Parents need more support to address sleep problems with their autistic kids. Too many sleepless nights. Too many terrible mornings. Good luck finding a provider that is both a licensed therapist AND a certified sleep therapist. Wait…. You just did; I am on of those rare unicorns, and I wrote a short ebook for you!!…… Continue reading “Get Your Autistic Child to Sleep” Will Change Your (Night)Life!
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Build A Child’s Utensil Skills (Spoons, Forks, Knives) with my New Handout Pack!
Using a spoon and a fork are the beginnings of skilled tool use for children. It isn’t always easy. For special needs kids, these skills can take time and practice to develop. Sometimes, kids decide they will use their fingers or suck their meals from a pouch. They will let someone else cut…… Continue reading Build A Child’s Utensil Skills (Spoons, Forks, Knives) with my New Handout Pack!
“The Young Gifted Child: A Quick Reference Guide for Parents” Has Finally Arrived!
Parents of Young Gifted Children: This is the Information You Have Been Searching For! Young gifted kids are some of the most interesting kids I see all year. Really. Gifted kids are wonderful. They are always surprising me. They are the people who will improve our world. I am working with a young gifted…… Continue reading “The Young Gifted Child: A Quick Reference Guide for Parents” Has Finally Arrived!
Does Your ASD Child Avoid Looking at You? Is it Gaze Indifference or Gaze Aversion?
There is a difference between gaze indifference and gaze aversion. One requires treatments that focus on sensory processing to lower a child’s overall neurological arousal level. The other won’t respond significantly to sensory treatment, and requires behavioral and psycho-educational strategies. Can YOU tell the difference between them? Gaze aversion has a distinct emotional component to…… Continue reading Does Your ASD Child Avoid Looking at You? Is it Gaze Indifference or Gaze Aversion?
Help Your Kid Get Over Their Fear of the Public Potty!
One of my consultation clients is having tons of success with special needs potty boot camp. But her son was afraid to use the toilet in their place of worship. This is soooooo common! Kids finally get used to the set up in their home bathrooms. They know how long it takes to get there,…… Continue reading Help Your Kid Get Over Their Fear of the Public Potty!
Low Somatic Awareness, with Any Diagnosis? Grab Your Vibrating Pool Noodle!
Yes. I did indeed say, “Vibrating Pool Noodle”. Occupational therapists that treat sensory processing disorders frequently see hypoarousal in our clients. But low somatic awareness and hypoarousal happens with mental health issues too. They can be just as disabling as hyperarousal. It is also harder to treat if you don’t understand the nervous system well.…… Continue reading Low Somatic Awareness, with Any Diagnosis? Grab Your Vibrating Pool Noodle!
7 Reasons Your Kid Autistic Kid Isn’t Sleeping Well
I treat kids on the spectrum every day. Parents have to understand where their sleep problem(s) are coming from: Many of my older kids are medicated for attention and anxiety. These drugs either are stimulants or have side effects that are stimulating. Sleep needs the opposite. Taking those medications too late in the day or…… Continue reading 7 Reasons Your Kid Autistic Kid Isn’t Sleeping Well
Kids and Sleep: Handouts From an OT That Will Immediately Make YOU an Expert!
I wrote my latest handout pack, “Kids and Sleep” for Your Therapy Source because it is the perfect melding of my training as a certified sleep therapist (thanks, UC Berkeley!) and my long career as a pediatric occupational therapist. Sleep is foundational for health. Full stop. Even though little kids can remain asleep while…… Continue reading Kids and Sleep: Handouts From an OT That Will Immediately Make YOU an Expert!
How to Get Sunscreen on Your Child Without Tears (From Anyone!)
It is time to think about sunscreen. Now, before anybody gets burned. Wirecutter ( the NYT product review site) just put up a piece on this, looking specifically at a cute little sponge applicator. Then they reviewed other sunscreens and application choices. The cute applicator was a FAIL. For effectiveness, for convenience, for hygiene, for…… Continue reading How to Get Sunscreen on Your Child Without Tears (From Anyone!)
Hypermobile? Don’t Sit Too Long on the Toilet!
A lot of hypermobile kids and adults get constipated. If they have low muscle tone along with their hypermobility or are couch potatoes, being constipated is even more common. This can lead to extended periods of sitting on the toilet to have a bowel movement. They bring in a screen (ewww!) or a magazine to…… Continue reading Hypermobile? Don’t Sit Too Long on the Toilet!
A Fun Game to Build Your Child’s Attention
Toilet training is, at its heart, building a child’s attention to their bodily needs and teaching them to physically manage them. They aren’t born knowing how far to push their pants down or how quickly they will need to get to the toilet after they sense urgency. The motivation will be there if they don’t…… Continue reading A Fun Game to Build Your Child’s Attention
Gifted Child? Help Them Manage Sensory Processing
I LOVE working with young gifted kids. Their sensory processing issues are unique, just like their amazing minds. Young gifted children are often easier to spot than you’d think. You look for a combination of intensity of focus and thought at an advanced level for age, persistently seeking and responding positively to complexity, and a…… Continue reading Gifted Child? Help Them Manage Sensory Processing
Hypermobile Child? A Simple Strategy for Safer Walking
Imagine walking on an icy sidewalk. Is NOW the time to speak with your CPA about your tax return? I think not. Then WHY do we insist that a hypermobile or hypotonic child listen to us while we walk with them? And then criticize their gait? Therapists that work with the elderly know not…… Continue reading Hypermobile Child? A Simple Strategy for Safer Walking
Do You Have a “Sensory” Kid Who Resists…Everything?
Sensory sensitivity often results in emotional sensitivity and sensory aversion. How could it not? They quickly learn that they get overwhelmed in situations that others do not. They don’t know how to handle being overwhelmed, and the adults around them might not know how to help them. Better to just avoid anything they don’t already…… Continue reading Do You Have a “Sensory” Kid Who Resists…Everything?
Struggling to Stay Dry All Night Long? What’s Different for the Child with Autism?
“Night training” is the training stage in which the goal is to achieve continence of urine overnight. This is accomplished by marrying awareness of physiological readiness with behavioral strategies. It is not something you wait for. It is something you actively work on with your autistic child. Just because your child won’t be dry at…… Continue reading Struggling to Stay Dry All Night Long? What’s Different for the Child with Autism?
How Do You Start Potty Training with an Autistic Child?
This question is fairly easy to answer: the adults build their OWN toilet training skills first! Why is that critical to success? Because kids with ASD will need trainers with better observational skills, better ability to adapt the environment and their prompts, and better understanding that the job isn’t done until the child is 100%…… Continue reading How Do You Start Potty Training with an Autistic Child?
Reduce Potty Accidents in Hypotonic (Low Toned) Kids: Teach Them a Modified Valsalva Maneuver
Lots of my pediatric clients with low muscle tone are toilet trained. But…they still have bladder accidents well after being trained. They are upset by this. Their parents and their teachers aren’t very happy either. They reach for the pencil they dropped, or they lift up their backpack, and leak a little urine. Sometimes…… Continue reading Reduce Potty Accidents in Hypotonic (Low Toned) Kids: Teach Them a Modified Valsalva Maneuver
Special Needs Kids CAN Cook; I Will Show You How!
My newest handout pack, Kitchen Skills Success, is on sale on my favorite site for therapists and parents, Your Therapy Source . It has a long history. I started writing this over 15 years ago, and then lost interest in turning it into a book. Now that YTS sells digital handout packs, its time has…… Continue reading Special Needs Kids CAN Cook; I Will Show You How!
How do You Get a Child with ASD to Know When They Need to “GO”?
First of all, knowing when you need to use the toilet is different from acting on what you know. Many autistic kids have the sense of elimination urgency. But not all. This is the feeling of heaviness/pressure in their lower abdomen or rectum. How do we know that they know? Because we see them crouch…… Continue reading How do You Get a Child with ASD to Know When They Need to “GO”?
Why Hypermobility Makes it so Difficult to Build Strength
It is not impossible to build strength in hypermobile kids and adults. But it is far more difficult than any hypermobile client or an inexperienced therapist really expects. If you took high school physics, you should be able to figure out TWO of the most important reasons why building strength is so tough for hypermobile…… Continue reading Why Hypermobility Makes it so Difficult to Build Strength