O.T. at Your Service

21/03/2023

Stalen has had feeding problems his entire life.

When he was just a couple of months old, he was referred to a dietician and pediatrician because he was eating excessively and plotting his own line trending upwards off the growth chart. Then he couldn’t handle textures or even touching foods.

Up until a year ago I would feed him because his calorie intake was so low that we needed every bite to count.

When Stalen was almost 7 years old he got his feeding tube. We held on as long as we could without one.

Feeding has always been a struggle and I’m proud of Stalen for always trying with feeding. We never gave up despite the criticism and misunderstanding of others.

I am also proud of myself for always pushing for more for Stalen and following my intuition and trusting in how well I know him. We have had our share of critics and unsolicited advice around feeding over the years. But, I always knew Stalen’s challenges were more than we could understand. I’ve made more trips to the doctor and visits to the dietician in seeking advice and answers for Stalen. I’ve often felt like I was just spinning in circles because we tried soooo many things, with little to no success and then I would take him back again. I even paid out of pocket to consult with a pediatric feeding specialist outside of Canada.

Over the years I’ve heard….

He just needs discipline
He will eat when he’s hungry
Drop him off and I’ll get him to eat
Your letting him do what he wants
Many new mothers have these problems
Just leave food sitting out for him
It’s normal for kids to not eat much
You need to sit him down and make him eat
Not eating any meals for 16 days is no big deal.
He’s spoiled.
He’s just picky and you allow it.

…And these were just the things that were said to my face.

Today we know that Stalen’s feeding challenges were more and required medical intervention.

I’m sharing this because I want others to know that if you believe that something isn’t right with your child, continue to push for answers and advocate for their needs.

You know your child best.

No matter what anyone else thinks…

No matter what anyone else says…

No matter what.

15/12/2022

The foundation we use to build AAC skills matters. Having a strengths-based approach to AAC means honoring and empowering our clients with connection and autonomy. Compliance is not communication, and forcing the use of AAC on our clients will only leave us with inauthentic participation in communication.

We look for connection and autonomy with our clients by:
⭐ Validating the thoughts, experiences, and perspectives of our learners.
⭐ Allowing learners to choose what they say, when they say it, and to whom they say it.
⭐ Allowing learners to use the communication strategy that works best for them in the moment (e.g., body language, facial expressions, gestures, speech, vocalizations, AAC). There is no wrong way to communicate.
⭐ Promoting interactions that are intrinsically meaningful and interesting to the learner.

In what ways are you promoting authenticity and connection with your AAC users? Comment below and let us know.

For more, check out our free masterclass from .AAC.Coach at learnplaythrive.com/aacmasterclass

08/12/2022

08/11/2022

07/11/2022

An interesting study outlining that children with autism have less medial-lateral pelvic control and as a result they use a stepping strategy more often to compensate for decreased control when their balance is challenged. The ability to compensate is good but it is indicative of decreased efficiency of postural control.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36335658/

04/11/2022

Words to remember! Learn more at livesinthebalance.org

01/11/2022

01/11/2022

A child who is not afraid to trigger their parent, likely feels secure in their relationship.

Our children are not responsible for our emotional triggers, even when their actions are the trigger.

Whenever I notice that one of my children’s behaviours is a trigger for me, I start with me. I look inside to see why I feel triggered. I respond to that feeling of being triggered and THEN I try and figure out what need they are trying to meet.

You may think this is choosing myself over my child. I would have thought this before too but actually, I’ve realized, overtime, that when I try to understand my child’s needs, while triggered, I see things differently than I do when I am regulated.

So in order to meet my child’s needs. In order to really hear what they are trying to say, I need to respond to my trigger first. Or else, they will not get what they need from me and I very likely will escalate the situation instead, despite every effort to appear calm.

Our children will do things that trigger us. It is our job to process the triggers, not expect our child to change, in order to avoid triggering us.

Learn all about common emotional triggers, in parenting, in my latest book 👇
⁣⁣
Finding Your Calm: A Responsive Parents Guide to Self-Regulation and Co-Regulation⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Now Available in Paperback!! 🤯

Link: ⁣⁣ https://responsiveparentinginspirations.com/products/finding-your-calm-paperback-version

01/11/2022

Sugar Aunts . com gives us a list of fine motor motor skills for school.

01/11/2022

Must listen! Virginia Spielmann, PhD, and Dr. Sanjay Gupta break down sensory integration and processing on the CNN podcast Chasing Life.

A relatable and educational conversation that clearly demonstrates how understanding sensory health cultivates well-being and compassion.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/chasing-life/id1501029683?i=1000584620622

Link in bio

04/10/2022

Language matters! Your choice of words has the power to make an Autistic person feel like their neurodivergence makes them perfect the way they are – or that they're damaged and need fixing.

A group of researchers from Australia have just released a paper in the journal, Trends in Neuroscience which includes a guide of neuro-affirming terminology.

Read this SBS article to learn about it in layman's terms: https://tinyurl.com/mcb42bn4

Or take a deeper dive into the research journal: https://tinyurl.com/2s4ch9dt

Image description: A table has a title reading: How to talk about Autism. Beneath a column with a tick titled Pathologising Language has beneath it:
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Person-first language (Person with Autism), Autism symptoms and impairments, At risk of autism, Co-morbidity, Functioning (e.g. high/low functioning) and severity (e.g. mild/moderate/severe) labels, Cure, treatment or intervention, Restricted interests or obsessions, Normal person. Next to it is a column with a cross titled Neuro-affirming Language. Beaneath it reads Autism, autistic, Identity-first language [autistic (person)], Specific autistic experiences and characteristics, May be autistic; increased likelihood of being autistic, Co-occurring, Specific support needs, Specific support or service, Specialised, focused or intense interests and Allistic or non-autistic. Beneath it reads Source: Trends in Neurosciences, September 2022