Recently I had an OT session with a child who I’ve known for many years. They were unusually irritable and on-edge, and at one point they were so frustrated with what they were trying to do that they started to cry. I asked if they needed help. They said, “STOP ASKING ME QUESTIONS!” I could … Read more
A play invitation from my therapy gym — as part of the child-led exploration of stations in my room during OT time, or for the children who use the therapy gym for other reasons than dedicated OT time. I left a sensory bin filled with coffee grounds. Earlier this year, I had plastic flowers placed … Read more
I spoke to my child’s school to tell them that I wanted to opt my child out of their new behavioural manipulation system to the greatest extent possible without singling my child out. They were (predictably) unhappy with this suggestion. To try to persuade me, they framed their unhappiness in terms of my child rather … Read more
The child saw a giant cardboard box and suggested it was a pirate ship. Even if pirate fiction wasn’t one of my own special interests, I would have been on board immediately (ha ha, pun intended), but since it *is*, I was all over that idea. I didn’t know where the game would take us, … Read more
A friend shared a story with me, and with their permission, I’m sharing it here. Their child was 5 years old and in their class at school, they had a clip behavior chart like many schools have. The clip chart was space/sky themed to be cute. Everybody started on a star, and if they “behaved … Read more
I think early childhood education has misunderstood what is behind the concept of “using the right pencil grasp”. For example, in my child’s reception class (the UK equivalent of preschool/kindergarten — it’s not exactly 1:1 with US standards), they had the four stages of pencil grasp posted on the wall, and they had little stickers … Read more
I have “old paper” in my OT room (white paper stained brown with tea or coffee, crumpled up, etc) and sometimes the kids will get interested in making wizard scrolls or pirate maps or whatever. I had a kid who told me very very VERY seriously that he was going to write the worst spell … Read more
Modeling writing authentically and meaningfully and delightfully doesn’t always have to be, like, great works of prose or poetry. They don’t even have to make sense or be meaningful to someone who wasn’t using them for play. That’s what academic writing is for. Notes jotted down in one’s own notebook, words scribbled out as part … Read more
Age 5 (and 6) is extremely concerned with perfection. It’s a normal developmental phase. (Yes, this might also mean that your 4 year old or 4.5 year old or 7 year old are like this. I am describing the peak age at which this phase is typically, generalised across a population, at its most intense.) … Read more
A game one of my kids and I made up with my keyboard mat (a gymnastics mat with masking tape on it in the shape of a QWERTY keyboard)… Pick up plastic letters and run, leap off the trampoline, and land on the key on the mat for the letter you have picked up! This … Read more