Occupational Therapy Central Coast NSW

Author: Kim Berry, Paediatric Occupational Therapist
8 min read

Why self-regulation can help your child cope.

The ability to self-regulate is one of the most important supporting factors in relation to a child’s resilience. So, how do you build resilience in your child?“

If you’re a parent of a school-aged child, chances are you’ve heard teachers, friends and parenting experts talk about the importance of resilience. It’s been one of those buzzwords that have been used a whole lot throughout the pandemic with all of the changes our kids have had to manage… but rarely do we hear about why it’s important and how to build resilience in our children. 

What is resilience?

Resilience is broadly defined as the ability to recover from setbacks, adapt to change, and keep going in the face of challenges. It’s getting back on your bike with a grazed knee, turning up week after week when you’re on the losing soccer team, having the courage to make a new friend when your best friend moves away, or accepting why you needed to repeat at school and giving it your best the second time round. 

These common childhood scenarios shouldn’t be viewed as insignificant. In particular, some of these childhood obstacles can stir up feelings of disappointment, embarrassment, hurt, or fear of change, which can feel all-consuming. Dealing with these experiences might be met with mood swings, emotional outbursts and further challenges to participate, communicate and progress. 

What is self-regulation?

These responses indicate challenges with self-regulation, which is an important factor in supporting a child’s resilience. Self-regulation is the ability to manage your own emotions, behaviour, and thoughts in relation to the demands placed on us.

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, the young brain is incredible. We know that in early childhood years, children are well on their way to developing their regulation skills as they begin to mimic and practise what is happening around them. For example, toddlers start to find ways to soothe themselves, play cooperatively and share toys.  

So what can you do if your child is struggling with self-regulation? Firstly… stay calm! Resilience and self-regulation develop through co-regulation. This comes from interactions, support, coaching, and modelling of regulation strategies provided by caregivers or trusted adults (e.g. teacher, relatives). As children get older, the level of co-regulatory support they require from the caring adults around them tends to reduce as their self-regulation skills increase. 

How can you build resilience?

Here are some important things to consider when supporting your child’s regulation:

• Provide a warm, responsive relationship where your child feels safe to learn, come to you for support, and make mistakes – in fact, embrace your own mistakes as well! Talk to your child if you make a mistake (e.g. accidentally putting salt instead of sugar in your tea… meaning you have to make it all over again!). Make sure you also show your child how you recovered from the mistake; 

• Model your own regulation strategies and linked emotions (e.g. “Oh no, my tea tastes salty! I’m so mad that I have to make another one all over again. I’m going to take a deep breath in and a looooong breath out before I go back to the kitchen”);  
• Create consistent and predictable routines and expectations, such as regular bedtime and morning routines;
• Give time and space for your child to experience different emotions and provide validation for what they are feeling; 
• Seek support from your child’s teachers and other trusted adults, and ensure they understand your child’s challenges with regulation;

Self-regulation is at the heart of a child’s resilience. Helping to build resilience today will benefit them for life. 

For more information about self-regulation or to make an enquiry about an assessment for your child, contact MoveAbout Therapy Services. You’ll be connected with an experienced and compassionate paediatric OT.

Author: Kim Berry, Paediatric Occupational Therapist
3 min read

Boys are diagnosed with autism at a greater rate than girls.

Our understanding of autism in Australia has improved significantly in recent years. As our thinking has evolved, it has become apparent that there may be a difference in the way that characteristics of autism present in girls and boys.“

Kim Berry

While everyone’s experiences of autism are different, there are some characteristics that boys on the spectrum are likely to display in two areas:

• Social communication and interaction
• Repetitive or restricted behaviour, interests or activities

It is generally accepted that the rate at which boys in Australia are diagnosed with autism is higher than in girls. There is thought to be a 4 or 3:1 ratio of boys diagnosed as being on the spectrum compared to girls, although most researchers also accept that this is not likely to be a true reflection of the prevalence of autism across the country.

There are no conclusive or universally accepted reasons as to why more boys are diagnosed with autism. Although, this has increasingly been an area of interest for researchers in recent years.

Some of the reasons that have been suggested for this disparity include:

• A longstanding perception that autism is a ‘male condition’.
• Tools used to support a diagnosis may be biassed towards identifying the characteristics more commonly displayed by boys.
• Boys with characteristics of autism are more easily identified by parents, carers, teachers or health professionals.
• Boys are likely to be diagnosed much earlier than girls, even when their severity levels are similar.

So what can autism in boys look like?

• not responding to their name.
• avoiding eye contact.
• not smiling when you smile at them.
• getting very upset if they do not like a certain taste, smell or sound.
• repetitive movements, such as flapping their hands, flicking their fingers or rocking their body.
• not talking as much as other children.

If your son or a child in your care is exhibiting some of these characteristics, it may be helpful to seek professional advice. It’s worth looking into.

Although this may prompt feelings of uncertainty, speaking to a qualified healthcare professional like your GP or an occupational therapist can help you better understand your child’s development. They can also assist in identifying what services you may need.

For more information about autism or to make an enquiry about an occupational therapy assessment for your child, contact MoveAbout Therapy Services. You’ll be connected with an experienced and compassionate paediatric OT.

Author: Kim Berry, Paediatric Occupational Therapist
8 min read

It will come as no surprise that I am a major advocate for engaging kids with occupational therapy. I am, after all, an occupational therapist.“

Kim Berry

Occupational therapy shouldn’t be taboo or scary. It’s actually an incredible science that sees little lives enhanced, often through play and strategically targeted day-to-day tasks. So, I wanted to explore this a little more, to help families really understand what occupational therapy is, and when kids can benefit from it. 

When I see a new family, I want to understand what interests and motivates their child, and in what activities they find rich moments of engagement. At the same time, I want to connect with the child and family to learn whether their child has difficulties with day-to-day activities at home, school, or in the community. Do they experience challenges that their peers of similar ages do not? It’s in these situations that occupational therapy may be exactly what a child needs to support their next stage of development. This is the essence of paediatric occupational therapy – to enable kids to participate in the activities of everyday life and to help them to feel supported, safe and secure while they do them.

I work with a lot of families for a lot of different reasons because occupational therapy can support a broad range of developmental needs:

• Developmental delay
• Regulation challenges
• Fine motor skills
• Gross motor skills
• Visual processing
• Sensory processing
• Social interactions
• Learning difficulties
• Play skills

What to look out for: signs that your child might benefit from occupational therapy

Developmental delay

One of the things I love about every child I see is that they are truly unique. Not everyone grows and learns at the same pace or in the same way, and that’s the way it should be, however, there are key milestones that let us know a child is progressing in an expected way. When we talk about developmental delay, this means that a child is lagging in developing skills that are common during a particular age or during a particular time period. It really is more than just being a little behind the other children.

Emotional Regulation 

This is our ability to adjust our alert level – to get our body ready for learning, cope with a stressful situation, and help ourselves feel calm. At a young age, we require more co-regulation support, such as a comforting hug or someone modelling a deep breath, from trusted adults in our lives (i.e. caregivers, teachers) to help us feel calm when we are upset, which helps guide us to learn how to self-regulate in order to manage our emotions. If your child has difficulty adapting to stress or getting themselves to a calm alert state ready for learning, they may need support to develop both their ability to self-regulate and accept co-regulation support. 

Fine Motor Skills

These are the skills needed to make small movements with fingers, wrists, lips and tongue, like holding a small object or picking up a spoon. Our fine motor skills help us get dressed, hold a pencil and play with toys or puzzles – things we do every day, so it will often become apparent early on if your child has challenges in this area.

Keep in mind though that most of us don’t like doing activities that we perceive to be difficult, so some children avoid participating in fine motor skills and these fine motor challenges may not be noticed until they begin school.

Gross Motor Skills

Unsurprisingly, these skills are opposite to fine motor skills. It’s all about our larger muscle groups and the ability to move, balance and coordinate our body. Challenges with gross motor skills might be identified if a child’s walking milestone is achieved late or not at all, if they appear clumsy or trip more than expected. Sometimes challenges with gross motor skills are identified when a child is slightly older, because it’s tasks like navigating stairs, putting their left and right into practice and coordinating their body in sports that may highlight a difference in gross motor skills.

Visual Perception

This is all about the processes we use to make sense of the things we see. It is fascinating to consider that our brains all interpret visual information differently, so it’s no wonder difficulties sometimes go under the radar! This can present in a number of ways. From being unable to see a particular item within a group of objects, to being unable to store and recall visual information to identify shapes or letters, and having trouble copying work from the white board. 

Sensory Processing

Would you describe your child as overly sensitive to smell and sound, or perhaps they experience strong emotional reactions and struggle to recover and calm themselves down? Sensory processing is the way our body identifies information through our senses, organises and responds to it. We experience the world through our sensations, therefore organisation of a variety of sensations is needed to adequately adapt to environmental demands and maintain an efficient alert level. Children with sensory processing difficulties can display a range of behaviours that impact their ability to attain and maintain a ‘just right’ level – from over-responsiveness (e.g. a heightened reaction to sensations), challenges coping with change, trying new things, or withdrawal from certain environments or activities that involve particular sensory qualities (e.g. getting their hair cut, messy play, feeding). 

Social Interactions

These are the skills that help us establish relationships and understand those around us. Children who experience challenges with social connectivity may also present with difficulty maintaining attention and engagement in activities, picking up on social cues, participating in parallel play or games with their peers, and expressing how they feel.   

Learning Difficulties

This is probably one of the more commonly understood reasons for a child seeking occupational therapy once they start school. Teachers will often refer children to us for a range of challenges that may not have been picked up on until they have entered a busy classroom setting: from difficulties with concentration, following instructions, and impulse control to struggling with the workload, low energy, difficulty learning new material or in handwriting tasks (such as making letter and number reversals, using an immature pencil grasp or having difficulties sitting at their desk). As OTs, we understand that working in partnership with teachers and educators is key in supporting children to better engage with their learning and to socially connect with those around them at school.

Play Skills 

Imagination and play can help kids make sense of the world around them. It builds self-confidence, creates room for problem-solving and develops important social skills. If your little one is struggling in this area you might notice they need adult guidance to initiate or remain in play, perhaps they wander aimlessly, move quickly from one toy to the next, or don’t join in with peers and siblings at play. 

So there you have it – paediatric occupational therapy in a nutshell! This has been a tiny snapshot of some of the reasons kids need occupational therapy. 

It is important to remember that all kids are different and develop these skills at their own pace. However, if you think your child may be struggling with adopting some of the skills mentioned above, maybe it’s worth contacting an occupational therapist for an assessment… I happen to know a great one! 😉 

For more information about developmental milestones or to make an enquiry about an assessment for your child, contact MoveAbout Therapy Services. You’ll be connected with a skilled, fun and compassionate OT.