The Therapy Spot

09/13/2025

Shoutout to all the non-autistic people who make sincere efforts to listen and learn autistic people's perspectives, just as a matter of principle, despite society not really expecting them to.

(And to pre-empt a few comments: yes, a small percentage of autistic people do in fact lack empathy. But I'd be willing to bet money on that figure being close to the percentage of NON-autistic people who lack empathy. Not that this is a contest. 😉)
Chris Bonnello - Autistic Author

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[Title: The Double Empathy Problem illustrated
First panel: Red stick-figure looking at blue stick-figure: "This autistic person struggles with empathy, because they can't tell how I'm feeling."
Second panel, a few minutes later: Red stick-figure looking at dysregulated blue stick-figure: "I don't get it - they're melting down over nothing!"
Caption: Autistic people do NOT generally lack empathy. But autistic and non-autistic people communicate differently, which means everyone needs to do the kind of learning, listening and 'translating' that's currently only expected of autistic people.]

09/09/2025

Swinging is fun, but it is SO much more than that!

Join The Therapy SPOT's owner and occupational therapist, Jessica Ravineala, for a Bloom U virtual parent workshop to learn all about our senses and how they influence behavior!

Wed 9/10 @ 5:30pm
Link to register: https://bloom-u.com/events-at-bloom-u/

Sometimes it may look like we are only swinging in therapy sessions, but there are so many benefits to swinging and moving around in general! Swings are great tools for sensory integration and activate the vestibular sensory system. The vestibular system detects information about the position of our body and head in space as well as the speed and direction of movement through receptors in the inner ear. Vestibular input helps us develop posture, balance, muscle tone, and coordination, which are all important in letting us know how to move our bodies and maintain positions without falling. Swinging has many benefits:

•Supports regulation and sensory processing
•Supports focus and attention
•Supports social interaction and language development
•Supports postural control, balance, and body coordination
•Supports motor planning
•Supports spatial awareness

It is important to note that there are many different types of swings and ways to swing - please consult with an occupational therapist to learn about the best ways to use these tools to support your child!

09/08/2025

Get to know The Therapy SPOT team! Not only are they talented, they are also FUN

Here is a snippet of just some of our amazing team members 🤩

09/02/2025

Join us next week Bloom U!
Registration link here: https://bloom-u.com/events-at-bloom-u/

08/31/2025

Not only is our team passionate about expanding their knowledge and helping their patients, they also selflessly pass along their knowledge to our many students. We love supporting future clinicians and introducing them to neurodivergent affirming practices ❤️

08/27/2025

Check out our latest blog, by one of our talented students, to learn strategies for using reading to support your child's language skills!

Read it here, or head over to our website then click Blog
https://therapyspotmi.com/blogs/news/build-language-skills-through-playful-reading

08/26/2025

This week we celebrate one of our incredible office assistants- Brandy! Brandy holds things together for us at the Troy office and we couldn't be more grateful. She is so dedicated to our patients and their families and supporting the therapists in any way she can.

Congratulations, Brandy!

08/13/2025

08/13/2025

Our next Bloom U presentation is coming up tomorrow- 8/14 at 5:30pm. Join us to learn more about sensory processing!

Register here: https://bloom-u.com/events-at-bloom-u/

08/13/2025

WE DID IT!
It's been a long several days but we are finally settled in to our NEW Farmington office 🤠

We are so excited to see you in our new space. It will likely continue to evolve over time but here is how it's looking now...

08/10/2025

We still have LOTS of unpacking and setting up to do in our new Farmington clinic, but little corners of our space are starting to come together ......

08/08/2025

Our Farmington office may have been closed today but our staff were hard at work!