

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

Nov 13, 2024 • 12min
#334 - Listener Question: Tips for Safety During Transitions
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

Nov 6, 2024 • 24min
#333 - The Difference Between Passive and Active Sensory Activities
Sign up for the Harkla Early Bird Holiday Sale - https://harkla.co/pages/early-sign-up
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

Oct 30, 2024 • 22min
#332 - 10 Things We've Learned in 10 Years!
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

Oct 23, 2024 • 15min
#331 - Listener Question: Tips for Understanding Sensory Challenges
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

Oct 16, 2024 • 20min
#330 - Crawling for Brain Development: An Interview with Rachel
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

Oct 9, 2024 • 31min
#329 - The Connection Between Sensory Over-Responsiveness and Anxiety
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

Oct 2, 2024 • 25min
#328 -Q&A: Picky Eating, Success with School Line-up, and Fatigue During Sports
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)

Sep 25, 2024 • 21min
#327 - Sensory Bins Aren't Just for Toddlers! Sharing A Variety of Ways to Use Sensory Bins Therapeutically
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

Sep 18, 2024 • 52min
#326 - Spelling to Communicate with Kinsey Showers
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

Sep 11, 2024 • 20min
#325 - The Connection Between SPD and Learning Challenges
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