At School
Clumsy Self-Advocacy
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 […]
Personal
At School
Feeling Left Out is the Point
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 […]
Activities
Pirate Adventures
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 […]
At Home
Writing Because of Music
My son (6) wanted to listen to music. He loved the music, the way it felt in his body, so he danced. He loved the music, the way it sang in his mind, so he […]
At Home
Processing Scary Things
There’s an episode of Bluey called Space. In it, three little boys are playing together at their kindergarten. They’re playing pretend space explorers. As they navigate who is going to play what role in the […]
At Home
Talking About Self-Advocacy
Sometimes when I tell parents that it’s okay to wear earplugs in order to cope with their own sensory sensitivity/avoidance, they worry that they’re going to hurt their children or implicitly be telling their children […]
Personal
Grad School
I was very surprised how difficult I found OT school. I am the type of person for whom school has always come easily, at least in terms of getting decent grades easily and so on. […]
Activities
The Scariest Possible Wizard Spell
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. […]
At School
It Only Makes Sense To Us
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 […]
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 […]