Let’s face it, we all spend way too much time on our phones. When I wake up in the morning, I quickly find myself mindlessly scrolling through Instagram or Facebook. And later in the day, I find myself doing the same thing. But social media is not just a space for mindlessness. I also find … Read more
If your child struggles with emotional outbursts, anger, tantrums, or overall regulation, they likely have reduced interoception. Interoception is a person’s ability to make sense their bodily signals. For example, a person might identify that they are hungry based on lack of energy, feeling cranky, their stomach grumbling, or feeling light-headed. However, your body signals … Read more
Last week, I had a mom come in and tell me that her main struggle this week was getting lotion on her child with sensory processing challenges. He has tactile processing challenges, meaning that he is more likely to process touch input as upsetting or aversive to his skin. I looked down at his hands … Read more
Science shows that children learn best through play. In fact, Dr. Karyn Purvis found that it takes approximately 400 repetitions to create a new connection in the brain. But if it is done through play, the child only need 10-20 repetitions. When we work with kids with feeding challenges, it is so important to take … Read more
Sometimes it can be hard to get a kid motivated to work on a challenge they’re having. This becomes even more true as kids get older. As we all set our resolutions for the new year, we can take advantage of this time and involve our kids in setting their own goals and resolutions. And, … Read more
Motor planning (also called praxis) is one of the trickiest concepts for me to explain to caregivers. It can be really confusing to connect difficulty with motor planning to, say, your child’s meltdown about dinner yesterday. However, motor planning and tantrums can be directly related. It’s important to remember that behavior is a form of … Read more
Your kids probably have tons of ideas of what they want for Christmas, but wouldn’t it be great if their toys could be therapeutic too? Well, they sure can! In today’s post, we will discuss different games you can use to work on impulsiveness. Impulsiveness & executive functioning First, let’s define what impulsiveness looks like … Read more
When I get a referral for an older kid with feeding problems, parents almost always tell me that they’ve been telling their pediatrician about this for years. Unfortunately, these families often hear things like “they’ll grow out of it” or “they’ll eat when they’re hungry”. Sometimes physicians will say that the child’s growth curve or … Read more
Many occupational therapists using a sensory framework run into insurance denials. Unfortunately, due to low quality studies conducted in the past, insurance companies believe that sensory integration therapy is ineffective. However, recent, high-quality studies with fidelity measures embedded have shown that OT using a sensory integration framework is effective for many children. When deciding whether … Read more
Many parents will describe their kids as picky eaters, but there’s a significant difference between what feeding therapists consider picky eaters versus problem feeders. Diagnostically, problem feeders are referred to as having pediatric feeding disorder (note that this is very different than an eating disorder). And while picky eaters can sometimes benefit from feeding therapy, … Read more
