Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
-
Occupational Therapy Assistant (OTA) Sessions at Qualia
Occupational Therapy Assistant (OTA) Sessions at Qualia Our qualified OTA is trained to provide evidence-based interventions in an individual setting to support your child’s progress in a variety of areas such as: Handwriting Fine motor skills Reading Spelling Self-regulation
-
Immersive Reader on Microsoft Edge
Immersive Reader on Microsoft Edge Microsoft Edge has now released an accessibility tool to help individuals navigate web pages and read information easier! It is called Immersive Reader and provides users with multiple options to make the information easier to understand and comprehend without all the distracting pop-ups and advertisements.
-
2023 Christmas Gift Guide
Christmas Gift Guide The countdown is on for the excitement of the Christmas season! We have put together a few inspired ideas for gifts for the holidays. Happy shopping!
-
Our top tips for starting school
Our Top Tips for Starting School Is your child starting school next year? Are you wondering what you can start doing now to support their school transition? Here are our top tips to help your child be more independent as they start school.
-
You, your child and pretend play
You, Your Child and Pretend Play! Pretend play, symbolic play, imaginative play, make-believe play, or fantasy play involves the use of items, toys and people to represent something different in play (Stagnitti, 2011; Aspect, 2015). With so much time past since being a child, it isn’t surprising to find yourself as a parent feeling a…
-
Movement Breaks for the Classroom
Movement Breaks for the Classroom Many children benefit from movement in their day to help them learn. Try some of these activities in your classroom or at home!
-
What You Need to Know about Pencil Grasp
What You Need to Know about Pencil Grasp Maintaining an efficient pencil grasp is an important step in writing so that you child can write legibly and for an expected period of time. Ideally, by five to six years of age, we would like to see a child using a tripod pencil grasp. This is…
-
Pencil cases – an unexpected classroom distractor!
Pencil Cases – An Unexpected Classroom Distractor! One of the best ways to get your kids looking forward to the upcoming school year and support them to be organised, is to get them the perfect pencil case. But, wow isn’t there plenty to choose from! Children often want the most colourful, extravagant and bold pencil…
-
Chores and kids are a good mix!
Chores and Kids are a Good Mix! Supporting a child’s independence in occupations they need or want to do is at the core of the Occupational Therapist role. Completing household chores, such as food preparation, cleaning and gardening, supports independence with living skills. However, did you know that evidence suggests completing household chores can also…
-
Developing Fine Motor Skills with Everyday Household Items
Developing Fine Motor Skills with Everyday Household Items Children use fine motor skills to participate in a range of occupations. For example, self-care tasks such as buttoning clothing or tying shoelaces and classroom tasks such as writing and cutting all involve the development and use of fine motor skills. Whilst there are numerous toys that…
-
Technology and kids: Quality over Quantity
Technology and kids: Quality over Quantity Therapists are frequently being asked by parents about the role of technology in their child’s learning. Evidence suggests that sedentary screen time can have long term impacts on development, such as children having shorter attention spans and finding it harder to learn to read. That is why it is…
-
Five Fun Activities to Practice Handwriting
Five Fun Activities to Practice Handwriting “Getting my child to practice handwriting is so challenging!” Does this sound like the words were taken out of your mouth? Engaging children in handwriting can be made easier with fun activities that spark their interest. That is why we have made a list of five, fun activities that…
-
How to Teach Children to have a Growth Mindset
How to Teach Children to have a Growth Mindset A positive mindset is essential for kids’ success and goal achievement. Many health professionals and teachers help kids develop a positive frame of mind by using a growth mindset. A growth mindset is the idea that our traits can be nurtured and we can learn from…
-
2020 All I want for Christmas is…..
Want a hand with your Christmas shopping?? What a year it has been! If there is any silver lining to the year we have had, it’s the desire to get back to the simple things in life like visiting family and spending time with friends at the local cafe. Now more than ever, we could…
-
5 Tips for Supporting Your Child to get to Sleep
5 Tips for Supporting Your Child to get to Sleep We all know that one of the first things to go out the window during uncertain and stressful times is a good night’s sleep. For our children, this is no different. During these tricky times, it is likely that we are all finding it difficult…
-
Posture – Why is it important?
Why is your child’s posture important when writing? Good posture allows your child’s body to remain in a functional upright position, with adequate alignment of their spine. Good posture is really important for activities at the desk such as handwriting.
-
5 Top Tips for Playing with your Child
Play was a quintessential part of all our childhoods, yet as we get older, we can find it hard to recreate the same magic that we could as children. Play is an important occupation for your child, as it helps them develop many skills including communication, social skills, emotional understanding, literacy, problem solving and conflict…
-
Top Five Tips for Helping Kids Stay Cool, Calm & Collected at Home
Top Five Tips for Helping Kids Stay Cool, Calm & Collected at Home At a time when our kids are experiencing so much disruption to their routines and so many changes to their lives, they may have difficulty staying cool, calm & collected. Our kids are having to adjust to sudden changes in the way…
-
Improving Fine Motor Skills at Home
Improving Fine Motor Skills at Home Fine motor skills are important for everyone to function efficiently – from picking up a cup, typing on the keyboard, to driving a car. Developing a child’s fine motor skills helps them to participate in everyday activities more independently and confidently, and they can have a lot of fun…
-
Getting your kids moving at home
Getting your kids moving at home Due to the current climate where we are spending more time at home, with restrictions for sport and other extracurricular activities ongoing, the opportunities for getting our children’s bodies moving can be seen as limited. At Qualia, we consider health, movement and fitness to be a high priority particularly…
-
2019 All I want for Christmas is…..
Want a hand with your Christmas shopping?? This year, we have categorised our favourite toys, resources and activities into different parts of a child’s day. Happy shopping!
-
Learning Sight Words
Learning Sight Words The following activities will help and encourage your child to learn and practise their sight words at home. Don’t forget to have FUN!
-
Tips for left handed writers
5 Top Tips for Left Handed Writers Lots of children who are left-handed are able to write and complete tasks without any concern at all. Sometimes, making some small modifications can make a big difference and can make writing easier! If your child is left-handed, try the following tips and strategies to help your child…
-
Easter Colouring Competition – The Winners!
Winners of the Easter Colouring Competition! Announcing the winners of the Easter Colouring Competition…
-
Activities to do at home in the holidays
Activities to do at home in the holidays! Here are some activities your children can do at home during the school holidays – creative, challenging and lots of fun!
-
Back to School – Pencil Grasp
Back to School – Pencil Grasp OTs are frequently asked about pencil grasp, when it should be corrected, and when it is too late to do anything.
-
Craft Project: Pencil / Crayon Roll
Craft Project: Pencil / Crayon Roll Have some fun this weekend making a new pencil or crayon roll for your child! If you have a sewing machine and basic sewing skills (i.e. can sew a straight line), you’ll have it ready to go in no time!
-
2018 All I want for christmas is…..
Get your christmas shopping sorted for the little people in your life! Here is our list of favourite activities, games and books for Christmas this year.
-
Tips to help children calm their bodies
Our quick tips to help children calm their tiny bodies! Tips from one of our fabulous therapists Elanie Moulos….
-
It’s not too late to get ready for school!
It’s not too late to get ready for school! Written by one of our fabulous therapists, Alice Kettle If your child has just started school or is looking to start school next year it is never to early or late to practice school readiness skills! Over the holidays we posted a few short videos for…
-
2017 All I want for christmas is…..
Here is our list of favourite activities for children this Christmas!
-
Getting Through Your Exams: HSC Tips
Getting Through Your Exams: HSC Tips With the HSC Examinations just around the corner, we are wishing all of the year 12 students out there the best of luck! Here are our 5 tips to get you through your exams:
-
Would my child benefit from OT?
Does my child need occupational therapy? Firstly, let’s look at what occupational therapy actually is… Paediatric occupational therapists work with children to develop independence in their everyday tasks. Children’s primary everyday ‘occupations’ include being a student, friend and player. Occupational therapists (OT’s) can assist children in developing functional skills to perform to the best of…
-
Fine Motor Skills
Fine Motor Skills What are fine motor skills? Fine motor development refers to the movements that require precise, coordinated actions of small muscles. Fine motor skills usually involve the synchronisation of hands and fingers to complete tasks. There are many overlaps with visual motor control that refers to the ability to coordinate visual information with motor…
-
Reading with your child: start young and stay with it
Reading with your child: start young and stay with it We love this article from Bernice Cullinan and Brod Bagert… At just a few months of age, an infant can look at pictures, listen to your voice, and point to objects on cardboard pages. Guide your child by pointing to the pictures, and say…
-
Making Writing Fun!
Five Fun Writing Activities If you have a child that finds writing difficult, it can be tricky to find a writing activity that is enjoyable and motivating. While technology is being integrated into the classroom more and more, writing is still the main way children record the information they learn, therefore making it an important…
-
10 Ways to Support Your Child’s Desk Posture
-
New clinic at Hunters Hill
New Clinic in Hunters Hill We are excited to announce that we are opening a new clinic in Hunters Hill!
-
School holiday fun!
Looking for some inspiration these school holidays? We’ve collated our list of favourite activities for April!
-
Let’s Play!
Let’s Play! Last week, Avalon presented to a lovely bunch of mums at Rozelle Espresso on play. Thank you to all the mums who came along! Here is the presentation.
-
2017 updates in the clinic
Play and Early Development Talk & Rozelle Markets! We are excited to announce that we will be participating in a community presentation at Rozelle Espresso on Wednesday 15th March at 10.30am. We will also be setting up a stall at Rozelle Markets – come along and say hello!
-
10 Apps to Develop Writing Skills
10 Apps to Develop Writing Skills rED Writing This app is great for developing letter formation and is appropriate for ages 4 -7. The app teaches correct formation of number, lower case and capital letters according to NSW Foundation font. Try the ‘shake a letter’ and ‘letter of the day’ options as well!
-
Qualia is Now a Registered NDIS Provider
Qualia is Now a Registered NDIS Provider The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) was recently established to allow children and teenagers with developmental or participation difficulties access services such as occupational therapy. Childhood is such an important time for setting up how a person learns and develops and support provided early will give your child…
-
Do you have spare tennis balls lying around the backyard?
Meet Mr Yum! Mr Yum is a fun and engaging hand strength and pincer strength activity. Both of these skills are required for pencil grasp, pencil control for handwriting and self-care skills such as dressing.
-
All I want for christmas is….
We have come together to compile our favourite list of games, activities and toys to help you with your christmas shopping!
-
Four ideas to help get your child to school in the morning
Getting ready in the morning with a reluctant participant can make for a stressful start to the day for everyone. Hopefully these tips might help:
-
Glitter bottle
Why a glitter bottle? Watching a glitter bottle settle can be a great way for a child to calm down.
-
Pencil Pressure
Keep the Pressure Down! We see lots of children who are exerting excessive pressure through their fingertips and on the page when writing. There are a number of reasons why your child may be pressing too hard on the pencil or the page. This post will aim to give you some tips and tricks to…
-
Qualia’s new artwork
Lucky us!
-
10 things to do with a peg
Therapeutic benefit of household pegs Pegs are an easily accessible home resource that can be used to assist in the development of fine motor skills, finger strength, appropriate pencil grasp and functional tasks such as dressing and eating.
-
Hair washing, brushing and styling
Hair Washing, Brushing and Styling Washing, brushing and styling one’s hair can be an incredibly tactile experience. These activities are a fundamental part of a child’s daily routine and can be really tricky for children who are more sensitive. Here is a list of our favourite tools for hair washing, brushing and styling:
-
Why do we care about handwriting?
Why do we care about handwriting? We are asked all the time about handwriting. “We use laptops and iPads for everything, why do I need to bother addressing my child’s handwriting difficulty?” It is a really valid question. However, writing is more than just drawing letters. When you add the cognitive strategy requirements (memory,…
-
10 Quick Handwriting Warm Ups
10 Quick Handwriting Warm-Ups Handwriting warm ups are a great way to get your child ready for writing tasks. These only take 2-3 minutes to complete and can assist your child with getting their hand and finger muscles ready for writing.
-
What is occupational therapy?
Have you ever wondered why occupational therapists work with children? Maybe you are not even sure what an occupational therapist is? As our first blog entry, we thought we would introduce our profession. In short, occupational therapy is the therapy of ‘occupations’. Occupations are the everyday ‘jobs’ that an individual does to bring purpose…
Got any book recommendations?