Moyna Talcer Consultant Occupational Therapist

28/01/2026

How lovely to receive such heart felt feedback.

28/01/2026

Im back in the clinic after a long break. Oh how I have missed my clients and their famalies.

14/01/2026

Excellent talks by Dr Mona Delahooke, a clinical psychologist, who suffered a severe brain bleed. This was a very interesting talk where she shared some incredible insights into how to create safety and regulation.

🍓 safety is the gateway to healing the nervous system.
🍓 you need your body and your brain to feel safe as possible, in order for healing to take place.
🍓 play is the outcome of a safety perceiving.Nervous system.
🍓 the most important concept we can provide children is our presence by following the child's lead, letting them choose what to do.
🍓 the body does not heal when it does not feel safe. Health emerges when a nervous system can access states of safety.
🍓Prioritizing compassion and co-regulation is the foundation of all growth, health, restoration, and growth, then we are going to get. Get traction like we never have before.

14/01/2026

Day 3 of the Sensory Journey Summit and just finished this incrediable talk by Karla Pretorius, a Psychotherapist who has over 20 yrs clinical expertise and is an ADHDer and a PDAer too. Golden nuggets to share include:

🍌PDA is a neurobiological process driven by a nervous system constantly in survival and unease, its not an attempt to consciously control rather its a neurobiological response to percieved threat and loss of autonomy and felt safety. This is distinctly different from Oppositional Diffiance Disorder where the individual is in control of their behaviour although both do involve anxiety.

🍌PDAers can be externalising in their behaviours towards perceived threat and loss of autonomy including throwing, shouting, kicking etc or internalising in their response to threat and loss of autonomy by withdrawing, seeking solitude, fawning, people pleasing etc BOTH responses are as a result of the nervous system saying "NO" to a perceived threat or demand. Internalised PDA ers are much harder to spot due to masking.

🍌There are 4 layers to a PDAers lived experience to threat:

1. Unease - a constant state, this state is where their brain is more accessiable to thinking and planning.

2. Anxiety - percieved threat/ loss of autonomy

3.Overwhelm - easy to tip over into this level as high anxiety

4. Dread - where their nervous system moves into explosion/freeze/flight/fight or paralysis.

🍌Top tips to support a PDAer:

🍎Give reasons why a task is important, explain with science if appropriate.
🍎Look for what motivates them.
🍎Give methods to solve issues ie if they must do a piece of work, offer many options on how it can be made easier, ie you can write it, I can type it, you can record it, we can race to finish it, we could do it in a cafe with your fav treat etc?
🍎Give the PDAer as much control over the options as possiable, increased autonomy as much as possiable.
🍎Create genuine low demand environments ie if you need to complete a 10 step routine in the morning, discuss with PDAer which steps are the most important and work as a team to find ways to make the other steps easier, ie do the night before for example to reduce demands. If the demand is social eating, suggest at dinner times, the PDAer has options of what to eat and where to eat ie no expectation to sit as a family at the dinner table.
🍎Avoid high praise as praise its self creates a demand of meeting your approval and standards.
🍎Be as flexiable as possiable to reduce demand stress.
🍎When you offer genuine low demand environments, more autonomy and genuine partnerships with a PDAer, rather than a typical parenting relationship, you help to stabalise the relationship and increase their feelings of safety.
🍎A PDAers avoidance of demands, and withdrawal from previously loved activities is a signal that their nervous system is not regulated and they do not feel neurobiologically safe. In order to support them to move out of shutdown, you must first become a place of felt safety for the child. This will support trust and connection and ONLY then can you then begin the work of moving through the shutdown.
🍎PDA Parenting is not represented in any parenting manual, its DIFFERENT and is a direct response to a nervous system in hypervigilence.

Greg Santucci, Occupational Therapist

13/01/2026

More about EMPOWER model

This webinar is from OT ECHO, an international, interprofessional mentorship program designed for occupational therapists across the globe. In this video, Dr...

13/01/2026

Look out for the publication of the first ever neuroaffirming OT model called The Empowering Neurodivergent Occupational Participation & Well-being (EMPOWER) Model by Carlson-Giving and Bryden Guy 2023 and updated in 2026.

This model is authored by a neurodivergent OT.

The model was inspired by common themes found within disability Advocacy and neurodiversity-affirming literature and offers a framework for OTs to use when working with neurodivergent people, including:

✨️Strengths-based approaches

✨️ Trauma informed care

✨️Anti-racist approaches

✨️Disability justice

This is achieved by the OT consciously implementing the steps in clinical practice"

🎈Reflection on ableism

🎈Inclusive evaluations

🎈Affirming service delivery

🎈Neurodivergent outcomes

🎈Advocacy

This will be published in the OT Journal in summer 2026 we hope. In the mean time you can read more about it by visiting neurodivergentnexus.com or neurodivergentot.com for full information on this and download able resources.

13/01/2026

Getting in some high quality CPD training while im still off work. These lectures are from The Sensory Journey Summit and over 3 days there are some excellent talks. It is so affirming to listen to these excellent neuroaffirming talks where juicy gems of knowledge are shared about how best to meet the needs of our neurodivergent clients and their famalies. Greg Santucci, Occupational Therapist

04/01/2026

Dyslexia friendly books.

04/01/2026

Great contact for support for famalies.

💜 Free SEND Advocacy Support – here for families across England 💜

SEND Empowerment Advocacy is a free, independent SEND advocacy service supporting parents and carers with all things SEND. Our trained advocates understand how challenging and overwhelming the SEND system can be, and we are here to stand alongside you every step of the way.

We support with a wide range of things - all completely free, because we believe support should be accessible to every family.

Alongside 1:1 advocacy, we also offer free monthly online parent groups, led by guest professionals, giving you the opportunity to ask questions, gain clarity, and feel supported in a safe, understanding space.

📄 The quickest way to access support is to download our data consent form from our website and email it to us along with your enquiry explaining how we can help. (Link to our website is in the comments)

📧 Email is the best way to contact us, as our phone line isn’t covered at all times. We’ll respond as soon as we can.

📧info@send-empowerment.co.uk

04/01/2026

Brilliant back to school hack for tying a tie!

04/01/2026

An extreamly interesting study looking at Hypermobile Syndrome (HSD) and Hypermobile Ehler Danlos Syndrome (H-EDS) found significant autonomic challenges, which manifests with a wide range of autonomic symptoms such as fatigue, brain fog, temperature dysregulation, gastrointestinal dysfunction, genitourinary symptoms, and others.

Sadly for years, these patients have been told by the medical profession that these factors are not related, however those study proves a clear relationship.

Although there are no specific approved therapies for the treatment of autonomic dysfunction, steps can be effective in reducing the symptom burden and improving quality of life in patients with h-EDS and HSD including: beta blockers, midodrine, fludrocortisone, pyridostigmine, ivabradine, stimulants, intermittent intravenous saline, and immunoglobulin, when necessary, in addition to nonpharmacologic therapies consisting of increased sodium chloride and fluid intake, compression garments, dietary changes, and an individualized exercise approach.

The authors believe that every patient presenting with autonomic dysfunction should be screened for h-EDS and HSD with a Beighton score—an easy scale that can be performed by any health care practitioner during a physical examination. I always screen all clients for this and have done for decades.

Finally, fatigue was one of the most disabling symptoms and at least 20% of patients qualifying for the diagnosis of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS).

Importantly, joint hypermobility has been identified as a risk factor for developing Long COVID after SARS-CoV-2 infection.

So clinicians and professionals can really have a positive impact by ensuring we screen for cooccuring conditions.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667036425000354?ref=pdf_download&fr=RR-9&rr=9b880f5fdbc7b0df&fbclid=IwdGRjcAPHELdjbGNrA8cQN2V4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHsU1040NEFSjkOQlD87nPFL5SJi7NoQy_inBsnHMbyuFazbQ5N4LdQTVNPal_aem_z0Y6D1jgTYiqz2QnvzO40A

22/12/2025

I came home to a little gift and card from a client. Thank you for the very thoughtful cosy gifts. Wishing you all a very happy Christmas and a Peaceful New Year.