Shop our BIGGEST sale of the year! Today we are answering a listener question: how to help a 5-year-old who becomes overstimulated and how to help the parent who becomes overstimulated. We discuss strategies to set the child up for success before the overstimulating situations, strategies for the car ride, and how to decompress. We also talk about strategies for the parent, including getting outside, drinking enough water, asking for help, and more!  LINKS We’d love to answer your...

We are answering a listener question today: a 4-year-old child who is receiving speech and OT services and the family is struggling “to prevent eloping in parking lots and helping him understand the dangers of moving vehicles.” We talk about some different ideas including a sticker/reward chart, different ways to transition to the car, practicing “safe” and “not safe” scenarios, creating a social story, and MORE!  LINKS We’d love to answer your questions on the podcast! Fill out this form -...

Sign up for the Harkla Early Bird Holiday Sale - https://harkla.co/pages/early-sign-up What is the difference between a passive sensory activity and an active sensory activity? Is one type better than the other? How long does a passive sensory activity “last” in the body, compared to an activity sensory activity? We answer these questions and give you our favorite passive sensory activities and our favorite active sensory activities! LINKS We’d love to answer your questions on the...

We’re sharing ten things that we’ve learned in the past 10 years! We’ve been certified occupational therapy assistants for just over 10 years and we’ve learned so many things, it was very difficult to pick just 10! We talk about mentoring, asking questions, referring out, and MORE! We’d love to hear from you - Leave a comment on Spotify or YouTube and let us know what you’ve learned in your career or what you’ve learned from listening to us!   LINKS We’d love to answer your questions on the...

We’re answering a listener question today - helping a parent understand how to help their child self-regulate, understand sensory challenges, how to find help, and how primitive reflexes might be connected to learning in school, specifically reading. This child was recently diagnosed with ADHD as well. We dive into using the Harkla Sensory Preferences Checklist (free download linked below), adding more sensory activities into the daily routine, how to improve emotional intelligence, and...

Today we are chatting all about Rachel’s new curriculum: Crawling for Brain Development. Get the inside scoop on how Rachel created this book, why she is so passionate about crawling, and how you can get your hands on this amazing curriculum!  Crawling for Brain Development© is a 5-week, guided program designed for children and adults ages 3-100+. It will benefit individuals of all abilities, whether they crawled in infancy or not. Parents can implement the program at home, teachers in...

Today we’re talking about sensory over-responsivity (what is it? What does it look like? Who can it impact?) and the connection to anxiety.  We dive into 2 different research articles (linked below) as well as provide 3 tips: Develop individualized sensory diet routines and environmental modifications  Look into retained primitive reflexes, specifically the Moro Reflex Find simple ways to decompress and regulate the nervous system LINKS We’d love to answer your questions on the...

We are answering your questions in today’s podcast episode! Question 1: How to help with picky eating, specifically with fruits and vegetables. Question 2: How to help a toddler with daycare/preschool line up when it’s time to come back inside after playing outside. Question 3: Understanding if soccer is the ‘just-right’ sport for a child with SPD, Autism, and low muscle tone.  LINKS We’d love to answer your questions on the podcast! Fill out this form -...

We are answering a listener question today! Is there an age limit when it comes to sensory bins? Are sensory bins beneficial for older children? How can we make sensory bins beneficial and fun for a variety of ages?We dive into the benefits of sensory bins, including tactile modulation and visual processing. Then we talk about our favorite ways to make sensory bins fun and engaging for older children, including following a recipe, using a blindfold, and adding it into an obstacle...

Kinsey Showers is an S2C practitioner based in Utah. She began her spelling journey in 2018 when she was working at Invictus Academy Tampa Bay, a school for students with sensory motor differences. She is also a cohort leader and mentor for the International Association for Spelling as Communication. Kinsey is very passionate about communication rights because that's what communication is- a right! She is so thankful to work with nonspeakers and their families. Kinsey’s background is in...

Today’s episode we’re answering a listener's question about how sensory processing challenges affect learning and higher-level cognitive skills. We dive into the connection between vestibular processing and cross or mixed dominance.  We talk about research that has been done in this area as well as what it all means. Then we jump into strategies that we would recommend for this family, including vestibular-based activities, bilateral integration activities, looking into primitive reflexes,...

Shop the Harkla Back to School Sale - Save 15% on physical products and save 20% on digital products through September 8, 2024  https://harkla.co/pages/back-to-school Executive function skills are the higher level cognitive skills that are required for every day tasks. These skills begin to develop in toddlerhood and aren’t fully developed until a person is in their 20s! For students in the classroom, executive function skills are required for everything from social interactions, to...

Special gift from Kokeb: “Harkla25” for 25% off of RITP at Home Family Bundle - https://www.integratingreflexes.com/family-bundle/ Kokeb Girma McDonald is a pediatric occupational therapist and the founder of the Reflex Integration Through Play™️ (RITP) program. She is the mother of two wonderful children, and has extensive professional experience working with young people of all ages and backgrounds since 2004. Recognizing the need for practical and universally accessible primary motor...

We received a question on Instagram: “Help! My child won't participate in their sensory diet!” And today’s episode is all about how you can help your child complete their sensory diet routine so they feel more cool, calm, and regulated! First we talk about play - this is a child’s main occupation - and how using play during the sensory diet is the #1 way to get them involved.  Then we talk about the sensory activities that your child seeks out - what are they? Add those activities into the...

Dr. Laura Hanson, D.C., MS, QEEG-DL, D.I.C.C.P., NDT, BCN, CAS is a board-certified chiropractic pediatric diplomate, QEEG diplomate, and Neurofeedback specialist. In addition, she is a neuro-developmental therapist, holds a Master’s in Sports Health Science with a concentration in Nutrition, and is a Certified Autism Specialist. She has held faculty positions at both Palmer College and Life University from 2003 until 2012 and is recognized domestically and internationally through her persona...

Improving Focus and Behavior in the Classroom Digital Course for Educators and TherapistsSchool is about to start for many families, so today’s podcast episode is all about how to create effective occupational therapy sessions in the school setting.If you’re a therapist working in the schools, this episode is full of tips and strategies for implementing sensory integration and primitive reflexes into your weekly treatment sessions.We’d love to answer your questions on the podcast! Fill out th...

School is almost here and we’re diving into 5 things that teachers can do in the classroom to help their students!We talk about adaptive seating, using regular sensory breaks, finding different ways to establish natural consequences within the classroom, keeping recess, and more!Improving Focus and Behavior in the Classroom Digital Course for Educators and TherapistsWe’d love to answer your questions on the podcast! Fill out this form -> https://harkla.typeform.com/to/ItWxQNP3Brought To Yo...

Today we’re answering a question that we received from Instagram: “Can you talk about the end point of reflex integration work. What does that look like?”We chat about what a reflex integration program looks like and how to create a “maintenance” program afterwards.Be sure to check out all of the links below!Free Primitive Reflex WebinarFull Primitive Reflex Digital CourseWe’d love to answer your questions on the podcast! Fill out this form -> https://harkla.typeform.com/to/ItWxQNP3Brought...

Watch this video - https://youtu.be/PkylhDc0sOY?si=k7gjWbpOixhbWLYrRenee Anderson has been a physical therapist since 2017. She worked in an orthopedic outpatient setting until early 2021, and then started to work at HETRA (Heartland Equine Therapeutic Riding Academy) as a therapist utilizing horse movement in her treatment. She loves to see the progress her participants make after riding horses and developing trusting relationships from having the same participants every week.Dr. Kaiti Otte ...

We talk a lot about sensory seekers and sensory avoiders, but it’s very common - and to be expected - that a child will have mixed sensory needs.What does this mean exactly? And how can we help provide the just-right sensory input to help a child feel calm and regulated when they have mixed sensory needs?!In this episode, we talk about personalized sensory diets, proprioception, visual schedules, and primitive reflexes!Free Sensory Diet WebinarWe’d love to answer your questions on the podcast...

Quiara Smith an Expert Pediatric Pelvic Health Occupational Therapist who is the CEO/Director of Aloha Integrative Therapy, the first boutique private OT practice exclusively created to treat children with toileting difficulties, pediatric pelvic floor dysfunction, and bowel and bladder disorders. Quiara has been a practicing pediatric OT for over 14 years. Quiara is passionate about creating and holding safe and inclusive space, in order to provide holistic and integrative approaches to pedi...

Free Primitive Reflex WebinarPrimitive Reflex Digital CourseOne of our favorite things about our digital courses is that you can ask questions and start conversations inside of the course! We have a comment forum within each module of each course, and we LOVE getting in there to answer questions, brainstorm, and chat about progress!Today’s episode is a conversation about a question that was posted inside of our primitive reflex digital course. We talk about different reflexes, different chall...

Joel Warsh, MD, is a Board-Certified Pediatrician in Los Angeles, California, specializing in Parenting, Wellness, and Integrative Medicine. He grew up in Toronto, Canada, and completed degrees in Kinesiology, Psychology, Epidemiology, and Community Health before earning his medical degree from Thomas Jefferson Medical College. He completed his Pediatric Medicine training at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles (CHLA) and worked in private practice in Beverly Hills before founding his current p...

Today’s episode is an “interview” with Jessica! We’re chatting all about Gestalt Language Processing, using AAC in occupational therapy sessions, collaborating with speech therapists, transitions with non-speaking / pre-verbal clients, and more!Although Jessica is not an expert in language and communication, she works closely with an SLP who has extensive experience in GLP specifically. Everything she shares is from her personal and professional experiences. She knows that she has more to lea...