The Sensory Project

Kristin Palen, OTR/L is an occupational therapist with over 19 years of experience solely in pediatrics. Kristin is the owner of Coastal Connections Pediatric Therapy, in the Outer Banks North Carolina. Her practice provides direct nature based occupational therapy services, early intervention services, virtual parent coaching, nature based resources and masterclasses coming soon.Kristin is a proud mother of two preemies (30 weeks and 36 weeks); and she believes her experience as a preemie mo...

There are several subtypes of Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) and in today’s episode we dive into Sensory Based Motor Disorder. We talk about dyspraxia and postural disorder - what they look like and what you can do to help promote the skills involved!Be sure to check out the links below! Be sure to check out the show notes on our blog at Harkla.Co/Podcast.Brought To You By HarklaThis podcast is brought to you by Harkla. Our mission at Harkla is to help those with special n...

From a pediatric occupational therapy perspective, crawling is a very important milestone for MOST children. This is today’s topic and we encourage you to think outside the box, dive into the research, and remember that everyone’s experience is unique. Make sure you check out all the links below! Be sure to check out the show notes on our blog at Harkla.Co/Podcast.Brought To You By HarklaThis podcast is brought to you by Harkla. Our mission at Harkla is to help those wit...

Amirra is the founder of Marvelous Mirracles and creator of The Mirracle Money Blueprint, an all-in-one comprehensive program designed to kickstart your financial game plan, help you stress less + make more money, and develop strong money management skills in 90 days so that you can start building wealth from your very first paycheck...even if you’re a new grad with no side hustle. Amirra knows what it's like to feel stuck, and she’s here to teach you all the things about money that we never ...

Today’s episode is all about WHY we love sensory strategies for EVERY classroom!The idea is to create an inclusive, sensory friendly classroom that all students can benefit from, while also providing individualized sensory strategies to the students who need a little bit more.Make sure you stay til the end of today’s episode where we answer a listener question! Be sure to check out all of the links below for additional resources! Be sure to check out the show notes on our blog at &n...

Dr. Hailey Arnold is a chiropractor and functional medicine practitioner; however, she is best described as an entrepreneur. Constantly finding solutions to problems, Dr. Arnold spends her days formulating nutritional products and genetic tests for children of all ages. She is an active clinician, educator, public speaker, and published author. With a passion for neurosensory differences and autoimmunity, Dr. Arnold has created multiple businesses that allow children to get healthy natur...

We’ve gotten asked many times about how and why we started our entrepreneurial journey. So today, we’re diving in! We started out as outpatient pediatric COTAs (Certified Occupational Therapy Assistants) and saw a gap in our space. So we took a leap to try to fill that gap (almost 4 years ago!) and thanks to you wonderful listeners, we just reached 200 podcast episodes! We’ve learned a lot along the way and this episode is full of our tips and tricks for success in starting a new bu...

Kim Wiggins, OTR/L, is an experienced occupational therapist specializing in the treatment of children since 2001. She is a full-time therapist at a City School District in upstate New York, owner of www.OTKimWiggins.com, and has been a nationally known speaker since 2011. Kim is certified in Mobile Devices for Children with Disabilities, Puzzle Art Therapy, Handwriting Without Tears, Zaner Bloser, The Size Matters Handwriting Program, The Listening Program, and as an Irlen Screener. Be ...

We had someone message us asking what a day in the life of a COTA looks like!We (Rachel and Jessica) are both Certified Occupational Therapy Assistants, Licensed in the state of Idaho (COTA/L). We worked with children in an outpatient clinic setting for over 7 years and in this episode we share what a “typical” day looked like in the clinic. We also share some tips for fellow therapists! Don’t forget to listen to the end, where we answer a listener question! Be sure to check ou...

Jennifer Jo Brout is the Director of the International Misophonia Research Network. She is a New York State Certified School Psychologist, a Connecticut Professional Licensed Counselor, and holds a Doctorate in School/Clinical-Child Psychology. She is the mother of adult triplets, and is a Misophonia sufferer herself. Disappointed by her own experiences with the state of the field when seeking help for her own child in 1999, Dr. Brout began efforts to establish better research practice, ...

So many children struggle with the process of independence with toileting skills and we’ve talked about it in previous episodes - check out the show notes for those episodes - but today we are going to break down the actual skills required for each step of the toileting process plus give you some activity ideas to address each skill! In OT, we call this an activity analysis: A breakdown of a task into each step that is requiredIdentifies physical requirementsIdentifies specific skil...

Matt Sloan is a certified occupational therapy assistant specializing in sensory integration therapy. Matt is also a fitness professional, coach, and has worked as a special education teacher and adaptive PE teacher. Matt has been involved in education for over 25 years working with kids and adults of all abilities in a multitude of settings.Matt now runs Sensory Fitness - a program developed to incorporate sensory integration therapy and fitness that is intentional about exercise, games, and...

We got a question on instagram that we’re going to answer in today’s episode!When doing sensory activities, should I continue the challenging activities or push through them with my child when my child has adverse reactions? Such a great question! We dive into this topic and discuss the ‘just right challenge’ as well as provide some examples of what this looks like for different situations. We give you our fav. tips and tricks for navigating the ‘just right challenge’ as well as ans...

Today’s episode is a 1-on-2 with a fellow OT where we dive into all things primitive reflexes! We talk about a variety of challenges related to primitive reflexes as well as we really got to nerd out on all the activity ideas! If you’re a therapist working with children, this episode is GOLD! But don’t shy away from this episode if you’re not a therapist - there are some great ideas for kiddos who are struggling with anxiety, how to help kiddos move into a variety of positions ...

In today’s episode we dive into WHY we believe, and why research shows, that establishing hand dominance is vital to success with a variety of daily activities. We also talk about what it looks like if a child is struggling to establish hand dominance and of course, we give you our favorite tips and tricks to help! Stick around to the end to listen to us answer two listener questions! Be sure to check out the show notes on our blog at Harkla.Co/Podcast.Brought To You By Harkla...

Jessica Irwin is a childhood routine expert, pediatric occupational therapist, and lover of all things child development. She has worked in pediatrics since 2014 in a variety of settings including daycares, preschools, elementary schools, private practice, and pediatric home health. She founded Rooted in Routine in 2019 to help parents learn simple, easy to implement routines for optimal child development at every age. Her approach is largely rooted in going back to the basics ...

Today we break down skills necessary for handwriting, and give you our favorite OT-based strategies for improving this skill! The title says 10, but let’s be real - we give you way more! Be sure to check out the show notes on our blog at Harkla.Co/Podcast.Brought To You By HarklaPodcast listeners get 10% off their first order at Harkla with the discount code "sensory". Head to Harkla.co/sensory to start shopping now.Podcasts:# 17 - Handwriting and Fine Motor Skills# 93 - Self-Injurious ...

We want to give you our top tips for infants and toddlers - based on our clinical, professional experiences as well as our personal experiences! Our goal is to share information, no shame involved! Take what works for you and share with anyone you think can benefit! We also answer a couple of listener questions at the end, so stick around! Check out the links below for a bunch of our fav. products, our Free Primitive Reflex Webinar, and our full length course! Be sure to check ...

Lauren is a pediatric speech pathologist and has been practicing for over 13 years. She specializes in childhood stuttering and is the owner of Stutter Free Kids.Lauren takes an integrative approach to stuttering that both treats directly but also teaches how to support greater fluency through play, connection, brain care and managing high sensitivity, which is common among children who stutter. Lauren believes strongly in early intervention and advocates for a 'support and see' approach...

Meeting the sensory threshold is the first step in helping a child feel more regulated. But do you know what that means?!If not, this episode will give you all the details on what, why, and how! If so, this is a great episode to refresh and send to everyone you know! We also answer 2 listener questions, so stick around to the end! Also, check out the links below for even more amazing content, articles mentioned in the episode, and MORE! LinksYouTube Video - What is th...