Corvallis Children's Therapy

According to the NYTimes:
"Stimulants, such as amphetamines and other drugs used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, may increase the risk of heat-related illnesses by interacting with the central nervous system and brain to raise body temperature, said Dr. Mahesh Polavarapu, the medical director of emergency medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian Westchester."
By Katie Mogg, June 15, 2024

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Learn more about sensory breaks and other strategies in our book, Raising a Sensory Smart Child. You'll find it online and in your neighborhood bookstore!
-Lindsey Biel, OTR/L

A great product by a great small company: talking single switch.

Say-It Talking Button Buy the Say-It Talking Button, for most disability types it's a great choice. Also consider my switch adapted products. RJ Cooper & Associates, Inc. Call 1-800-RJCooper for direct support.

Pick one or two that work for your family...to help everyone be more focused, relaxed and happy (otherwise known as physically and emotionally regulated)

Flourishing Homes & Families ❤

Heavy work is very calming. To learn more, read about proprioception in our book, "Growing an In-Sync Child."

Ideas for the week:

Flourishing Homes & Families ❤

Heavy work is very calming. To learn more, read about proprioception in our book, "Growing an In-Sync Child."

Good to know if you live with a sensory seeker...

Laundry Room and Detergent Safety ​Are you a family with young children? Then chances are you spend a great deal of time doing laundry! Help keep young kids safe by making sure that anything little fingers may try to open, pull on, or play with in the laundry room won't harm them. ​

Ever wonder what chores your child or teen could be doing at their age? Pediatricians weigh in:

Age-Appropriate Chores for Children During the middle years of childhood, youngsters should take on more responsibilities at home. Daily chores and responsibilities are an important part of learning that life requires work, not just play.

Love this. Raffi is a children's musician, a climate activist and an author, for those unfamiliar.

Here's a great craft for today. Make this countdown calendar, and be sure to have the child write the numbers and do the gluing. Second pic is a Santa you could use for it.

I did this 2 day community-focused training some years ago, and found it valuable personally.

Today I was asked "How do YOU self-regulate." Here is my answer: Do I self-regulate? Only to the extent absolutely necessary, I think. I may co-regulate more than I self-regulate, and the latest research would suggest that is true for most? Hmmm. Today, I read the preschool book Tucker the Turtle to clients. It teaches this self-regulation sequence: Notice big emotions, Stop the body, Tuck into your shell (like a turtle), Take 3 slow deep breaths, Come out when calm to think and problem solve. I guess I do a version of that? Breathing, centering, focusing on my body sensations or what I can see/hear/feel/smell in the environment are grounding techniques from the meditation/mindfulness traditions that I use and I teach. I also use alot of physical strategies (sucking, chewing, pushing, pulling, lifting, pinching, squeezing) for myself and for my clients: choosing resistive materials when they have trouble staying engaged, choosing very chewy snacks for relaxing myself. Like many with ADHD, I tend to have only two speeds or two kinds of focus: all in, or tuned out. Organizational strategies are regulating for me. Without them, I become easily overwhelmed and disorganized. Written plans and visual cues are essential for me because my working memory is poor at the best of times and non-existent in a highly active, distracting, interactive setting. I also actively use my voice volume and intonation constantly in sessions, to bring the energy level up or down to try to maintain a midrange for all. I don't regulate my voice as well in interactions in the rest of life, outside of work. There, I get louder and may be oblivious to what's going on inside of me, or if I do notice my stress, I get super quiet. I've incorporated alot of body awareness/interoception work into my practices. I think we so often move too quickly past the important first steps of learning to notice feelings (sensory and emotional). We rush to teaching grounding strategies when the child is often not aware of their own state, even when its obvious to everyone else in the room. I've started doing more check-ins of state in my sessions, with simple questions and tentative reflective observations. We are learning together to co-regulate. By letting the clients impact my state, I'm teaching them that regulation is reciprocal and interdependent (I tell them it's contagious), not simply individual responsibility. Lot's to consider...

We have a new website. Check it out at

Home - Online Children's Therapy Occupational Therapy for Kids- We provide a wide range of pediatric occupational therapy services in person and online.

As your family prepares to head back to school, check out these tips to help ensure your child has a safe, healthy, and happy school year. Find more tips here: https://bit.ly/3A89KiS

Tech and Autism--researching telehealth therapies. Bring your questions...

Telehealth in autism - research

What is occupational therapy for kids and how can it help? Learn the basics of pediatric occupational therapy, who it’s for and how it might may benefit your child.

Important to rule out before doing gymnastics or yoga.

Atlantoaxial Instability in Children with Down Syndrome ​Some children with Down syndrome also may have a condition known as Atlantoaxial Instability, a misalignment of the top two vertebrae of the neck. This condition makes these children more prone to injury if they participate in activities which overextend or flex the neck. ​Learn more here.

Got kids? Take the littles to their first concert with Baby Beluga artist, Raffi. Good, wholesome, save the world music empowering young people and their families. Portland and Seattle concerts now on sale. I've always been a big fan!

Seattle and Portland Fans! Tickets on sale today for Raffi 's Family Concerts in your cities!

Saturday, September 23, 2:00 PM - Paramount Theatre, Seattle.
Sunday, September 24, 2:00 PM - Keller Auditorium, Portland.



𝐓𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 - https://bit.ly/3D6ajfA

Does your family have a family media plan for screen time for everyone? If not, here's some help to create one from the Academy of Pediatrician's Healthy Children site:

Family Media Plan ​Use this Family Media Plan to create a personalized plan for how all kinds of media are used in your family. ​​

Letting this news sink in: "Research has shown that from 2018 to 2021, the rate of firearm-related deaths doubled among Black youth and increased 50% among Hispanic youth. Another study found that children living in low-income areas are at higher risk of firearm-related death.
Direct and indirect exposure to gun violence can contribute to mental health problems.
“Even if they hear gunshots in their community, they hear adults talking, there’s all different ways that children are traumatized and victimized by gun violence. And what we see is all the symptoms of anxiety in even the youngest of children. We see children with somatic complaints – stomachaches, headaches. They have post-traumatic stress disorder,” Smeal said.
--from CNN

Children's mental health tops list of parent worries, survey finds | CNN Forty percent of US parents are "extremely" or "very" worried that their children will struggle with anxiety or depression at some point, a new survey finds.

Which of these have you used? Share what works best. With a full blown meltdown, I do a combination of reducing sounds, light and movement, giving quiet and space, using minimal words and making no demands until calmer. Once starting to calm, I offer additional calming tools -- something to hold or squeeze, a favourite activity as a break, yoga or breathing or muscle work. Then as they become calmer yet, I offer tool to bring into an engaging activity: might use water bottle, wiggle chair, fidget, and most likely I choose an activity that uses resistive materials for push, pull, poke, press, stretch that further regulate the body. How about you?

This graphic may be useful to share with extended family and others who will be around neurodiverse people during the holidays, to help them understand how to be supportive. More tips are found in the article: https://www.clevescene.com/news/ask-alli-tips-for-a-successful-holiday-season-from-my-neurodiverse-family-to-yours-41022857?media=AMP+HTML

Did you know that you should include your child in the gift-wrapping part of gift-giving?! It addresses so many skills you probably didn't even realize!

Here are 5 reasons:

1. Practice writing - fill out a card, a label, or a tag
2. Visual perceptual skills - to estimate the size of the paper, you would need to fully wrap a gift.
3. Problem-solving - in case they cut the paper too small and it doesn't fit the whole gift.
3. Scissor skills - cut the gift wrap, ribbon, and tape
4. Bilateral coordination - two hands must work together to cut, fold, and tape the gift wrap.
5. Transfer those shoe-tying skills and tie a knot or a bow on the gift

Now that you know how many skills you can work on while wrapping a gift, it's time to make this part of gift-giving into a learning experience.

Check out my blog post for 5 more reasons to let your kids wrap gifts: https://missjaimeot.com/10-reasons-to-let-your-kids-wrap-gifts/

Thanks to a local SPED teacher for sharing this, and for the sharing her class with this OT in the past.

If you are interested in neurodiversity-affirming, strength-based OT approaches, check out this website: https://neuroclastic.com/ The page about ABA is particularly enlightening.

NeuroClastic The Autism Spectrum According to Autistic People

strategies for the grown-ups to stay regulated this holiday season: