Curious if OT could help your child's struggles? Download Why Choose OT to find out!
This week I sat down with Tiffany Parsons, a pediatric occupational therapist and homeschooling mom with a deep passion for supporting families outside of traditional school settings. Tiffany shares her unique journey from clinic-based therapy to homeschooling her twin boys, and how that experience inspired her to bridge the gap for homeschool, micro school, and private school communities seeking occupational therapy resources.
We break down what occupational therapy really is, how parents can identify if their child might benefit from OT support, and why movement and developmental milestones—like crawling and rolling are so crucial to a child's learning and emotional wellbeing. We discuss practical ways parents can observe their child's movement to spot potential challenges, creative activities to support development (hint: it's not just about handwriting worksheets!), and friendly, hands-on advice for making therapeutic activities a natural part of everyday life at home.
In this episode you'll hear about:
- Tiffany's background as a pediatric occupational therapist
- Experience in outpatient clinics and decision to homeschool her twin boys
- Recognition of limited OT resources for homeschool, micro school, and private Christian school families
- Initial challenges in offering therapy services to families unaware of OT benefits
- Shift toward educating parents and educators through in-services
- Defining Occupational Therapy and Identifying Needs
- Tiffany's broad definition of "occupation" for children
- Explanation of how OT addresses all areas affecting a child's quality of life: play, academics, self-help skills
- Observing and Understanding Movement in Children
- Tiffany's perspective on observing children's movement as an indicator of nervous system and brain function
- Developmental Milestones and the Link to Functional Challenges
- Importance of achieving developmental milestones in order
- Example symptoms: emotional regulation difficulties, picky eating, sleep issues
- The connection between early movement and later struggles
- The neurological connection between spinal rotation, brain processing, and self-regulation
- Simple assessments (e.g., ask a child to turn while standing, observe ability to cross midline)
- The Critical Role of Crawling
- Relevance of crawling, despite changes in pediatric milestone recommendations
- Developmental foundation offered by crawling: proprioception, bilateral integration, ocular motor skills
- The impact of crawling on hand-eye coordination, depth perception, and learning readiness
- What to do if a child didn't crawl or only crawled briefly
- Creative and functional ways to encourage crawling behaviors at any age
- Practical difficulties: shifting focus between near/far tasks, copying from board to paper
- How underdeveloped crawling or movement can impact visual and physical skills needed for reading and writing
- Tips for parents to frame OT-based activities as playful and family-wide, not "fixes" for deficits
- The importance of making adaptations natural, fun, and group-oriented
- Handwriting Without Handwriting
- Why direct handwriting practice is often less effective than movement and play-based activities
- Vertical surface activities, Play-Doh, and other proximal (core/shoulder) to distal (hand/finger) strengthening
- How developmental readiness and explicit instruction should be balanced
Links and Resources From Today's Show
Connect With Our Guest, Tiffany Parsons
Tiffany is a pastors wife, bonus mom, twin mom, homeschool mom and pediatric occupational therapist. She is a 2014 graduate from West Virginia University. She is passionate about educating others on what occupational therapy is and how it can benefit
