ARK's Blog

Mealtime should be one of the easier parts of the day. For some families, it's the hardest one. Maybe your child clamps their mouth shut the second the spoon comes near. Maybe they gag at the sight of anything lumpy, or live on the same short list of safe foods (beige, crunchy, predictable) and panic at anything new. Maybe the food goes in and then just sits there, or gets pocketed in the cheeks w …

Chewed shirts are visible - you can see the holes in shirt sleeves, the stretched out collars, the wet fabric. Chewed on pencils famously get indentations on them after just one bite. Pen caps will show marks pretty quickly too. If you chew on your fingernails, that can be noticeable at times too.  But chewing on the inside of your cheek, biting your lips, or biting your tongue - this happens …

If you've ever found teeth marks on an action figure, a building block with a corner chewed off, or a toy car that looks like it's been around the racetrack a few too many times, you're in the right place. Kids who chew on their toys during play or any time throughout the day are doing something that makes a lot of sense once you understand the need behind chewing. For most kids, chewing on toys ( …

Chewing as Communication and Regulation Chewing is often one of the first things parents notice and wonder about. It shows up in different ways across development and can feel confusing when it suddenly increases or decreases without a clear reason. From the lens of a pediatric occupational therapist, chewing is not random or simply a habit to eliminate. It is communication. It is regulation. And …