theraputty is another one of those activities that I always bring to my sessions! This activity is great to promote fine motor skills but also facilitates sustained attention and language by identifying the objects hidden inside. Another fun way to use putty is by pushing the objects in and then taking them out to see the impression they make!

This activity is an OT staple! It’s great for kiddos to improve upon hand strengthening and fine motor skills (also, palmer reflex integration!)

One of my little friends calls this “Halloween beans” .. I’m not sure there’s a better name for a Halloween sensory bin 🎃 🕷️

Add some fine motor tools and objects with different textures to promote attention with this activity.

The @learningresources fine motor tool set is linked in my stories!

Slime bubbles are a great way to promote oral motor input, breath control, and visual input! If a child does not want to touch the slime, but they can tolerate looking at it, I will hold the slime on the straw to grade this activity.

Hopefully, with consistent exposure, the child will eventually be able to touch the slime!

This activity is from @sensorydigest - one of my favorites🤗

Breath control is something I focus on pretty consistently in sessions! Nasal breathing is important for nervous system regulation, so typically before and after reflex integration, we will engage in a nasal breathing activity (bonus points if heavy work is involved!)

This activity is another simple one to set up. Place a spider web on one side of the room (you can also set it up on a table) and encourage your kiddo to blow the spider back to their web 🕸️🕷️

If you see me walking around with a huge pumpkin in my therapy bag, this activity is why😂 I saw this activity posted by @tinyseedsbigimaginations a couple years ago and it’s such a good one!

This activity facilitates palmar reflex integration and is a great for proprioceptive input and motor planning 🎃

Spider races 🕷️ 🕸️

This is a great activity to facilitate Palmer reflex integration!

Set up a couple of spiders on a tray, and use the spray bottle to move them along to the finish line.

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Pediatric Occupational Therapist

Specializing in Child Development & In-Home Therapy

Providing both in home sessions throughout Fairfield and New Haven counties as well as outpatient sessions in Trumbull, Connecticut.

About

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