This is the Ultimate Guide to help you find the best gift for your child that will help them grow and learn new skills while guaranteeing that they will have fun! These toys, books, and development tools are used in our clinics every day, so we know they are kid-approved. 

targets colors, counting, cause/ effect, turn-taking, hand-eye coordination, intentional grasp and release, visual and spatial perception, and tactile and visual exploration.

Targets color recognition, shape, size, comparison, bilateral coordination, counting, turn taking, pretend play, memory, stacking, visual focusing, 

Targets grasp and release, finger isolation and pointing, motor planning and control, hand eye coordination, color identification, counting, making choices, following directions (“press, pop, put in, roll”), 

This Toy targets bi-manual hand use or bilateral coordination, hand strengthening, visual perceptual skills, color identification, counting, sorting, cause/ effect, and turn-taking. It can be used on windows, refrigerators, and bathtubs in a variety of environments. 

Targets constructional praxis with building, imagination, counting, color identification, copying patterns, turn taking, problem solving, cause and effect play, sensory tool to help with concentration, attention and focus

 : These spoons are great to promote self-feeding skills. Their flat shape allows purees and other textures to stick easily, allowing your baby to practice holding the spoon and placing it in their mouth without losing food in the process. 

 : These spoons have a shallow spoon bowl, allowing your baby to easily clear foods from the spoon using their lips. They also include a guard to help prevent gagging by sticking the spoon too far back in their mouth. 

 : This cup is great for teaching straw drinking! This cup allows you to squeeze liquid through straw to help teach the concept of straw drinking. These supports can slowly be faded to only squeezing liquid halfway up the straw until your baby is sucking independently. The straw is also silicone, which can be cut down to make it shorter in addition to helping prevent mouth injuries. 

 : This silicone cup is great for transitioning from straw cup to open cup. It also has handles that can make it easier for your baby to hold independently. The silicone is also great to help prevent mouth injuries. Great price! 

 : This suction plate is perfect to encourage self-feeding without the mess. The dividers help your baby with scooping while also giving parents a visual reminder to serve 1 fruit/veggie, 1 carbohydrate, and 1 protein at each meal. These are also available to purchase with lids, which are great for leftovers! 

 : These bowls are nice because they have suction, come with lids for easy storage, and also have measuring lines so you can easily know how much your baby ate. 

 : These are great when transitioning from smooth purees to soft solids. You can place fresh, soft pieces of fruits or vegetables inside to teach your baby to chew, and it will come out of the small holes as purees into your baby's mouth. You can also place frozen fruits, vegetables, or even breastmilk inside to help ease teething pain. This comes with different size pouches and a freezer tray mold with spill-resistant cover.

 : These are similar to the silicone feeders, but offer a different texture. The mesh makes it easier to control the bite size and shape to ensure your baby is able to chew, rather than just suck. Mesh is more difficult to clean, however dishwasher safe!

 : This teether is designed by an SLP and perfectly shaped for your baby to hold onto and place in their mouth. This promotes jaw strengthening, munching, and tongue lateralization (side-to-side tongue movement needed to move food in the mouth). 

 : This oral motor tool, designed by an SLP, has 3 different branches to chew, each providing different sensory input and helping your baby to tolerate different textures. These are also frequently used to support jaw strengthening, jaw stability, chewing, and decreasing oral sensitivities. 

Toy recommendations from a Physical Therapist

The best gift you can get for your child is a book. Books are ALWAYS a great way to use language and teach new vocabulary while also fostering a connection with your child. So get all snuggled up with your little one and enjoy these speech therapist recommended books. 

Happy holidays from your friends at Marshall Pediatric Therapy! 

Therapist-Approved Christmas Gift Guide

Setting up & Navigating the Parent Portal

As the new school year begins, the weight of your child’s backpack can become a significant concern. Improperly packed or worn backpacks can lead to discomfort, pain, and even postural issues. At Marshall Pediatric Therapy, we understand the importance of proper backpack use for your child’s well-being.

By following these simple guidelines, you can help ensure your child’s backpack is not causing unnecessary strain on their body. If you have concerns about your child’s posture, backpack-related pain, or overall physical development, please don’t hesitate to contact Marshall Pediatric Therapy. Our team of experienced therapists can provide an evaluation and develop a personalized plan to address your child’s specific needs.

Back to School Tips: Backpacks!

Are you running out of indoor activities to occupy your kids during the winter? Eating more family meals at home together is a blessing; however, it can create more mess and more mounds of garbage. Why not use those empty containers and boxes to have some fun with your kids?

Upcycled Adventures: Developing Skills and Smiles from Everyday Items 

When most people think of healthy vision, they typically think of getting their eyes checked by their regular optometrist to make sure they can see clearly and that their eyes are free of disease.  While this is a very critical and important thing to do as a part of overall wellness, this isn’t where the road ends. There is SO much more to healthy vision than seeing 20/20.

 Getting an annual eye exam is not the end; it is just the beginning!

 help to emphasize the relationship that the eyes, brain, body, and mind all have with one another. We have worked closely with the NVPI team to provide our families with a helpful snapshot of some information regarding the visual system and overall eye wellness. 

Kids (and adults) go through life working so much harder than they have to because the optometrist tells them they see 20/20, YET they still have trouble seeing …the words are still blurry, they get frequent headaches, and their eyes always feel fatigued. This is because their eyes are not working together as a team to gather information. The structure is there but the function is not.

70-90% of what we learn and perceive is actually processed through our visual system. It also takes from birth to age 15 for our visual skills to process. 

Did you know that there are actually a total of 17 visual skills and generally ONE of those (Central Distant Acuity), is tested on most eye exams? NVPI actually tests all 17 skills to ensure proper results and diagnosis.

 seeing objects at the sides when continuing to look straight ahead

 understanding whether seen objects are close to or far from each other

 both eyes working together to achieve clear, comfortable vision

the eyes’ ability to quickly move or “jump” between different focal points

 both eyes’ smooth movements tracking a moving target

both eyes working together, toward each other, to focus on a nearby object

 the eye continues to change its focus between near and distant objects

the eyes’ ability to maintain focus on close-up activity

an analysis of the information about an image (visual/spatial learning or picture thinking

employing visual information to direct the body’s movements in a coordinated way

employing visual information to control the movement of hands, fingers, and feet

understanding what is being seen and using cognition to process this information

using vision together with other senses in order to perform complex tasks

The two videos below from Dr. Graebe at NVPI help to best explain what Vision Therapy is, as well as best explain the correlation between one’s vision and learning. It is very often that the school struggles your child might be experiencing, go hand-in-hand with vision-related concerns. 

General

Therapist-Approved Christmas Gift Guide

Setting up & Navigating the Parent Portal

Back to School Tips: Backpacks!

Upcycled Adventures: Developing Skills and Smiles from Everyday Items

Healthy Vision - More Than Seeing 20/20