Child Development
Things We Don’t Know
“Sometimes, my son asks me a question. If I tell him I don’t know the answer—and I truly don’t know the answer—he’ll get mad and protest, ‘you DO know!’ How do I explain to him […]
Elementary
At Home
Diagnosing
If a child called “oppositionally defiant” could label the adults in their life, what kinds of things might they call them? Needlessly antagonistic? Endlessly demanding? Perhaps their adults themselves would receive the diagnosis of ODD […]
At Home
Everyone is Sensory
PSA: Everyone is “sensory”. 😊 (A second, more pedantic, more pet-peevy PSA: “sensory” is an adjective, not a noun!) Everyone in the world has a sensory system. Everyone interacts with the world around them through […]
At Home
The Dividing Line
When you start to understand how thin — or nonexistent! — the dividing line is between “playing” and “learning/growing”, suddenly so much more of what children do makes sense. And suddenly so much more of […]
Babies
Three Scenarios
Imagine three scenarios. You’re holding your child on your lap. Your child is sobbing and screaming at the top of their lungs, curled up against you. In one scenario, they have just tripped, fallen, and […]
Activities
Bread Painting
Another play invitation set-up from a recent weekend… Okay, so this is a little “extra” as far as I usually go with setting up play for my kids, but I was intrigued by the idea. […]
At School
Regulated vs Calm
I see children on my school OT caseload who are three, and four, and five, and six. They are behaving in all sorts of inconvenient ways for traditional schooling. They touch things when they pass […]
At Home
At, Above, Below
Kids need room to play, unimpeded and unhelped, on materials that are at their level and above their level and below their level of ability to climb and interact with. They interact with things at […]
At School
“Rules for OT”
I was talking with another OT recently about our experiences when we were newly graduated and working at our first jobs. She shared a story with me about the first school she worked at. She […]
At Home
Five Rules
This is what goes through my head when I decide if I need to say “no” to something. (…on a good day, on a regulated day, when I’m parenting consciously…not just responding out of habit) […]