Send us a Text or Voicemail

“You gain what you train” — but what does that actually look like session to session? In this episode, Michele and Lacy review a case study that has all the ingredients of a solid motor learning intervention for self-feeding with a spoon. We talk through how the intervention was built, what actually improved (and what didn't), and where the study's limitations leave room to make this more practical — think play, caregiver coaching, adaptive tools. 

We share our own thoughts in the Research Review and encourage you to read the original article too.

Jajal, R. N., Vaghela, M. R., & Patel, B. N. (2026). Establishing independent spoon feeding through a structured motor-based shaping protocol in a child with developmental delay. International Journal for Multidisciplinary Research (IJFMR), 8(2), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.36948/ijfmr.2026.v08i02.73433 

Stay informed, stay curious, and stay playful!

✏️  Sign up for our newsletter by clicking here.

📧  Email us a question or comment at [email protected]

👉  Find us on Instagram @ideas.at.play  

Send us a Text or Voicemail

Daily living skill performance can be hard to learn for autistic teens, even when their cognition is average or above average. This episode covers a randomized controlled trial testing a manualized program that teaches laundry, cooking, and money management to autistic adolescents, compared head-to-head with the well-respected PEERS program. We cover the results and how an OT lens could take this already-strong intervention even further. 

We share our own thoughts in the Research Review and encourage you to read the original article too.

 Duncan, A., Meinzen-Derr, J., Ruble, L., Fassler, C., & Stark, L. J. (2023). A randomized clinical trial targeting daily living skills in autistic adolescents without an intellectual disability before the transition to adulthood. Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 44(9), e590–e596. https://doi.org/10.1097/DBP.0000000000001222

Stay informed, stay curious, and stay playful!

✏️  Sign up for our newsletter by clicking here.

📧  Email us a question or comment at [email protected]

👉  Find us on Instagram @ideas.at.play  

Send us a Text or Voicemail

Down syndrome is one of the most common diagnoses OTs work with, yet the research base behind it is surprisingly small. This week, Lacy and Michele discuss a new AJOT scoping review featuring some of the most unexpected interventions they've ever covered, from elephants to qigong massage to traditional dance. Behind the fun, though, is a bigger story about where this research is happening, and where it's falling short. 

We share our own thoughts in the Research Review and encourage you to read the original article too.

Long, K. L., Barrios Lago, M. S., & Nelson, E. L. (2026). Occupational therapy interventions in Down syndrome: A scoping review. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/19437676261464084

Stay informed, stay curious, and stay playful!

✏️  Sign up for our newsletter by clicking here.

📧  Email us a question or comment at [email protected]

👉  Find us on Instagram @ideas.at.play  

Send us a Text or Voicemail

Picture a beach in Aotearoa New Zealand — a gnarled pōhutukawa tree perfect for climbing, a rope swing hanging over the sand, and a stick sized exactly to a child's height, ready for a game passed down through generations. In this milestone 80th episode, we sit down with, Susi King, a Playmaker from New Zealand to explore how culture, land, and indigenous wellbeing frameworks shape pediatric OT practice on the other side of the world. And, hear about the new burnout-day tradition she shares with her whole team and the talking button she never travels without. 

Stay informed, stay curious, and stay playful!

✏️  Sign up for our newsletter by clicking here.

📧  Email us a question or comment at [email protected]

👉  Find us on Instagram @ideas.at.play  

Send us a Text or Voicemail

A 6 year-old can't hold onto multi-step directions long enough to follow them — not because he isn't listening, but because his working memory drops the information before he can act on it. This week, Michele brings a real case to the table and digs into a 2024 study comparing two cognitive strategies — enactment and visualization — to see which one actually helps kids with autism and intellectual disability with working memory. Spoiler: one of them is the clear winner, and it's not the one you'd expect if you've ever thought about autistic kids as natural visual thinkers.

We share our own thoughts in the Research Review and encourage you to read the original article too.

 Xie, T., Ma, H., Wang, L., & Du, Y. (2024). Can enactment and motor imagery improve working memory for instructions in children with autism spectrum disorder and children with intellectual disability? Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 54(1), 131–142. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-022-05780-z 

Stay informed, stay curious, and stay playful!

✏️  Sign up for our newsletter by clicking here.

📧  Email us a question or comment at [email protected]

👉  Find us on Instagram @ideas.at.play  

Send us a Text or Voicemail

Can a therapist facilitate meaningful handwriting improvement through telehealth? A recent randomized controlled trial out of Ankara, Turkey put that question to the test with kids ages six to eight with the inattentive type of ADHD — and the results are not what Lacy and Michele expected. Listen to hear what the researchers actually did over eight weeks of telehealth sessions and why the approach "shouldn't" have worked. Plus: a Nailed It story with  an escalating four-year-old and a floor-mat find that solved a years-long clinic space war.

We share our own thoughts in the Research Review and encourage you to read the original article too.

Kaplan Kılıç, B., Bumin, G., & Öğütlü, H. (2025). Effect of telerehabilitation on handwriting performance in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: Randomized controlled trial. Child: Care, Health and Development, 51(e70055). https://doi.org/10.1111/cch.70055  

Stay informed, stay curious, and stay playful!

✏️  Sign up for our newsletter by clicking here.

📧  Email us a question or comment at [email protected]

👉  Find us on Instagram @ideas.at.play  

Send us a Text or Voicemail

Michele found 74 outcome measures to consider for her autistic preschoolers! She and Lacy discuss the top measures from the recent scoping review: which tools show up most in the research, which ones earn a five-star rating for covering the most ground, and where our biggest blind spot as OTs is hiding. Plus, hear about a fun self-care app that may help you as we head into the new school year. 

We share our own thoughts in the Research Review and encourage you to read the original article too.

 Ghahramani, S., Hassani Mehraban, A., Alizadeh Zarei, M., & Ghahramani, S. (2024). Occupational therapy outcome measures in preschool children with autism spectrum disorders: A scoping review. OTJR: Occupational Therapy Journal of Research, 44(4), 568–576. https://doi.org/10.1177/15394492241246547

Stay informed, stay curious, and stay playful!

✏️  Sign up for our newsletter by clicking here.

📧  Email us a question or comment at [email protected]

👉  Find us on Instagram @ideas.at.play  

Send us a Text or Voicemail

Too cartoonish. Too advanced. Too many worksheets — nothing fit, so Lacy built her own money management program from scratch. This week she's breaking down exactly how she did it: from backwards design to key ingredients and changes made along the way, it's a behind-the-scenes look at turning a need into a working program. Plus, a listener question worth its own deep dive on neurodiversity affirming practice. 

Request the money management program discussed by using this form.

Stay informed, stay curious, and stay playful!

✏️  Sign up for our newsletter by clicking here.

📧  Email us a question or comment at [email protected]

👉  Find us on Instagram @ideas.at.play  

Send us a Text or Voicemail

 “Sensory” is everywhere in pediatric OT, but how do you actually know if and when to try a sensory activity schedule? How do you set one up? When do you know if it is working — or if you're just guessing and hoping? This week, Michele walks through her real system for building a sensory activity schedule from the ground up, from figuring out what a kid actually needs, to adapting it to classrooms or homes, to knowing exactly when to call it a win (or cut your losses).

Use this link to request the research cheat sheet for sensory activity schedules.

Stay informed, stay curious, and stay playful!

✏️  Sign up for our newsletter by clicking here.

📧  Email us a question or comment at [email protected]

👉  Find us on Instagram @ideas.at.play  

Send us a Text or Voicemail

Ep. 74  Michele and Lacy continue their Summer of Discovery series. This time, Lacy shares what she's learned from supervising more than 50 fieldwork students, from building a program to knowing exactly when to loop in the academic fieldwork coordinator (a lesson she learned the hard way, twice). Lacy walks through how she structures orientation, communication, and supervision to turn nervous students into confident new therapists — and shares the one rule she gives every student on their first day.

*Student name "Dylan" in the Failed It segment is a pseudonym. 

Stay informed, stay curious, and stay playful!

✏️  Sign up for our newsletter by clicking here.

📧  Email us a question or comment at [email protected]

👉  Find us on Instagram @ideas.at.play