My friend Jessica, who runs the page Once Upon an Upset, once wrote: “So many of us are afraid of getting taken advantage of that we forget the option of offering grace.” It’s strange that this is true of adults and children, but it is, nevertheless, true in my experience. I think it has to … Read more
Communicating is not always speaking. It can be easy to write off neurodivergent people’s voices because they don’t always sound like neurotypical people’s voices. Imagine finally taking the effort and time to explain something that has happened to you, only for the person listening to not even engage with the content of what you’re saying, … Read more
I had a kid recently who is not on my caseload. Their teacher asked me offhandedly about something they do, what I would call a stim. In their case, they pick at the skin on their fingernails until the point of bleeding. They’re not distressed by the picking, but they are distressed by the blood. … Read more
Sometimes “following a child’s interest” means taking 5 minutes before the session starts to use the beanbag animals that they’re extremely passionate about and set up a diorama of bunnies participating in fine motor activities. 😉 (Full disclosure: The child in question was more baffled than anything else, immediately asked “What are the bunnies doing?” … Read more
Let’s talk about euphemisms. When non-disabled people dodge around the word “disabled” because they think it’s an uncomfortable word, that’s a euphemism. When they say someone has “special needs” or is “differently-abled” or is “challenged”, those are euphemisms. Most of the disabled community do not like being spoken of euphemistically. It’s a whole other conversational … Read more
Pro tip: Knee-sliding across the floor underneath an obstacle, in a footrace with a child, will just as surely split the knee of your pants when you’re an adult as it would have when you were a kid. 😉 I was laughing hysterically about it and said to the child, “I just can’t believe I … Read more
(as with any time I tell a story from work, some details are changed for privacy reasons) I have a teenager on my caseload with physical disabilities that make writing prohibitively hard. As part of our goals, we’re working on learning the school laptops and software, as well as adapting or modifying when necessary, for … Read more
I went to get dressed yesterday. We were going to be out walking outdoors for a few hours of the day. I put on some socks that I haven’t worn in a few months, since getting a bunch of new socks for Christmas. They didn’t feel comfortable to me, immediately. There was a seam on … Read more
Welcome to this week’s edition of “The Occuplaytional Therapist takes a funny image/meme/tweet and way overthinks it…” I’m always dependable for that 😉 First of all, this is absolutely true. Second of all, it’s for good reason: because kids feel connected when they are physically close to you, and because even in the best of … Read more
[Image descriptions: The first image has a title, “The Challenge with Teaching Self-Advocacy…It’s not them, it’s us.” over the top of an image of a child playing in a pink play tent filled with colorful balls while wearing bright green noise cancelling headphones. The second image reads, “Teaching self-advocacy to autistic students can look like: … Read more