Play and Learning
At our 12 month corrected developmental review, Talia was showing delays in all areas. We were referred to a number of services at the State Child Development Centre, including physiotherapy, speech therapy and an occupational therapist run programme called Play and Learning (PAL).
Last month I was contacted by PAL and found that it was a programme where an OT comes to your home for an hour a week, for up to 6 weeks, with a box of different toys to help with various areas of your child’s development. The OT will also advise you about anything you are interested in, so what the programme includes really varies from family to family and from week to week. We have now had 2 visits and it has been excellent, not least because recently I have been finding Talia more demanding but not really known what sort of new activities to try with her.
The first week the OT brought quite a lot of toys to help with fine motor skills and shape recognition, including a simple shape sorter where the shapes made noises when you put them in, stacking rings which made music each time you took a ring on or off, blocks with magnets in them which make it easier to stack them, and a couple of jigsaws - one with different shapes (circle, triangle, square etc) and one just all circles in different colours. The jigsaws were wooden with pegs on the back to make them easy to manipulate. There were also some books and other items. It took Talia a little while to get the hang of the toys, but then she played with them all week and by the end of it was much better at putting shapes in the right place.
On her last visit, the OT brought a different set of wobbly stacking rings, a singing piggy bank with enormous plastic coins, a ball and some more books, and toys to encourage imaginative play - a doll with bottle and bed and a set of plastic crockery. The crockery has been a great hit, as I had recently acquired a box of plastic food items. After a demonstration lesson, Talia was soon cooking up a storm, stirring a plastic bowl filled with random plastic foodstuffs and a couple of megablocks… iron chef move over, it’s time for plastic chef! I also taught her to take an imaginary sip of coffee from a little plastic teacup and say “mmmmm”. 
The OT also gave me a full set of PAL leaflets, some of which I had already seen at my local Child Health Nurse, but many of which were new and very interesting. These are also available online at http://www.pmh.health.wa.gov.au/health/infant_care/play.htm
Apparently the next visit will include messy play or playdough, so I’m looking forward to it!