I Can Occupational Therapy

17/03/2025

Share far and wide.

Teachers, we're easing the load.

I got this amazing idea from AIT's over in South Australia when they told me about a neurodiversity presentation they had created and shared to ease the load.

I *love* hearing from educators what they need to make doing this that much easier to incorporate into the curriculum, and this actively guides what I create here.

This Neurodiversity Celebration Week, if you've been looking for a resource to introduce neurodiversity into primary school classrooms, I've created a presentation with activities for you!

(It's all cute and colourful and fun too, with interactive activities!)

Head on over to the link below, pop your details in and I'll have it on its way shortly. (It's a manual process so bear with me)

https://www.onwardsandupwardspsychology.com.au/worksheets

We've got each other, yes? Together, towards inclusion.

05/03/2025

What if our thoughts are not faulty.
What if feelings cant "just" be thought away.
What if traditional cognitive approaches aren't meaningful to you or useful to you.

There are other ways to understand ourselves, our feelings, emotions, thinking patterns and behaviours. Understanding our body signals, and what that means for each individual person and then helping each person to develop their own strategies for emotional regulation is what interoception is all about.

Sharing Kelly Mahler's latest blog post and video for more information on this.
https://www.kelly-mahler.com/resources/blog/5-w
ays-interoception-can-update-mental-health-approaches/

Discover 5 ways interoception can transform mental health by centering body awareness, self-trust and personalized emotional regulation over thought-based fixes

22/02/2025

This information is from adhd mums facebook group

https://pca.st/episode/286d820c-9717-44ec-a74c-a216f1577ebc

I tried a couple of times to share their post but it did not work for me , so just pasting here :

🚨 THE NDIS CUTS ARE LIKE A TODDLER WITH SCISSORS – MESSY, DANGEROUS & NO ONE THOUGHT IT THROUGH 🚨

Thousands of kids are being quietly removed from the NDIS, and families are left scrambling while the government pats itself on the back for “fixing” the system. ****THIS ISN’T FIXING ANYTHING****. It’s just shoving vulnerable kids off a cliff and hoping no one notices.

And honestly? Most people DON’T notice. Because the families affected are too exhausted fighting for scraps to yell loud enough.

So let’s fix that.

🔥 HOW YOU CAN HELP (EVEN IF YOU’RE RUNNING ON COFFEE & MUM RAGE):

✅ FILL OUT THE NDIS IMPACT FORM – Whether you’re a parent, carer, or provider, this is about all of us. Submissions are de-identified and sent directly to the new NDIS Minister.
https://form.jotform.com/242968415771871

✅ EMAIL YOUR LOCAL MP (BEFORE THEY PRETEND THEY HAD NO IDEA) – Most MPs have zero clue how these cuts are wrecking real families. The blog below has email templates ready to go, so you don’t have to word-vomit an emotional breakdown into your inbox (been there). https://adhdmums.com.au/ndis-cuts-impact-families-australia/

✅ READ & SHARE THE BLOG – I break down exactly what’s happening, how bad it is, and what we can do. https://adhdmums.com.au/ndis-cuts-impact-families-australia/

✅ BLAST THIS EVERYWHERE – Post in ADHD & Autism Facebook groups, share it with your family, text it to your bestie, hell, train your dog to deliver leaflets. We need to be LOUD.

🎙 PREFER TO RAGE-LISTEN? The podcast episodes break it all down, no government fluff included:

🎧 LATEST EPISODE: THE NDIS CUTS – WHAT’S REALLY HAPPENING (feat. Nicole Rogerson, who is just as unimpressed as we are). https://open.spotify.com/episode/0qYymRG8Bc3uNlHTllR1gt?si=6jGDiQkBTf-g3w-ffdvJQg
🎧 NDIS DEEP DIVE EPISODE
https://open.spotify.com/episode/65Z8q9dvkKIopSZjgCCWMS?si=Qw20QDtpRtia-KKEXVNPhg

📢 The government’s got a budget to balance, and apparently, our kids are the line item they’re happy to erase. Not on our watch.

Please click the link to complete this form.

12/02/2025

You have the right to vote.
To take part in the conduct of public affairs, directly or through freely chosen representatives;
To vote and to be elected at genuine periodic elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret ballot, guaranteeing the free expression of the will of the electors;
To have access, on general terms of equality, to public service in their country.

21/08/2024

Trial that Yellow Ladybugs are doing to help local autistic families to meet!

https://yellowladybugs.com.au/Connect/LocalConnect?fbclid=IwY2xjawEyrRtleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHZmyabb511KnIoP-AtQ1ZA2PmAx46dU8y70x_wCd_YPdC1DczgGPVvpnNw_aem_XpsCkUa0QooxCpuxW1RfsQ

We are trialling a new program that we have developed called Local Connect – which is an online membership that gives our families the chance to find other ladybug families in their local area.

22/07/2024

I'm sharing this video of my amazing nephew Carter.

He asked me to share it because he wants to help other kids understand themselves and know that all brains are amazing, and that different is not wrong or bad.

18/05/2024

We’ve built systems that can’t support children being children and then we blame the children for the fact that it’s not working."
Yes
Yes
Yes
Kelsey- The Occuplaytional Therapist

https://www.occuplaytional.com/2023/11/14/packaged-regulation/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR22TnSAczlvo7qyvOReBd_-6YO_1slpMWjALXkKihuNSqfYDXIzq3zEteM_aem_Aapx0uhIopoH4WivueST_TcHEEmkwkVeAenpgvPfcrFo801NypPWvCs_zvHOsOXCCypYmoHEFgEDqYLpRdBdQlnD

A lot of public schools in the US, and at least some in the UK near where I live, have begun figuring out how they can teach social-emotional skills and...

15/05/2024

Free info from a fab OT. If you happen to be a person who is awake in the middle of the night you could do both!

02/05/2024

Mic drop 🎤

17/04/2024

Listening to non speaking autistic voices is so incredible.

When you know better you do better.

27/03/2024

I am truly hopeful that we, as adults can work towards this paradigm shift together.

Do the best you can, until you know better. Then, when you know better you do better - Maya Angelou.

I am having a really hard time finding the right words to go with this illustration. I hope it makes sense as it is.

Basically, this is what many of the behavioural approaches currently look like for our neurodivergent kids.

They are not affirming.
They have been shown to cause us harm.
The ‘supports’ that are put in place are so often keeping us from accessing crucial skills and understanding.
Our wellbeing and mental health are prioritised less than compliance.
Our kids are pushed towards goals that should never have been written for them.

Many of our kids, but especially our PDAers are going to feel unbelievably trapped in this situation. They will know that their autonomy has been taken away.

We need to move away from compliance-based approaches.
Our kids do well if they can (Dr Ross Greene).

I guess that’s the main thing.

Does that make sense?

Em 🌈

27/03/2024

Yes, and yes. No more minimising children's thoughts and feelings.
Let's build their autonomy and self esteem, so that they can do well.

Kids do well when they can- Ross Greene

I babysat a lot as a teen. Once, a child found out I was 15, and was musing about how hard my math homework must be. “They must ask you what’s 1000 x 1000?”

He had no concept of trigonometry, statistics, or calculus. The hardest math he knew was multiplication, so he swapped out larger numbers and imagined that must be how it worked. He took his framework for “hard math” and substituted variables he was already familiar with.

Sometimes people take their framework for “interacting with children” and substitute variables they are already familiar with. If not “punishment”, then “consequences”; if not “consequences”, then “boundaries”; all plugged into the exact same framework just like bigger numbers. Once I saw a blogger suggesting you make “promises”, as in, “I promise if you [thing parent dislikes], I will [thing kid dislikes].”

This is not what I’m doing when I let go of punishment and threats (that “promise” is a threat) and even let go of consequences.

I’m rejecting the entire system where I make a child feel bad to hope they act good. I’m moving up to new frameworks that might be tricky to learn, but can do so much more.

[Image description:
A picture of a blackboard. Written on it in chalk is the math problem 1000 x 1000, with little stars doodled around the edges. My handle is also on the image. End description.]