Therabytes

Why FUN matters so much in therapy and everyday life!

We kick things off by talking about how a lack of enjoyment can make therapy feel like a chore—limiting engagement, motivation, and progress. FUN doesn’t mean easy; it means finding joy in the journey and making therapy something kids want to come back to.

We share our own experiences of how the idea of FUN changes as kids grow, and how we have to be intentional in keeping things playful and engaging. For children, play is their work—and when they’re having fun, they’re more likely to learn and try new things.

We also chat about the “just right challenge”—meeting kids where they’re at and gradually stretching them in ways that feel good, not overwhelming. Old-school ideas that crying equals progress just don’t hold up. Instead, we focus on creating a safe, happy space where kids can thrive.

At the end of the day, FUN isn’t a bonus—it’s a key ingredient in effective therapy and a positive family experience!

Friends with Emily Prior!

Model, Actor, Activist and friend (see what we did there! 😉) of the show - the returning Emily Prior. Emily has appeared on our sister podcast ResearchWorks and is here for a 2 episode stint with Dayna and Kate!

An amazing conversation with an amazing young woman!

This week we catch up with Rynae to talk about FRIENDS - a parent's perspective!

Kate's write-up to come!

As a parent, it can be easy to miss the importance of incorporating friendships and social-emotional development into your child's therapy goals much earlier.... In the beginning, there's such a strong focus on early intervention and neuroplasticity that it's easy to put friendships on the back burner. 

Now I see that mobility and fitness are gateways to meaningful social interaction and overall quality of life.... For example, to start incorporating high-fives into our child's routine to help him communicate with his friends and teachers. It’s so rewarding to see him participate and feel involved. 

It is important to remember that participation means being involved in life, whether it's simply being present or actively interacting... As parents and health professionals, we need to ensure that the therapies we choose contribute to our children's ability to be involved in meaningful experiences and friendships... 

We need to be careful not to let therapy take away from opportunities to make friends.

This week we're joined by Kellie!

In this episode of TheraBytes, we get to speak with Kellie, the mother of Nate, a child with cerebral palsy, about function and the F-words. Kellie shares her experiences and insights on what function looked like for Nate in his early years, and what it looks like today.

She emphasises the importance of adapting to his needs and making decisions whilst also balancing the needs of her other children. She discusses how she advocates for Nate's independence, academic success, and social-emotional development in school. 

This involves open communication with the school, making sure that he can engage in the curriculum in ways that work for him, like using voice-to-text for writing tasks. Kellie also emphasises the importance of allowing Nate to rest when he's tired and ensuring he has opportunities to develop friendships without being "helicoptered" by adults. The school has been supportive, making adjustments to the environment and being flexible with testing.

Kellie advises parents to look after themselves, explore different schools, and maintain open communication with the school, therapy teams, and doctors. She stresses the importance of adapting and adjusting goals as needed and ensuring everyone is on the same page regarding Nate's needs. Ultimately, Kellie wants Nate to be as functional as possible, make meaningful friendships, and love life.

This week we welcome back Noraishah!

Noraishah's back to discuss FUNction and its meaning in the context of therapy and child development. In this episode, Noraishah shares her personal experiences and insights as a parent, particularly focusing on her son's journey and the evolution of her understanding of FUNction. 

Initially, her focus was simply on observing her son's capabilities, but over the past two years, she has been actively thinking about function in relation to his independence and future. This includes his ability to perform daily tasks such as feeding himself, moving around, and personal care.

She emphasises the importance of setting realistic goals and providing the right tools and equipment to enable her son's independence. She also highlights the significance of breaking down tasks into smaller, manageable steps. A pivotal moment was when her son independently used the bathroom, exceeding expectations and demonstrating his ability to achieve goals when given the opportunity. It was so great to hear the moment that she realised that her son's accomplishments were driven by his desire to be independent and his inherent motivations.

The discussion also explores the challenges of letting go of preconceived notions of how things should be done and accepting a child's unique way of accomplishing tasks. Noraishah acknowledges her initial struggle to reconcile her upbringing with her son's methods but over time, learnt to prioritise his happiness and well-being over perfection. She advises parents to observe their children, understand their capabilities, and foster their potential, while also allowing them to have the space to learn and grow.

Ultimately, the key is to provide the tools and support necessary for children to live fulfilling lives, while accepting and loving them for who they are.

We introduce our first F word of the season, FUNCTION. The definition of function is what people do and luckily for children, play is what they do.

What we want for our children is for them to be able to play. 

We discuss that in the “old days” treatment looked different, the idea was to “fix” what was wrong in order for the person to function but it never did that. These days, the focus is on doing something that is meaningful for the participant and doing it in a way that is functional for them. 

When taking function into account when setting goals it's important to think how this will help with function. We discuss what this looks like for a really young child starting out in therapy not knowing what their future function will look like, how do you set goals?

Dayna explains a lot of the goals for this age are to do with play so it's important to think about what your child needs to be able to play, such as pointing to what they want, head control, sitting, climbing and all things that can lead to play. 

It's important to remember function looks different for everyone and is not always how the majority of people do something. A great example Dayna uses is asking someone that uses glasses to remove their glasses because the majority of people can do things without glasses. That's not functional for everyone. 

The ultimate aim is to help our children do what it is they want to do, how they can best do it so they can be happy and functional in their own way. 

We're back for a new season of TheraBytes! 🥳

We have an incredibly special guest in the studio this week - we catch up with Noraishah, co-host of the 1st season of the pod, joining Dayna and Kate for a brilliant look back at our past 2 seasons!

If you're new to the pod, be sure to check out this episode, it's great place to start! 🎙️

As for Season 3 of the pod, we'll be covering even more questions and queries from the families that come to Healthy Strides and to the listeners from across the globe tuning in to TheraBytes!

From controversial, to informational, to serious and funny - we cover all the topics in between! 😁

Join us for another episode and be sure to pop by the website for a full run down of each episode, the TheraBytes blog (there's one per episode) and a handy selection of useful links!

It can be so hard to figure out exactly what's going on with our kids, especially when they have cerebral palsy. It feels like everything gets put under that one umbrella, even when we know there might be more to the story. 

It's really important to remember that cerebral palsy doesn't explain every challenge our children face. They might be struggling with things that aren't directly related to cerebral palsy, and those things deserve attention too.

Today’s episode highlighted a recent study about just how common it is for children with cerebral palsy to also have other diagnoses, like ADHD and autism.

The study found that two-thirds of children with cerebral palsy also had either autism, ADHD, or an intellectual disability. This figure means we need to be proactive about getting our kids screened for these other conditions if we begin to notice impacts on learning and communication

What makes a therapy controversial? (Part 1)

On our last podcast episode “how to ask for a second opinion” I mentioned a therapy we tried when our son was younger, saying I wished I had done more research and asked for second opinions from our medical team. This brought about more questions and conversation about all the therapies available and families wanting to know, what does the research say?

I ask Dayna, why are there controversial therapies out there available to families and why are they considered to be controversial? We start with covering off Vojta and Bobath (Neurodevelopmental treatment - NDT).

Dayna explained how the controversy around these therapies came from the mix of new knowledge and old knowledge and how it all came about with the best intentions. 

Dayna also discussed Bobath therapy (NDT) and how instrumental the Bobaths were in helping understand cerebral palsy. Dayna was a Bobath practitioner and can look at it herself and acknowledge that she didn't see the outcomes she had hoped for and can understand why it is now below the “worth it line”. 

All this to say, this is why continuing to research and staying up to date on research outcomes is so important as a duty of care in the role of an allied health professional.

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www.healthystridesfoundation.com/podcasts