356: Teaching Kids to Communicate their Sensory Needs, with Sarah Collins, MSOT, OTR/L

About this episode

This episode discusses how to help children communicate their sensory needs and understand their behavior through the insights of occupational therapist Sarah Collins.

There’s a moment most of us recognize when our child’s behavior feels confusing, intense, or completely out of left field. But what if that behavior is actually communication we haven’t yet learned how to interpret? In this episode, I sit down with occupational therapist Sarah Collins to talk about something that can truly shift how we parent: helping our kids understand and communicate their sensory needs. When kids don’t have the words, or even the awareness for what’s happening in their bodies, it often shows up as “challenging behavior.” And when we can decode that, everything starts to change. We talk about what sensory processing really is (in a way that actually makes sense), including those lesser-known internal senses like interoception, which helps kids recognize hunger, anxiety, or overwhelm. We also explore how movement supports awareness, why some kids need to move to focus, and how behavior is often a child’s first attempt at self-advocacy. Sarah shares practical ways to build this awareness, from using everyday observations to introducing simple language frameworks. We also talk about when to talk and when to say nothing at all. This conversation is about helping…

People in this episode

Host: Penny Williams

Guest: Sarah Collins

Topics covered

• sensory needs
• communication
• parenting
• occupational therapy
• self-advocacy
• behavior management

Keywords

• sensory processing
• interoception
• challenging behavior
• movement
• self-awareness
• parenting strategies

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