Moyna Talcer Consultant Occupational Therapist

27/04/2026

✨ Building Better Motor Planning Through Touch ✨

Did you know that improving tactile discrimination can significantly support a child’s motor planning (praxis)?

When children can better interpret and differentiate what they feel, their brains can more effectively plan and execute movements.

Here are a few simple, therapy-friendly ideas to build tactile discrimination:

🖐️ Mystery Bag Games – Have the child identify objects by touch alone. Start with very different items, then progress to similar ones.

🧩 Texture Matching – Use fabrics, papers, or everyday items. Ask the child to find “matching” textures without looking this is what im doing in the video!

✋ Eyes-Closed Activities – Try building with blocks or completing simple tasks without visual input to strengthen tactile feedback.

🎨 Messy Play with Purpose – Incorporate materials like putty, rice bins, or foam to explore differences in pressure, shape, and texture.

When children begin to trust and interpret their sense of touch more accurately, you’ll often see improvements in coordination, grading of movement, and overall confidence in motor tasks.

💡 Tip: Always grade activities to the child’s comfort level—challenge without overwhelming their sensory system.

23/04/2026

Ottar and Rosie doing what they do best, eating and cuddles!

20/04/2026

Beautiful walk with Nalah this lunch time. The sun is lush.

19/04/2026

‼️UPDATE- Our service is now at capacity until next week (Week commencing 27th of April)‼️

Our service is now open for new enquiries 💜

We’re pleased to share that our waiting list is now fully cleared. We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone for your patience and understanding while our team worked hard to support families already on our list.

We are now ready to support new families and continue providing advice, guidance and advocacy across all areas of SEND.

If you need support, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Please note: we don't currently have the capacity to take on any more EHCP draft checks, this will be reviewed on Monday 27th April. We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience.

📩 info@send-empowerment.co.uk
🌐 www.send-empowerment.co.uk

18/04/2026

17/04/2026

I recieved this wonderful feedback yesterday.

15/04/2026

Today was another ending.

There’s a quiet kind of sadness that comes at the end of a therapy journey.

As therapists, we hold space for growth, for vulnerability, for the small and huge moments that shape someone’s path. Over time, it’s only natural that a connection forms — one built on trust, understanding, and shared effort.

So when sessions come to an end, it isn’t just a transition for the client… it’s one for us, too.

We celebrate the progress, the resilience, and the independence that means therapy has come to an end. And yet, saying goodbye can feel tender. We don’t often talk about how therapists can feel that loss — the absence of a familiar face, a weekly rhythm, a relationship that mattered.

It’s a privilege to walk alongside someone, even for a short part of their life. To witness their growth is something we carry forward with deep respect and gratitude.

“Every ending carries the shape of what it made possible.”

Endings can be hard — for everyone involved. But they also hold meaning, reflecting just how important that connection has been. Its a connection that we all hold dearly. 💛

14/04/2026

Nalah is missing her friends. 2 weeks off over Easter was too long for Nalah!

14/04/2026

Beautiful bouquet of flowers from a client and their family today as they approached the end of their OT therapy for now. They have made great progress in a number of areas including postural control, strength, manual dexterity, handwriting and the ability to focus long enough to complete a series of increasingly more complex instructions. Its always a mixture of sadness and happiness when clients come to the end of their therapy as I feel so priviledged to have been part of their journey yet will miss our weekly sessions.

10/04/2026

A peer reviewed study published on 2025, was carried out with 71 parents of PDA children aged 4 to 18 who enrolled into the 12 week online Paradigm Shift Program® developed by Dr. Casey Ehrlich, PhD.

It is a comprehensive support program for the parents and guardians of children with PDA. This 12-week virtual program includes:

🐸weekly live online sessions
🐸an intensive workshop targeting the implementation of accommodations in daily life
🐸 access to a private online community of other program enrollees
🐸 additional educational materials.

The program teaches parents/guardians how to accommodate their children with PDA in ways that reduce cumulative nervous system activation.

Such accommodations improve a child's ability to connect with loved ones, endure necessary and desired demands, and access basic human needs.

As implementing this process takes time, the program simultaneously teaches parents/guardians coping mechanisms and mindset shifts to enable them to endure the extraordinary caretaking and accommodation challenges they face.

Specifically, the program teaches parents/guardians the following:
1) Awareness: How the PDA brain works
2) Acceptance: Decision-making within the constraints of the PDA nervous system
3) Accommodation: Supporting the Child's PDA Nervous System
4) Affirmation: Affirmation and identity for the child with PDA
5) Advocacy: Creating safety outside of the home for the PDA nervous system.

Results:
✨️70% of parents agreed the programme was greatly helpful.
✨️ Parents/guardians reported significant improvement in health-related quality of life.
✨️Parent/guardian reported significant improvements in demand characteristics and conduct differences along with externalizing behavior in their PDA child.

Summary:
The paradigm shift program was both feasible and acceptable. Furthermore, there was evidence that this program improved the quality of life of parents/guardians as well as the behavior of children with PDA.

This is promising research for swrvice provision.

A comprehensive parent training program for parents of neurodivergent children with pathological demand avoidance: The Paradigm Shift Program® Pilot Study - Carlozzi - Pediatric Investigation - Wiley Online Library

The Paradigm Shift Program, a comprehensive training program for parents of neurodivergent children with pathological demand avoidance (PDA), was feasible and acceptable, and there were significant i...

10/04/2026

This is so true. I see this dynamic play out time and time again. Often, other people who do not experience the full picture, be it family, friends or school, feel either frustrated or perplexed at what the parents are reporting and the parents lived genuine experiences are questioned. I wish parents of neurodivergent children were firstly believed and secondly encouraged and supported to work in genuine partnerships with family/ friends and schools as common practice to better meet the needs of the child. If you cant see it or underatand it, it doesn't mean its not real. By creating unhelpful and often inaccurate narratives about the parents reported experience of their child leads to trauma and deep pain. When we know better, we must do better.

10/04/2026

Anyone else start a project with 100% enthusiasm and then 1/2 way through you loose the will to complete it?