“Compliance isn’t respect, and noncompliance isn’t a lack of respect” is a big lesson for adults to learn. One thing that has continually blown me away as I’ve learned and grown on this journey of coming to understand child development is how much language plays a role in this. I took completely for granted how … Read more
I sat in on a behavior plan meeting one time where the adults were somewhat baffled. All the “usual tricks” hadn’t worked for the child: reward charts, earning privileges, stickers, etc. Finally what they agreed as a team to put into the behavior plan was that this child would respond best if given “unconditional positive … Read more
Those who have followed this page for awhile know that sometimes I talk about my own journeys with becoming more self-aware of my own needs and what’s going on in my own body, since I didn’t start to really know that any of that would be helpful or necessary until a few years into adulthood. … Read more
This post has an audio and video recorded version for those who prefer to learn by hearing rather than by reading. Scroll to the bottom for the video of me reading it. On a recent post, I mentioned that I wanted to see if a child could do a particular task—I think it was cutting … Read more
This post is a transcript for this one, which has the video. I want to start by asking you to think about learning. What comes to your mind when you hear the word learning? Maybe you think of classrooms…whiteboards…maybe you think of your own high school or college experiences, or of lectures, teachers or professors. … Read more
I had the opportunity to speak about protecting the power of play to childcare providers at the daycare and youth program centers near where I work for my day job. This lecture covers play development and various forms that it takes, explains the step-by-step development of pre-writing skills, and talks about the essential skills … Read more
A recording of myself presenting on the topic, “Creating ‘Calming Sensory Spaces’ in the Classroom”. I presented this first to teachers at the school where I work, and then made minor adjustments and recorded it to hopefully encompass a broader audience. You may share it with teachers, school administrators, anyone you think it might … Read more
Remember when I brought you such stunning insights of my own mind as “Hey, when socks feel bad on my feet, I give myself permission to take them off”? 😁 Well, I’m back with another one, and this one sounds like– Hey, if I can’t bring myself to do all 50 subcomponents of some chore … Read more
This little piece of art by Lynda Barry stopped me in my tracks the first time I saw it: It’s so true! And it’s also true that it’s easy to forget as adults and classify play as “fun” (and from there it’s a short leap to “unimportant”, I find…) But when I play as an … Read more
This Tumblr post feels so much like the exact heart of occupational therapy. And maybe that’s why I feel like it overlaps so hard with my parenting style…because I’m also on a mission to just try to instill these things in the next generation from the beginning, instead of having to re-teach them again as … Read more