Do you ever wonder what your baby can see and when? When a baby is first born, we are often told that they can’t see more than 6-12 inches away. However, this is not the whole story. Babies are born with the ability to see at any distance. But, they aren’t very good at using their eye muscles. This means that they don’t focus on the object they are looking at accurately. They may focus too close and be looking in front of the object. Or, they may focus too far away and be looking behind the object. What a baby has difficulty seeing, is details. Babies don’t have mature visual acuity when they are born because the ability to see details is also dependent on the retina and the brain, which are not fully developed at birth.

So, what can my baby see?

In the first month of life, your baby’s vision is 20/120, which is the equivalent of being able to read the big E on an eye chart. This means that a newborn can see your eyes, your smile, and their own hands and fingers. By 4 months of age, your baby’s vision has improved to 20/60. This means that by 4-5 months, your baby can see and recognize your face and differentiate your face from all other faces. By 8 months, your baby can see 20/30, almost as well as you can!

The easiest things for your infant to see are high contrast patterns, such as black and white. An easy way to create a “toy” for your baby to look at is to make it yourself. Use a white paper plate or sheet of card stock and a black Sharpie. Draw thick black stripes for a high contract black and white stripe pattern. Another good option is a black and white checkerboard pattern.

Just because high contract black and white patterns are the easiest thing for your baby to see, that does not mean they are the only things they can see. Newborns can also distinguish shades of grey. By 9 weeks, a baby can distinguish most of the subtle contrast of the world around them, almost as well as an adult.

What about color?

Infants as young as two weeks old have been shown to see color, but their color vision is not as sensitive as an adult’s so they are unable to distinguish subtle color differences. This means that they probably cannot tell the difference between red and reddish orange. However, they can see color patterns as well as black and white patterns as long as the pattern is large enough and the color combination is different enough (either in color brightness or contrast).

Eye Movement

Your baby’s eyes do not move together very well for the first 2 months of life. If you see one eye wandering or an eye crossing, that can be completely normal for that age. By 3 months, an infant’s eyes should move together well. Your baby should be able to follow an object (your face or a toy) smoothly as long as it is large enough and not moving too quickly. After 2 months, if you still see these types of movements, talk to your pediatrician about having your baby’s eyes examined.

The American Optometric Association (AOA) recommends scheduling an infant’s first eye exam around six months of age. This is right after the eye undergoes rapid changes. Under the IntantSEE program, AOA member optometrists provide a no-cost comprehensive eye and vision assessment for infants 6-12 months old. This is regardless of a family’s income or access to insurance coverage. Click here to find a participating optometrist and schedule and appointment to have your infant’s vision assessed today!

Depth Perception

Babies are not born with depth perception. Depth perception is the ability to see things in three dimensions and judge how far away an object is. Depth perception develops over time with visual experience. It first begins to develop between 3 and 5 months of age.

This means that your baby can see more than you think! To get a great visual of what your baby can see at what age compared to you, check out the BabySee app. You can also check out Visual Perception — Not Just 20/20 Vision to learn more about how the eyes interpret information.

References

1. What Can My Baby See. Russell D. Hamer, Ph.D. Revised by Giuseppe Mirabella, Ph.D

Did you know physical therapy can help with gastrointestinal issues? One diagnosis physical therapy can help with is SIBO, or small intestine bacterial overgrowth. SIBO happens when there is an overgrowth of the normal bacteria in the small intestine. Let’s cover what SIBO is and how physical therapy can help!

What are symptoms of SIBO?

• Abdominal bloating
• Diarrhea and/or constipation
• Acid reflux or heartburn
• Excessive gas
• Fatigue
• Food sensitivities and reactions

What are causes and risk factors of SIBO?

• Age
• Diabetes
• Diverticulosis
• Chronic pancreatitis
• Diabetes
• Adhesions and complications caused by previous abdominal surgery

What are some complications of SIBO?

Other than not feeling great with some of the symptoms you may have with SIBO, there are a few complications with unresolved SIBO.

• Poor absorption of fats, carbohydrates, and proteins – Excess bacteria breaks down bile salts which help with fat digestion, causing diarrhea and incomplete digestion of fats. The mucous lining of the small intestine may also be harmed. This affects the absorption of carbohydrates and protein. Overall, this can lead to diarrhea, malnutrition, and weight loss.
• Vitamin deficiency – Due to the incomplete absorption of fats, the body cannot fully absorb the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K.
• Weakened bones – Due to poor calcium absorption, this can lead to bone weakening (osteoporosis).
• Kidney stones – Another effect of poor calcium absorption is the development of kidney stones.

How can physical therapy help?

A pelvic health therapist is trained in treating gastrointestinal issues. This can help reduce symptoms of SIBO. We can help relieve constipation and improve pelvic floor dysfunction, whether it be weakness or tightness. We can also perform visceral physical therapy which can help reduce any abdominal or pelvic adhesions. Some other symptoms that we can help with are low back pain, pelvic pain, and any urinary symptoms that are present.

If you struggle with constipation due to SIBO, pelvic health therapy can help with that as well! Depending on what is going on with your pelvic floor, we can work on manual therapy techniques to help with any tight/restricted muscles of the pelvis, perform visceral mobilizations, retrain pelvic floor muscles to help with bowel movements, teach breathing techniques, and help with bowel habits such as posture!

What are some other treatment ideas?

• FODMAPS (fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols), are a certain type of fermented carbohydrates that can cause these symptoms. Therefore, a “low FODMAP diet” is recommended for those who have SIBO to reduce symptoms.
• Antibiotics or natural agents

It is recommended to have holistic care when treating SIBO, so reach out to your primary care physician, a dietitian, and a pelvic health physical therapist!

References

1. Mayo Clinic

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, kids will have a break from school. What can you do to keep your child engaged while you prepare for your Thanksgiving feast? We have a fun Magical Dancing Corn Experiment for you to try at home. Fall is the perfect time to experiment with pumpkins, apples, and even corn! Our dancing corn experiment is a great example of a chemical reaction, and kids love these amazing reactions just as much as adults! This bubbling corn experiment appears almost magical, but it really just uses baking soda and vinegar for a classic chemical reaction.

As a warning, this dancing corn experiment can get a bit messy in a fun way, so make sure to have a surface or area you can easily clean up. You can even start by placing your glass or jar in a pie dish or on a cookie sheet to catch the overflow.

What You Will Need:

• Tall Jar or Glass (Mason jars work well-needs to be glass so you can see)
• 1/8-1/4 cup of popping corn
• 2 T of baking soda
• 1 cup  of vinegar (or use as much as needed)
• Food Coloring (optional)
• 2 cups of water

STEP 1. Grab your ingredients and let’s get experimenting! You can use just about any tall glass or jar. An adult might want to assist with the measuring and pouring if necessary, but it’s also great practice for junior scientists to practice math and grading movement.

STEP 2.  Have the kiddo(s) fill the jar with 2 cups of water to start. Have the kiddo(s) find the correct measurement on the measuring cup and have them fill and pour.

STEP 3. Add 2 tablespoons of baking soda and stir well to mix thoroughly. Here you can talk about which solids dissolve in water! As above, have the child(ren) find the correct measuring spoon as well.

STEP 4. Add a drop of food coloring (optional).

STEP 5. Now add the popping corn kernels or popcorn. You don’t need to add too many for a fun dancing effect.

STEP 6: Here you can make predictions about what will happen! (How will the corn dance? What is making the corn dance? When will the corn stop dancing?)

STEP 7.  Now here comes the fun part! You can slowly add the vinegar and watch what happens. Or you can add the vinegar quickly and observe!

The Science of Dancing Corn

Chemistry is all about states of matter including liquids, solids, and gasses. A chemical reaction occurs between two or more substances that change and form a new substance. In this case, you have an acid (liquid: vinegar) and a base (solid: baking soda). When combined, they make a gas called carbon dioxide which produces the eruption you can see, as well as the dancing action.

The secret to the magic dancing corn is the baking soda and vinegar chemical reaction. The carbon dioxide bubbles lift the corn, but as the bubbles pop, the corn falls back down! You can repeat this experiment over and over again.

Stir the mixture if you like or you can just observe it as is! You can time the dancing corn to see how long the carbon dioxide bubbles will last and make the corn dance.

You can even add more baking soda to the jar and continue to watch the corn dance. Through this activity of the dancing corn, the children will think this is magical all the while teaching them about science and growing their love and interest. For more fun Thanksgiving S.T.E.M. experiments, check out Little Bins Little Hands. You can also check out our Science Experiment page for other fun ideas.

Aural rehabilitation, or aural rehab, is a service provided to manage hearing loss. Despite its auditory components, speech-language pathologists and audiologists play an important role in this form of treatment.

What is Aural Rehabilitation?

Aural Rehabilitation, often known as aural rehab (AR) pertains to the assessment and intervention to manage hearing loss. Individuals with hearing loss can face a variety of communication challenges, and aural rehabilitation guides care toward improving those challenges. Aural rehabilitation may also be referred to as: aural rehabilitation, AR, auditory rehabilitation, hearing rehabilitation, rehabilitative audiology, and audiological rehabilitation.

Who Provides these Services?

These services fall within the scope of practice for audiologists and speech-language pathologists alike. While audiologists are primarily responsible for screening, assessing, diagnosing, and treating hearing loss in individuals, speech therapists can develop and perform aural rehab treatment services. Both audiologists and speech therapists are able to develop aural rehab plans of care, which might include: indicating treatment services needed, evaluating assistive technology to be used, and providing counseling and/or education.

Why Seek Aural Rehabilitation?

With the diagnosis of hearing loss, individuals often are fitted with hearing aids or cochlear implants to address their hearing loss difficulties. That said, these assistive devices do not immediately “solve” hearing loss difficulties, nor the associated communication difficulties that can arise. Aural rehabilitation services help individuals manage their hearing loss both with and without using assistive devices. Services might include:

Assistive Technology/Environmental Modifications

• Use of an FM system or microphone
• Environmental modifications (e.g., sitting close to a speaker, adequate lighting for lip reading, or improving room acoustics)

Counseling

• For individuals with hearing loss
• For family members or caregivers of individuals with hearing loss

Education

• Educating individuals with hearing loss, as well as their family members or caregivers
• Learning to improve communication via behavior and strategies
• Modifying listening environments
• Implementing self-advocacy skills
• Protecting residual hearing abilities
• Learning to enhance communication with others

What Aural Rehabilitation Training Techniques are Used in Treatment?

Speech-language pathologists and audiologists use a variety of training techniques with aural rehabilitation treatment. These include: auditory training, communication skills training, and speechreading.

Auditory Training

Auditory training helps to implement preserved hearing abilities. Therapists may use an analytic approach. In doing so, they work to help individuals use their residual hearing abilities to identify, discriminate, and comprehend sounds, words, and eventually, conversational speech. This begins with basic sound awareness to understanding the meaning of sounds. The complexity of treatment will increase from understanding individual sounds, to words, sentences, then in conversation.

Alternatively, a synthetic approach to treatment begins at a more complex level. The focus is to have individuals use context clues to hear and comprehend sounds and words. This could include looking at a picture then identifying the alternative which makes the most sense. It is not uncommon to use both analytic and synthetic approaches for the purpose of auditory training.

Communication Skills Training

In communication skills training, an individual learns to do one or more of the following:

• Resolve communication breakdowns
• Implement self-advocacy skills
• Teach appropriate pragmatic skills
• Implement treatment approaches from articulation and voice to improve skills

Speechreading

Speechreading, otherwise known as lip reading, is when an individual watches a speaker’s mouth while there’re speaking to help decipher the message being spoken. Not only does speechreading implement this skill, but also implements use of other visual information to help an individual understand the message. This might include watching facial expressions and gestures.

For additional information on aural rehabilitation and whether or not it might be a good support for you or a loved one, contact an audiologist or speech-language pathologist at MOSAIC for more details.

Resource: asha.org/practice-portal/professional-issues/aural-rehabilitation-for-adults/#collapse_1

Keeping warm shouldn’t risk their safety…so let’s learn more about winter car seat safety. We can all feel it coming. Winter is in the air! The mornings are chilly, and we’re starting to bundle up the kiddos for the morning drives and drop offs. It is clear that the snow will be flying soon, but there are some important reminders as winter approaches for your children in car seats. Regardless if it’s an infant seat or booster seat, much of our Montana winter gear is unsafe for the car.

In short, those warm, cozy fabrics and materials that keep out the cold add bulk and risk when in the car. In an accident, down jackets and bulky snow gear compresses. This creates a slack harness – leaving room for substantially more movement from impact and even potential ejection. Scary stuff, right? Here’s a video showing the change in crash testing with just 4 inches of slack.

What to Avoid:

• Bulky snow suits and snow pants
• Oversized jackets and hoods
• Any car seat blanket or cover that goes BEHIND your child or attaches to the seat/straps.

This is true all year long. You should never add additional after market head supports, strap covers, or accessories to your child’s seat unless it specifically came in your original car seat box. A cute seat is not worth their safety.

Safe Alternatives for Winter Car Seat Safety:

• Leave the snow gear off your child until you’ve reached your destination.
• Aim for a thinner fleece jacket or infant suit. Our local shops have tons of options!
• Use a beanie and/or gloves and thin layers for additional warmth.
• Harness your child, and put their coat sleeves on backwards.
• Snuggle them in a blanket over the top of their harness.
• Look into a crash tested car seat coat. These help with those quick trips in and out of the car, such as the front door to the seat or the seat to the door of daycare etc and can be used out and about as well as in the car.

To find coats that are safe for use in car seats, Buckle Me Baby and onekid have lots of great options.

Also, you can check out more information about winter safety and all things car seat at The Car Seat Lady and Safe in the Seat.