All Things Sensory by Harkla
Rachel Harrington, COTA/L, AC & Jessica Hill, COTA/L
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.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Apr 13, 2022 • 55min
#199 - The 'Covid Regression' in Schools Explained by Kim Wiggins, Pediatric OTR/L
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 ...
Apr 6, 2022 • 31min
#198 - A Day in the Life of a Pediatric COTA/L
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...
Mar 30, 2022 • 55min
#197 - Is Misophonia Connected to SPD? Interviewing Dr. Jennifer Jo Brout, Director of International Misophonia Research Network
Dr. Jennifer Jo Brout, Director of the International Misophonia Research Network, discusses sensory quirks and coping strategies, managing misophonia triggers in public, the co-occurrence of misophonia and OCD, the evolution of sensory processing, and the importance of raising awareness about sensory challenges.
Mar 23, 2022 • 28min
#196 - Skill Breakdown for Toileting- What Are the Underlying Skills Required for this ADL?
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...
Mar 16, 2022 • 49min
#195 - Sensory Meets Fitness with Matt Sloan, COTA/L
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...
Mar 9, 2022 • 26min
#194 - The Just Right Challenge for Sensory-Based Activities - Just How Far Should You Push?
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...
Mar 2, 2022 • 32min
#193 - Primitive Reflex Q&A with a Fellow Occupational Therapist
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 ...
Feb 23, 2022 • 26min
#192 - When Should Children Establish Hand Dominance?
This podcast discusses the importance of establishing hand dominance in children and its impact on fine motor skills. They provide tips and tricks for helping children develop hand dominance and address pinching behavior. They also mention upcoming episodes on crossing midline and self-injurious behavior.
Feb 16, 2022 • 53min
#191 - Toilet Training Tips for Everyone with Jessica, OTR/L from Rooted in Routine
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 ...
Feb 9, 2022 • 41min
#190 - 10 Simple Hacks for Handwriting
In this podcast, Rachel and Jessica discuss strategies for improving handwriting and fine motor skills. They provide 10 sensory hacks for different age groups, including activities like crawling, weight-bearing, and visual perception exercises. The importance of teaching positional words and sequencing in handwriting is highlighted, along with tips for developing a sensory diet and using the Handwriting Without Tears program. They also explore the connection between life skills, handwriting, and biting behavior, and provide strategies for managing frustration in young children.
