Therapro Newsletter - A Celebration of Handwriting

Happy Birthday, John Hancock! A Celebration of Handwriting

Fine Motor Olympics (New Revised Edition)

Our January Newsletters typically focus on handwriting - after all it is National Handwriting Month, which includes the birth date of a one-time Massachusetts governor, John Hancock.

As part of Therapro's National Handwriting Month celebration this year we asked Marcia Bridgeman, MHA, OTR/L, author of Fine Motor Olympics to join us at our January Saturday Seminar. Her seminar on January 7th, Analyzing Activities for Improving Student Hand Function! provided a comprehensive look at hand development, followed by hands-on activity analyses for 8 innovative fine motor tasks. This seminar reinforced the fact that OTs have the skill to help students develop the muscles and arches of the hands to ensure handwriting success.

Marcia pointed out that Therapro supports every developmental stage of handwriting with many materials. For instance,

with younger students, Finger Crayons help to shape the small hand for writing. Crayon Rocks, small and pebble shaped, are designed to strengthen the tripod grip muscles
for older students, Therapro has Vertical Surfaces to promote the development of proper hand and wrist position for handwriting.
and, for all students Therapro features a number of Handwriting Programs that have been used successfully to learn handwriting. They come from specialists in child development, because they recognize that handwriting is more than a mechanical process and requires a complex array of visual perceptual, motor and sensory motor skills.

Be sure to read Filomena's review which gives further details of the seminar and includes many inexpensive functional fine motor activities. John Hancock would be astounded at the choice of handwriting materials available for today's students!!

Karen Conrad Weihrauch, PhD, OTR/L

Details on all Therapro offerings can be found at www.therapro.com and our blog. You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest or contact us with any feedback or questions.

Take a Bite...

We are delighted to welcome Kerry Pearl, MS, CCC-SLP, of Boston Children's Hospital as our February 11th Saturday Seminar speaker. Kerry specializes in evaluation and treatment of pediatric feeding and swallowing disorders as the Coordinator of the Food School feeding therapy program. In her seminar, Interventions for Toddlers and School-Aged Children with Feeding Difficulties, Kerry will provide information about feeding principles applicable in various settings and how to promote successful oral feeding across disciplines. If you are unable to attend this seminar, stay tuned for a review of it and YouTube clips which you will be able to access in the next Theragram.

Click here to register »

Featured Products

These are some of Marcia Bridgeman's favorite Therapro products for hand skills:

Wacky Web

Wow - a fun 3-dimensional maze! Move the smiley face bead along the elastic cord and through the slits on the felt mat from the one side (red) to the other side (blue).

Froggy Feeding Fun

Squeeze to open Froggy's mouth and strengthen fine motor muscles! Roll a cube to determine which flies to pick up - or feed him using the other hand to encourage bilateral integration. Reinfroces colors, numbers, counting and sorting too.

Wind-Up Walking Robot

Made of "stretchy" material, the robot walks forward on black feet while arms shake. Assorted colors. Size: 3"

Get a Grip Pegboard

A versatile learning aid that is designed to develop and strengthen visual perception skills, visual motor coordination and fine motor skills, including the "pincer" grasp (thumb and index finger) so crucial to fine motor development and control.

Saturday Seminar Series

All seminars are free, and are held Saturdays from 9-11 AM in our Showroom.

To check out what's coming up for our Saturday Seminar Series, just click on the News and Events Tab on our website. View past seminars and upcoming seminars, see speakers' descriptions of their seminars as well as their learning objectives. We hope that knowing what to expect from the seminar in advance will help you decide if it is one that you may wish to attend (or view on our YouTube channel).

Upcoming confirmed events:

February 11, 2017

Interventions for Toddlers and School-Aged Children with Feeding Difficulties

Speaker: Kerry Pearl, MS, CCC-SLP

April 8, 2017

An Introduction to Yoga and Mindfulness in the Classroom

Speaker: Meg Durkin, MS, E-RYT, RCYT

March 4, 2017

Post-Secondary Transition Planning

Speaker: Tee Stock, MS OTR/L, MBA

May 6, 2017

SAVE THE DATE! Seminar info forthcoming

Speaker: Kristi Langslet, OTR/L

Always check our website for the newest updated information.

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