February 1, 2024

Developmental Skills While Playing With Cars

Pediatric therapy sessions typically involve a lot of play time! Why? Children learn about their world through play and imitation of adults, and play is much more motivating than sitting at a table completing worksheets.

Pediatric therapy sessions typically involve a lot of play time! Why? Children learn about their world through play and imitation of adults, and play is much more motivating than sitting at a table completing worksheets. When a child plays with a car, here are a few of the skill areas that are targeted:

Cognition while playing with cars:

  • Experiencing cause and effect relationships, such as when a car drops down a ramp
  • Labeling basic parts of a car

Fine Motor or Hand Skills while playing with cars:

  • Strengthing hand-eye coordination skills and improving hand dexterity while building a toy car. Consider building a visual model for your child to copy
  • Improving hand coordination and hand dexterity while repairing a car using toy tools. Facilitate this by placing your hand on the child’s and physically moving his hands if necessary
  • Practice using both hands simultaneously while turning a steering wheel

Gross Motor or Whole Body Skills while playing with cars:

  • Improving strength and coordination while climbing in and out of child-sized car

Speech and Language while playing with cars:

  • Vocabulary – Parts of a car:
  • Wheels
  • Buckle
  • Steering wheel
  • Seat belt
  • Door

Early Learning Concepts while playing with cars:

  • go/stop
  • fast/slow
  • on/off
  • up/down
  • smooth/bumpy

Have fun playing with cars with your child, and know that they are really learning in the process!

Download our Guide for Families

We know that choosing a local ABA facility can be a hard decision. We’ve created an informational guide to help you understand more about the questions you should be asking while meeting with different providers.

Although we talk about our services here, our highest goal is for you to feel comfortable and knowledgeable about picking a provider that is the best fit for your needs. You are making a decision that will impact the entire trajectory of your child’s life!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
The cover of the NSPT Guide for Families, which helps families to figure out the questions to ask when picking an ABA provider.

Continue Reading

Testimonials

Why we do what we do.
Success looks different for every child... But we bet we have a story that matches your child's needs. Like James, who started with us as non-verbal and lacking the ability to initiate and maintain social interactions. Today, he can speak complete sentences, clearly state his needs, and navigate social interactions with his friends!

Contact us to get started

  • 1
    Submit an inquiry form
    Completing this secure form helps us understand how we can serve you.
  • 2
    We'll reach out to you!
    One of our dedicated team members will connect with you to discuss services, your insurance benefits, and your family’s needs.
  • 3
    Paperwork & insurance
    We'll review and confirm your insurance benefits, and we'll work with you to gather additional paperwork required and discuss financial expectations based on insurance.
  • 4
    Treatment personalization
    We'll schedule an assessment date for your child with one of our clinicians. This assessment will serve as the basis for your child’s personalized treatment plan. After, we'll meet to discuss recommendations and your child’s treatment plan and start date.
  • 5
    Start making progress!
    We will greet and welcome your child to our warm and supportive environment where our staff will provide 1-on-1 care to meet our treatment goals.