Learn & Grow OT in Mackay, Queensland | Medical and health

Learn & Grow OT

Locality: Mackay, Queensland

Phone: +61 418 370 474

Address: Mobile OT Service 4740 Mackay, QLD, Australia

Website: http://learngrowot.com

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• Medical and health
• Occupational therapist

25.01.2022 Just another way music can be incorporated in to learning

24.01.2022 || Music || Some of you may not know that I was actually a piano teacher in my spare time before I had Chester and LGOT took over my prioritised time My love for music is why you are most likely to hear me singing and using music throughout my OT sessions.... When young children are consistently engaged by music, they benefit from many levels including social-emotional, creative and physical... And, of course, they will develop a life long love for music! There is so much research out there to back up how music can be therapeutic. Please enjoy a short clip of a Swifte late night jam sesh (I included my duet with Kinley because it’s easier on the ears than Chester’s ).

24.01.2022 || Baking || Happy Saturday! Who’s planning to do some baking this weekend? Did you know there are so many developing skills that can be supported by baking. Just a broad look...... Fine motor Visual-motor (otherwise known as hand-eye coordination) Cognitive functioning inc. following directions, memory, problem solving, and creativity Social-emotional inc. sense of entitlement and confidence What’s your role in supporting this activity: Safety first Sanitary handling Make observations and engage in conversation inc. describing what you’re doing, posing questions (like where the food comes from) Model positive behaviour by Kinley’s Meemar who is amazing and bakes with her all the time

22.01.2022 || Pets || Poor Kinley has been a bit under the weather this week, resulting in some much needed rest time at home. Lucky for her, she has her little companion, Alex, by her side to keep that beautiful smile on her face Pets are not just awesome friends for when we aren’t feeling well, but they are such wonderful support to developing childhood skills:... social/emotional skills including self-esteem, compassion life skills such as learning responsibility even communication skills I’d love to hear what pets you have at home?

21.01.2022 Just another classic representation of dressing up this week for Kinley (aka Scallywag Chumbucket) The fun, laughter, pirate accent. Kinley had such an amazing pirate day at school last week to finish off term 2 See our post a few weeks ago about the benefits of dressing up for kids ... Just for a laugh, swipe across... what’s your pirate name?

20.01.2022 || SENSORY 101 || I’m sure you’ve all heard the term sensory processing (SP), but I wonder how many of you understand what SP actually is and how it can effect our behaviour... Firstly, let’s list each of our senses:... - sight - hearing - taste - smell - touch - vestibular - proprioception SP is the way our body’s RECEIVE, ORGANISE and RESPOND to different sensory input from the environment You will look at our world and how a lot of us behave so differently

20.01.2022 || Scooter Boards || Everyone who knows me, knows that this is an essential item in my OT kit! They are brilliant for developing all sorts of fundamental skills: core strength and posture upper limb strength and coordination... motor planning bilateral coordination For a free handout on fun activities to do with a scooter board, dm our page or email me at [email protected] A great gift idea for kids and available at our favourite @kmartaus for $16 Happy Monday

19.01.2022 || Music || Some of you may not know that I was actually a piano teacher in my spare time before I had Chester and LGOT took over my prioritised time My love for music is why you are most likely to hear me singing and using music throughout my OT sessions.... When young children are consistently engaged by music, they benefit from many levels including social-emotional, creative and physical... And, of course, they will develop a life long love for music! There is so much research out there to back up how music can be therapeutic. Please enjoy a short clip of a Swifte late night jam sesh (I included my duet with Kinley because it’s easier on the ears than Chester’s ).

18.01.2022 FRIDAY FUNNIES Embarrassing moments... Kids say the silliest things... and while mostly harmless, sometimes those things can lead to some very embarrassing situations ... I’d love to hear your stories! What was the most embarrassing moment caused by your children? Please share in the comments!

14.01.2022 Hey LGOT family! I am over the moon to introduce you all to our new Occupational Therapist, Amber Amber is a Mackay local who graduated her bachelor of OT at James Cook University last year. Her studies reiterated her love for childhood development when completing her uni placements and her passion has grown from there, where she is taking her position as a paediatric OT in her stride ... As a very family oriented person, Amber shares our passion for working with kids and their families, teachers and significant others so they can reach their full potential in all aspects of life A perfect fit for the Learn & Grow team Welcome Amber

14.01.2022 || Chores || Children (especially Kinley's age) aim to please! Research shows that allowing your kiddos to assist with day-to-day home jobs not only teaches general life skills, but encourages physical skills, executive functioning, as well as social-emotional aspects within the family unit, such as appreciation and respect for belongings ... So start supporting these skills and get your kids helping out Trust me... your kids will thank you in the future Feel free to pm me if you’d like to know age appropriate chore ideas or recommendations on how to actually have your child become involved in such a horrible task

13.01.2022 || Show & Tell || Kinley took her kitten, Alex, to school for show and tell last week and I was blown away with how much pride she had in presenting him to her class. It got me thinking about how the task of Show & Tell can support the brains of our little ones... Firstly, show and tell is an experience that grows with children as their knowledge and skills develop ... Skills supported include: social skills (listening, taking turns) communication skills descriptive language self-esteem and confidence sense of pride If your child hasn’t yet had show and tell at school this year, I highly encourage getting in touch with their teacher to organise this! Just for laughs... what’s the funniest thing your child, student or another child has brought in to class for show and tell? Friends of mine have had their children bring in frozen flies and frogs! Can anyone else beat that? Please share in the comments

13.01.2022 || Horizontal Drawing || We all know how important writing/drawing tasks are for fine motor development, but did you know that we use so many of the bigger core and extremity muscles and movements (aka gross motor) in order to create a stable base to support the smaller intricate movements of writing/drawing. Think about it... babies hit gross motor milestones first within their development timeline (e.g. rolling over, sitting up, crawling, walking etc) and then when th...ey grow older, start using their finer muscles and movements more intricately. Horizontal drawing helps encourage so many gross motor skills like core strength, upper limb stability, midline crossing, motor planning, proprioceptive sensory input... the list goes on. My kids love the old school ‘chalk on the cement’, but there are so many other ways to encourage drawing on a horizontal floor. Send us a pm for more ideas Handy tip: changes in body position regularly when performing sit down tasks (for adults too) is so beneficial for concentration and awareness!

11.01.2022 Good morning LGOT family A different kind of post today... This quote truly spoke to me this morning and I thought of many parents (both clients and personally) who would feel this too. ... It saddens me when parents feel insecure and the need to apologise for bringing their child along to things; which be real, we’ve all been there. Your children will ALWAYS COME FIRST. Tell yourself time and time again... NEVER feel guilty for their presence

11.01.2022 A few weeks back, I posted about developmental benefits of chores... The following blog was such a great read to extend on the subject! It discusses research behind what we should be expecting and how us as parents/caregivers can actually support our kiddo's developing brains in this area of life skills. A great read for those parents who are a little unsure :-) ... https://www.coordikids.com//the-best-chore-list-for-kids-/

10.01.2022 It’s Monday Let’s all check in... how are we feeling today?

07.01.2022 Still relevant

04.01.2022 WE’RE BACK! After some time away from social media (slack and time poor, should be the best way to describe it )... I’m so eager to continue sharing my forever growing knowledge of childhood development. So firstly, let’s introduce a new post topic... || Dress ups || An activity that continues to live through the ages Play is the work of a child, and children benefit so much through dress-up play! ... Emotional development Executive functioning, memory and problem solving Social skills including empathy Imagination Life skills Speech and vocabulary Dressing up is so much fun, you can dress as anyone Me (Hannah) with my kids Kinley and Chester, dressing up as... I don’t even know what we were, but it was so much fun!

03.01.2022 Interesting! I have definitely experienced sensory overload from a parents point of view and can think of many examples of my behaviour and way I’ve self-regulated in these circumstances (not all green choices either). Deep pressure and chewing are my personal ‘calm’ during unpleasant sensory experiences , but sometimes the sensory experience becomes so much as a parent, you just snap, correct? Have a read of the post below and I’d love to hear your experiences or discussion around this topic in the comments...!

03.01.2022 || SENSORY 101 || I’m sure you’ve all heard the term sensory processing (SP), but I wonder how many of you understand what SP actually is and how it can effect our behaviour... Firstly, let’s list each of our senses:... - sight - hearing - taste - smell - touch - vestibular - proprioception SP is the way our body’s RECEIVE, ORGANISE and RESPOND to different sensory input from the environment Over the next few days, follow along as we go through each of our senses in more detail You will look at our world and how a lot of us behave so differently

02.01.2022 Happy Hump Day from the Mini Swifte’s Be the reason a child smiles today

01.01.2022 How beautiful is this Let’s be honest... we’ve all laid on our toddlers lap and snuggled into them. I’ll put a video of Chester and I from a couple months ago in the comments. I’d love to see your toddler or child’s reaction (I guess it could be funny with the older kids haha)