Bianca Nel: Speech-Language Therapist

24/08/2026

I have so many parents reach out and ask me some version of:

“What do I tell their teachers?”

They’re not spelling at school yet. They’re still working on purposeful motor skills. Their teachers want to support them, but what do I actually tell them to do?

So, with back-to-school season here, I wanted to make something parents could literally just hand to the school team. 🧡

This isn’t about spelling. Your child doesn’t have to be spelling at school for any of this to apply.

It’s about helping the people supporting our kids understand that what their body is showing us isn’t always representative of what they understand.

Presume they understand. Feed their brain with age-appropriate information. Support the body instead of lowering the language. Help them regulate. Co-regulate with them.

And remember that knowing and showing are two very different things when the body isn’t always reliable.

So here it is. Save it. Print it. Send it to the teacher. Hand it to the intervention specialist, aide, therapist—whoever is going to be spending time with your kiddo this school year.

Hopefully it makes one of those back-to-school conversations just a little bit easier. 🧡

18/08/2026

11/08/2026

A huge thank you to Deb Spengler for breaking this down so beautifully at the conference—and thank you, AI, for taking scattered notes, half-sentences, and big ideas and somehow turning them into an infographic 😊

11/08/2026

Sensory motor differences often get mistaken for behaviors. When we label them purely as "behaviors," we are insinuating that our students are being difficult. In fact, their sensory systems are causing problems in their ability to maintain regulation and focus in that moment.

"Yes, controlling my body is sometimes too hard and I jump out of my chair or vocalize loudly. But the teachers and students have come to understand that I'm not intentionally misbehaving, but rather temporarily losing the battle between mind and body. They know that I am always listening. I can be jumping up and down and if the teacher asks me a question, I hear it and answer."
Mike Keller, college student

[id: a photo of Mike sitting behind a laptop. The words from his quote are typed on the left half of the photograph]

08/08/2026

😂👌

03/08/2026

31/07/2026

Coffee just tastes so much better on a Friday 😂👌🩷

17/04/2026

Happy Friday 🩷✨

06/03/2026

Friday Vibes ✨🩷