Playskills Occupational Therapy Clinic for Children

12/11/2025

Claim it! God bless and goodluck on your board exams!

12/11/2025

𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗣𝗟𝗜𝗔𝗡𝗖𝗘 𝘃𝘀. 𝗥𝗘𝗟𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦𝗛𝗜𝗣
What other differences can you think of between compliance-based approaches and Relationship-based approaches?
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𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲-𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱: Focuses on controlling behaviors

𝗥𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽-𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱: Focuses on understanding the sources of behaviors
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𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲-𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱: Blame is on the child (how can the child change the behavior?)

𝗥𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽-𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱: Ownership is on the adult (how can I change my behavior to be a better support?)
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𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲-𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱: Forces child to mask or hide inner experiences to comply.

𝗥𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽-𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱: Validates and supports each unique inner experience.
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𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲-𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱: Use of external forms of motivation.

𝗥𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽-𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱: Builds internal motivation through self-understanding.
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𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲-𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱: Rooted in power hierarchy (please me to earn reward).

𝗥𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽-𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱: Rooted in safe relationships (Do well because you feel safe).
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𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲-𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱: Forms conditional self-worth (Good Behavior = Good Child)

𝗥𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽-𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱: Forms unconditional self-worth (your feelings are valid).
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𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲-𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱: May see immediate results to the detriment of mental health.

𝗥𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽-𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱: Gradual results with positive long-term impact on health.
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11/11/2025

11/11/2025

Supporting a child through a meltdown is not just about what we say or do.
It’s also about what is happening inside us.

Our nervous system responds to their overwhelm.
Their panic can trigger our panic.
Their intensity can activate our urgency.
Their distress can stir our own history of not feeling safe.

So before we can co-regulate a young person, we often need to regulate ourselves.
Not perfectly — just enough to stay steady.

This post shares supportive ways to stay regulated as the adult, so that we can be the grounding presence a child’s nervous system is reaching for in the storm.

Because when we are calm, predictable, and connected — the child feels safe enough to return to calm too.

If you’d like a deeper breakdown of every phase of the meltdown cycle — and how to respond at each stage without shame, fear, or urgency — you’ll find the full Timeline of a Meltdown resource via link in comments below ⬇️ or via Linktree Shop in Bio.

Save this post to return to when you need it

11/11/2025

Love this! 🥰

10/11/2025

Regular sessions and Early Intervention Classes 1 & 2 resumes tomorrow.

10/11/2025

Recently, a professional wrote that presuming competence is dangerous because it leads us to overlook vulnerability. That by presuming competence, we fail to protect, fail to offer help, fail to teach and assume people already know skills they have not yet learned. The professional’s stance confuses competence with current performance and support with correction or training.

This is not presuming competence. This is neglect.

Presuming competence is not an instructional strategy nor a belief about skill level. Presuming competence doesn’t mean assuming the person already has every skill but not demanding of someone to prove their right to access before we are willing to help them learn.

To presume competence is to recognise that a person’s understanding, agency, emotional depth and capacity for meaning-making exist regardless of whether they can demonstrate those things in neuronormative ways.
We do not treat a person as less intelligent because they communicate, learn or express differently.
We should assume cognitive presence, even when expression is delayed, non-linear or happens through non-speech communication.
We must provide access, support, scaffolding and alternative communication methods without requiring someone to prove they deserve them.

Presuming competence is an ethical stance that does not reduce someone to what is observable, nor treat one's humanity as being contingent on performance.

Moreso, vulnerability and competence are not opposites... A person can be deeply vulnerable and competent at the same time. Presuming competence allows us to support that vulnerability with dignity, instead of controlling it through fear of what might happen if we get it wrong.

Bottom line is that we don’t presume finished ability. We presume capacity, presence and potential and we support the person in accessing and expressing it.

10/11/2025

A meltdown isn’t a child 'losing control' on purpose.
It’s the nervous system moving into overwhelm — often because things have felt too loud, too fast, too uncertain, or too much for too long.

When we understand the phases of a meltdown, we can respond with care rather than correction.
We can spot the early signs.
We can keep connection safe.
We can help a child return to calm without shame.

Today we’re exploring the Timeline of a Meltdown— what’s happening in the brain and body, what it looks like, and how we can support at each stage. Visuals for parents/educators and child voice style for young people. For more support, see our Timeline of a Meltdown Resource Pack – link in comments below ⬇️ or Linktree Shop in Bio.

09/11/2025

❗️❗️❗️Sessions are cancelled tomorrow. Please stay indoors and be prepared. Keep updated on Typhoon Uwan. Sessions will resume on Tuesday. Stay safe everyone.

08/11/2025

07/11/2025

07/11/2025