ARK's Blog

This introduction to sensory diets is courtesy of Kristen Cooper, MS, OTR/L aka OT Mamacita. The term “sensory diet” has become more popular in recent years, but the understanding of what it is, let alone how to develop one, may not be clear to parents and educators.  Contrary to its name, it is not a diet of food you eat, rather, it is like the concept of a diet wherein yo …

This wonderful guest post comes to us from Shae Lynn Watt.  What do you do when the reality of your kids conflicts with your imagined version? We all know it’s important to meet our kids where they are, not where we want them to be, but it can be hard to remember in the moment. A year ago, I had never thought of my son as an anxious child. He was sensitive, but he was also brave, …

Question:  I am looking for chews to help my almost 10 year old son stop chewing up and swallowing erasers (both large pink pearl type erasers and erasers on pencils).  I did get him a Brick Stick necklace already, but now I'm not sure if was the right one.  I know they come in different 'toughness levels'.  I figured that standard would be too soft since he's chewing …

Question:  Hi Debbie - I work at a school for children who have special needs.  I serve a lot of students (many tube-fed) who really crave oral stimulation to the point that it is difficult to get them to do anything else with their hands.  We have awesome SLPs, but their main focus is more on communication.  I'm not so much looking for feeding preparation and support bec …