An App That Has Me All Fingers and Thumbs

I am sure it is totally obvious how much I love finding good apps.  Ones that will motivate my kids and keep them interested while still working on specific goals.  Months ago I found Dexteria, an occupational therapy app created for school age children (also great for adults who may need to work on building up strength after a hand injury) that focuses on improving fine motor skills.  While it has been a great app for my older clients, it was a bit challenging and not motivating enough for my younger children or those older clients who have significantly decreased grasp strength and in-hand manipulation skills.  So when I saw that they released Dexteria Jr. I immediately downloaded it and began using it right away.  It's a true must have for all you therapists who use an iPad during therapy.

Binary Labs created Dexteria Jr. in conjunction with occupational therapists.  There are 3 activities that work on improving pinching, grasping and coordination of motor skills.  I have been using this for a week or so with a variety of kids (including my own 3 year old daughter) and they all love it.  For my preschoolers who struggle with aquiring higher level fine motor skills, this is a fun app that easily motivates them to work on those challenging skills.  It's clear to me that a lot of thought and collaboration was put into the creation of this app and I am thrilled to have it out there.  Not only am I loving using it in my sessions, I love having it to suggest to my colleagues and to parents of children I work with.

The app is broken down into three mini-games and each game has multiple levels that focuses on a different fine motor skills.  I will describe each game here:

Squish the Squash

Squish the Squash-works on encouraging a child to use a pointer finger to squish the vegetable.  I encourage my kids to stick only their pointer finger out and let all the other fingers go to "sleep".  This can be quite challenging for those kids with decreased grasp strength.  There are a number of levels and the expectations increase on each level.  The number of squash they must squish goes up; they start moving around the screen and eventually you have to squash them 2 to 3 times before you earn a point.

Pinch the Pepper...watch out for the multiplying yellow peppers

Pinch the Pepper-this section of the game focuses on developing a pincer grasp.  Kids are expected to pinch the peppers on the screen.  Again, there are a number of levels and the expectations and challenges go up with each level.  At first, the peppers remain still; eventually they begin moving around the screen.  My favorite part of this game is that eventually the red peppers will begin changing color; if the pepper is yellow and it is pinched, it will split into 3 more peppers.  This is perfect for working on improving a child's focus and ability to regulate their actions.

Trace and Erase..Step 1.  Drag the line to the star

Trace and Erase-this game is perfect for working on pre-writing and tracing skills with preschoolers.  A child is expected to trace a variety of lines and shapes by drawing a line from a dot to the star.  They are timed and their accuracy is measured.  Once they are done tracing the lines, they are then expected to erase each line.  As they erase the lines, they begin to see a picture of themselves.  Once all the lines are erased, the camera will go off and take a silly picture of the kid.  Talk about motivating! My kids keep asking to do more levels just so they can get there picture taken at the end.


In addition to what I have already mentioned, here are a few more occupational therapy goals that can be addressed when using this app:

Improve Grasping Skills-the pinching game is perfect for working on improving a child's grasping s I would work on generalizing this skill by following up with a hands on activity like the Orb Factory Mosaics or stringing small beads on string.  If you are working on proper pencil grasp with a child, you can have them complete the squish the squash and tracing game using a stylus.  I try and do this as often as possible with apps so they can work on grasping skills more consistently.  I recommend the iCreate one found here.  This one meant to look like a crayon is the perfect size for little hands.
Improve Eye-Hand Coordination-all 3 of the games require eye-hand coordination.  This is a perfect and motivating app to be able to focus on coordinating your eyes and hands.  Once you feel as though they have mastered this, you can then try and find more hands on/less techy activities such as stringing beads or mosaic activities.

Trace and Erase...Step 2.  Check out the picture that pops up
as you erase your lines.  

Improve Visual Tracking and Scanning Skills-this is a great game to work on improving visual tracking and scanning skills.  The squash and pepper game require a child to follow the vegetables around the screen prior to either sqishing them or pinching them.  They begin to move faster and faster so it's really important that they maintain their eye contact at one object at a time instead of moving from one to the other.   If you want to work on generalization of their tracing skills, have them complete a paper tracing activity right after.  I am a big fan of the Kumon books; try out the Amazing Tracing and Easy Mazes ones to compliment this activity.
Improve Modulation/Regulation Skills-I like that in order to be truly successful with these games, it requires a child to slow down and be steady in their movements.  For example, if you rush through the trace and erase game, you won't stay in the lines.  I tend to have to remind my kids that speed is not as important as staying in the lines in order to get them to slow down.
Improve Attention and Focus-sometimes I find that the timed apps make my kids rush through activities.  While playing Dexteria Jr., it's important to remind the kids to maintain their focus on the vegetables or the tracing shapes and not the timer.  All three of the activities require you to focus but on different things.  For example, the tracing game requires you to focus on staying in the boundaries.  The pinching game requires you to focus on the color of the peppers.
Improve Upper Extremity Strength-not all iPad games are easy to do while lying on the net swing but once a child is familiar with this one, you can present it to them while on the swing.  I have so many kids who complain about working on upper body strengthening and say they are tired within seconds of getting on the swings.  However, if I have them engaged in a game, they don't mind spending more time in that position.

There are a ton of things to love about this app and as an OT, I could go on and on about the therapeutic benefits of it.  The best part about it is that the design is very child friendly and motivating for the younger kids.  They are having serious fun while working on skills that are necessary for success in academic skills such as handwriting, drawing and cutting.  What's also great is that while it is therapeutic, it can be used at home with caregivers and parents.  Children don't mind doing their OT homework when this app is involved.

While there is still a lot of summer left, I know some parents are looking for activities to get their kids ready for the new school year.  I promise Dexteria Jr. will be something all you early educators who use the iPad will want in your catalog of apps.  And I promise you will be recommending it to parents for home use.

I would love to hear your thoughts on the app and how you use it in therapy or at home.  If you have any other apps that are like this that you want to suggest to my readers, please let me know.  I am always a click away and value your thoughts and opinions.

Hiho, Hiho, Hiho Batik We Go

I don't consider myself entirely crafty.  I love it and am inspired by crafty moms who spend hours crafting with their children.  When I had my daughter 3 years ago, I imaged making holiday cards for all our family and friends using her footprints or letting her go wild with markers and finger paints.  Well, that hasn't totally happened but as she gets older we are attempting it more and this year we made the cutest Valentine's Day cards.

Living in New York City has so many advantages.  Awesome restaurants, great shopping and amazing cultural opportunities.  Once you have children, you realize there are so many great places to go to as well.   I live in Park Slope and love it for all the reasons mentioned above.  However, we also are the home to many independent shops and not overrun by chain places quite yet.  Not long ago, one of my favorite shoe stores closed and I was totally bummed.  I had bought shoes for me and for Quinn and was sad that I wouldn't have this place so close anymore.  A couple of weeks after it closed, I discovered a kids batik clothing store would open in its place.  Not so disappointed anymore.  Right before it opened, I came to discover that not only would they sell insanely adorable clothing, they would have a studio in the back room so you could design and then paint your own batik article of clothing.  No longer sad about old shoe store but super excited for a new place to learn a new craft.

I have purchased many of the awesome shirts from Hiho Batik.  A couple of weeks ago, I had the chance to finally try out the studio in back with one of my favorite people.  There are certain kids I work with who I just connect to.   Years ago, when I began working in my private practice in the city, I had the great luck to meet Jen and Riley.  I fell in love with this family immediately and felt so connected to this little 1 1/2 year old girl who wouldn't stop crying for anything.  Riley and I shared a birthday and I felt that we were meant to be working together and when she finally stopped crying, a relationship was born.  Riley has graduated from occupational therapy with me but the relationship has lasted for 7 1/2 years and each year I try and do something special with her for her birthday.  This year I knew exactly what that would be....we were hitting up Hiho Batik together for the first time.

I didn't realize until I went to Hiho Batik how many occupational therapy goals can be addressed.  I quickly learned that this fun little afternoon taught me that I could use this with the children I work with to help them gain skills and feel better about themselves.  I could not have been more impressed with Julia and Robyn, the owners of Hiho Batik.  They were so welcoming and helpful for us novice batikkers.   When we were feeling stressed about what we were doing, they bent over backwards to help us and reassure us that we were doing a great job.  They offered us extra templates, gave us support and made us feel like we were doing a great job  As a therapist, it means so much to find a place like this that will make an artist of any level feel good about what they are creating.  I can easily suggest this place to any of the families I work with because I know that when they go there, they will be treated like royalty.  They will be made to feel like they are doing a great job and that is what matters to me.  I spend a lot of time talking to the children I work with that things don't have to be perfect; they have to try their hardest and their masterpiece will be just right.

*Improve eye-hand coordination/visual motor skills-any time you are working with a writing instrument (in this case, the wax "pen") and tracing something, you are working on eye-hand coordination
*Improve attention and focus-when you are tracing over your design with the hot wax, you have to pay careful attention and focus on the lines.  If not, your design won't come out the way you imagined it
*Improve creativity and imagination-if you decide you don't want to use one of the patterns that Hiho provides, you can make any design you want.  This is a great opportunity to have a child work on being more creative and thinking outside of the box
*Improve self-esteem-the look on Riley's face when she finished her shirt was priceless.  Then when she got to see her completed shirts (and they were AMAZING) she was super psyched.  She put her shirt on immediately and the compliments kept pouring in.  While this is an activity that is great for any school age child, if you have a child who loves fashion, this is the perfect activity for them.  How much fun is it to tell you friends that you actually created the shirt/dress/sweatshirt you are wearing???
*Improve social skills-this is a great activity to do with a friend.  You can talk about what you are doing, what colors you are choosing, why you have picked a particular template, etc..  I would love to plan a weekend event for The Meeting House down the line because I think it would be amazing and a great place to practice so many of the social skills that we have been working on this year.

I can't wait to go back to Hiho Batik with the kids I work with and with my family.  I know that my nieces will love this.  During my visit last week, Quinn and I made an awesome dress for her third birthday celebration.  While it isn't an ideal activity for a toddler, we certainly had a great time making her special dress together.  Here Quinn is wearing her lollipop dress for her candy store birthday party!
She was so excited to put it on and was showing it off to her friends.  I love that we had that special time with Riley and we created a memory together.  Every time I look at this picture or her dress, I will think of this amazing time we all had together at Hiho Batik.

For all my New York City readers, I highly recommend this place.  I am not the only one who thinks this place rocks.  Check out New York Magazines writeup about Hiho Batik.  They were included in this years Best of New York issue.  For all my out of town readers, if you have plans to come to NYC, definitely hit up this place.  It will make your trip to the city that never sleeps even more memorable.

I would love to hear from any of you who have visited Hiho Batik.  It would be fun to see what you or your child have created while there.  If you have any questions or comments, I am only a click away and love to hear from my readers.