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that shapes every single moment of your child's experience but is so often overlooked: sensory processing. If your child melts down at toothbrushing, covers their ears at certain sounds, seeks out spinning objects, or seems not to notice when they're hungry or hurt, this episode will give you a whole new way to understand what's actually happening. I'm joined by Christine Adintori, occupational therapist and Senior Manager of Clinical Excellence at Cortica, to walk through what the science says about how autistic children take in and make sense of the world.","I walk you through the brain science behind the senses you've heard of and the ones you probably haven't (beyond the familiar five, there are three more, proprioception, vestibular, and interoception, that tell us where our body is in space, whether we're balanced, and what's happening inside us), and more importantly, what that means for how you can support your child every day. We get into why up to 97% of autistic individuals experience sensory differences, how those differences show up at every stage from infancy through adolescence, why sensory processing is now part of the diagnostic criteria for autism, and the single idea I want every parent to hold onto: all behavior is a response to sensory processing. When you ask what your child is experiencing, you get much closer to answering why they're doing what they're doing.","Christine also shares real stories from her work, including a child who couldn't tolerate toothbrushing until they found the right kind of input, and a little girl who went from avoiding the whiteboard entirely to writing with confidence, and what those breakthroughs teach us about seeing the whole child."],"durationMinutes":33,"episode":16,"publishedOn":"2026-06-08T16:00:00.000Z","releaseDate":"June 8, 2026","spotifyLink":"https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/suzanne-goh/episodes/A-Caregivers-Guide-to-Sensory-Processing-and-Autism-Understanding-How-your-Child-Sees-the-World-with-Christine-Adintori-e3k869k","summary":"In this episode, I'm taking you inside something that shapes every single moment of your child's experience but is so often overlooked: sensory processing.","title":"A Caregivers Guide to Sensory Processing and Autism: Understanding How your Child Sees the World with Christine Adintori","topics":["Therapies"],"youtubeLink":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYK4nrMCJzE"},"more":{"nodes":[{"id":"69836c38-8fed-5650-89ea-661591ccf44a","applePodcastLink":"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-the-future-of-autism-care-is-holistic-with/id1852580651?i=1000799447093&uo=4","durationMinutes":23,"episode":22,"releaseDate":"Nov 2, 2026","slug":"why-the-future-of-autism-care-is-holistic-with-savannah-jaska-mt-bc-bcat-part-2","spotifyLink":"https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/suzanne-goh/episodes/Why-The-Future-of-Autism-Care-is-Holistic-with-Savannah-Jaska--MT-BC--BCAT--Part-2-e3r6of3","title":"Why The Future of Autism Care is Holistic with Savannah Jaska, MT-BC, BCAT | Part 2","topics":["Therapies"],"youtubeLink":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajWRuFRot3o"},{"id":"feed6be5-2182-5cd7-9629-cc4579012544","applePodcastLink":"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-the-future-of-autism-care-is-holistic-with/id1852580651?i=1000797109260&uo=4","durationMinutes":27,"episode":21,"releaseDate":"Oct 19, 2026","slug":"why-the-future-of-autism-care-is-holistic-with-savannah-jaska-mt-bc-bcat-part-1","spotifyLink":"https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/suzanne-goh/episodes/Why-The-Future-of-Autism-Care-is-Holistic-with-Savannah-Jaska--MT-BC--BCAT--Part-1-e3qikcr","title":"Why The Future of Autism Care is Holistic with Savannah Jaska, MT-BC, BCAT | Part 1","topics":["Therapies"],"youtubeLink":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFa5TRJbwEY"},{"id":"7b5395ac-6c06-584f-b606-ca95c6e221bb","applePodcastLink":"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/autism-in-the-news/id1852580651?i=1000793279007&uo=4","durationMinutes":15,"episode":20,"releaseDate":"Oct 5, 2026","slug":"autism-in-the-news","spotifyLink":"https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/suzanne-goh/episodes/Autism-in-the-News-e3pl4t8","title":"Autism in the News","topics":["Research & News"],"youtubeLink":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq5EtoX1-iQ"},{"id":"a685616c-ce1d-5ec8-9fac-136769428dfd","applePodcastLink":"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-four-biological-subtypes-of-autism/id1852580651?i=1000777655337&uo=4","durationMinutes":20,"episode":19,"releaseDate":"Jul 21, 2026","slug":"the-four-biological-subtypes-of-autism","spotifyLink":"https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/suzanne-goh/episodes/The-Four-Biological-Subtypes-of-Autism-e3mbac5","title":"The Four Biological Subtypes of Autism","topics":["Medical & Biology"],"youtubeLink":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTiUF1_1P80"},{"id":"1e792a56-4e5c-56dc-8416-0d1eda41a4a8","applePodcastLink":"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-girl-gap-why-autism-is-missed-in-girls/id1852580651?i=1000775670950&uo=4","durationMinutes":19,"episode":18,"releaseDate":"Jul 6, 2026","slug":"the-girl-gap-why-autism-is-missed-in-girls","spotifyLink":"https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/suzanne-goh/episodes/The-Girl-Gap-Why-Autism-Is-Missed-in-Girls-e3lfrt9","title":"The Girl Gap: Why Autism Is Missed in Girls","topics":["Early Signs & Diagnosis"],"youtubeLink":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1NozziRfIU"},{"id":"b29137cb-2743-5ef6-8736-12ca6d885b8b","applePodcastLink":"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-much-aba-is-too-much-how-much-is-too-little-the/id1852580651?i=1000773754510&uo=4","durationMinutes":21,"episode":17,"releaseDate":"Jun 22, 2026","slug":"how-much-aba-is-too-much-how-much-is-too-little-the-truth-about-dosing-aba-for","spotifyLink":"https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/suzanne-goh/episodes/How-Much-ABA-Is-Too-Much--How-Much-Is-Too-Little--The-Truth-About-Dosing-ABA-for-Your-Child-e3ku3kd","title":"How Much ABA Is Too Much? 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Today's conversation is about something that touches every single moment of a child's experience of the world, but is often misunderstood or overlooked, and that is sensory processing. For many years, autism was primarily understood through the lens of social communication and behavior. But as the science has evolved, we've come to understand something much deeper."},{"start":38,"text":"How a child experiences the world through their senses shapes everything how they feel, how they behave, how they learn, and how they connect. In fact, sensory processing differences are now formerly part of the diagnostic criteria for autism, reflecting just how central this is to understanding autism. And here's one of the most important ideas we will explore today. All behavior is a response to sensory processing. When you ask, what is my child experiencing that can get you much closer to answering the question, why is my child doing that?"},{"start":77,"text":"A child behaves in the world based on how they experience the world. So to help us unpack this, I'm joined by someone who brings both deep expertise and a whole child perspective to this topic. Christine Adintori is an occupational therapist and senior manager of clinical excellence at Cortica. She works closely with families and clinicians to translate the science of sensory processing into meaningful, practical support for children. Christine, welcome. I'm so glad you're here. Thank you. I'm so happy to be here with you."},{"start":113,"text":"So to start things off, could you tell our listeners a little about yourself, who you are and why you do what you do? Absolutely. So I’m an occupational therapist. And I've been dedicated to autism care now for just over a decade, including working in clinical research schools, home based early intervention and outpatient clinic settings. And then as for why I do this work, what really drew me to occupational therapy specifically is just how deeply embedded it is in real life. We have immense privilege of sitting with people in their everyday experiences to truly understand them, and then work to transform those experiences from the inside out and at the heart of it."},{"start":158,"text":"This work is about supporting autistic children's agency and developing autonomy and truly seeing them as whole people. That means taking a genuinely strengths based approach, understanding not just where a child needs support, but their unique experience of the world and then building from there. Well, let's start then with the big picture. When we say sensory processing, what are we actually talking about and why has it become such an essential part of understanding autism? For sure. So sensory processing really just refers to the ways in which our brains take in and make sense of the information that's coming in from our different senses."},{"start":198,"text":"So we really rely on this to be able to respond to and interact with the world around us through our body movements, our communication, our learning, and really the full range of human behavior. And the reason why it's so crucial to understanding autism is, for one, it's estimated that up to 97% of autistic individuals experience differences in the ways in which they process sensory input. And then also sensory processing differences are actually appear to be some of the earliest features of autism that develop and that we can see and understand."},{"start":233,"text":"We can typically see this as early as 6 to 10 months of age, even. Most people are familiar with the five senses, but from a neurological and an occupational therapy perspective, there are other senses. So can you walk us through the major sensory systems, including proprioception, vestibular and interoception, and how all of these work together to shape a child's experience? Absolutely. So the five senses that most people are familiar about, we learn about in grade school are going to be the big five. So seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling and touching and these senses are really crucial for helping us receive information from the world around us."},{"start":276,"text":"So not only our surroundings, but the people and the objects that we interact with. So the often lesser known senses are exactly the ones that you mentioned in there, particularly relevant for occupational therapists. And those are proprioception, vestibular and interoception. Now, what's really unique about these is that they primarily provide us with information from our own bodies. So to start with, proprioception is the sense of our body position as it picks up information from our muscles and our joints, and our vestibular sensory system is what makes us aware of balance and of movement, as it picks up information from our inner ear."},{"start":315,"text":"And then interoception is that last one. That's particularly unique because it picks up information from our internal organs, which is not something that most people are aware of that we're consciously aware of. But it's interoception that gives us a sense of being hungry, thirsty and needing to use the restroom. Now, how do these sensory systems work together in real life? Yeah. So what you can see, even just from the sheer number of sensory systems that we have, our nervous systems are constantly receiving sensory input from both our bodies and from the environment around us. So when sensory processing is going smoothly, when it's going as it's designed to, our nervous system is able to filter through all of that incoming information to help us attend to and respond to what's most important in the moment."},{"start":363,"text":"So when I'm talking about this with adults, I do like using this specific example, which is picture that you are sitting in a coffee shop and you're catching up with a friend. So at any point in time, in this moment, you're actually receiving a flood of information to your sensory systems. So sensory processing is going well for you. There's a few things that you're focusing on in the moment, the sound of your friend's voice, and maybe less consciously, your grasp on the coffee cup and the weight of it so you can bring it up to your mouth and take a sip without spilling even the temperature of the coffee before you take a sip."},{"start":398,"text":"And in order to do that, you're actually filtering other information out like the other people that are in the coffee shop that are moving around you. The background hum of the AC and the sensation of the clothing fabric on your skin. Your brain is actually taking care of filtering through this information, often without you even realizing it. It's remarkable, you know, when you think about the complexity of what's happening in the brain in order to create the perception of a cohesive, non-overwhelming, non-overstimulating experience. So yeah. Yeah, so important for, for us to, to recognize because then it helps us understand what a child might be experiencing and then how we can support them with that."},{"start":442,"text":"Now I want to take a moment to actually walk through development. Like I want to think about what sensory processing differences might look like for babies and infants, for toddlers, for young children, for adolescents. And so. So let's start with infancy. What does sensory processing look like for the youngest of young children? Sure. So it is really remarkable because in the first year of life, our sensory systems are just developing so rapidly. So just some examples. I mean, infants are starting to respond to touch, which then helps them develop an overall map of where the different parts of their body are."},{"start":485,"text":"They start over the course of that first year to respond to the sound of voices. They start to recognize familiar words. They start to even produce their own babbles. And then the visual system in particular is one that goes through significant development during this time. And because babies are actually born with very little ability to make sense of what they're seeing. But then by the end of that first year, you could point out a toy in the room, and they will follow your gaze and what you're looking at, and then their coordinate, their movements to what they're trying to reach for or grasp, or by getting the toy."},{"start":520,"text":"And all of these developing senses really do together form a foundation for them, learning and interacting with the environment, using their bodies. If sensory differences are present, then how might those show up in infants and toddlers, especially when communication and some of those early skills are still emerging? So toddlerhood is really fascinating because the time period between 1 and 2 years in particular, is associated with a high rate of increase for those sensory differences that others can start to notice and can start to pick up on in toddlers that later go on to be diagnosed with autism."},{"start":560,"text":"So those differences can really range. They can include seeking out certain types of sensory input, such as staring really intently at lights or spinning objects. It can include not responding to other types of input, for example touch or pain even, as well as having strong negative responses to certain types of input, such as textures or sounds. And those are the differences that we can kind of observe as parents, caregivers and clinicians. And then there are also these research findings with toddlers with autism that are really interesting to look at as well, including one in which they presented toddlers with two different types of images, one of geometric patterns, and another images of people."},{"start":605,"text":"And the toddlers with autism had stronger visual attention to those geometric patterns. And then another study found that autistic toddlers prefer listening to sounds such as traffic noise or other abstract sounds, rather than speech sounds that mimic how a parent might talk to their child. So even though communication is very much still emerging during this period of development, you can see how differences and what your brain is drawn to and paying attention to ends up becoming the basis for learning how to communicate. Now, if we think about those toddlers and as they get a little bit older into school age, then how might sensory processing differences affect learning behavior and social interactions for them?"},{"start":649,"text":"Sure. So in particular, you know, we refer to this age group, typically around 6 to 12 years of age as school age for a reason. And that's because school is one of the most formative environments in a child's life. During this time and during this time period. It's where their first navigating friendships, they're starting to develop more sense of personal responsibility for things like getting ready for school in the morning, doing their homework after school, as well as, of course, you know, they're learning all of the foundational academic topics like reading, writing, math, science."},{"start":686,"text":"And the thing about all of that learning, whether it's related to academics or social life or life skills, is that you are, depending on your sensory processing, to be going smoothly, for you to be able to stay regulated and focused in that environment, essentially to be able to learn and learn well. And so what we see from the research is that there are actually connections between sensory processing differences and lower participation in the classroom, in social events and community activities. And autistic students have reported that things like fluorescent lighting and loud, unpredictable noises and crowded spaces, which are so common in those school environments, make the environment itself a major source of sensory overstimulation, which is one factor really impacting their ability to stay regulated and calm and confident and be able to learn in that setting."},{"start":743,"text":"Now we'll get in a moment, get to all the things that we can do then to help, because I know that is top of mind for so many parents and certainly for us as doctors, as therapists who are wanting to support the children in our care. But I do want to move kind of one step further in child development, which is adolescence. So how do we think about sensory processing differences and the way that that intersects with things like emotion regulation, identity formation and mental health? So, you know, up until this point, we've really talked about the many ways in which sensory processing has an impact on everyday life, but is specific challenge that arises is when those strategies involve what we call camouflaging."},{"start":789,"text":"Now, camouflaging refers to essentially hiding autistic characteristics and adopting specific behaviors in order to fit in with others. But as you said, I really want to make sure that what we're sharing is not just all discouraging, because of course, the other side of this is that there's so much room for the right supports, in particular, focusing now on this adolescent age group and specifically across several of the studies that I've mentioned so far that feature those autistic voices. There are three key factors that emerge as being incredibly supportive. And the first is that that ability to engage with autistic culture and community."},{"start":828,"text":"Second, having access to supportive strategies, especially in environments that might be otherwise dysregulating and overall having their autistic identity and experience be better understood and accepted. I think it's just so important, and I imagine very empowering for for autistic individuals themselves, but also those caregivers and family members who are trying to support them, which is that masking and camouflaging can be a response to sensory differences. In fact, it often is."},{"start":864,"text":"And so it's a it's a coping mechanism. It's a skill. And yet it can have long term consequences like anxiety stress, depression. And so if we can better understand sensory processing, we have the potential to almost kind of get more to the to the root cause of some of these downstream consequences. There's a kind of a foundational principle as we think about sensory processing, which is sometimes called over responsivity under responsivity."},{"start":903,"text":"I've heard it referred to, of course, as hypersensitivity or hyposensitivity. So can you talk a little bit about what what these terms mean. And then what these might look like across the different senses like sound touch or how they might affect even movement patterns. So sensory over and under responsivity. These two presentations occur when the nervous system is not modulating that input the way it is designed to. So specifically over responsivity occurs when it takes very little input for someone to prompt a response."},{"start":941,"text":"So what this can look like in real life is a child that becomes extremely upset in response to something like the tags on their clothing or background noises that others may tune out. And then under responsivity, on the other hand, occurs when someone requires a particularly high amount of input before they're able to register it. And so in real life, this is the child that seems to have no sense of fear when it comes to movement. In particular, you might see them jumping, climbing, crashing, spinning constantly, which also means they might get injured more frequently and they just need a higher level of movement maybe than other kids their age to be able to stay regulated."},{"start":985,"text":"Well, this leads us into thinking about really what I think is a very, very important concept, which is that some of the most common behaviors we see in autistic children are often sensory driven, but then misinterpreted and misunderstood as quote unquote behavior problems. So what are some of these common behaviors and how should we be interpreting them? Sure. So one example in particular that I like to work with parents to understand is the difference between a tantrum and a meltdown."},{"start":1026,"text":"So a tantrum is usually about wanting something specific, for example, access to a toy that you're not being given in the moment. Parents are usually very familiar with it, with what a tantrum looks like, and the appropriate response in this case may be holding firm, remaining consistent, having clear boundaries. But then a meltdown, on the other hand, can be triggered by sensory overload. So in this case, the best response would be to adjust the environment to reduce what it is that's overwhelming them in that moment. Now, what's challenging about this, especially from the parent perspective, is that they can look very similar."},{"start":1065,"text":"They can both look like behavioral problems. My child is just having tantrum after tantrum. But the problem is that the root cause is different. So the ways in which we respond to them has to also be different. And so I share this with parents, especially when they share that they feel like they've tried everything. They're getting reports from school about their child's behaviors, and they tried responding to them in a way that you typically respond to tantrums and it's just not working. They become more and more dysregulated, and it might be because there's a root cause there that's related to sensory processing differences that is going under supported."},{"start":1102,"text":"Now, if we shift gears a little bit and think about what we can do, like what are you've touched on this a little bit already, but I want to go deep into what professionals and parents can do to help. And occupational therapy is one of the major tools we have that can be very, very effective. Still today. I find, though, that a lot of parents think about occupational therapy in a narrow way as just working on, for example, fine motor skills, something like handwriting. So can you expand on the full scope of what OT addresses, especially for autism?"},{"start":1140,"text":"One of my favorite topics. So where people tend to get tripped up in my experience with understanding occupational therapy is actually in our title, right? It's that word occupation. But in OT, occupation really just refers to the activities that make up our days. So this includes everything from getting ready in the morning, going to school or work, running errands in the community, and for children in particular. Their primary occupations include play and learning new skills. And so one of the things we understand is that learning happens best when we're in a regulated state."},{"start":1177,"text":"We attend better, we do a better job of retaining the information that we're learning. On the other hand, if we are stressed and dysregulated, which can happen with sensory processing differences in certain environments or certain situations, our brains then shift into fight or flight mode, and we're actually no longer able to access the parts of our brain responsible for learning and complex problem solving. Now, why it's not always enough for how it's how it's related to the fine motor skills is that the development of fine motor skills is also, as well as everything else, highly dependent on effective sensory processing."},{"start":1214,"text":"So just to use another example that might come up for a child in everyday life, take the example of the action of copying a sentence from a whiteboard onto a piece of paper in front of you. So to do so effectively and accurately, there are few things happening in the moment. Your body senses are supporting you, is staying upright and seated in your chair. Your vestibular system is working to keep your eyes focused. As you're switching your gaze from looking up at the board and down to the paper in front of you. Your proprioceptive system is helping you maintain your grasp on that pencil, and also control how hard or how lightly you’re gripping and pressing down on it."},{"start":1254,"text":"Your visual system is helping you filter out distractors in your environment, so that you can focus on the words that you're copying. And along with all of this, any difference in the way that my brain is processing all of the sensory input is going to affect my ability to participate and be successful at this fine motor activity. And so when you break it down that way, when we see a child who does not carry through with what's been asked, it makes us realize that, in fact, usually it's not a matter of noncompliance. It's not a matter of not wanting to do it."},{"start":1292,"text":"Children carry through with activities that they feel equipped and capable of doing, and sometimes when they're not able to, because of any of the reasons you just mentioned, they might try to escape, right? They might try to avoid or resist. And so it's just the sensory processing lens helps bring perspective that's just incredibly, incredibly valuable when we're trying to help children to to learn new skills, to do things that are hard for them to meet, you know, the next just right challenge for them."},{"start":1328,"text":"Yeah. Let's talk a little bit about another hugely important area for so many families supporting their child. And that is feeding. So feeding is a huge concern for a lot of families. How does center processing influence feeding and what makes feeding therapy for autistic children different? How does have to be modified so that it's effective. So they think about feeding. Is that at its heart it's an incredibly sensory rich experience. So if you were to reflect on some of the factors that make a mealtime experience particularly enjoyable for you, this may depend on things like the flavors and the textures of the food, the smell of the food as it's cooking in your kitchen, or even as it's being brought to your table at a restaurant."},{"start":1379,"text":"The visual presentation, among so many other things. And not only that, but actually the act of eating involves some of the most complex motor skills that are required of us going all the way back to preparing the food, being able to cut it or scoop it, bring it to your mouth. Not to mention the complexity of the oral motor skills that are required to be able to chew and swallow the food. All of these actions require a lot from our sensory systems for us to be able to do this well. So feeding therapy for autistic children takes all of these factors into consideration."},{"start":1416,"text":"Specifically, the child's unique sensory needs, their sensory preferences, the ways in which they process sensory input in order to build skills toward what really the goal of feeding therapy is for them, which is incorporating a wide variety of nutrient rich foods into their diet. Being able to eat those foods safely, as well as being able to participate in mealtime as a whole. I like to tell parents to think about what it might be like for them to eat something that they really don't like, that doesn't look appealing to them, doesn't smell appealing, doesn't taste appealing, and and to kind of in that way, put yourself in the shoes of of your child and to recognize how much that is actually going on for them, but also to know that there are a lot of great ways that we can support children, right?"},{"start":1470,"text":"To be able to feed in well and have a diverse range of nutrient rich foods in their diet. And so there's there's reason to be to be very, very hopeful. Now, if we're thinking about kind of the core or the most important, most effective approaches or strategies that families should know about, where would you begin? Absolutely. So the therapy approach that is best supported by research for addressing sensory processing differences is referred to as ayres sensory integration."},{"start":1510,"text":"And for families, there are a few key things that you can look for to understand. If therapy is using this approach well and addressing what it really needs to. So where I would start is looking at the goals of therapy, and the goals should really not be to erase a child's unique ways of processing sensory input. Oftentimes there's actually areas that give them their strengths. This is what makes them unique and shapes their experience of the world. But the goals should be to improve their experience of the every day. It should equip them with skills. It should build on what they're already capable of, so that they're able to do what they want to and need to do."},{"start":1549,"text":"Throughout the day and then building from that, the therapist should understand the child's unique sensory profile. And what we mean by that is just all of the ways in which their sensory preferences and the ways they process input, support them and what you need to know about them. And so, for example, do they learn best through visual supports or when they're going into an activity that is going to be challenging for them. What supports their regulation? Do they respond well to deep pressure input like squeezes or something more active like heavy work activities."},{"start":1584,"text":"And then from there, the therapist should be designing activities to include specific types of sensory input in a way that is very intentional and it's tailored to the needs of the child. The other thing I would think about is that the therapist should always be facilitating what we call the just right challenge, which is they're designing activities that are neither too easy nor too difficult for the child. They should really challenge them just enough so that they're expanding their skills and they're able to be successful, but not just continuously kind of hitting this point of frustration because it's so challenging."},{"start":1620,"text":"And then the last thing I would look for is that the therapist is incorporating what a child is naturally motivated to do, which is play. Can you give a few examples of what real progress can look like. Absolutely. So one example that comes to mind is from a family that I worked with, and we worked on this child's toothbrushing skills. So for this child in particular he was over responsive to touch. So we've talked about you know brushing his teeth just made him feel really fearful. It triggered that fight or flight response for him."},{"start":1657,"text":"It was an intensely tactile experience happening inside his mouth. And so in therapy, there are a few things that we did to support him with this. And we incorporated heavy work or active proprioceptive input before doing any skills around toothbrushing. So like wheelbarrow walks, carrying pushing weighted items, which really supported his regulation before going into something that was a little bit more sensitive, a little bit more challenging. And then we also worked on building a predictable toothbrush routine for him, and that just really helped him know what to expect going into it. And it helped the family know how to shape the routine in a way that best supported him."},{"start":1696,"text":"And then another thing that we did is we switched to a vibrating toothbrush, which actually made a real difference for this child because that vibration was a much more tolerable form of input for him. And then another child that comes to mind is actually the example I call to earlier, which is with copying from the whiteboard. So this was something that she really was experiencing challenges with in school. And as you said, it was something that she just really withdrew from as a task. That was something she avoided because it was so hard for her. And so in therapy, what we did is we targeted her vestibular and her visual system through movement challenges."},{"start":1736,"text":"So activities that looked like swinging in a Superman pose while picking up and throwing toys into a target. And what these challenges did through play was they supported her control of her eye movements. What's needed, as we mentioned earlier, to shift your gaze back and forth between the board and the paper, we also incorporated a couple additional supports making sure information in our classroom was being delivered both visually and verbally to support her overall attention. And then we also switched to a weighted pencil that just provided that extra sensory feedback to help her right with more control."},{"start":1771,"text":"And so again, took time and effort. Lots of practice. But eventually that effort really paid off to make a task that once felt really impossible for her to feel much more successful. As you describing that, it makes me think, well, it could be hard for a parent to see how swinging in a Superman pose is going to help their child be more successful in the classroom with, you know, attending to the the board and writing. But once you understand the nervous system, all of these things make sense."},{"start":1808,"text":"So yeah. Well, at Cortica, on our team, occupational therapy is part of a larger integrated care model. Can you describe a little bit about what OT looks like within that sort of holistic whole child approach, and why integration with other therapy types matters so much for sure. So at cortical what's really special is that OT it doesn't exist in a silo. It's part of what is truly a transdisciplinary approach. And when we say that, what that means is that every member of a child care team has a deeper understanding of one another, is areas of expertise."},{"start":1851,"text":"So on a team that I'm working with, the behavior analysts may be observing a child's behavior, but they're doing it in a way in which they're aware of how to interpret it through that sensory processing lens. And when a speech and language pathologist on my team is working on communication, they're thinking about how that child sensory strengths can support the way that they communicate. And so through those examples, you can see that kind of true integration just changes everything about the quality of the care that a child receives. And then taking a step further, I do want to think about just the experience of that child."},{"start":1889,"text":"And we know that autistic children can spend up to 30% of their waking hours with their care team. And with that being the case, these therapists, they're not just therapists. They're actually a genuine part of that child's community, their support system. And what that means is that when we see a child as a whole person, their strengths and all of the areas in which they're so incredibly unique, their community sees them that way, too. And so thinking back about the research that we've been discussing and specifically that which comes from autistic voices, they told us throughout this conversation, time and time again, that feeling understood and accepted has a direct impact on identity, self-esteem and well-being."},{"start":1936,"text":"And that is what a whole child model makes possible. I couldn't agree more. So thank you. Thank you so much, Christine, for sharing all of your expertise, your perspective with us today. And as we wrap up, I just want to thank everyone who's listening. Thank, thank you for being here. And what I really hope is that from today's conversation, you can take with you a deeper understanding of how your child behaves in the world and that it's a reflection of their perception and their experience of the world. And there is so much we can do to help strengthen and integrate their sensory perception, to make life more comfortable, more peaceful, more enjoyable, and more meaningful."},{"start":1979,"text":"I'm Dr. Suzanne Goh, and this has been the Magnificent Minds podcast. Thank you for being here today."}]}},
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