One, Two, Tie My Shoe is a great product to help children fine tune their motor skills. It is great for hand eye coordination, teaching colors and the over and under process.

Fine motor skills are the coordination of small muscle movements which typically occur in the fingers, usually in coordination with the eyes. With regard to motor skills of hands and fingers, the term dexterity is commonly used.

The abilities that involve the use of hands develop over time, starting with  primitive gestures such as grabbing at objects and moving to more precise activites that involve hand-eye coordination. Fine motor skills involve a refined use of the small muscles controlling the hand, fingers, and thumb. The development of these skills allows one to be able to complete tasks such as writing, drawing, buttoning and tying.

During the infant and toddler years, children develop basic grasping and manipulation skills, which are refined during the preschool years. The preschooer becomes quite adept in self-help, construction, holding grips, and control tasks requiring the use of both hands. Learning to tie their own shoes is great for developing these skills. One, Two, Tie My Shoe has helped many children over the years, and it is a great self esteem builder. Why not order your kit today? Please visit us at www.onetwotiemyshoe.com

Mendy K Hassen

"How to tie their shoes"

Individuals with autism are often described as "visual learners" or "visual thinkers." In fact, Temple Grandin, a well-known speaker on, and an individual with, autism titled one of her better known books, *Thinking in Pictures*. Experience has shown this description to be accurate. The more an activity can be moved from verbal to visual, the more successful kids are.

There is a wide array of visual supports that can be used in to assist visual learners. Visual supports can broadly be divided into three categories based upon the need that the support is trying to fill -- pictures, symbols, or printed words.

I’ve had great success using my One Two Tie My Shoe kit to teach children with autism how to tie their shoes. The kit includes visual supports (simple diagrams and instructions), but I’ve found that children can learn with just the diagrams alone. And the kits also include “special rings” that help children make and hold the “bunny ears”, often the most difficult part of learning to tie shoes.

Of course, in addition to activities like shoe tying, there are many aspects of a child's environment that can benefit from visual supports. This doesn't mean that all of the verbal elements of the child's environment should be replaced with visual. The goal is to have kids make a wide variety of responses to an equally wide variety of stimuli. So, try to use visuals to support kids who may have trouble, either expressively or receptively, with spoken language. The hope would be that these visual supports could be reduced to more typical levels over time, as the child becomes more successful in his environment, though some individuals may need such support for longer than others.

This summer has been a very busy one for the team at One, Two, Tie My Shoe. We've been spreading the word about our shoe-tying kits at a higher pace in hopes that every child will tie their shoes quickly and without frustration. In light of the progress we've been making, we thought we'd let our followers know what we've been up to lately with a few great pieces of news:

12TMS Featured on DailyCandy.com Dallas!

Our shoe tying kit enjoyed an entire week on the featured article spot of Daily Candy Kids - Dallas. We're making an effort to spread the word across the country - one step at a time! Read the feature, "Fit to Be Tied!"
 
12TMS Not Just for Shoes!

We received the order! My daughter is quickly getting the hang of it and tied the drawstring on her skirt today! She was so excited!!

Thank you so much!!

 - Jamie

This shed light on a little secret we feel should be shared with every parent: Your children will be tying strings, laces, ribbons, and more for the rest of their lives! The better they learn, the sooner they will feel accomplished and can put this essential fine-motor activity to practice.

Meanwhile, are you following us on Twitter?

Are you a fan on Facebook?

Continue to have a great Summer and keep tying those shoes!

As the Summer season is peaking, Autumn and school may be far from your mind. While we love to know you're relaxing in the sun, we beg you not to make the mistake of waiting 'til the last minute to prepare your child for school. One subject we're especially interested in: shoe tying (of course!).

While nearly no elementary schools teach your child to tie their shoes anymore, some districts are now requiring that children must learn to tie those laces before they start school. Kindergarten Handbooks and school district materials now often state that a child must be able to "dress without assistance", which requires the skills to button buttons, snap snaps, zip zippers, and tie shoes.

States like Wisconsin now carry Kindergarten Screening Programs in which children are required to meet a minimum of requirements, most of which involve fine-motor skills. If you're worried your future Kindergartner won't be ready in time, have no fear! One, Two, Tie My Shoe can improve your child's fine-motor skills and teach him or her to tie their shoes in minutes. Order the kit for your child and watch them learn!

In addition, as an aid to our valued moms, dads, and kiddos, check this Kindergarten Readiness list below to be sure you're geared up for the wild adventure of Kindergarten.

Kindergarten readiness skills expected of a 5 year old:

• Speaks clearly in complete sentences of 5-8 words.
• Communicates ideas and personal needs.
• Ask questions in complete sentences.
• Is able to listen to directions.
• Is able to use concept and labeling words; e.g. in between, next to, middle, shorter, longer, less, more, empty, full, big, smaller, etc...
• Follows 3-step directions in order.

Example:
1. Brush your teeth
2. Wash your face
3. Comb your hair

• Has acquired responsibility skills; e.g. puts away shoes, hangs coat (hooks help), puts away toys.
• Completely dresses independently.
• Has a firm grip on a pencil or crayon.
• Can print his/her name starting with a capital letter, followed by lower case.
• Identifies letters in their name out of order.

April 9, 2009

One, Two, Tie My Shoe
Mendy Hassen

Dear Friends,

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you personally for donating your footwear to help us reach out to hurting people throughout the world. It is only because of compassionate people such as those within One, Two, Tie My Shoe that we are able to expand our mission and realize our goals, which has always been to simply help those in need. Your ongoing support, both with the gift of your "soles" and also the gift of your generosity, enables Soles4Souls not only to gather shoes but also to deliver them around the world to children and families in dire need. Please continue to donate your new and gently worn shoes. And also, please consider helping us move your shoes arounf the world by adding your financial support to this great mission.

We are truly blessed to have friends at One, Two, Tie My Shoe and find it humbling and heartwarming that you would entrust your valuable resources to us. You should be proud that your company is actively involved with humanitarian causes and we invite you to keep our mission in mind, should the opportunity arise to continue to donate to our cause.

Thank you again for you involvement and please don't hesitate to contact us at anytime, for any reason.

Kindest Personal Regards,

Wayne Elsey
Founder and CEO