Ideas at Play: An Occupational Therapy (OT) Podcast

Send us a Text or Voicemail When you think of therapy in the swimming pool, swim lessons probably come to mind. However, occupational therapy practitioners use water for so many life skills! This week, Michele dives into research from Spain that reveals how aquatic therapy can be beneficial for autistic children in OT settings. The results? Better school performance, improved social competence, and happier kids overall. Plus, Michele shares her own terrifying pool story of a little girl who l...

Send us a Text or Voicemail Motor skill difficulties show up in nearly 9 out of 10 autistic kids, which means this question comes up in almost every caseload: what motor-based intervention actually works? This week we dig into a 2025 study that compares three different approaches head to head, and the findings remind us why skilled therapy is irreplaceable. And Michele talks about her session that ended with a Ziploc bag of very questionable slime. We share our own thoughts in the Resea...

Send us a Text or Voicemail We're covering two topics that kept coming up in your emails and are linked in the literature — polyvagal theory and listening programs. Michele walks us through the principles of polyvagal theory, the recent scientific debate around it, and what a systematic review of sound-based interventions found. The polyvagal conversation is complicated and debated in neuroscience, but when it comes to the listening programs themselves, the research points somewhere surprisin...

Send us a Text or Voicemail Can a home program alone replace clinic-based therapy? This week, we put it to the test with a randomized controlled study on the GAME intervention (Goal, Activity, Motor, Enrichment) for toddlers with developmental delays. We discuss the steps of the GAME intervention, supportive parent coaching, and how you can implement this in your own caseload tomorrow. Plus, Michele shares about a rough consult, Lacy tries something new with student groups, and there's a tiny...

Send us a Text or Voicemail If you work with older kids, you know the feeling — suddenly your caseload has a teenager and the stakes feel higher, the clock feels shorter, and the parents feel more anxious than ever. Good news: the research has some clear direction on what actually moves the needle for autistic teens heading into adulthood. Spoiler — it might not be what you think. This week, we dig into the MAPSS program and come away with practical tools you can use in any setting. We share ...

Send us a Text or Voicemail Feeding therapy doesn’t have to feel like a power struggle. In this episode, we explore how shifting from pressure to partnership can improve food intake and family vibes. We discuss new research on responsive feeding for children with G-tubes and share how coaching caregivers, honoring child cues, and creating a positive mealtime environment can lead to meaningful change—without focusing on every tiny feeding skill. Real research, real strategies, and ideas you ca...

Send us a Text or Voicemail Most OTs in early intervention think they're coaching, BUT the research says otherwise. In this episode, we discuss a scoping review on caregiver coaching in early intervention — the five key ingredients, why the model can be hard to do in real life, and five action steps you can take into someone's living room on a Thursday morning. Turns out coaching is a skill, not a vibe. Let's get better at it. We share our own thoughts in the Research Review and encourage you...

Send us a Text or Voicemail Sensory activity schedules—often called sensory diets—are used every day in school-based therapy, but how strong is the evidence behind them? In this episode, we review a recent systematic review that examined whether sensory activity schedules improve classroom participation for students with sensory processing differences. We unpack what the research found about its effect on school performance and share six practical ingredients therapists can use to build more ...

Send us a Text or Voicemail Let’s be honest: even the most playful, passionate OTs/OTAs can hit a wall. Burnout is more than just feeling tired after a long week — it’s a predictable response to specific job demands. In this episode, we unpack what research says actually drives burnout in OT practice — from workload and role ambiguity to the hidden strain of always being “on.” Then we walk through practical, research-based strategies — including job crafting — to help you prevent burnout, buf...

Send us a Text or Voicemail Why can a child complete every step of dressing… but still put the shirt on backward? In this episode of Ideas at Play, we explore a simple, research-backed occupational therapy strategy that improved clothing orientation using one small visual cue (yes — it involves duct tape). We break down why dressing orientation can be so tricky, how this approach compares to other OT and ABA interventions, and how motor learning can support independence. If backward clothes a...

Send us a Text or Voicemail Sensory tools are a staple in pediatric OT—but not all of them are doing what we think they are. In this episode, we take a clear-eyed look at the evidence behind sensory-based interventions, from weighted vests and fidgets to caregiver coaching and environmental modifications. Drawing from a recent systematic review, we discuss what actually supports participation, what shows mixed results, and how to make data-driven decisions without losing sight of day-to...

Send us a Text or Voicemail Folinic acid has been showing up everywhere in conversations about autism—but what does the research actually tell us, and why should occupational therapists pay attention? In this episode of Ideas at Play, we break down a high-quality randomized controlled trial on folinic acid and translate the findings into practical, OT-relevant insights. We unpack the brain-based “why,” highlight what the study found (including changes related to autism characteristics and lan...

Send us a Text or Voicemail Struggling to find practical interventions for kids with ADHD that actually improve executive function and/or mental health? This episode breaks down a Canadian study comparing two 10-minute interventions—exercise and mindfulness meditation—and their immediate effects on inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility. We explain what worked best, why it works (hello, default mode network and prefrontal cortex activation), and how occupational therapists can ...