Early Intervention - Joyful Play

For parents who want to support their child's development by helping them be calmer and stronger in their body,  and be more attentive so that they can develop communication, play, and self-care skills, working with me will help you be more joyful and intentional in your everyday routines. With my focus on coaching in the natural environment, you will feel empowered and confident in meeting your family's goals within your own home. 

Joint attention and self-regulation

Have you ever heard of the term "joint attention" before? It is when your child can focus on their parent/caregiver, an object, or a situation. This creates a shared experience, and it is these shared experiences that create the foundation of learning skills such as language and fine motor coordination! Therefore, joint attention is very important and every Early Intervention Specialist approaches it from their own unique perspective based on their expertise and practice style. As an occupational therapist, I will strive to help your child meet their sensory needs and "feel calm in their body" in order to increase their joint attention and be neurologically ready to learn! Here are some ways I can help: 

  • Provide education on sensory processing- what are the *7 different senses and how they affect our self-regulation which lays the foundation for higher learning

  • Determining what kind of sensory input will best help your child self-regulate, and how to provide your child with opportunities to fill or empty their sensory "cup" 

  • Demonstrate and incorporate sensory smart activities into daily routine 

Fine and Visual Motor Development

Occupational therapists focus on enhancing occupational engagement. What are the occupations or activities in which a young child engages? Play, sensory exploration, self-care, academic participation and fine and visual motor tasks such as drawing and writing to name a few. Fine and visual motor skills are also needed to participate in other occupations such as fastening buttons for donning a shirt in self-care, scooping food with a utensil during self-feeding, or opening and closing containers and transferring objects during water play. As an occupational therapist, I will help ensure your loved one is able to participate in childhood occupations by: 

  • strengthening core/trunk musculature for the development of fine motor coordination

  • integrating reflexes to help your child move in a more coordinated fashion

  • providing opportunities to practice using two hands together, crossing midline, and different grasps within your child's natural context during activities that are motivating to your child 

  • joyfully practicing pre-writing strokes in different sensory mediums

  • improving handwriting via correctly forming letters, writing on the line, and sizing appropriately

K. M. - West Chicago, IL (December 2023)

“My daughter worked with Bhumi for around 6 months, until she started preschool. Our experience with her was always positive and she provided great feedback and tools to help our daughter continue her fine motor development.

Bhumi is a very loving and caring therapist that builds a great relationship with her clients, helping build trust with them and provide them with fun activities that help with their development. She is definitely someone we would recommend to others.”

Self-feeding

One daily routine that I see parents most stressed out about is self-feeding! This can be due to sensory processing concerns causing kiddos to have difficulty in even sitting to eat and difficulty in interacting with/touching their food,  due to relying on screen time during meals, and due to not having fine motor skills to manipulate utensils. Here are some things we might discuss. considering your own family's unique goals, habits, cultural norms, and mealtime environment: 

  • setting up a routine that helps your child understand when mealtimes begin and end 

  • promoting independence in setting up their mealtime environment to create more interest in mealtimes 

  • creating a minimally distracting environment that emphasizes shared social connection during mealtimes 

  • encouraging your child to explore various flavors and textures in a low-pressure manner

  • preparing food so that your child can bring it to his/her mouth depending on age and motor coordination level 

  • dealing with unique issues such as pocketing food, taking too large bites or having diffiuclty self-pacing 

Self-care

In addition to self-feeding, other childhood self-care occupations include dressing, bathing, grooming, potty training, and sleep. I can help you increase your child's confidence and participation/independence in these tasks by: 

  • discussing how to set up the environment to promote skill development

  • setting up a routine for consistent skill development 

  • increasing confidence by breaking down tasks and working backwards from the last step

  • building "stepping stone" skills to engage in the larger self-care tasks

Discover More Joy in motherhood and in your child’s development.

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I am passionate about helping moms joyfully navigate their motherhood journey and empowering parents to achieve more joyful moments with their young ones.