Kids Master Skills BLOG

As an Autistic adult, with my own OT clinic and a lot on my plate with speaking and delivering school district professional development, I face the same challenge every day. And it is this: I struggle with transitions. The stress I feel typically (always) disappears once I am inside a new task, especially when this task is something I enjoy and that I am drawn toward. Once I start the task, I remember how I LOVE to engage deeply and I do engage. Then, I am fine. I suspect all

As the school year moves forward, I find myself thinking about the word break. It is a word that shows up in classrooms, IEPs, and behavior plans, yet it is rarely examined closely. We talk about breaks as if they are one thing: A pause. A reward. A moment away from work. But when you respectfully try to understand Autistic students, it becomes clear that breaks are not interchangeable. A break that supports one child’s nervous system may dysregulate another. And a break that

🌱Last month I visited a school where a little boy, Mateo, was working with a behavior technician who had been hired to deliver Autism “therapy.” She was kind, patient, and clearly wanted to help. But as I watched her try to manage his overwhelm with a laminated token board and a series of rehearsed prompts, something became painfully clear. She had never been taught how to understand what his nervous system was trying to communicate. ➡️ No one had taught her about sensory ov

As Thanksgiving approaches, I am thinking about simple meaningful moments in my clinic. They remind me why our work matters and how powerful small, attuned and affirming interactions can be.

The first few weeks of school often go smoothly. Everyone is fresh, polite, and hopeful. But for many Autistic students, that “honeymoon” depends on masking—suppressing natural regulation needs and social communication differences to blend in.

With Department of Education layoffs in the news over the past few days, I thought it might be helpful to share my understanding and interpretation of what this means to many people

Sometimes I think how lucky I was that my handwriting came easily. Because if my teacher had ever tried to place her hand over mine — or under it — to guide my pencil, the very thing meant to help would have unsettled me.

When I walked into the classroom, something was deeply off — I felt it in my bones.

But as  I reflect on this now —both as a neuroaffirming OT and as an Autistic person—I see something different. I see a child whose nervous system is communicating . . . something.