
"Pills Don't Teach Skills."
In April, Dr. Nima Rahmany came to MI. He is a chiropractor who likes to call himself an EDUTAINER. He writes rap songs to educate his audience. One of his songs was titled “Pills Don’t Teach Skills”. I love this saying. As a pediatric occupational therapist, I have seen time and time again that even when a child is put on medication, the medication may resolve some of the symptoms but it does not treat the underlying problem or the teach the child skills. According to D

20 Life Changing Lessons from 20 years of being an Occupational Therapist
Time flies! It's hard to believe that I have been an Occupational Therapist for 20 years. I have learned a few life changing lessons along the way. With careful reflection, I share those lessons below. Enjoy! 1. Loving what you do, takes the effort out of working. 2. You don’t grow without getting out of your comfort zone 3. Education is a whole new thing when you can take the classes you LOVE. Now I like to call myself “A life-long learner.” 4. Without your health you ha

Sensory Processing: What is it and What if something goes wrong?
What is Sensory Processing? Sensory processing is a term that refers to the way the nervous system receives messages from the senses and turns them into responses. Sensory integration is a normal, neurological, developmental process which begins in the womb and continues throughout one’s life. Whether you are eating, playing, exercising, or working, your successful completion of the activity requires processing multiple sensation at once– also called "sensory integration." Wh

How can OT help children?
What is Occupational Therapy? Everyone has an occupation or job. A kid's occupation is to grow, learn, do schoolwork, and play. Occupational therapy (or OT) helps kids who have a physical, sensory, or cognitive disability carry out these activities. Some examples of children that may get OT include: one that is having difficulty performing everyday activities like dressing, tying shoes, feeding themselves, paying attention, writing, drawing, or coloring in the lines. In scho

Too Stressed to Come In?
I often get people canceling their appointments at the last minute because “they are too stressed to come in.” I find a lot of humor in this because that is the exact reason you are coming to see me — to reduce your stress! And now is the absolute perfect time to see how well Craniosacral Therapy can help you do this. Let me give you a little anatomy lesson and the reason you should not cancel your appointment! Your nervous system has two parts to it: the parasympathetic bra

Weight of Water
I got this great email the other day that I thought was so fabulous I wanted to share it with you. A lecturer was explaining stress management to his audience. He raised a glass of water and asked, “How heavy is this glass of water?” Answers called out ranged between 20g and 500g. He replied,” The absolute weight of the glass doesn’t matter. It depends on how long you try to hold the glass.” If you hold it for one minute, that’s not a problem. If you hold it for an hour, y

Be Your Own #1 Fan
I know everyone has their own New Year’s resolutions to focus on. Well mine is to spend more time focusing on my own self-care. This includes ways to nurture myself not only physically but emotionally and spiritually as well. Before vacation, I had an interesting, eye opening experience related to self care. One of my clients came in and said that she was constantly zapped of energy and she didn’t know what else she could possibly be doing for herself. She was exercising,