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All Things Sensory by Harkla
Author: Rachel Harrington, COTA/L, AC & Jessica Hill, COTA/L
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© Rachel Harrington, COTA/L, AC & Jessica Hill, COTA/L
Description
Rachel Harrington and Jessica Hill, are two passionate Certified Occupational Therapy Assistants who answer your questions related to all things sensory, occupational therapy, parenting, self-care, nutrition, and health, from a therapist’s perspective. Providing raw, honest, fun ideas, and strategies, for parents and families to implement into daily life. Great for those who work with children with sensory processing disorder, special needs, autism, and ADHD. This podcast is brought to you by Harkla. At Harkla, our goal is to help those with special needs live happy and healthy lives.
346 Episodes
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This episode is all about sensory processing, sensory integration, and Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD). We dive into the 8 sensory systems, why SPD is not a recognized diagnosis, sensory meltdowns, and how SPD can affect daily life. Share this episode with a friend who is new to the ‘sensory world’!
LINKS
We’d love to answer your questions on the podcast! Fill out this form - https://harkla.typeform.com/to/ItWxQNP3
All Things Sensory Podcast Instagram
Harkla YouTube Channel
Harkla Website - Shop Sensory Products!
Harkla Instagram
Research Article
8 Myths About Sensory Processing Disorder
Does Everybody Have Sensory Quirks?
Improving Focus and Behavior in the Classroom - Digital Course
Disciplining a Sensory Kiddo
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In this episode, we are breaking down what it means for someone to be a “sensory seeker” and what it means for someone to be a “sensory avoider.” Then we talk about our favorite sensory products for both including the Harkla Compression Swing, lycra tunnels, weighted medicine balls, therapy/yoga balls, a crash pad, and more!
LINKS
We’d love to answer your questions on the podcast! Fill out this form - https://harkla.typeform.com/to/ItWxQNP3
All Things Sensory Podcast Instagram
Harkla YouTube Channel
Harkla Website - Shop Sensory Products!
Harkla Instagram
5 Activities for a Sensory Seeker
5 Tips for a Sensory Avoider
Supporting Mixed Sensory Needs
10 Activities with a Yoga Ball
Tunnels (Amazon)
Medicine Balls
Rebounder Trampolines (Amazon)
Platform Swings (Amazon)
Therapy Balls (Amazon)
Pop Up Tents (Amazon)
Vibrating Pillow
Giant Bean Bag
SPEKS Adult Fidgets
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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 questions on the podcast! Fill out this form - https://harkla.typeform.com/to/ItWxQNP3
All Things Sensory Podcast Instagram
Harkla YouTube Channel
Harkla Website - Shop Sensory Products!
Harkla Instagram
When Your Child’s Sensory Preferences Don’t Match Yours
Free Primitive Reflex Webinar
What is the Moro Reflex?
Book: Building a Non-Anxious Life
Book: Too Loud, Too Bright, Too Fast, Too Tight
Tips for Getting Outside
8 Activities for Regulation
Sensory Strategies for Teens and Adults
Peaceful Parenting Tips
Free Sensory Diet Webinar
On-the-go Sensory Strategies
Free Social Story Template
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 - https://harkla.typeform.com/to/ItWxQNP3
All Things Sensory Podcast Instagram
Harkla YouTube Channel
Harkla Website - Shop Sensory Products!
Harkla Instagram
Eloping: The Why and How For Kids Who Run Away
Weighted Lap Animal
Gestalt Language Processing
Social Story Template
Social Stories
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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 podcast! Fill out this form - https://harkla.typeform.com/to/ItWxQNP3
All Things Sensory Podcast Instagram
Harkla YouTube Channel
Harkla Website - Shop Sensory Products!
Harkla Instagram
Sensory Diet Digital Course
The Sensory Chef
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 podcast! Fill out this form- https://harkla.typeform.com/to/ItWxQNP3
All Things Sensory Podcast Instagram
Harkla YouTube Channel
Harkla Website - Shop Sensory Products!
Harkla Instagram
What We Really Do in OT
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 more!
LINKS
We’d love to answer your questions on the podcast! Fill out this form - https://harkla.typeform.com/to/ItWxQNP3
All Things Sensory Podcast Instagram
Harkla YouTube Channel
Harkla Website - Shop Sensory Products!
Harkla Instagram
Download Free Sensory Preferences Checklist
Free Sensory Diet Webinar
Sensory Diet Digital Course
Build a Sensory Corner
Free Primitive Reflex Webinar
Free Classroom Webinar
All About ADHD
The Power of Vision Therapy
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 their classrooms, and therapists in their treatment sessions and home exercise programs. In 150 pages, you will learn therapist-directed activities designed to move the brain out of fight-or-flight and into a higher level of functioning!
LINKS
We’d love to answer your questions on the podcast! Fill out this form - https://harkla.typeform.com/to/ItWxQNP3
All Things Sensory Podcast Instagram
Harkla YouTube Channel
Harkla Website - Shop Sensory Products!
Harkla Instagram
Crawling for Brain Development Curriculum
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 podcast! Fill out this form - https://harkla.typeform.com/to/ItWxQNP3
All Things Sensory Podcast Instagram
Harkla YouTube Channel
Harkla Website - Shop Sensory Products!
Harkla Instagram
Free Sensory Diet Webinar https://harkla.co/pages/sensory-diet-webinar-opt-in
Free Primitive Reflex Webinar https://harkla.co/pages/register-primitive-reflex-webinar-2023
Motion Sickness Toolkit https://harkla.co/blogs/podcast/178-motion-sickness-toolkit?_pos=1&_sid=7ed041778&_ss=r
Gravitational Insecurity https://harkla.co/blogs/podcast/127-gravitational-insecurity?_pos=1&_sid=2ef95245b&_ss=r
What is Sensory Overload? https://harkla.co/blogs/podcast/237-sensory-overload-what-it-can-look-like-and-how-you-can-help?_pos=4&_sid=9ffc748d1&_ss=r
Tactile Processing and Clothing Textures https://harkla.co/blogs/podcast/171-tactile-processing?_pos=1&_sid=0286be9dc&_ss=r
Picky Eating Strategies https://harkla.co/blogs/podcast/132-picky-eating-strategies-with-mckenzie-from-playingatyourplate?_pos=2&_sid=df36eafea&_ss=r
Bean with Bacon Soup https://www.campbells.com/products/condensed/bean-with-bacon-soup/
Research Article #1 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10802-018-0502-y
Research Article #2 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01942638.2016.1185504
The Anxious Generation https://a.co/d/djFiHkc
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 - https://harkla.typeform.com/to/ItWxQNP3
All Things Sensory Podcast Instagram
All Things Sensory YouTube Channel
Harkla YouTube Channel
Harkla Website - Shop Sensory Products!
Harkla Instagram
Feeding and Meal Prep
Making Kids Nutrition Easy
Muscle Tone vs. Muscle Strength
Buddy Timer (Amazon)
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 course!
LINKS
We’d love to answer your questions on the podcast! Fill out this form - https://harkla.typeform.com/to/ItWxQNP3
All Things Sensory Podcast Instagram
Harkla YouTube Channel
Harkla Website - Shop Sensory Products!
Harkla Instagram
5 Ways to Use a Sensory Bin
Messy Play All Day
Picky Eating Resources
Executive Function Skills
Improve Classroom Engagement - Free Webinar
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 education and she has worked in both private and public school settings. While the main focus of S2C is not necessarily to provide an education, she is passionate about advocating for her clients in whichever educational space they are in.
LINKS
Follow Kinsey on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/kinseyshermansen/
The International Association for Spelling as Communication
We’d love to answer your questions on the podcast! Fill out this form - https://harkla.typeform.com/to/ItWxQNP3
All Things Sensory Podcast Instagram
Harkla Website
Harkla YouTube
Harkla Instagram
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, and more!
LINKS
We’d love to answer your questions on the podcast! Fill out this form - https://harkla.typeform.com/to/ItWxQNP3
All Things Sensory Podcast Instagram
Harkla YouTube Channel
Harkla Website - Shop Sensory Products!
Harkla Instagram
Mixed (Cross) Dominant
The Pyramid of Learning
SPD Training
When Should Children Establish Hand Dominance?
Vestibular Dysfunction
5 Bilateral Integration Activities
Multi-Sensory Processing Activity Course
The Power of Vision Therapy
Advanced Brain Technologies
Safe and Sound Protocol
Crawling for Brain Development
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 navigating between classes, to turning homework in on time. In today’s episode, we’re giving you a breakdown on the importance of executive function skill development, how to teach these skills, and 5 tools and strategies to incorporate into the classroom to help students develop and improve their executive function skills.
LINKS
Improving Focus and Behavior in the Classroom - Digital Course for Teachers, Therapists, and Professionals Working in the School Setting https://harkla.co/products/classroom-sensory-training
We’d love to answer your questions on the podcast! Fill out this form -
https://harkla.typeform.com/to/ItWxQNP3
All Things Sensory Podcast Instagram
Harkla YouTube Channel
Harkla Website - Shop Sensory Products!
Harkla Instagram
Executive Function Skills and More
7 Executive Function Strategies
The Zones of Regulation
Just Right Curriculum
The Alert Program
Free Visual Schedule Template
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 reflex integration programs, Kokeb created the Integrating Primitive Reflexes Through Play and Exercise book series and the Reflex Integration Through Play™️ method to empower and reassure frustrated parents, and to offer fellow professionals a tool to expand their clinical reach.
LINKS
We’d love to answer your questions on the podcast! Fill out this form - https://harkla.typeform.com/to/ItWxQNP3
Follow Kokeb on Instagram www.instagram.com/reflexintegrationthroughplay/
RITP Certification and Coaching https://www.integratingreflexes.com/certification/
RITP books, game, and books
https://www.integratingreflexes.com/shop/
https://www.integratingreflexes.com/
All Things Sensory Podcast Instagram
Harkla YouTube Channel
Harkla Website - Shop Sensory Products!
Harkla Instagram
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 daily routine for the sensory diet!
We also talk about emotional intelligence, using visuals, and more!
LINKS
Creating Sensory Diet Routines
We’d love to answer your questions on the podcast! Fill out this form - https://harkla.typeform.com/to/ItWxQNP3
All Things Sensory Podcast Instagram
Harkla YouTube Channel
Harkla Website - Shop Sensory Products!
Harkla Instagram
What it Means to Meet the Sensory Threshold
The Zones of Regulation
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...
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This podcast is incredible. Rachel and Jessica pack in so much information in a fun, friendly and easy to process way. As a preschool teacher I have learned so much that has helped me better understand my children's behavior and needs, and have actionable ways to help them.
My first child is a sensory kiddo and this podcast along a few books I've discovered have been lifesavers. I've been so lost, confused, stressed and everything else you could think of. these ladies are amazing at explaining all the things.
Love this podcast
I love that I found this podcast!! I’m currently attending school for pediatric occupational therapist assistant.