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Let’s Get Real About Screen Time

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Screen Time and Childhood Development

Screens and technology use are becoming more and more common for children. According to the CDC, children ages 8-10 spend an average of 6 hours per day in front of a screen. This increased time spent starring into a screen can have significant effects on a child’s health and development. Young children learn about the world by exploring their environment and watching and modeling others’ behaviors. They learn to foster their imagination and creativity by interacting with toys and others. Increased screen use can have significant effects on this aspect of their development. A new study from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center published in JAMA Pediatrics showed concerning evidence that brain structure may be altered in kids with more screen use. Researchers looked at brain MRIs in 47 preschoolers and found that screen time over the American Academy of Pediatric’s recommendations was associated with differences in brain structure in areas related to language and literacy development. Below is a chart with suggested screen time use by age by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Screen Time

Screen Time and Behavior

While screens can be beneficial teaching tools, great for reward and even better for making those long car rides more bearable, their growing presence means parenting around them has become increasingly challenging. The exciting nature of screen time can trigger the release of dopamine, a feel-good neurotransmitter that makes us associate screens with pleasure and therefore something we want to spend more time with. These dopamine releases make it physically and mentally challenging for kids to put down technology. As a parent, think back to your childhood and how often you were watching a screen. It may have been for about an hour after dinner right? Let’s also think about what you were watching. It was most likely an hour long show that you had to wait until the following week to find out what happened next! Kids today are watching short-lived Youtube videos, 1-3 minute Tik-Toks, scrolling through social media, or binge watching a show with 10 episodes readily available. Research shows that these short clips of fast-paced programming have an immediate, measurable, negative impact on sustained attention and self-regulation. When screens displace activities like outdoor time, play, independent work and social interactions it can result in a kid missing out on valuable caregiver interactions that model and teach emotional regulation. Without those skills, a child might be quicker to anger, become frustrated or shut down.

Negative effects of increased technology use:

  • Decreased attention span and/or social interaction skills due to lack of peer interaction and engagement
  • Deficits in language and communication skills due to lack of reciprocal dialogue and social interaction
  • Difficulty sleeping: The blue light that screens omit, inhibits melatonin; our body’s sleep hormone
  • Risk factor for obesity: Engaging in a sedentary activity for extended periods of time increases this risk

Ways to Decrease Screen Time

Tips/ strategies to set boundaries and decrease screen time:

  • Keep certain times screen-free (i.e. during mealtimes, bed-time, and family time)
  • Set restrictions on the content/ apps that can be accessed 
  • Co-watch with your child so that the content is educational and appropriate. The parent can also help the child understand what they are watching 
  • Download games, apps, and YouTube content that are only educational
  • Parents can model healthy screen usage by decreasing the amount of time spent on their screens in front of their child
  • Set a family curfew for screen-usage (i.e. after 6:00pm, no more screens) 

Ways to take movement breaks:

Nowadays increased screen time is more common because of virtual learning and adults working from home. Here are some ways to take a break from the screen and get your body up and moving.   

  • 5 senses walk pointing out 5 things that you can see, 4 things that you can hear, 3 things that you can touch, 2 things that you can smell, and 1 thing that you can taste
  • Wheelbarrow walks across the room
  • Animal walks: Bear walks or crab walks 
  • Jumping jacks 
  • Crashing or jumping onto couch, mattress, or cushions 

Screen-free activities for families:

  • Make a fort out of pillows, blankets, chairs, furniture, etc. 
  • Get outside! There are so many fun activities that can take place outside; go for a walk, ride bikes, sidewalk chalk, water play with a hose or sprinkler, hide and seek
  • Karaoke or dance party 
  • Create a scavenger hunt around the house 
  • Have a game night

Screen-Free Toys under $22 that promote imaginative play and exploration:

 

Screen Time Carolina Therapy Connection

Tummy Time Tips

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What is Tummy Time and why is it important?

Tummy Time is one of baby’s first exercises—and the most important! It is any period of the day where the child is placed on his or her stomach to play. It is a crucial exercise for baby’s motor, visual, and sensory development. Practicing tummy time helps babies develop the muscles necessary to lift their heads and, eventually, to sit up, crawl and walk. Tummy time is not an activity for sleep! Your baby should always be awake and supervised when lying on their tummy.

Tummy time is important because it:

  • Helps prevent flat spots on the back of your baby’s head
  • Makes your baby’s head, neck and shoulder muscles stronger so they can start to sit up, crawl, and walk
  • Improves your baby’s motor skills (using muscles to move and complete an action)
  • Alleviates gas and gastrointestinal pain
  • Helps master head control
  • Exposes your baby to different sensory environments
  • Engages and promotes bonding between you and your baby

When should Tummy Time start and how long does it last?

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends parents start tummy time early. In fact, babies born at full term with no health issues can start tummy time as soon as their first day home from the hospital. As a new born, your baby can benefit from 2-3 tummy time sessions every day, lasting around 3-5 minutes each. As they get older and become more able to tolerate tummy time, your baby should gradually practice more each day. When your baby is 3-4 months old, aim to achieve at least an hour total per day. You should continue doing this with them until they are at least 7-9 months old when they begin crawling. At this age, they will be getting the developmental benefits of tummy time while moving, and it is not as essential to have them do it, however, it is still beneficial to have your baby lying on their stomach during play.

Why doesn’t my baby like Tummy Time?

Some babies may not like the tummy time position at first, particularly when they have not yet developed the muscles to lift their head and neck. Eventually, your baby should enjoy lying on their tummy and begin to enjoy play in this position.

Tips for making tummy time more enjoyable:

  • Place yourself or a toy in reach for him or her to play with.
  • Lie on your bellies together, side-by-side or face-to-face, on a comfy surface.
  • Put your baby tummy-down on your chest while you do your sit-ups. Add some funny faces and silly noises with each rep.
  • Change locations, giving your baby a different view to look at each session.
  • Entertain your baby with colorful toys that make noises and have lights while lying on their tummy.
  • Use a pillow or folded towel under your baby’s arms to slightly elevate them when lying on their tummy.

Tummy Time Abilities

At 2 weeks your baby:

  • Using tummy-to-tummy with you, tummy down carrying positions, and lap soothing positions
  • Working towards lying on the floor on their tummy
  • May become irritated when placed on their tummy, especially on the floor

After 1 month, your baby:

  • Should attempt turn their head while lying on their stomach
  • Attempting to lift head up, even if they are unsuccessful

At 2 months, your baby:

  • Spending at least 1-2 minutes lying on their stomach without becoming upset
  • Doing most exercises on the floor
  • Tilting their head to one side (Note: ensure they are tilting their head to both sides and watch for early signs of Torticollis)

At 3 months, your baby:

  • Is beginning to put some weight in their arms, with elbows behind their shoulders
  • Gaining more head control for longer periods of time
  • Spending a total of 1 hour total each day lying on their stomach
  • Visually tracks toys and objects in front of them

At 4 months, your baby:

  • Lifting their head to a 90 degree angle and keeping it centered
  • Pushing up on their arms to bring chest off the floor
  • Lifting head and moving neck simultaneously to visually track you and toys in front of them

At 5 months, your baby:

  • Beginning to push up on hands with straight elbows
  • Starting to reach for toys placed nearby and moving/scooting forward

At 6+ months, your baby:

  • Initiates lying on tummy on their own during play
  • Reaching and grabbing toys
  • Pivoting in a circle while on their stomach
  • Rolling from their tummy to their back and vice versa
  • Prefers being on their stomach to allow for easier play, movement, and exploring

How can Carolina Therapy Connection help?

We often have parents ask us about tummy time, so our amazing physical therapist, Emily Tower, is here to help! Watch this video to learn more about how you can engage your child in tummy time. 

If you have any questions about tummy time or your child’s development, contact Carolina Therapy Connection!

  • Our email is info@carolinatherapyconnection
  • Our phone number is 252-341-9944
  • We will be happy to do a FREE screening!
Tummy Time Tips

Sensory Sensitivities: What Can I Do?

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What is Sensory Processing Disorder?

Sensory processing disorder occurs when a child (or adult) experiences more than one significant sensory sensitivity that interferes with everyday life. One’s body must first register the arrival of new sensory stimuli in order to process and respond to it. Some kids have poor registration, meaning they have difficulty recognizing and attending to new sensory stimuli; other kids might have high registration, meaning they feel constantly bombarded by stimuli, even those that are insignificant to a typical person in their environment. Your child might also display sensory seeking or sensory avoidant behaviors in response to their differences in processing. It is important to remember that symptoms and behaviors may be inconsistent, with varying triggers, intensity, and frequency.

Sensory Avoidant Children

The many types of sensory stimuli typically elicit a calming or arousing response. When faced with an extremely arousing, alarming type of stimuli, our body’s fight or flight system can be activated. This leads to behaviors including, but not limited to, running away, yelling or crying, physical aggression, or self-injurious behaviors. Kids who experience sensitivities to certain types of stimuli typically exhibit avoidance behaviors towards the sources of this stimuli. It is possible to desensitize children’s experiences with certain sensory stimuli; however, this process should be designed and monitored by a licensed Occupational Therapist.

Sensory avoidant behaviors might include:

  • Difficulty with washing or brushing hair
  • Difficulty with tolerating hair cuts
  • Difficulty with brushing teeth
  • Difficulty with trimming nails
  • Upset by unexpected touch
  • Difficulty adjusting or tolerating being in a loud, crowded environment
  • Prefers solo play
  • Prefers stationary activities – avoids running, climbing, jumping, etc.
  • Gagging or other extreme response to certain food smells or textures

What is Sensory Integration?

Sensory integration refers to how your body recognizes, processes, and responds to information received by our sensory systems on an individual and combined level. This includes our traditional 5 senses, sight, touch, taste, smell, and hearing; however, we also have proprioceptive and vestibular sensory systems.

SENSORY SYSTEMS:

  • Proprioception is our ability to sense the location, positioning, and movements of our body and its limbs. It allows us to navigate a crowded area without bumping into people and furniture in our path.
  • Vestibular sensation is housed in our inner ears and uses gravity to sense spatial orientation and movement. This system is responsible for maintaining balance during movement. If you or child is a victim of motion sickness, you have the vestibular system to blame!
  • Touch, or tactile sensation, comes from receptors in our skin found all over the body. Tactile sensation includes sensations of pain, temperature, pressure, and textures.
  • Taste 
  • Smell
  • Sight
  • Hearing

Understanding Sensory Overload & What You Can Do

Maintain a positive mindset: 

  • Move at your child’s pace. Never force a sensory experience on them. This will lead to broken trust – Remember that your child is experiencing these stimuli as an attack to their state of wellbeing and you are there to support and encourage them.
  • Start slow – simply tolerating being near aversive sensory stimuli is something to celebrate!
  • Give your child aspects of the situation to control by using conditional choices
    • “Would you like to brush your teeth first or take a bath first?”
    • “Would you like to try the peas or the carrots today?”
    • “Would you like to use the green or the blue finger paint?”
  • Desensitizing your child and creating new habits takes time! Progress can seem slow, but don’t get discouraged.

Activity ideas: 

  • Messy play – mud, dirt, water, food play, finger paints, shaving cream, bath bubbles, etc.
  • Noise cancelling headphones or ear plugs
  • Window shades or adjustable lights
  • Include your child in meal preparation process – encourage them to help whether with their hands or using cooking utensils to interact with the many food textures and smells
  • Food play – This is crucial when trying to expand your child’s diet. Encourage your child to interact with new foods in the most basic manner; the SOS Feeding Approach, used commonly by Occupational Therapists, encourages the following progression with new foods: See –> Touch –> Kiss –> Lick –> Taste –> Chew & Swallow. It is important to allow your child to move at their own pace and allow them to clean off hands or spit out food at any point along the continuum.
  • Sensory toys – Check out Ark Therapeutic, a leading manufacturer of innovative therapy tools and special needs products! They have great sensory toys, chews and fidgets that can help your child deal with sensory overload.
  • Finger painting – also try bathtub paint to reduce mess and give child control over cleaning off their hands
  • Listening to music

Check out this video of our AMAZING Occupational Therapist, Kelly, helping a child overcome a sensory fear.

How can Carolina Therapy Connection Help?

At Carolina Therapy Connection, we offer Sensory Integration Therapy and play-based treatment intervention that is specifically designed to stimulate and challenge all of the senses. Sensory Integration involves specific sensory activities (swinging, bouncing, brushing, and more) that are intended to help your child regulate his or her response to incoming sensory input. The outcome of these activities may be better focus and attention, improved behavior, and even lowered anxiety. Our therapists may work on  lowering a patient’s negative reactions to touch, help them become better aware of their body in space, and work on their ability to manage their bodies more appropriately (run and jump when it’s time to run and jump, sit and focus when it’s time to sit and focus, etc.). Various techniques include swinging, deep pressure therapy, which may include squeezing, rolling, etc., jumping on a trampoline, or gross motor play such as wall climbing, balance beam, etc.

Carolina Therapy Connection now has the largest and most state-of-the-art sensory gym in all of Eastern North Carolina!  Check out our 360° view of our sensory gym HERE. Our sensory gym is fully equipped with a zip-line, monkey bars, slides, scooter board ramps, ball pit, trampolines, rock climbing wall, and an expansive set of swings to offer a wide-variety of sensory experiences for each child.

If you have any questions or would like to schedule a screening for your child, call our clinic at (252) 341-9944 to learn more about what you can do and how we can help!

 

 

Sensory Sensitivities

Best Way to Teach My Child How to Tie Shoes

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The Best Way To Teach My Child How to Tie Their Shoes

Teaching your child to tie their shoes can be a long and frustrating task for parents.  Luckily our occupational therapists break it down into easy steps for caregivers to teach their children.  With a little practice and repetition, your child will be tying their shoes in no time!

Check out these tips and tricks from our occupational therapists on simple and easy ways to teach your children

 

What is the best way to teach my child how to tie their shoes? Easy…

*Learning step by step on a shoe placed in front of them (tabletop level)

It is easier for children to learn how to tie their shoes on a tabletop level before learning how to tie it on their own foot.

*Having different colored laces (ex. 1 white lace 1 orange lace)

This way, when explaining step by step, it is visually easier on your child to understand the difference in the laces and see each step visually.

**Practice, Practice, Practice!

It takes time! Do not think it will happen overnight. Continue to practice and they will begin to get the hang of it! Don’t give up!

*Use Backwards Chaining Techniques

Chaining is a technique used in ABA (applied behavior analysis) to teach difficult tasks by breaking them down into smaller parts. Backwards chaining occurs when an Adult does each step of the task and allows the kid to do the very LAST step on their own. Essentially: breaking down the steps of a task and teaching them in reverse order. This gives the child an experience of success and completion with every attempt.

Below are the verbal cues we use for each step based on the way some CTC therapists teach the kiddos how to tie shoes! You can substitute your own steps for alternate methods:

  1. Criss Cross
  2. Orange Under White
  3. Pull Tight
  4. Make a loop
  5. Swoop
  6. Push through
  7. Pull tight

The parent would start by tying the shoe but allowing the child to ‘pull tight’ at the end. Over and over, the parent demonstrates the steps of shoe-tying, slowly, describing the procedure. With time, the parent fades back a step at a time, allowing the child to complete the ending steps instead of having to start with an untied shoe and remember what to do. This will allow the child begin to understand each step of the ‘Tying their own shoes’ process, while visually seeing it multiple times and physically being able to complete the task.

Here is a resource to help!

Shoe tying template

Sensory Walk Activity to do at Home!

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Home with your kiddos and need some sensory suggestions?

 

This is a sensory walk that you can easily create at home with chalk and other materials (bins filled with rice, beans, dirt, sand, etc.).  This helps to promote balance, coordination, and following directions.  Try it at home and show us how you created your very own sensory walk!

sensory walk