Autism
In Pursuit of Diagnosis
If you are pursuing diagnosis for your neurodivergent child, it’s okay to take your neuro-affirming lens back “off” in order to talk to the doctor about your child. What I mean is that you are […]
Preschoolers
Activities
Six Ways to Play with Vacuums
At my lecture last Friday, during the Q&A session, somebody asked me if I had any ideas for connecting meaningfully and playfully in therapy with a child whose special interest was vacuums, and who spent […]
At Home
Perfection
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. […]
At Home
When One Sibling is “Right” and One Sibling is “Playing”
I wrote a post about myself, an adult, not freaking out when my children said things that were factually incorrect because I knew they were playing at having that skill. Like pretending to read a […]
At Home
Monkey Bars
We went to a new playground recently. Monkey bars are rarer here in the UK (at least in my rural area) than they were at playgrounds in the states. As far as I can tell, […]
Activities
Summer Diary
When my kids had their summer break, my son kept asking and trying to make sense of how long the break would be. He’s in a phase right now of intense interest in lots of […]
At Home
Regulation Mirrors
Have you been trying to offer your child coping strategies when they’re in the middle of a meltdown and not been having a lot of success? If so, I have a couple of questions for […]
Babies
Corrections to Corrections
Sometimes I get stuck in awkward situations with other adults where the other adult feels like they need to correct a child in some way that feels wrong to me. It might be exacerbated by […]
At Home
Case Study: Sensory Mismatch in Play
I’ve written before about “sensory mismatch”. It’s one of the hardest things for people with vastly different sensory profiles to be able to get along with each other in stressful circumstances. Let me tell you […]
Babies
Core Strength: The Power of Play
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. All humans’ bodies […]