cco I have spent the first part of my career in pediatrics convincing parents, teachers, and other therapists that sensory processing is important for development, and that sensory processing disorders are a real “thing”. I am spending the latter part of my career trying to explain to the same groups that using a sensory-based activity…… Continue reading Is It Sensory Treatment…Or Sensory Stimulation? How To Know The Difference
Tag: occupational therapy
Remote Learning Strategies for Special Needs Students
Remote learning isn’t easy. Helping a special needs student navigate it isn’t easy either. Here are some strategies to improve outcomes and reduce everyone’s stress about it: If your child’s OT has created a sensory diet for them, this is the time to use it. A sensory diet is a series of activities and actions…… Continue reading Remote Learning Strategies for Special Needs Students
How To Remember to Do A Sensory Diet With Your Child
A “sensory diet” is the cornerstone of managing a child’s sensory processing issues. Every therapist knows that without a good home program that only addressing a child’s needs in a session, we aren’t going to see much progress. Treatment sessions are spent half playing catch-up: trying to increase postural activation, calming them down, or waking…… Continue reading How To Remember to Do A Sensory Diet With Your Child
Why Joint Protection Solutions for Hypermobility Aren’t Your Granny’s Joint Protection Strategies
I spent almost 10 years working in adult rehab before I transitioned to pediatrics. I still teach joint protection, but I teach it differently to hypermobile kids and their parents. Kids rarely have JRA, or joint damage in general. What they have in spades are serious degrees of hypermobility. And the methods to use joint…… Continue reading Why Joint Protection Solutions for Hypermobility Aren’t Your Granny’s Joint Protection Strategies
Teach Kids How to Cut With Scissors…The Easy Way
As a pediatric occupational therapist, scissor use is something I assess but also something I teach. And I teach it early. I also teach safety early, and teach it with a focus on early success. What makes it easier to teach children to cut with scissors? Good timing. Typically-developing children have the visual-motor skills to…… Continue reading Teach Kids How to Cut With Scissors…The Easy Way
Want Better Self-Regulation in Young Children? Help Them Manage Aggression
You might think as a pediatric OTR, I would be writing a post about sensory-based treatment for self-regulation. And I have in the past. Not today. But I have been an OTR for decades, and what I know about today’s children is that agitated and dysregulated kids often need help managing aggressive impulses and negative…… Continue reading Want Better Self-Regulation in Young Children? Help Them Manage Aggression
Doing OT Telehealth? Start Cooking (And Baking)!
Parents are looking for ways to survive the lockdown without daycare and preschool. Even the easiest child is starting to chafe under the oppression of the COVID quarantine. As an OT, it is my job to help parents support growth and development, but I don’t have to make it feel like work. Enter cooking and…… Continue reading Doing OT Telehealth? Start Cooking (And Baking)!
Gifted Child? Try “How Does Your Engine Run” For Sensory Processing
I love working with gifted children. OTs get referrals to work with gifted kids, whether or not they have been tested by a psychologist. Some have motor delays amplified by the asynchronous development, but many are sloppy at handwriting because their motor skill cannot keep up with their language skill. Some are sensory avoiders or…… Continue reading Gifted Child? Try “How Does Your Engine Run” For Sensory Processing
How To Improve Posture In Children With Low Muscle Tone… Without a Fight!
With pediatric occupational therapy going on at home using parents as surrogate therapists, it isn’t helpful to ask a parent to do too much repositioning of children with low tone. First of all, kids don’t like it. Second, kids really don’t like it. I have never met a child that enjoys therapeutic handling, no matter…… Continue reading How To Improve Posture In Children With Low Muscle Tone… Without a Fight!
A Practical Guide to Helping the Hypermobile School-Age Child Succeed
The JointSmart Child series started off in 2019 with Volume One: The Early Years. It is finally time for the school-age child to have their needs addressed! Volume Two: The School Years is available now on Amazon as an e-book, filled with information to make life at home and at school easier and safer. This…… Continue reading A Practical Guide to Helping the Hypermobile School-Age Child Succeed
Need a Desk Chair for Your Hypermobile School-Age Child? Check out the Giantex Chair
One of my colleagues with a hypermobile third-grader told me this chair has been a great chair at school for her child. It hits a lot of my targets for a good chair recommendation, so here it is: The Giantex chair. Why do I like it so much? It is a bit adaptable and it…… Continue reading Need a Desk Chair for Your Hypermobile School-Age Child? Check out the Giantex Chair
Are You a Trauma Survivor AND the Parent of a Special Needs Child?
First, let me say that trauma survivors can be among the most loving and active parents I work with as a pediatric occupational therapist. How do I know they are survivors? Some parents share their histories openly, and some aren’t aware of what their actions and words reveal. Occupational therapists that have worked in psychiatry…… Continue reading Are You a Trauma Survivor AND the Parent of a Special Needs Child?
How an Occupational Therapist Can Help The Siblings of Special Needs Children
The parent of one of my clients recently returned from a conference related to her youngest child’s genetic disorder, and she told me that the presentation on helping the siblings of special needs kids really only offered one niblet of advice: “Try to give each sibling 10 minutes a day of “just us” time.”…… Continue reading How an Occupational Therapist Can Help The Siblings of Special Needs Children
Binaural Beats and Regulation: More Than Music Therapy
Binaural beat technology isn’t new. But it is powerful. This post is designed to answer some questions about how it works, why it works, and how I use it effectively in the treatment of sensory processing issues. For people who have read about or tried Quickshifts Quickshifts: A Simple, Successful, and Easy to Use Treatment…… Continue reading Binaural Beats and Regulation: More Than Music Therapy
The JointSmart Child Series: Parents of Young Hypermobile Children Can Feel More Empowered and Confident Today!
My first book, The Practical Guide to Toilet Training Your Child With Low Muscle Tone, was a wonderful experience to write and share. The number of daily hits on one of my most popular blog posts Hypermobility and Proprioception: Why Loose Joints Create Sensory Processing Problems for Children helped me figure out what my next e-book…… Continue reading The JointSmart Child Series: Parents of Young Hypermobile Children Can Feel More Empowered and Confident Today!
Why Injuries to Hypermobile Joints Hurt Twice
My new e-book, The JointSmart Child: Living and Thriving With Hypermobility, Volume I, is just about ready to launch. One of the book’s major themes is that safety awareness is something that parents need to actively teach hypermobile young children. Of course, physical and occupational therapists need to educate their parents first. And they shouldn’t…… Continue reading Why Injuries to Hypermobile Joints Hurt Twice
How To Correctly Reposition Your Child’s Legs When They “W-Sit”
Hypermobile kids, kids with low muscle tone, and kids with sensory processing issues are champion “W-sitters”. What’s that? If your child sits with their thighs rotated inward, knees bent, and their feet rotated so their toes point outward, you have a W-sitter. This sitting pattern isn’t abnormal if it is only one of many…… Continue reading How To Correctly Reposition Your Child’s Legs When They “W-Sit”
Does Your Child Hate Big Spaces? There is a Sensory-Based Explanation for all That Complaining
When you see it, it looks like Helen Keller crossed with a Roomba. A child enters a space, even a familiar space, and runs the perimeter without stopping to play or examine things. They may trace the room with their fingers, or repeat this process many times before they “land” and engage in some kind…… Continue reading Does Your Child Hate Big Spaces? There is a Sensory-Based Explanation for all That Complaining
How Long Term Medical Care Affects Infant and Toddler Development
The good news: more and more extremely premature and medically complex babies are surviving. The bad news: there is a cost to the extended and complex treatment that saves their lives and helps them to thrive. This post is an effort to put out in the open what pediatric therapists know only too well…… Continue reading How Long Term Medical Care Affects Infant and Toddler Development
Why Is The Wilbarger Protocol So Hard To Get Right?
The Wilbarger Protocol has been a staple of therapeutic treatment of sensory processing disorder for decades. I will reveal my age, and admit that I learned directly from Pat Wilbarger. She was an amazing teacher and a highly skilled clinician to see in action. But I have lost count of the number of times…… Continue reading Why Is The Wilbarger Protocol So Hard To Get Right?