Routines and Practice: Making the Most of Every Day to Help Children Learn

When caregivers find out that occupational, physical, or speech therapy may help their child, therapy “homework” might come as a surprise. While weekly sessions provide critical support to build developmental foundations, children make faster progress when therapy strategies are practiced daily—embedded into the fabric of their everyday routines.

The secret to making rapid, meaningful improvements? Integrating therapeutic activities into your child’s natural day.

What Are Routines?

According to the American Occupational Therapy Association (2020), “routines are established sequences of occupations or activities that provide a structure for daily life.” Routines happen at home, school, afterschool programs, and during transitions from one setting to the next. An example of a routine is what happens in the home every morning of a school day. The morning routine may include waking up, getting dressed, eating breakfast, brushing teeth, and getting the backpack ready. Daily routines are important for children because they are predictable, functional, and occur throughout the day (Woods, Kashinath, & Goldstein, 2004). For caregivers and therapists, daily routines are important because each activity that occurs within a routine offers an opportunity for a child to practice a new skill.

How Do Routines Support Practice?

Learning new skills takes practice, and multiple repetitions of a new skill are necessary. Research on how children learn shows that distributing opportunities for practice throughout the day improves learning (Zwicker & Harris, 2009). Integrating developmental interventions into daily routines allows caregivers to address the child’s developmental needs without taking extra time throughout the day to add ONE MORE thing into an already busy schedule. By incorporating practice into routines, caregivers are able to provide practice at times that are convenient to them and fit the natural rhythms of family life.

How Does Kinspire Support Routine-Based Learning?

Using Kinspire, providers and families can work together to figure out the best way to incorporate activities into family routines so the child engages in the activities throughout the day and week. During the morning routine, the child can crab walk from one room to the next, as they get ready for school. While getting dressed, the child can practice imitating body postures in front of the mirror. After school, they can choose two play activities and spend five minutes with each activity, such as keeping a balloon up and the upside-down wall walk. Both are easy activities that the child can do on their own, providing less interruption to the caregiver’s routine. For the evening routine, blowing bubbles with a long straw in the tub or doing calming breath work before bed will help a child to wind down.

Integrating Therapy Into Daily Life = Win-Win

When caregivers embed therapeutic strategies into routines:

• Children get the daily practice they need.

• Caregivers get the tools they need without extra stress.

• Progress becomes consistent, sustainable, and faster.

You don’t need to manage this alone. With Kinspire, you have a licensed occupational therapist in your corner every day—helping you build structure, reduce stress, and create the kind of routines that help your child thrive.

📣 Ready to Turn Daily Life Into Daily Progress?

Take the first step by completing our Family Discovery Form. You’ll get a free consultation with a licensed OT who will help you begin building supportive, sensory-informed routines—starting this week.

👉 Start here

References:

• American Occupational Therapy Association. (2020). Occupational therapy practice framework: Domain and process (4th ed.). AJOT, 74(Suppl. 2), 7412410010. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2020.74S2001

• Woods, J., Kashinath, S., & Goldstein, H. (2004). Effects of embedding caregiver-implemented teaching strategies in daily routines on children’s communication outcomes. Journal of Early Intervention, 26(3), 175–193. https://doi.org/10.1177/105381510402600302

• Zwicker, J. G. & Harris, S. R. (2009). A reflection on motor learning theory in pediatric occupational therapy practice. Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 76(1), 29-37. https://doi.org/10.1177/000841740907600108