Speaker 1: If a d D and a d h D was
Speaker 1: as big in the eighties and nineties as it is now,
Speaker 1: both me and my brother would have been on medication.
Speaker 1: I can see that dead as dead and you know,
Speaker 1: as we are thick into the virtual learning realm with children,
Speaker 1: parents and children, I wonder if parents know what to
Speaker 1: look for in their children behaviorally that will now impact
Speaker 1: their line. Dead as dead as Hey. I'm Dedan and
Speaker 1: we're the Ellises. You may know us from posting funny
Speaker 1: videos with our boys and reading each other publicly as
Speaker 1: a form of therapy. Wait, I'll make you need therapy
Speaker 1: most days. Wow. And one more important thing to mention,
Speaker 1: we're married. We are. We created this podcast to open
Speaker 1: dialogue about some of life's most taboo topics, things most
Speaker 1: folks don't want to talk about. Do the lens the
Speaker 1: millennium married couple. That adds to the term that we
Speaker 1: say every day. So when we say dead ass, we're
Speaker 1: actually saying facts one, the truth, the whole truth, and
Speaker 1: nothing but the truth. We're about to take pillow talk
Speaker 1: to a whole new level. Dead ass starts right now.
Speaker 1: So this karaoke song means a lot to me, of course,
Speaker 1: because y'all know the val love of kids, A lot
Speaker 1: of kids, and this is an anthem. Matt prototype were shot.
Speaker 1: Shout out to New York. I ain't gonna shout at
Speaker 1: the artist till we after see. I was very fitty.
Speaker 1: I wore my New York. I see you whatever. You
Speaker 1: don't matter where I'm at. You look nice. It don't
Speaker 1: matter where I'm at New York. Father, all right, now,
Speaker 1: I love it. I know I can't beat what I
Speaker 1: want to be. If I work hard at it, I'll
Speaker 1: be where I want to. I know I can't beat
Speaker 1: what I want to be. If I work hard at it,
Speaker 1: I'll beat where I love it. Alright, Yeah, let me
Speaker 1: tell you this season, you've been hitting all sorts of
Speaker 1: notes and actives. I think somebody's been practicing for carry.
Speaker 1: We've been in quarantine. It wasn't me, though. You've been
Speaker 1: practicing your singing in quarantine. I haven't practicing my bacon
Speaker 1: baking for sure. I'm not sure it's He'm bacon all right,
Speaker 1: bis Martine my new nickname. Shout out to Trouble Triple.
Speaker 1: I still can't get Triple's name right any who? Yes,
Speaker 1: story time, all right, So this story time is gonna
Speaker 1: take me back to two thousand and fourteen. Ok I
Speaker 1: know if again, I'm not gonna say the young man's
Speaker 1: name because, um, you'll probably go find him on Facebook
Speaker 1: because people are crazy. But his mom and my brother
Speaker 1: and I were doing prototype in Brooklyn and his mom
Speaker 1: brought us him to us because he wanted to be
Speaker 1: on the football team. Okay, that narrows it down to
Speaker 1: about four kids. And I'm not gonna say to school,
Speaker 1: but she brought him to us, and she said his
Speaker 1: issue is he has behavioral issues. So he's been medicated.
Speaker 1: He has about a sixty three average. She just wants
Speaker 1: him to graduate high school. That's what she's saying. Her
Speaker 1: aim was listening, he's off the rails. I just need
Speaker 1: him to graduate high school. And my brother and I
Speaker 1: have been used to dealing with children like this because
Speaker 1: he was fourteen at the time, and we were like, um,
Speaker 1: let's try something different. You know, we're not gonna do
Speaker 1: the whole screaming thing and get upset at him, and
Speaker 1: so let's let's try to give him accountability first and
Speaker 1: tell him listen, if your average has not come up
Speaker 1: to a seventy five after this first semester with us,
Speaker 1: you can no longer participate in prototype. So a lot
Speaker 1: of times what we noticed is if you give accountability
Speaker 1: to kids and they're around other kids who exist in
Speaker 1: that same accountability room, they'll normally just step up without
Speaker 1: you having to be right. They don't want to be
Speaker 1: the dumb kids, the butt of the ducks. So pretty
Speaker 1: much we since you know you had to have at
Speaker 1: least in eighty five, no one wanted to be the
Speaker 1: dumb kid had prototype. So he worked to get his
Speaker 1: grades up right and then, um, we asked them seriously,
Speaker 1: like what's the matter. He said, Man, when I take
Speaker 1: this medication, I just don't feel good when I'm in school,
Speaker 1: I'm tired and I feel sluggish. So me and my
Speaker 1: brother was like talking to his mom and said, can
Speaker 1: he stop taking the medication for a semester and see
Speaker 1: how it goes. His grades went up to eight after
Speaker 1: taking him off the medication, and he started a workout
Speaker 1: program with us, and we gave him words of affirmation
Speaker 1: to say whenever he felt nervous. So remember we used
Speaker 1: to say, I'm big, I'm strong, I'm fast, I'm elite,
Speaker 1: I'm a prototype. That started with this young man because
Speaker 1: he didn't have confidence. So like, if you get nervous
Speaker 1: before tests, meditate, go to yourself. I'm big, I'm strong,
Speaker 1: I'm fast, I'm elite. And then we spoke words of positivity.
Speaker 1: You can do this, like you've already done this. This
Speaker 1: young man ended up graduating from high school with NADID average,
Speaker 1: attending college and now has his bachelor's degree medication free
Speaker 1: and medication free. And his mom just wanted him to graduate.
Speaker 1: She wanted him to pass. And here this young man
Speaker 1: was able to go on and do well and excel
Speaker 1: and go to school. She said, never in a million years,
Speaker 1: and she think her son would go to college. And
Speaker 1: he went on his own merit and earned academic scholarship.
Speaker 1: So that's my my story. I'm proud. I'm not going
Speaker 1: to say his name. The people who know me probably
Speaker 1: know this young man because they know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 1: But I'm not gonna blast him about what his grades
Speaker 1: were before a prototype. But it's not how you start.
Speaker 1: That's that and he's not the only one, all right.
Speaker 1: So the new normal, though I really do not want
Speaker 1: to accept this as like the new normal. It's the
Speaker 1: new temporary. How about that it's the new interim. Okay
Speaker 1: if you will, Um, but whatever this is has really
Speaker 1: changed the way our children are experiencing education. But today
Speaker 1: we're talking about how virtual learning affects children with learning disabilities,
Speaker 1: and UM, we're here to gain some insight on how
Speaker 1: to best support our kids through this transition, because, like
Speaker 1: I said, now parents have assumed the role of teachers
Speaker 1: and everywhere else in between when it comes to the
Speaker 1: educational staff and being a normally in those environments and
Speaker 1: school environments, teachers can then pick up on a learning
Speaker 1: disability that a child may have or some sort of
Speaker 1: behavioral issue. So now that parents are home with their children,
Speaker 1: you know, how do you really hone in on realizing
Speaker 1: what those things are? How do we differentiate what just
Speaker 1: maybe frustration from the parent and um, maybe frustration from
Speaker 1: the child who just may not even understand or the
Speaker 1: the parent may not understand how to navigate, um, such
Speaker 1: a deficit. So we decided to bring in an expert
Speaker 1: today because we don't know not about that side of things.
Speaker 1: We just know our own three kids and we're still
Speaker 1: learning them. We are still learning them on a day
Speaker 1: to day basis. So allow me to introduce our special
Speaker 1: guest today, doctor Rema Naim. Rema attended the University of
Speaker 1: Southern California, where she completed her bachelor's, master's, and doctorate.
Speaker 1: She was there a long time um in psychology and
Speaker 1: occupational therapy. Her love for animation and creative nature gave
Speaker 1: birth to the Sense of Kids, four lovable sensory characters
Speaker 1: whose role is to educate clients and families about occupational
Speaker 1: therapy and the sensory systems we work with. Dr Naim
Speaker 1: received her s i p T That Sensory Integration and
Speaker 1: Practice Tests certification shortly after opening OT Studios, Inc. And
Speaker 1: becoming a c a S, which is a Certified Autism Specialist,
Speaker 1: to expand her knowledge and passion for working with Century integration.
Speaker 1: She currently oversees the business and it's working on expanding
Speaker 1: the Sense of Kids brand. She is also a fairly
Speaker 1: new mama. So beautiful little boy ex Savior. Thank you
Speaker 1: for joining us today, Rema. So happy to have you here,
Speaker 1: and it's amazing that we have you here on the
Speaker 1: day that your book launched. I know, it's crazy, it
Speaker 1: actually happened. I've been working on this for five years now,
Speaker 1: so it's pretty amazing. Since I opened the clinic, which
Speaker 1: is five years ago, so this was a huge accomplishment
Speaker 1: out of my end. Now for sure, what I love
Speaker 1: is that in speaking with your Rima, just having past conversations,
Speaker 1: you talked about how much you were able to or
Speaker 1: desiring to somehow find a way to use your creativity
Speaker 1: when it came to your practicals, you know, for profession.
Speaker 1: And I'm super happy for you. I'm were excited that
Speaker 1: you were able to navigate this and find a way
Speaker 1: to integrate, um, your creativity and your love for that
Speaker 1: into your field of work. Absolutely. I mean I I
Speaker 1: initially as a child, wanted to be a music video director. Okay,
Speaker 1: you would have been recruiting me. I was super just
Speaker 1: for my husband. Now, I was super into like filmmaking
Speaker 1: and music and and just the ability to express myself creatively.
Speaker 1: But um, in my culture and my background, my family
Speaker 1: was all you have to be a doctor or a
Speaker 1: lawyer of that industry. Maneuver through and UM, I went
Speaker 1: into occupational therapy, got my doctorate, and then I the
Speaker 1: creative bug did not want to leave me. The creative
Speaker 1: It's going to come out some way, and it came
Speaker 1: out in my profession, which is um something I'm so
Speaker 1: excited about and proud of. That's amazing. Well, I'm excited
Speaker 1: about it. And you know, read the sensory kids. And
Speaker 1: one thing that kind of interests me was learning about
Speaker 1: two new senses. My whole life, girl, I was taught
Speaker 1: about there being five senses. I was today years old
Speaker 1: when I found out that we had seven senses and
Speaker 1: not five. Yeah, and I felt, I feel like, now
Speaker 1: I'm doing my children a disservice ice the other two. Seriously,
Speaker 1: can you can you pretty much break down the seven
Speaker 1: senses or the two additional senses? So the five that
Speaker 1: we all know of, right, we all know the five senses,
Speaker 1: but there are two additional senses, and they are the
Speaker 1: vestibular system and the approprioceptive system. The vestibular system being
Speaker 1: the movement and balance system. So basically, let's say, if
Speaker 1: you close your eyes and you move your head right, left,
Speaker 1: back forward, you know the direction you're moving based upon
Speaker 1: your vestibular sense, which is located in the interior. Or
Speaker 1: if you're a roller coaster and you close your eyes,
Speaker 1: you know which direction you're going. That's your vestibular sense.
Speaker 1: Then you have appropriate sceptive sense, which is basically muscle active,
Speaker 1: so you're if I do jumping Jack's the joint receptors
Speaker 1: are sending connections to my brain that this is what
Speaker 1: your body is doing in this action. Right. Understanding the
Speaker 1: importance of those two will help when it comes to
Speaker 1: child development because if you think about the playground and
Speaker 1: children trying to navigate new um the jungle gym, or
Speaker 1: new activities within the playground setting, some children who are
Speaker 1: having a hard time processing these sensory this sensory input
Speaker 1: or having an issue with practice, which is basically the
Speaker 1: neurological connection or neurological display of connection between the cognition
Speaker 1: and the action. So your cognition and your action kind
Speaker 1: of connectively through the through the brain. So them having
Speaker 1: an issue with that is a sensory concern, But a
Speaker 1: lot of times it will look like the kid is antisocial,
Speaker 1: they don't want to play in the playground, so it
Speaker 1: surfaces as a behavioral issue exactly. So, oh, she's sitting
Speaker 1: on the corner because she doesn't want to play with anyone,
Speaker 1: she doesn't like to engage. No, she may have an
Speaker 1: issue with practice, She may have a motor planning issue,
Speaker 1: her senses may be affected so let's get a sensory
Speaker 1: evaluation done by an occupational therapist before labeling behavior or
Speaker 1: you know, an issue that may not be that I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm not saying it isn't a behavior issue that I'm
Speaker 1: saying there's something else that you should consider it being right.
Speaker 1: So it's not just automatically labeling the child. It's like,
Speaker 1: do we do our due diligence as a parent to say,
Speaker 1: you know what, let's have our child see and occupational therapist.
Speaker 1: So for someone who may not know what exactly an
Speaker 1: occupational therapist does, can you let them know what you do?
Speaker 1: Absolutely so. As an o T, I'm in pediatrics. Ot
Speaker 1: S are in many different facets and areas, but UM
Speaker 1: I am in pediatrics, and what we do is we
Speaker 1: basically work with children who have autism, developmental delay, sensory
Speaker 1: processing disorder UM, children who are not meeting certain milestones,
Speaker 1: and we do evaluations on them. We see exactly what
Speaker 1: areas are limiting gross motor, fine motors, social emotional where
Speaker 1: it is, and then we create treatment plans and goals
Speaker 1: around those UM areas. And that's what we do. We
Speaker 1: work with them on achieving those goals. UM In the
Speaker 1: long run. So this was crazy, right because I saw
Speaker 1: an occupational therapist after my surgery, and most people do
Speaker 1: when you're a professional athlete. All these motor skills, appropriate
Speaker 1: reception in vestibula. I've heard these terms before. After you
Speaker 1: come back from an injury, you have to retrain your
Speaker 1: body to be able to do these things. So, for example,
Speaker 1: I remember when I came off my surgery and I
Speaker 1: broke my finger. In the very beginning, I had an
Speaker 1: issue catching the ball, not because I didn't know how
Speaker 1: to catch a ball, but it was working on the
Speaker 1: motor skill from my finger being ready to So we
Speaker 1: had to do a bunch of like you know, therapy
Speaker 1: things for me to get that back. So it makes
Speaker 1: it makes me think how many kids probably struggle with
Speaker 1: those things from young and we just passed that off
Speaker 1: as all this kid is just something's wrong with them
Speaker 1: without working on it. We're only ready to work on
Speaker 1: it as adults when we see it fits for something
Speaker 1: like athletics. But this is important for every day, every
Speaker 1: day interaction. Absolutely, I feel like pediatric OTE and just
Speaker 1: OTE in general and under I feel like an understanding
Speaker 1: of sensory integration and an understanding of how it can
Speaker 1: impact or or or affect your child's development. Is important
Speaker 1: for all parents and all teachers and anyone who's really
Speaker 1: interacting with a child on a day to day basis,
Speaker 1: because understanding that information will help you pinpoint certain things
Speaker 1: you may have not thought of and probably not label
Speaker 1: things as oh, this is definitely a behavioral or this
Speaker 1: got this has got to be this or that. No,
Speaker 1: maybe this is sensory related, because a lot of things
Speaker 1: can be sensory related. There's a there's a thin line
Speaker 1: with the behavior and the sensory and just I feel
Speaker 1: like part of what an occupational therapist does is investigative,
Speaker 1: so it's finding out what it is and then you're
Speaker 1: corrective because if you can correct certain things on an
Speaker 1: earlier phase for the child, well then it will not
Speaker 1: impede the progress of their growth and hitting those If
Speaker 1: a child comes to us with tactile defensiveness when there
Speaker 1: maybe three or four, it's easier for us to work
Speaker 1: with that or younger preferably, but if it's later on
Speaker 1: in developments a lot harder. Tactile defensiveness is what defensiveness too.
Speaker 1: So basically, if you are wearing something that is itchy
Speaker 1: or bothers them. For you and me, it might be Okay,
Speaker 1: this is just bothersome. I can handle it though. I
Speaker 1: can still live my daily life. But for someone who
Speaker 1: has tactile defensiveness, it would be a real bothering problem problem,
Speaker 1: and it will actually impact their daily life. So they
Speaker 1: can't articulate that to their parents. They may come across
Speaker 1: as a behavioral issue in school. If they wear that's
Speaker 1: that's bothering them. And you know how many times we've
Speaker 1: seen this. I think I've even seen this in Jackson.
Speaker 1: I used to get those fleeces that absolutely zip up
Speaker 1: here and He's like, I hate zipper on my neck
Speaker 1: and I'm like, dude, it's just a zipper. I'm saying
Speaker 1: that as an adult. But no, but as long as
Speaker 1: it's not impacting his day life, as long as he's
Speaker 1: I mean, I hate certain textures too, and but I
Speaker 1: can still function. Now, if you can't function, then there's
Speaker 1: a there's a level that needs you need to see
Speaker 1: someone who can actually work with you. And in OT
Speaker 1: as an OT, when we work with these things, we
Speaker 1: work basically with the neurological system in the clinic, all
Speaker 1: under the guise of play. So the child doesn't realize
Speaker 1: that what we're doing has a neurological basis. The child
Speaker 1: is thinking, I'm playing, I have a play date to day,
Speaker 1: but what I'm doing really is, you know, navigating these
Speaker 1: neurological sensory um concerns. And I'll say why that's important,
Speaker 1: especially from a young age. We got a lot of
Speaker 1: parents in Prototype whose children, whether it was a boy
Speaker 1: or a girl, who brought their children. Brought their children
Speaker 1: the Prototype because they felt like they were antisocial and
Speaker 1: they're like, they need to work out because they're so antisocial,
Speaker 1: they don't want to go outside. And since they don't
Speaker 1: want to go outside in their anti social their parents
Speaker 1: are worried that they won't be good people, you know,
Speaker 1: like they just there assimilating people and bringing them the prototype.
Speaker 1: We worked on these drills, just taught them how to
Speaker 1: be sports. And as they became more confident doing these
Speaker 1: drills because they did it over and over again, when
Speaker 1: they got back to their block or their community, they
Speaker 1: felt more comfortable going outside to play basketball because their
Speaker 1: balance was better, they were a little bit stronger, they
Speaker 1: were faster, and then they started to develop friends. Because
Speaker 1: we all develop our society as society. We all develop
Speaker 1: our friends through play totally. So when you make a
Speaker 1: kid feel more comfortable with their body, they'll feel more
Speaker 1: comfortable speaking to another child. And I've seen their firsthand
Speaker 1: with prototype absolutely. I mean I've seen it just firsthand
Speaker 1: in in in playground settings and I've just been that
Speaker 1: must just be a great like specimening playground. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: can see all kinds of things in the playground, but yeah,
Speaker 1: it makes you think, and then that a lot of
Speaker 1: the teachers will will identify, oh, this kid doesn't want
Speaker 1: or for example, um on the circle time. If a
Speaker 1: child is sitting at circle time and he's rolled ling
Speaker 1: around on the carpet and not paying attention, the teachers
Speaker 1: will sometimes think he's got a behavior problem. No, maybe
Speaker 1: it's his vestibular system, his balance and movement sense that
Speaker 1: may need you know, maybe he's having a hard time
Speaker 1: processing that that feedback and that sensory information. So if
Speaker 1: he's inadequately processing it, then it's unfair to be labeling
Speaker 1: him as having a behavior issue, So get him an referral,
Speaker 1: let's figure out what this is. But not knowing about
Speaker 1: these other two senses, right, you don't know, you don't
Speaker 1: exact wor so, are there any tools that parents can
Speaker 1: use I guess prior to getting to an OT doctor,
Speaker 1: are there any tools that parents can use to help
Speaker 1: identify a child with some sort of sensory issue or deficit,
Speaker 1: particularly the two that we are referring to that many
Speaker 1: people don't know about. Right, So, in terms of that,
Speaker 1: I would think a lot of it is if for
Speaker 1: the younger kids, it would be understanding the milestones, right,
Speaker 1: understanding your child's level of meeting certain social milestones. If
Speaker 1: you're catching it in an early early phase, let's make
Speaker 1: sure that they're reaching their developmental milestones later on, I
Speaker 1: would suggest, I mean personally, I would suggest getting an evaluation,
Speaker 1: just because we have specific standardized evaluations, the sensory profile,
Speaker 1: the sensory processing measure, and then we also have the
Speaker 1: Sensory Integration and Practice test, which will identify UM. So
Speaker 1: the tool I would say, identifying the tools that would
Speaker 1: most likely be a standardized assessment UM getting that done
Speaker 1: if you see certain characteristics in your child, like the
Speaker 1: ones we were talking about. This is funny how we
Speaker 1: even as an adult, you characterize someone as being socially awkward,
Speaker 1: and you notice that they have their physically awkward as well,
Speaker 1: and you never think that they may be socially awkward
Speaker 1: because they've always been physically awkward, so they've always separated
Speaker 1: themselves from people, and now they're socially awkward because they
Speaker 1: were always physically offered awkward. But I have a question
Speaker 1: how our parents, because parents are strugg in with this
Speaker 1: for the past year, almost when it has been a year,
Speaker 1: it'll be a year, the longest year longer. But when
Speaker 1: you have children who cannot go to the classroom setting right,
Speaker 1: so there is no carpet time, rug time, like, there's
Speaker 1: no interaction, interaction. Children are literally sitting at the computer
Speaker 1: and then coming to talk to their parents. How can
Speaker 1: parents begin to look for these signs at home? Because
Speaker 1: you don't want to spend a whole year. We don't
Speaker 1: know how long we're gonna be like this, and so
Speaker 1: many milestones can be hit within a year, even just
Speaker 1: so many depending on the child's age range, I mean
Speaker 1: most of them we look for. I would say, is
Speaker 1: it safe to say every when they're younger, like in
Speaker 1: a couple of months, I would definitely look for everything.
Speaker 1: The earlier, the earlier, the better. Um, I know, the
Speaker 1: CDC has a checklist that you can download for free.
Speaker 1: UM that kind of gives you an idea of what
Speaker 1: milestones your child should be meeting at certain points. UM.
Speaker 1: So following those milestones, making sure you're with your pediatrician.
Speaker 1: Your pediatrician is also looking at this stuff too, So
Speaker 1: communicating any concerns to your pediatrician. UM. But as for
Speaker 1: virtual learning, UM, yes, it's definitely a cause. It's it's
Speaker 1: definitely a concerning thing when you have a child who
Speaker 1: may have sensory concerns and they're in home with it
Speaker 1: with the inability to do much. So movement breaks are huge.
Speaker 1: Being able to take movement breaks understanding that they may
Speaker 1: need to do the approprial sceptive jumping jack's and get
Speaker 1: a little bit of vestibular you know, movement recess. Yes,
Speaker 1: absolutely important. Um. There are things like fidget toys that
Speaker 1: are huge. I just said that's okay about the fidget spinners.
Speaker 1: Not only that, but chewing I don't know if you
Speaker 1: were one of these people, but chewing on your pencil
Speaker 1: us A lot of the kids to have these the
Speaker 1: little chewy things that you can chew on instead of
Speaker 1: the pencil approprial sception. That's your jaw muscle activity kind
Speaker 1: of giving you some sort of ability to little maintain
Speaker 1: a little more attention, little focus, um even even the
Speaker 1: sense of taste, like eating things like sour candy or
Speaker 1: thing that alerts to you, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: Little things like that to just stimulate and awaken. This
Speaker 1: is important because Jackson is the one kid who will
Speaker 1: always be like, I need something, I got to eat something.
Speaker 1: He's always and it makes you work. But it was
Speaker 1: just him and being a growing boy. So Mike, he's
Speaker 1: going to eat me at the house and hope soon.
Speaker 1: Do you ever watch him when he's on his computer.
Speaker 1: Whenever he's on his computer, he's always doing something else
Speaker 1: while sitting on the computer. He's always he has his
Speaker 1: phone and sometimes I'm like, put your phone down. Then
Speaker 1: you'll put his phone down there to have his pencil,
Speaker 1: He's like twiling his pencil away and I'm just like,
Speaker 1: what is wrong with you? Like sit still? But that's
Speaker 1: when I had to check myself and say, maybe I
Speaker 1: shouldn't tell him to system to find something for him
Speaker 1: to do. Maybe that's helping modulate his sensory arousal level
Speaker 1: so that it's an optimal level of arousal where he's
Speaker 1: able to maintain the focus and attention needed. Um, And
Speaker 1: I think that's great that he's fine. Now if there was,
Speaker 1: if he was unable, if it was impeding his chances
Speaker 1: of focusing entirely and he was not getting anything done,
Speaker 1: then I would say, Okay, this is a cause for concern.
Speaker 1: But if he's finding ways to modulate his arousal level
Speaker 1: and get himself to focus, then that's actually not something
Speaker 1: too to judge but too in garbage. Okay, that helps you.
Speaker 1: If sitting on a wiggly chair helps you, Okay, let's
Speaker 1: do it. It's funny you've mentioned the wiggly chair. I way, Jackson.
Speaker 1: We've set up his room in space in his room
Speaker 1: where that's his workstation for school, you know, because we
Speaker 1: wanted to mimic the classroom. So I literally got him
Speaker 1: a desk, and I got him this like swivel chair,
Speaker 1: you know. It's blue, and it goes up and down
Speaker 1: and swivels right. So at random points during the day,
Speaker 1: we'll be downstairs in the kitchen or whatever he's in
Speaker 1: his room concentrating and then we'll hear like a boom
Speaker 1: or like a crash, and we're just like, what the
Speaker 1: hell is going on over there? I'm like, it's not
Speaker 1: Jim class. I don't know what he's doing experience. He's
Speaker 1: like falling out of the chair, or he's spinning, or
Speaker 1: he's just doing something. The chair is broken now, remot
Speaker 1: the whole back of the chair has fallen. Rooms are everywhere,
Speaker 1: and he's just you know, and now that you mentioned
Speaker 1: and I'm like, this is the crazy thing. Academically he's
Speaker 1: through the roof, and athletically he's just he excels athletically.
Speaker 1: But if he were in a class setting and kept moving,
Speaker 1: you know what, they say, he has a behavioral issue,
Speaker 1: and you know he needs to go see someone about
Speaker 1: it because he won't sit still. That was my brother Brian,
Speaker 1: and I got to say I got in trouble for
Speaker 1: the same thing. If I won't be quiet, he won't
Speaker 1: sit still. And I worry that he's going to get
Speaker 1: to a point where they're like, well, he needs medication.
Speaker 1: Because when I worked with I worked with a ton
Speaker 1: of middle school kids for the past ten years, and
Speaker 1: there's always a point when it gets about seventh grade
Speaker 1: where we see young black boys in particular, where it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: he needs medication. He has a d D or a
Speaker 1: d h D and their parents will bring him to
Speaker 1: us at prototype and be like, well, before we do this,
Speaker 1: can you guys work with him and see what it is.
Speaker 1: So we give them a workout regimen for them to
Speaker 1: do at home and for them to do with us.
Speaker 1: And we've noticed that their behavior calms down when they
Speaker 1: work out. So can you talk a little bit about
Speaker 1: how movement just helps? Yeah? Absolutely appropriate. Exception is like
Speaker 1: the main modulator of everything, right, Like we always consider
Speaker 1: it like when everything fails, use prope um And it's
Speaker 1: basically muscle activity, which is what you're saying. Muscle activity,
Speaker 1: whether it's pushing something heavy, whether it's um you know,
Speaker 1: doing any climbing activities, things that really incorporate muscle strength,
Speaker 1: and muscle activity is a modulator. So if a person
Speaker 1: is super high aroused and unable to pay attention or
Speaker 1: low arousal and needs a little push, it's always a
Speaker 1: good idea to incorporate prope And that is something you
Speaker 1: see as well from an athletics perspective. Feel like the
Speaker 1: vow is like the poster chat for that, because if
Speaker 1: this guy is not pushing away lifting, you know, ability.
Speaker 1: It's like he literally has to be moving in order
Speaker 1: to be calm. I'm at your house every day. Every day.
Speaker 1: I have to live weights. If I don't lift weights,
Speaker 1: and then think about it, think about how productive I've
Speaker 1: been since I started lifting weights every day going to
Speaker 1: Slick's house. Think about how much we've gotten done. Lifting
Speaker 1: weights for me has been like the because even before
Speaker 1: we started going to lift weights, I was running, but
Speaker 1: I didn't have anything heavy in my house, so I
Speaker 1: felt restless. Once I'm done lifting weights in the morning,
Speaker 1: you can lift, Yeah, I don't. Don't you said that
Speaker 1: a little bit too much comic. It's the type of
Speaker 1: weight I like. It's quarantine weights. I'm not complaining about that.
Speaker 1: It's dragon I need to get some squats and so
Speaker 1: we can stand up. Um so remote for new parents
Speaker 1: because we have many people who follow that are around
Speaker 1: the millennial age range, either have children thinking of having children.
Speaker 1: For new parents, at what age should they start to
Speaker 1: look for the signs during this developmental process that may
Speaker 1: or may not be an issue for their children? And
Speaker 1: second part is a two part question. Should parents look
Speaker 1: for different signs between boys and girls? Yeah? I mean
Speaker 1: that for that, I would say, there are studies that say,
Speaker 1: you know, boys, um develop gross motor skills faster, and
Speaker 1: girls develop fine motor skills faster. Boys are less communication, um,
Speaker 1: gross motor and fine motor. So um, fine motor like
Speaker 1: writing or doing anything. Yeah. Well yeah, so studies have
Speaker 1: shown this. UM. I feel like all children develop on
Speaker 1: their own trajectory, and I do believe that there's you know,
Speaker 1: some some truth to that. But at the same time, UM,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't say that would be the thing to think about.
Speaker 1: I think it would be really looking at milestones when
Speaker 1: it comes to autism specifically, which people with children with
Speaker 1: sensory processing issue a lot of times have I mean,
Speaker 1: they do go kind of you know, and there are
Speaker 1: sensory processing disorders on their own, but then there's also
Speaker 1: autism linked sensory processing disorders. And then to just look
Speaker 1: for the communication like do they pay attend, do they
Speaker 1: look at you in the eye, do they pay focus
Speaker 1: and eye attention? Um, giggles laughs. Are they socially kind
Speaker 1: of communicating with the other waving bye bye? Are they
Speaker 1: clapping when they do something good? I believe so yeah,
Speaker 1: like around eight nine eight months and above nine months
Speaker 1: and above even tracing like the baby looking back and forth.
Speaker 1: That's something that happens in a couple of months pointing
Speaker 1: to things. It's their non verbal social communication skills. You
Speaker 1: should definitely be looking for that. But I know that
Speaker 1: the pediatricians do the m CHAT. I believe, um, which
Speaker 1: is a series of questions, UM around eighteen months. I
Speaker 1: want to think. I'm not a pediatrician, so I don't know,
Speaker 1: but around that time, UM, they'll do the m CHAT.
Speaker 1: And that's that's also a big, big one in terms
Speaker 1: of an assessment. But yeah, if you see any concerns,
Speaker 1: if you see anything that you find is a little
Speaker 1: bit strange or odd, I would always go to the
Speaker 1: pediatrician and ask for um, you know, for advice on
Speaker 1: how to proceed. And if it is a sensory issue,
Speaker 1: then I would always say, you know, approach and O T.
Speaker 1: So if a child is suspected to have autism, for example, UM,
Speaker 1: it would be an assessment from an ote at first
Speaker 1: it was basically what happens. It would be from the pediatrician.
Speaker 1: First pediatrician would screen it UM, and then they would
Speaker 1: go on to refer you, whether it's to a developmental
Speaker 1: pediatrician or whoever else that they would, but we would
Speaker 1: get the referral after that, so the developmental patrici or
Speaker 1: the pediatrician would refer I know that it's been heavily
Speaker 1: debated where autism or any of these behavioral issues or
Speaker 1: you know, problems maybe arise, and I know that there's
Speaker 1: probably certain risk factors that maybe start as early as
Speaker 1: when a woman is pregnant or not. I thought she
Speaker 1: was going to ask about the vaccines, because now, well,
Speaker 1: that's part of it. You know, that's a big But
Speaker 1: the MMR vaccine, I mean, there's no there's no real justification.
Speaker 1: I mean, I know people feel strongly about vaccines, but yeah,
Speaker 1: that's sometimes people are really either more about it or
Speaker 1: what do you think there are I don't I don't
Speaker 1: believe that there's a strong link based on research. I
Speaker 1: don't believe that there's a strong link to the MMR.
Speaker 1: But I do understand the concerns, and I do understand
Speaker 1: every parent's concerned is warranted. Everybody's concerned. Um, that's the
Speaker 1: concern for the COVID vaccine now, because we're like, we
Speaker 1: don't want to be the first to try it. And
Speaker 1: if you have young kids, they have to go back
Speaker 1: to school. I'm not going to just let you stick
Speaker 1: my kid with a neil. And we don't know what
Speaker 1: the long term effects are. Um, there's no like bulletproof,
Speaker 1: clear cut like reason or explanation as to how autism appears,
Speaker 1: which is you know, concerning. It's concerning. And I feel
Speaker 1: like you feel like if there was a way that
Speaker 1: we can combat to do it, and we'd be doing
Speaker 1: it as early as maybe when you're pregnant, because you
Speaker 1: can relate to this now as a mom, I'm sure,
Speaker 1: Rema in that you try to do everything perfect while
Speaker 1: you're pregnant, Like you follow all the rules, don't eat this,
Speaker 1: do that, take your prenatal do that, and then you
Speaker 1: just all timidly pray for a healthy baby that will
Speaker 1: grow to be an amazing person. And you just never
Speaker 1: know some of the factors that may, you know, impede
Speaker 1: the progress or slow things down. So yeah, well do
Speaker 1: you think that autism has was something that always existed?
Speaker 1: But now we just have ways to diagnose it, So
Speaker 1: it's become a little bit more of a hotbutned topic now.
Speaker 1: I believe that we've definitely improved the ability to diagnose it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and the ability to have to find out that, Okay,
Speaker 1: this this child definitely is showing symptoms. Um, we didn't
Speaker 1: have that before, you know. So yes, I definitely think
Speaker 1: it contributes for sure. But that's a good thing because
Speaker 1: then now we have an earlier chance of finding what
Speaker 1: we need to work on and how we can Yeah,
Speaker 1: and now we can get in there from a young age.
Speaker 1: I feel like we may know some people who now
Speaker 1: in our adult life was just like oh, such and
Speaker 1: such was just kind of socially awkward growing up. But
Speaker 1: then as an adult you be like, wait, maybe he
Speaker 1: might have been autistic and we just didn't know. And
Speaker 1: there is a spectrum, So there's there's ac so high
Speaker 1: functioning because I know some high functioning people now who
Speaker 1: I think may have been autistic, but some people just crazy.
Speaker 1: I look at my wife, to look at my wife,
Speaker 1: and I'm just like that, this isn't she made? You
Speaker 1: really needed to buy all them shoes? You needed to?
Speaker 1: That was a poor decision. Deal with? What sense is that? Really?
Speaker 1: Monitors a fifth eighth sense that I don't know it
Speaker 1: at C E N T S. That's the sense you're
Speaker 1: be spending a lot of sense and making no sense
Speaker 1: so UM. The Americans Association of School Administrators conducted a
Speaker 1: survey of more than five hundred superintendents across the country
Speaker 1: in June. When asked what they struggled to provide UM
Speaker 1: as schools switched to distance learning, the number one response
Speaker 1: was special education systems. That's that's huge because you think
Speaker 1: about parents who uh, not only have to work and
Speaker 1: try to provide a life for these children, but then
Speaker 1: don't even know how to adequately special needs, Yeah, particularly
Speaker 1: special needs. How are they working with their children now?
Speaker 1: With limited resources of superintendent said that they were finding
Speaker 1: it hard to do so. Where many people may have had,
Speaker 1: you know, a place to bring their child who with
Speaker 1: special needs, or had maybe attendant that came in, now
Speaker 1: they don't have any of them. Schools provided that. So
Speaker 1: I guess my question is how far of a setback
Speaker 1: is this for children? You figure it's only been a
Speaker 1: couple of months, like we said, it feels like a year,
Speaker 1: but how do you see an impact in how this
Speaker 1: is going to affect children long term? Haven't had this
Speaker 1: situation that we're in for the past few months and
Speaker 1: some of that going to be corrective later. Like I
Speaker 1: almost feel like this this generation of children who are
Speaker 1: school age are set back so far right now, I
Speaker 1: feel like a lot of our kids, even because of COVID,
Speaker 1: we're afraid to come back into the clinic. And they
Speaker 1: were you know, struggling with some serious, um, you know,
Speaker 1: sensory concerns and seeing them now as they're more likely
Speaker 1: to come back into the clinic, it's you obviously will
Speaker 1: feel you see a complete digression. Yeah, like now we
Speaker 1: have to kind of you know, work harder. Um. So yeah,
Speaker 1: it is, it is. I would suggest if your child
Speaker 1: is an OT or has been an AT to get
Speaker 1: them back in OT as soon as possible. UM. I
Speaker 1: know for us, we've taken huge measures of being very
Speaker 1: safe with the following the CDC guidelines and making sure
Speaker 1: everything is sanitized. But um and I know most clinics
Speaker 1: that I know of are as well. UM, So getting
Speaker 1: back into the sessions is most helpful because yeah, just
Speaker 1: leaving it to you know, watching all of that progress
Speaker 1: all of a sudden started to decline, being a whole setback.
Speaker 1: You know what I would tell parents, Um, And we
Speaker 1: do this with our boys, and we were doing this
Speaker 1: before distance learning started. We always incorperate physical activity but
Speaker 1: also arts and craft because we have our youngest son,
Speaker 1: Kaz and cats is very different than the other boys.
Speaker 1: But Kas loves to feel like. He loves to play
Speaker 1: in the dirt, he loves saying, he loves water. So
Speaker 1: we feel like we always wanted to make that part
Speaker 1: of his routine because when he's able to do those things,
Speaker 1: he then feels better afterwards, you know, So we try
Speaker 1: to make sure that arts and craft is always an
Speaker 1: important part. Plato, he loves Plato. Have to watch him
Speaker 1: so he doesn't eat it. However, he likes the experiment
Speaker 1: with it. He's eating everything. But it's it's amazing because
Speaker 1: parents with multiple children, you have to now evaluate each child,
Speaker 1: and that's why we talk about how important it is
Speaker 1: to make sure that you're engaging with each child on
Speaker 1: a certain level so that way you know what to
Speaker 1: look for whenever. And each child is a unique case,
Speaker 1: especially when it comes to OT. You know, um, there's
Speaker 1: not one answer for all. It's very much specific to
Speaker 1: the child and the child's ccific needs from a sensory
Speaker 1: perspective for sure. So that's why the evaluation from an
Speaker 1: OT is always the most important part because then you'll
Speaker 1: get the specific response for that child or a specific treatment. Well,
Speaker 1: I also know that every family can't afford an OT
Speaker 1: so are there certain things that are family Like if
Speaker 1: you can give some advice to a family that has
Speaker 1: children who are middle school elementary that you feel like, listen,
Speaker 1: this child may have a case. What are the resources
Speaker 1: or what could they do at home to help? Um? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean when it comes to the virtual stuff and
Speaker 1: when it comes to focus and attention, I would say,
Speaker 1: just prioritize getting all of those little sensory gadgets. Um,
Speaker 1: whatever your child may be seeking, whatever sensory output their
Speaker 1: experiencing or they're needing, just facilitate that. Okay, if you
Speaker 1: can't sit still, let's do exactly what you guys are
Speaker 1: pretty much doing, you know, let's facilitate what we can
Speaker 1: to make sure our child is able to focus and
Speaker 1: pay attention. But no, ultimately, if you are below the
Speaker 1: age of three, the regional center services are free. So
Speaker 1: that's good to a lot of people don't know that
Speaker 1: regional center. So if you contact your nearest regional center
Speaker 1: and say, I think my child is having these concerns,
Speaker 1: could you please evaluate, um, they should be able to
Speaker 1: guide you in the right directions and then also um
Speaker 1: from that point on into the school district as well.
Speaker 1: I mean, I know Black people fear getting their children
Speaker 1: evaluated because they fear label. You know, the label is
Speaker 1: tough for black people, and a lot of the parents
Speaker 1: we dealt with didn't want to get their kid even
Speaker 1: talk about how important it is to get their children
Speaker 1: evaluate even even if so and a lot of the
Speaker 1: times it's not even a label that you'll get a
Speaker 1: lot of the times it's more so, okay, there's some
Speaker 1: sensory concerns here that we can work with, and you know,
Speaker 1: we work with it, but it's it's it's more detrimental
Speaker 1: for the child if they don't if they have autism,
Speaker 1: or they have something that needs to be labeled and
Speaker 1: they don't get it to them until later, then they've
Speaker 1: just really really done a disservice to their child. So
Speaker 1: I would suggest and and and a lot of the
Speaker 1: times it's also not um, you know, it's not autisome.
Speaker 1: It's possibly a sensory processing concern or something that we
Speaker 1: can work with in the clinic. That's not you know,
Speaker 1: um so stigmatized, but it's doing more of it. It's
Speaker 1: a stigma. Yeah, a segment around the label. It's almost
Speaker 1: like someone going to seek therapy, you know something, there's
Speaker 1: a stigma around therapy. It's like, oh, you're not right
Speaker 1: in your head. If you have to go speak to
Speaker 1: someone about the way you're feeling, especially in the community,
Speaker 1: for sure, that needs to change, because if you don't,
Speaker 1: if you don't get the help, you're doing the bigger,
Speaker 1: the bigger disservice to your loved ones, to yourself, to
Speaker 1: your children, the disservices coming on in a higher level
Speaker 1: than than just living with it and acting like everything
Speaker 1: is perfectly fine. Um. And it'll catch up to you
Speaker 1: in the end, especially when you know that a lot
Speaker 1: of this can be corrected. If you wait until fifteen
Speaker 1: to get a diagnosis, well, we could have done so
Speaker 1: much more, you know what I mean? UM, So what's
Speaker 1: the point in I understand the stigma, I understand the
Speaker 1: reasons behind being scared, But I encourage UM, parents UM
Speaker 1: to do the right thing by their child and get
Speaker 1: the necessary diagnosis if needed. UM. But evaluation, I would
Speaker 1: encourage the same thing because, UM, the stigma comes from
Speaker 1: a lack of trust that black people have for healthcare professionals, Specifically,
Speaker 1: if they don't look like them. So a lot of
Speaker 1: the black moms and dads that we had come through
Speaker 1: prototypes like I'll take him to go see someone, but
Speaker 1: they got to be black, because you know, if you
Speaker 1: don't understand black culture, if you don't understand black people,
Speaker 1: when you look at things, you look at things through
Speaker 1: a lens that everything they do is wrong, almost feeling
Speaker 1: like you want someone who can relate to your particular
Speaker 1: struggles or thomas that you may have had to endure
Speaker 1: the same thing with a midwife. When I was seeking
Speaker 1: a midwife, I was like, let me find the blikty
Speaker 1: blackest one because I'm like, she's going to understand that
Speaker 1: black women are dying, you know, during childbirths. You know,
Speaker 1: black babies are dying at a way faster rate and
Speaker 1: our white counterparts. So I think that's super important and
Speaker 1: and I mean, do you see diversity in your field?
Speaker 1: I do absolutely had a lot of a lot of
Speaker 1: incredible um African American otis that we have a lot
Speaker 1: of doctors, of a lot of people doing amazing, amazing
Speaker 1: things in the field. So we got no excuses, No,
Speaker 1: we got no excuses. No, it's definitely a friend of
Speaker 1: mine found out that her son was autistic very early on,
Speaker 1: and I applaud her because she has been super involved
Speaker 1: and invested in making sure he has every resource available.
Speaker 1: They're based in New York, UM, so she said that
Speaker 1: she was just surprised at how many you know, available
Speaker 1: resources were literally at her finger tip, she sh she
Speaker 1: posted her son's schedule like on a on a weekly schedule,
Speaker 1: and he had this therapy, that person, this person, you know,
Speaker 1: literally every person was in a time slot to ensure
Speaker 1: that he was getting this total package and help that
Speaker 1: he needed. And I really applauded her, and I was
Speaker 1: happy that she was letting people know because, like we said,
Speaker 1: but the stigma, she could have been like, well, I'm
Speaker 1: not going to show my baby as much because he
Speaker 1: is autistic. Instead, she's empowering people to speak up about it,
Speaker 1: you know, and in inspiring people to say, you know what,
Speaker 1: get your child checked out if you see something is
Speaker 1: not you know, normal. And many times it is a
Speaker 1: collaborative effort, you know, it is the O T, the PT,
Speaker 1: the speech with the speech language polishes. It is a
Speaker 1: whole bunch of people working together to help this child,
Speaker 1: you know, live the best life possible. And as independently
Speaker 1: as possible, and you see a huge difference from kids
Speaker 1: we've seen. We've had children that have been with us
Speaker 1: since a few months old, now you know, a few
Speaker 1: years old, and you see a huge, huge, significant growth
Speaker 1: in difference. If parents are consistent with going to therapy,
Speaker 1: showing up so making the effort doing what they need
Speaker 1: to do. If a parent is inconsistent, you will also
Speaker 1: see the change. You'll see that in the in the
Speaker 1: therapy results. Is that frustrating for you, Like if you
Speaker 1: see a child who has the potential to be so
Speaker 1: much farther along, so frustrating, it's so frustrating. So many
Speaker 1: times we do see kids who need the therapy so
Speaker 1: desperately and parents are like, oh, well, you know, I've
Speaker 1: got this, or they don't under I think they misunderstand
Speaker 1: ot because they don't understand that through the guys of play,
Speaker 1: there's a lot going on, and in their mind it's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: they're just playing. I don't know. So with this book,
Speaker 1: I kind of wanted to shed light on the fact
Speaker 1: that yes, we are doing play like activities, but if
Speaker 1: you understand the senses, if you'll understand through a story
Speaker 1: like perspective, you know, um, what could be happening with
Speaker 1: your child and how you could be fixing it and
Speaker 1: how we are actually working on these things in the
Speaker 1: clinic that maybe you'll give it a little bit more
Speaker 1: of an understanding of Okay, I need to put emphasis
Speaker 1: a lot of the times I'll be like, oh, speech
Speaker 1: is more important. Speech is more important. It's like, absolutely,
Speaker 1: speech is important. But there's a huge component here in
Speaker 1: OT that you're missing, um, and you see it in
Speaker 1: the child. You see the child not reaching the max's
Speaker 1: potential and that is there a link between sensory issues
Speaker 1: and or the approach that you take as an OT
Speaker 1: and like the Montessori method because I know that learning
Speaker 1: method is a lot of play bass for us. At first,
Speaker 1: I was kind of like they play all day, Like
Speaker 1: what does that mean? I think you could play at home?
Speaker 1: Like what am I paying you? Um? And then we
Speaker 1: kind of like brought into the sauce at one point
Speaker 1: with Cairo for a little bit. He wasn't feeling that
Speaker 1: particular school and in particular, but I know that there's
Speaker 1: some amazing people who have sent children sent their children
Speaker 1: to Montessori schools for years and they saw amazing, um,
Speaker 1: you know, amazing results with their children. So is there
Speaker 1: a direct link you think between like the sensory Manta
Speaker 1: Story method. Yeah, I mean it's there is. I'm sure
Speaker 1: sensory perspectives in the Montessori method, Montessori being the educational
Speaker 1: component and sensory processing being more of a medically driven product. Um.
Speaker 1: But yes, I mean, I'm sure they incorporate I wasn't
Speaker 1: went to Montessori as a child myself, and they do
Speaker 1: incorporate a lot of sensory activities into it. And there
Speaker 1: is a I guess a kind of link, but they're
Speaker 1: two very there's still two separate up in the exact
Speaker 1: opposite of Montessori. We were in school where you had
Speaker 1: to sit your ass down, do not if you were fidgeting,
Speaker 1: you get hit with a ruler. Which now I'm starting
Speaker 1: to think about how many men think about how many
Speaker 1: behavioral issues they weren't. There were a lot of kids
Speaker 1: that I think about it. You know better now, you
Speaker 1: do better. But the punishment was a thing in the
Speaker 1: school of the Deval went to the same elementary school.
Speaker 1: He stayed for a couple of years. I stayed throughout
Speaker 1: the entire elementary and like junior high school phase of life.
Speaker 1: But the people who were able to thrive in there
Speaker 1: were super successful. But there were a lot of people
Speaker 1: who left Bethlehem in and now that I think about it,
Speaker 1: you never gave them a chance to work through their
Speaker 1: sensory issues. If they had, you considered, my goodness, it
Speaker 1: was the actual opposite. It was do not move. If
Speaker 1: you move, you get popped with the ruler. Children that
Speaker 1: say something or spoke out a turn or anything, there
Speaker 1: was like a consequence for that. And I woke couple
Speaker 1: it by saying that there was a lot of love
Speaker 1: in that school to as hard as it may seem,
Speaker 1: but there was a lot of love in that school
Speaker 1: as well and a general care for the child. But
Speaker 1: I also we spoke about generational traumas and like how
Speaker 1: we came to um pass down these ways of child
Speaker 1: rearing that they deemed necessary at the time when years ago,
Speaker 1: like you know, you gotta keep a black channel line
Speaker 1: by like beating them and making sure that they know
Speaker 1: there's consequences for their action. So I never want to
Speaker 1: say that we were in a very hostile environment at
Speaker 1: that time, but both a successful as we are because
Speaker 1: in part because of Bethlehm Baptist Academy. But I do
Speaker 1: also understand that there are certain things that I allowed
Speaker 1: Jackson to do because I've learned better, that my mom
Speaker 1: would have never allowed me to do. For example, that
Speaker 1: my mother would have got me a chair that does
Speaker 1: not turn, does not swore, but the back cannot move.
Speaker 1: I would not have any toys, no devices, no devices,
Speaker 1: no phones. But Jackson gets to sit at his laptop
Speaker 1: with his device, with his toys, in a chair that
Speaker 1: moves because it allows him to find a way to focus.
Speaker 1: That was the exact opposite. I would have been in
Speaker 1: all white room with one chair, in a notebook and
Speaker 1: just had, you know, just had to work like that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And that's why I feel like it's so import to
Speaker 1: provide the education and the awareness because then other parents
Speaker 1: will also start to see things the way you do,
Speaker 1: and other teachers will start to see things the way
Speaker 1: you do and start to understand, Okay, there's more to that,
Speaker 1: and there's better ways that we can handle this for
Speaker 1: the development of the child. And it's important now, especially
Speaker 1: with so much distant learning. But you don't have the
Speaker 1: run right because we have to do listener letters. But
Speaker 1: before we do listening letters. We have to take a
Speaker 1: quick break, so you go. We love to get an
Speaker 1: expert perspective on what people right in. So yeah, we'll
Speaker 1: come back after we pay some bills. Pay some bills
Speaker 1: because you're seeing sense all things that I lacked common sense,
Speaker 1: but I really don't bending sense as long as it's
Speaker 1: a deal. Long, can you go pay these bills so
Speaker 1: I can just pay for whatever it is? And she
Speaker 1: just described we'll be back. All right, we're back. I
Speaker 1: went and paid mad bills. I went in stripped too,
Speaker 1: so I can help, you know, cover whatever the lack is.
Speaker 1: I gotta make ends meet, gotta make ends meet. You
Speaker 1: did something strange for a little change. I had to
Speaker 1: the way you spend money. But we are back now,
Speaker 1: we gotta listening. Let us right. Like I said before,
Speaker 1: we have Rema Naim with us, doctor doctor. Anybody who
Speaker 1: go to school for nine years, it deserves to be
Speaker 1: called doctor, because I did four and it felt like wright.
Speaker 1: So we are back with Dr ne Rema Naim, and
Speaker 1: we're gonna answer these listener letters. We have one today.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna start reading out loud. I am a married mom.
Speaker 1: She is with two sons. And a daughter ages seven
Speaker 1: through twelve. Even when school was operating normally, advocating for
Speaker 1: our children could be very difficult now with virtual learning.
Speaker 1: What tips would you have for parents on how to
Speaker 1: best advocate for your child and ensure that their needs
Speaker 1: are being met. You know, Rema loves to advocate for
Speaker 1: X and X is only eight months. The best advocate,
Speaker 1: especially when they are a creative, active child that learned
Speaker 1: best through creative and in person interaction. How do we
Speaker 1: advocate for these children during this time? I mean I
Speaker 1: would suggest contacting and reaching out to the schools. I
Speaker 1: know that it's difficult. I know it's hard, but reaching
Speaker 1: out to them and just advocating for you know, any
Speaker 1: kind of aid or any kind of help that you
Speaker 1: can get within the home system. I do know of
Speaker 1: some parents who have been able to get help. Is
Speaker 1: this locally? Is this from Californa? Is this calum She
Speaker 1: doesn't say exactly who we are, but if we are,
Speaker 1: if they are in California, then yeah, I believe that
Speaker 1: there are ways to go around it. I know it's difficult.
Speaker 1: I know the school district and everything is a really
Speaker 1: hard process. I can totally sympathize with that, but I
Speaker 1: would suggest continuing to advocate as much as you can
Speaker 1: and trying to reach out and trying to get you
Speaker 1: know as much um uh, you know, as many resources
Speaker 1: as you can to get an aid or to get
Speaker 1: some kind of help within the home system. I agree,
Speaker 1: you know what I would do already know what K
Speaker 1: would do because it wouldn't mean she would be on it.
Speaker 1: But KA is not afraid of moving our children, especially
Speaker 1: with remote learning. You can remote learn with any school,
Speaker 1: any curriculum. So if that curriculum does not fit with
Speaker 1: your child, hey, you know what, I may have to
Speaker 1: remove my child from this situation and try to find
Speaker 1: a remote learning curriculum that works with helps them moving forward.
Speaker 1: That's what I would do because you know, as much
Speaker 1: as I don't like to be it has a negative
Speaker 1: connotation helicopter parent or like being over your child. For me,
Speaker 1: it's not about being a helicopter mom. It's about being involved,
Speaker 1: Like there's a difference, you know what I mean, and
Speaker 1: knowing what I'm looking for with my child. Us moms,
Speaker 1: dad's we know our children best, right, So if you
Speaker 1: see that there's a deficit or you know that something
Speaker 1: may impede their progress. I'm I'm the queen of pivoting
Speaker 1: and just pulling them from whatever it needs and then
Speaker 1: finding the resources. So one thing I know is what
Speaker 1: I don't know. So if I don't know something, I'm
Speaker 1: the first to try to find resources or asking um,
Speaker 1: you know, friends, asking an expert, asking a friend who
Speaker 1: may know somebody who knows somebody, and getting a referral
Speaker 1: that way. And I mean, there's levels two needs that
Speaker 1: children have that need to be meant um for us.
Speaker 1: The simplest thing so far just to even get that
Speaker 1: in person interaction for the children together. It's just creating
Speaker 1: a safe space of families who we know have been
Speaker 1: you know, quarantining, have been laying low, Your kids haven't
Speaker 1: been in school. My kids haven't been in school. So
Speaker 1: definitely have happened. We found our community where we feel
Speaker 1: safe because we definitely don't take COVID lightly. So there's
Speaker 1: a certain community where saying, okay, y'all have been at home,
Speaker 1: we've been at home for the most part, we can
Speaker 1: then get our children together and then create small play
Speaker 1: group environments where the kids can get together in play safely.
Speaker 1: And I think that's very necessary. Jackson says. He misses
Speaker 1: the interaction that he used to have with his classmates,
Speaker 1: and I get it. Yeah, And I mean, we've not
Speaker 1: been through this before, so we don't know what the
Speaker 1: long term situation is going to be. Everything is so
Speaker 1: up in the air, and so, you know, so it
Speaker 1: is important to make sure that you're giving them similar
Speaker 1: activities or similar things that they were doing beforehand, but
Speaker 1: in a safe space, in a safe, controlled space. I
Speaker 1: will say this too. I'm going to look at the
Speaker 1: camera directly when I say this. For all the parents
Speaker 1: who are now advocating for their kids, advocating advocating, you
Speaker 1: said something that I would I would challenge. You said
Speaker 1: that we know our kids best. I challenged that because
Speaker 1: these kids spend six to eight hours with these teachers
Speaker 1: every day. And I hear a lot of my friends
Speaker 1: and other people saying on social media all that stuff
Speaker 1: I was saying about my son when he was acting crazy,
Speaker 1: and I was telling the teacher that I know my child.
Speaker 1: I do not know this person because I've been in
Speaker 1: the house with them for four months now, so it's
Speaker 1: like who am at home with? Because this is not
Speaker 1: the child I was advocating for before, and they're behaving
Speaker 1: the way the teachers said they were behaving in class,
Speaker 1: and of course your children are completely different around you
Speaker 1: and act around their classmates and the teachers. So I
Speaker 1: would say the parents give grace to educators when we're
Speaker 1: going through this as well, because educate educators are also
Speaker 1: learning how to maneuver through COVID. So even though you
Speaker 1: want to add advocate as much as possible, give grace
Speaker 1: and allow it to work and stuff out a little
Speaker 1: bit before you jump the gun. That's true because I'm
Speaker 1: definitely a gun jumper and to be like, no, I
Speaker 1: know that my son is not capable of this. You know,
Speaker 1: these kids just surprised us every day. But you know
Speaker 1: when I did say that, you know what I mean. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I like that you like to play Devil's advocate. But
Speaker 1: it's just like we have that maternal instinct to know
Speaker 1: when something is wrong or not go with your gut.
Speaker 1: I would say now, and I think as parents now,
Speaker 1: especially when you're watching your children in UM these home settings,
Speaker 1: realizing and learning and understanding that if you're seeing things
Speaker 1: that are out of the norm for you, if you
Speaker 1: think this is something that's different, UM, if they're you know, behaving, UM,
Speaker 1: you know where they can't focus, they can't pay attention,
Speaker 1: they're super super you know, all over the place. And
Speaker 1: you never knew this about your child before because you
Speaker 1: weren't in this position with them. That is what I
Speaker 1: think is important to take that and realize, Okay, maybe
Speaker 1: you know this isn't behavior. I don't need to yell
Speaker 1: at him, or you know, maybe there is something else
Speaker 1: happening here, and just to keep that in mind, um,
Speaker 1: and not to be so quick to jump and be like,
Speaker 1: oh my kid is and she took my moment of
Speaker 1: truth that we do a moment of truth at the end,
Speaker 1: But that was perfect. That was like, I know, that's
Speaker 1: a nice segway to moment of truth. Exactly. It's pretty
Speaker 1: much like what we've taken away from this show because
Speaker 1: we love for people to have takeaways like what can
Speaker 1: we gather from the conversation, So usually we sum up
Speaker 1: the end of the show with a moment of truth,
Speaker 1: so we might as well segait it. You know, you
Speaker 1: I mean, my my moment of truth. Even last night
Speaker 1: I created a post before you came here and that
Speaker 1: said that just because your child won'ts it still doesn't
Speaker 1: mean they have a behavioral issue. We need to investigate
Speaker 1: what other options we have before we just throw medication
Speaker 1: and labels at them. Go see someone and see if
Speaker 1: there's something else going on, you know, and that that
Speaker 1: was it, like that he may still have a behavioral issue,
Speaker 1: but he or she may not. So before we just
Speaker 1: run there, let's try to exhaust all options. And this
Speaker 1: to me is a viable option because I've seen sensory
Speaker 1: issues with kids over the past decade solve a lot
Speaker 1: of problems on kids who were both medicated and unmedicated.
Speaker 1: So I'm an advocate for them also just to find
Speaker 1: just to say this, if you do see these sensory issues,
Speaker 1: of sensory concerns and they're not impeding your child's daily life.
Speaker 1: Your child is completely learning and going to school fine,
Speaker 1: and you know it's minor um, you know, it's okay.
Speaker 1: It's not something to say, oh my god, my child
Speaker 1: is you know, itching because they have a sweater on.
Speaker 1: This is something I need to be concerned with. I know,
Speaker 1: I'm super um you know, aware and hyper where under
Speaker 1: the arm page I weren't addressed the armad all itchy
Speaker 1: and it gives you a whole rest but just now
Speaker 1: that as long as it's not in pacting daily life,
Speaker 1: as long as it's not infecting their daily life, they
Speaker 1: can still function there. Okay you know then, you know right,
Speaker 1: it's fine. Don't all y'all flood uh Rema's page now
Speaker 1: I put him in wool. It has to be something
Speaker 1: that's affecting the child from a first Well, if you're
Speaker 1: gonna flood Rema's page, we can find flood her page
Speaker 1: for this amazing book here. First of all, I love
Speaker 1: that the cover is super attractive and colorful, diverse characters. Okay,
Speaker 1: I feel like many children can look and see someone
Speaker 1: who potentially looks like like them, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: boy or girl? Oh my goodness. And I love that
Speaker 1: this is to your son. Yeah. We dedicated our book
Speaker 1: to all three boys to Yeah. Absolutely, so tell everybody,
Speaker 1: Oh do my moment of truth. I just thought about
Speaker 1: it because well that's real quick. Um, we're in uh
Speaker 1: temporary situation. Okay, I'm putting it out there. This is
Speaker 1: in the interim. As much as we need grace, we
Speaker 1: to give our children grace, give them a space to
Speaker 1: feel as if they can be themselves. And in being themselves,
Speaker 1: I think that really brings us down to the core
Speaker 1: of then assessing what potentially maybe a deficit or behavioral
Speaker 1: issue or a sensory issue or whatever the case may be. UM,
Speaker 1: but just really trying to clock in as a parent
Speaker 1: and see, Okay, what exactly maybe triggering this is just
Speaker 1: just something temporary, like the time that we're in because
Speaker 1: of the situation that we're in where children are at home.
Speaker 1: Is it something that likely go back to normal once
Speaker 1: we have our normal back. So just give our children
Speaker 1: grace as much as we would expect that as adults,
Speaker 1: because I feel like sometimes as parents or as adults,
Speaker 1: we tend to be like, well, sit still do that,
Speaker 1: but you know, we're giving our kids orders all the time,
Speaker 1: where if we just kind of take a step back
Speaker 1: and just say, you know what, honey, I understand that
Speaker 1: this is like a really you know, strange situation that
Speaker 1: we're in. I would love for you to be in
Speaker 1: school with your friends. I would love for you to
Speaker 1: have this particular you know, playroom or classroom setting. Um.
Speaker 1: Just letting them be and then moving from there because
Speaker 1: it is a huge change for them and realizing as
Speaker 1: much as it's affecting you, it's really really them. That
Speaker 1: is my day's round, just trying to keep it together. Okay,
Speaker 1: all right, Rema. So Dr Rema Nam tell everyone where
Speaker 1: they can find you, where they can find your book them.
Speaker 1: This is the first book in a series, um and
Speaker 1: it's called The Adventures of the Sense of Kids, and
Speaker 1: it's basically the Sense of Kids, who are four sensory
Speaker 1: characters that represent the sensory systems we work with and
Speaker 1: they're like minyot s, So we basically educate parents on
Speaker 1: the senses and then we have a story. This one
Speaker 1: is focused on the tactile sense of a child who's
Speaker 1: having a hard time adequately processing tactile information and how
Speaker 1: she calls on the Sense of Kids. They magically appear
Speaker 1: and they pretty much do activities we would do in
Speaker 1: the clinic, but home based activities. Doctor Rema doesn't, doesn't
Speaker 1: She looked just so they call it Doctor Rema to them,
Speaker 1: so she called She's pretty much the narrator and she
Speaker 1: starts off basically explaining what the senses are. Then we
Speaker 1: go into introducing the sense of Kids, so you know
Speaker 1: who the Sense of Kids are, and then we go
Speaker 1: into the story. This is very in depth. I love it,
Speaker 1: so pretty and At the end there's a parent teacher
Speaker 1: education page which explains in a little more complicated language, um,
Speaker 1: what the character in the story was dealing with and
Speaker 1: how the sense of kids helped her and why those
Speaker 1: activities were helpful for her. And the first the first
Speaker 1: is um, the touch sense, and then we're going to
Speaker 1: come out with more on the vestibular and the probe
Speaker 1: and the other senses to give a little bit more
Speaker 1: educational senses that I found out about today today, years old.
Speaker 1: Where can I find you on social media at OT
Speaker 1: Studios l A fabulous So you've got all the tea
Speaker 1: right there now, all right now, and be sure to
Speaker 1: find us on social media, y'all. Um, then ask the
Speaker 1: podcast on Instagram. Yes, and I am devout And if
Speaker 1: you're listening on Apple Podcasts, be sure to rate, review
Speaker 1: and subscribe. Dr Reema, thank you so much for We'll
Speaker 1: see you. I'll be there pushing waits tomorrow. Mop. I'm
Speaker 1: start using that pushed the way baby pushed away. Dead
Speaker 1: Ass is a production of I Heart Media podcast Network
Speaker 1: and is produced by the Noorrapinia and Triple Follow the
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Speaker 1: never miss a Thing