While family gatherings can be exciting, it may also be overwhelming for your child with sensory differences. Teaching your child to advocate for their needs will support a comfortable, enjoyable holiday season for all.  

If a task is too easy, it can be boring. If it is too hard, it can be frustrating. Finding the Just-Right-Challenge, will keep your child engaged and motivated. And it can empower your child to see that they can improve and succeed on their own.

This post will aim to explain how and when we can utilize visuals in occupational therapy and everyday life. As everyone learns and communicates in different styles, utilizing a visual aid throughout routines can assist children in staying regulated for optimal levels of engagement. There is an abundance of ways visuals can be utilized. Learn more here.

Self-advocacy is a critical skill for problem solving and achieving goals. Here are four steps to self-advocacy that you can review with your child so they can learn to appropriately advocate for their needs in order to reach their maximum potential.

Affirmations can boost self-esteem and promote confidence, independence and a growth mindset for you child. This handout provides 10 ways to incorporate positive affirmations into interactions with your child.

Visual schedules can help children of all ages understand expectations and transition throughout the day. This handout provides 4 different styles of simple visual schedules using a first-then-next approach. Add photos or words to individualize it for you family.

Goal setting is important for your child because it gives them a sense of purpose, can improve confidence, and can build self-esteem. It is important to not only teach our kids the necessity of setting goals, but also how to break goals into smaller, more attainable steps. This handout serves as a guideline to setting – and attaining – goals for you and your child.

Cultural Humility is defined as a way or incorporating multiculturalism through flexibility and awareness of bias. It is a lifelong, learning-oriented approach to working with diversity; and a recognition of the role of power in health care interactions. As we enter the last week of black history month, we wanted to highlight the importance of yrarlong and life long learning as it relates to race and cultural. This article aims to provide ways in which you and your child can engage in, and practice, cultural humility.

Even the most successful of individuals have faced adversity. Check out this article to learn about a variety of celebrities who have speech and language, sensory, motor and mental health disorders.

Emotional validation is defined as the process of learning about, understanding, and accepting another person’s emotions. Validation helps us connect with others, including our children, in addition to promoting self-confidence, emotional intelligence, and growth. This blog post will help you understand what validation is, why it’s important, and how you can incorporate it into your everyday parenting.