National Adoption Month: Malachi's Story *Thank you to Cortney for sharing her fostering experience with San Mar and with the adoption process in Maryland!

Get Crafty with Christmas Food Tis the season to enjoy all the wonderment of the holiday! While the kids are off of school, you may be looking for projects for them. We always like to play with our food here at PMC. Check out the following list of easy-to-do activities that involve food and fun!

The Developmental Benefits of Tumbling Classes Here at the Pediatric Movement Center, our recreational classes are fun, social movement opportunities for children of all ages to play in a safe and secure space. But tumbling and gymnastics classes offer so many benefits, both physical and mental, for young children. Whether you are looking at our Ninja classes or Adaptive Gymnastics, you can be assured that our approach to recreation is developmentally beneficial for all individuals. Here are 5 benefits of gymnastics and tumbling classes: Physical Fitness Physical benefits of tumbling and gymnastics include flexibility, core strength, cardiovascular health and stamina, join health, and disease prevention. Jumping, balance, leg lifts and triple flexion (ankle, knee and hip) are just a few movements that are beneficial. Tumbling and gymnastics also includes a variety of poses that are helpful for strength and flexibility, such as lunges , bicycle, butterfly stretch, and forward rolls. 2. Cognitive Development Tumbling and gymnastics can improve focus, decision making and problem solving, as well as self-discipline and mental toughness. Gymnastic routines often are similar to memorizing dance sequences, where the individual has to memorize a series of movements in a certain order and on a particular timeline. Coordination of different poses that require full body strength (such as cartwheels or forward rolls) also require particular focus and mind-body connection. 3. Social Skills One of the best things about childrens' movement classes is the social aspect. Our recreational classes are a space for children to have fun and play with other kids. Our classes are inclusive, allowing children of different sensory and behavioral needs to be part of the group, and enabling children of different physical abilities to engage with other children. Waiting for your turn on the balance beam or celebrating a friends' success when they do a handstand for the first time are just a few social benefits of tumbling classes. 4. Confidence Self-discipline and mental toughness can play an important role in self-confidence. Our play-based classes are led by instructors devoted to supporting students through positive reinforcement. When children are given the space to try new or challenging physical activity, their confidence often increases through their success in trying something that they couldn't accomplish before. 5. Injury Prevention Just like many NFL players engage in ballet or pilates to cross-train during the off-season, so too can student athletes and kids playing multiple sports use tumbling and gymnastics as a great way to benefit other sports activities. Stretching, full body strengthening balance and coordination techniques are just a few benefits of tumbling classes that will also benefit kids engaging in other sports. Interested in learning more about our recreational classes? Check out our current class schedule for more information!

What is Feeding Therapy?

What is Apraxia? Apraxia is a motor speech disorder. Childhood apraxia of speech is a rare, but lifelong disorder that makes it difficult for individuals to move their mouth muscles in order to speak. The important thing to note about Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) is that the child knows what they want to say, but may struggle with connecting the brain to the muscles that must accompany speech. Unlike other forms of childhood speech problems, CAS is not a disorder that can be outgrown. Children with CAS must receive treatment in order to make any progress with speech. Signs of CAS in children older than 3 years old include: - not pronouncing words the same way every time - putting the stress on the wrong syllable or word in a sentence or sequence of words - distortions in sounds - ease with shorter words and struggle with longer words Speech therapy for CAS focuses on strengthening the muscle groups required to speak - included facial and oral structures. This part of speech language therapy is referred to as speech motor planning and programming . SLP's will focus on techniques and activities that strengthen the lips, tongue, soft palate, jaw and vocal folds - to help the child learn when to activate and move each at the right time and in the right order, so that words are pronounced and produced accurately. Children with CAS may also struggle with fine motor skills, delayed language, and problems with reading, spelling and writing. If you have questions about CAS and want to learn more about what speech therapy services we can provide at PMC, please reach out today.