Kids Master Skills: Neurodiversity-Affirming Support in Autism

07/25/2025

As school-based occupational therapists, many of us hope to cultivate neurodiversity-affirming practice in our schools. But we have a very steep hill to climb as behaviorist practices are deeply embedded in the schools we serve.

So, what can we do?

It may sound cliché, but any marathon begins with the first step.

So, YOU can take the first step by sharing with teachers that you are a neurodiversity-affirming OT. Next, try following the ideas in this carousel.

Click my bio for my 10 FREE neurodiversity-affirming principles for supporting autistic students.

Download and print these to share with teachers!

07/25/2025

My job = pediatric OT with autistic young people = best job ever!!!

07/24/2025

What is key to remember is that stimming is self-regulation.

Often stimming reflects the intensity of an autistic person's feelings. Happy side-stepping is an example. Rocking, pacing, picking at fingers, are other stims, and these ones may indicate dysregulation.

It is not within our rights to judge stims. Stims are unique to an individual and should be respected.

However, do notice stims that suggest an autistic person is dysregulated. You can accommodate their environment, investigate why they may feel upset and what triggered them to feel this way.

Far too often, "professionals" work to reduce stims or to even eliminate stims. How wrong is it to take away the one thing that may help a person manage a situation?!

Stims which are harmful indicate dysregulation to the point of harming oneself or others. Of course, try to shift or re-direct a harmful stim.

But ALSO consider what stressors are causing an autistic person to have harmful stims in the first place.

What stims do you have if you are autistic?

What stims do you see in your autistic kids?

07/23/2025

Teaching young children handwriting skills is challenging to both instructor and child. So many abilities are required, such as visual discrimination and memory, shoulder stability, wrist extension, arm strength, and self-regulation. Most of all, children are expected to both form letters AND manipulate a pencil.

As an occupational therapist I recommend teaching these two skills separately. Teach letters WITHOUT using a pencil, and then practice those fine motor/pencil control skills through other hands-on activities.

Here are some ideas for help you and a child practice letter formation WITHOUT using a pencil! Share your own ideas in the comments!

07/22/2025

It is important that we must honor the unique play in an autistic child. Yet, at what point should we consider praxis? To be more clear, should we ask the question: Does an autistic child NOT have the praxis to experiment with play in different ways?

What is praxis? Praxis is the ability to ideate (think of an idea), plan, sequence, execute, and adjust a motor plan. Research shows that this is a challenge in autism.

So, what should we do, while remaining respectful to the child and ensuring that we are being neurodiversity-affirming?

We can take two approaches:

1- Respectfully imitate a child's play actions. This may mean copying the way that they roll a truck along a table, or making the same arm movements in the air with a toy. Imitating shows a child that YOU value THEIR choices. This helps them to feel a sense of agency in the world.

2- Model new play actions and ideas that are very simple to start. If a child struggles with praxis then they may struggle to follow novel actions; a lifetime of poor motor planning may result in a reluctance to try now things. While playing, ensure there is no stress and no pressure.

If a child enjoys this approach then perhaps they DO want to try new play schemes and engage with toys in different ways. If they don't engage, try to read their feelings. Ask them if they like to play in new ways.

As an OT, I have tried this approach many times. I often find that autistic clients enjoy novel approaches. What is important to remember is that we follow their lead and respect their perspectives.

07/21/2025

It is the start of the school year.

For those of us who work with autistic students, we want to ensure their best quality of life.

They must feel safe, regulated, cherished, creatively free, and intellectually stimulated. But how do we do this?

These three priorities offer a foundation for how to approach our interactions with students.

How do YOU support your autistic students?

How do YOU make your kids feel honored and loved?

Share in the comments - I want to know!

If you are a school-based OT practitioner, then plan to attend my AOTA approved online training this fall. I will be sharing details soon, so stay in touch!

We've got this. We can learn to do better! We can lead the way through our example!

07/21/2025

Too often, adults quickly decide what an autistic child's behavior means and puts it into a convenient category, such as attention-seeking or escape/avoidance.

However, too often the "behaviors" of autistic children stem from a child feeling distress and trying to communicate their needs.

In this visual, you can see that there are many reasons for the actions of an autistic child. These include anxiety, motor planning, sensory processing, misunderstanding of an autistic child's social skills by neurotypical adults and peers, or executive function challenges within the child. We need to look deeper to understand and support or autistic kids.

07/20/2025

Everything you say to your students and kids carrys on with them into their future. This is why building them up from early ages is so important. That way we are putting more kids who feel loved into the world.

07/18/2025

There is a belief that introducing stressors into an autistic child's life will help them learn to cope with stress.

But there are serious and important concerns with this approach.

1- This stresses out an already stressed individual.

Anxiety is far more prevalent in autism, with 40% of autistic adolescents having a co-occuring formal diagnosis of anxiety.

2- This thinking assumes that being exposed to a stressor lessens the future emotional reaction when exposed to that stressor again.

This approach has little to no evidence behind it. In fact, research completed by Dr. MIller in Denver has proven that autistic children DO NOT accommodate to repeated sensory stimulation.

3- This approach violates trust in the adult.

4- This approach makes an unsafe world feel even less safe.

So, what to do?

Change happens every day. Take advantage of these natural changes to model coping strategies, to embrace regulation strategies, to build trust and to let a child know that adults will help them cope.

Consider these naturally-occurring changes:

A well-loved paraprofessional is out sick, so work with a child to help them cope with their emotions and embrace strategies to be able to get on with their day.

A favorite shirt is dirty and cannot be worn to school, so propose using a practiced and preferred sensory strategy to manage anxiety in this situation. Then grab another go-to, agreed-upon piece of clothing.

Anticipate natural changes that may happen and proactively develop a plan to manage these changes.

Never sacrifice trust and felt safety by introducing a "fake" stressor, just to teach a child to cope.

What are your thoughts?

How do you support your autistic students and kids?

07/17/2025

Autistic children often have intense passions that they value dearly.
Growing up, mine included poodles, bats, outer space, and any simple - or complex - craft projects with yarn.

However, specific and highly focused interests in autism are often pathologized. Parents and teachers may be encouraged to discourage interests which are "all-consuming" or "a waste of a child's time".

Yet, "all-consuming" is part of the autistic experience. And having passionate interests is one of the joys of autism. In fact, this type of strong interest has a name: Monotropic interest.

Rather than pathologizing monotropic interests, we should encourage them, and even build relationships and advance learning by honoring these interests and encouraging autistic students to embrace them.

With a little creativity and some out-of-the-box thinking, monotropic interests can be incorporated into the day-to-day lives of our autistic children and students!

This visual is a start and shares some ideas for respecting an autistic child's interests.

What ideas am I missing???

How do you support the monotropic interests of autistic children in your life???

Let me know in the comments!

07/17/2025

Words to hear and a reality to respect.

Thank you

07/17/2025

Words to live by.

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