Play and Thrive

01/07/2026

23/10/2023

Often we think in order to help our kids handwriting we need to practice writing with a pencil and paper. Whilst this is important other activities can support handwriting that don't even involve touching a pencil! These are particularly helpful for kids who have an emotional outbursts or refuse when it comes to pencil based tasks.

19/10/2023

What do you do if your child meltdown about something you see as irrational? Firstly start thinking about the problem from their perspective, whilst we may see it as a "silly" or "irrational" problem we need to remember our kids don't have big problems like bills, cost of living and work etc. Someone cutting their sandwich or banana wrong is important to them!

So before we jump to "don't be silly" or "it's not that big of a deal" try and meet your child where they are at with these tips!

13/10/2023

Does your child regularly say "no" or "you can't make me!" try some of these tips if you have a strong willed little one! Remember any big behaviours when expectations are place on kids often shows an unmet need or lacking skill so have a think about if that is in play as well!

11/10/2023

Ever wonder if you can ask your therapist questions? We love getting asked questions and encourage you to do so! Therapist's are only with your child a limited period of time each week, parents are with their kids all the time so it is so important to make sure parents understand what is happening in sessions!

04/10/2023

Does your child show any of these things as a sign of dysregulation? Every child is different however these are very common things we see everyday with the kids we work with.

When these subtle signs start it's signalling to us that the child's nervous system is detecting something off or threatening. Remember a lot of the time our kids don't even know what it is that is sending them down this path, so asking them doesn't help.

So what can we do? If possible use these signs as a prompt for you to use a sensory strategy that we know works for your child (this will be individual to each child). Think about if you can guess what is triggering them. Think, do I need to change the environment? Do they need a break?

Other times it will be important just to note they are having a tough time and are dyregulated and they may do or say things that they don't mean. Lower your expectations and slow down your own body to support correlation. Remember that aren't giving you a hard time, they are having a hard time.

27/09/2023

It's easy to try to distract our kids from their feelings when sad. As parents and grown ups who care about kids if they hurt we hurt. But if we distract kids from their feelings they don't learn to process them and worse don't feel heard or understood. So next time you go to say "it's okay!" or "you're fine" have a try saying some of these phrases and sit with your child or loved one in their sadness. Make room for the tears and feelings!

26/09/2023

Kids do well if then can.... when they aren't we need to get curious about why! Normally kids are lacking skills or have something going on that is a barrier to them doing what they need to. It's our job to work with kids to understand more about what these barriers are. So next time your child has some big behaviours, get curious!