OTS 211: Designing Proactive Sensory-Motor Breaks Across All Ability Levels
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Welcome to the show notes for Episode 211 of the OT Schoolhouse Podcast.
Proactive sensory breaks can make all the difference for students — but only when they're built into the school day before dysregulation starts, not after. In this episode, Denise Campbell, MS, OTR/L, and Terri Dinkelaker, PT, DPT, co-creators of Skillz 2 Thrive, join Jayson to talk about how school-based OT and PT teams can design simple, proactive sensory-motor routines that teachers, aides, and students can realistically use every day.
Denise and Terri walk through their stoplight break system — a visual, structured approach using red (movement), yellow (heavy work), and green (calming) activities — and explain how it can be individualized for students across ability levels without requiring separate plans for everyone. They also share how QR-code video modeling, classroom visuals, and collaborative team training have helped reduce power struggles, improve staff follow-through, and even lower office referrals in their buildings.
Whether you're working within an MTSS framework, stretched thin on time and materials, or just trying to get your staff on the same page, this episode is packed with low-prep, practical strategies you can start using right away. Hit play to learn how to move from reactive to proactive with your sensory-motor supports.
Listen now to learn the following objectives:
Learners will identify how to use visual supports and video modeling — including QR codes, visual choice boards, and step-by-step staff-facing visuals — to support consistent, independent implementation of sensory-motor breaks by aides, teachers, and substitutes without requiring therapist presence.
Learners will identify why building sensory-motor breaks into predictable daily schedules (before dysregulation occurs) is more effective than responding only after a student reaches dysregulation, using the "cup overflowing" analogy and the concept of practicing breaks as an already-taught skill.
Learners will classify sensory-motor break supports within an MTSS framework by identifying which strategies belong at the whole-class (Tier 1), small-group (Tier 2), and individualized/IEP levels of support, and explaining how OT and PT roles differ and overlap at each tier.
Guest Bio
Terri Dinkelaker, DPT earned her BS in Physical Therapy from St. Louis University in 1993 and her transitional DPT from the University of South Dakota in 2018. She has 33 years of experience in acute care, rehab, pediatrics, home care, outpatient services, and school-based therapy. For the past 17 years, Terri has specialized as a school-based PT working with students ages 3 years to 22 years old with diagnoses including Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrome, and Developmental Delays. She is experienced in adaptive equipment, visual supports, sensory-motor strategies, staff training, and collaborative educational supports, and has been recognized as an A-List Therapist by MCESC.
Denise A. Campbell, MS, OTR/L, has practiced school-based occupational therapy for 20 years, serving students ages 3-22 with diverse abilities and diagnoses, including autism, cerebral palsy, developmental delays, Down syndrome, learning disabilities, and complex medical needs. She specializes in matching activities to student ability levels and using visual supports and communication systems to promote success. Denise has supervised OT fieldwork and capstone students, developed schoolwide motor and sensory initiatives, and collaborated with multidisciplinary teams to create practical strategies that support student participation, independence, and success across educational environments.
Quotes
"You don't need all this huge crazy equipment for a sensory space to work. Most gym teachers have scooter boards — and there's always a Buy Nothing group."
— Denise Campbell, MS, OTR/L,
"It's not about taking a break. The staff were like, 'these breaks don't work.' And I'm like, 'well, you just let them jump on a therapy ball in a very unsafe way.'"
— Denise Campbell,MS, OTR/L,
"Just build with one teacher, one classroom. They're gonna see what you're doing, see the positives, and it just kind of feeds into going into more."
— Terri Dinkelaker, PT, DPT
"I love that it's proactive as opposed to only a student with an IEP who's had a sensory profile done being allowed to go through it. The more we can do up front, the better."
— Jayson Davies, M.A., OTR/L
Resources
Episode Transcript
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Jayson Davies
Hello and welcome back to the OT School Health Podcast. I am your host Jayson Davies, and today I am joined by two incredible school-based therapists who have been working side by side for nearly a decade: occupational therapist Denise Campbell and physical therapist Terri Dinkelaker. Together, Denise and Terri bring a unique OT and PT lens to one of the most talked about topics in school-based practice, especially within the occupational therapy world, sensory breaks. And part of the reason we're talking to Denise and Terri is because they share a common belief, as myself, that sensory breaks should be proactively planned, not just reactionary. So today we're talking about proactive sensory motor routines that you can build right into the school day, and that are easy for teachers and even the teachers' assistants to carry out for the students across all different ability levels. Denise and Terri are also the co-creators of Skills to Thrive, where they help to develop low prep practical resources for school-based therapists, and in this episode, they're going to walk us through their stoplight break system, how they use video modeling and visual supports to get real staff carryover, and how to make all of this work even when your time, your materials, and your budgets are limited. If you've been telling yourself that you need to be more proactive about supporting sensory needs and are looking for a structured way to do that. Stay tuned for this one.
Amazing Narrator
Hello and welcome to the OT Schoolhouse Podcast, your source for school-based occupational therapy tips, interviews, and professional development. Now, to get the conversation started, here is your host, Jayson Davies. Class is officially in session.
Jayson Davies
Denise and Terri, welcome to the OT Schoolhouse Podcast. It is great to have you here. Terri, how are you doing today?
Terri Dinkelaker
I'm doing great. Thank you for having us.
Jayson Davies
Fantastic. And Denise, how about yourself?
Denise Campbell
Yeah, I'm doing great. Also, we're happy to be here.
Jayson Davies
Yeah, and the two of you are joining me from the wonderful state of Ohio. Go Buckeyes! But sorry, I shouldn't say that. I should say fight on. But anyways, the Buckeye state, and yeah, we're excited to talk to you. The two of you have been in school-based OT or sorry, school-based world for a long time, and now you two are partnering up together to to do some really cool things. So the first question I want to kind of bring up is that OTPT collaboration here a little bit, and how you two have kind of got to where you are. Like, when did you start collaborating, and how did that develop?
Terri Dinkelaker
I would say that we started collaborating. I mean, I've been in this district probably for the last 10 years, and Denise and I kind of she's been there the whole time, and we started just kind of getting our groove on and just kind of realizing that we were both doing some cool things, and started just kind of thinking, "Oh yeah, we are doing good stuff. We need to we need to be doing stuff together. And we started doing more co treats and collaboration with the teachers, and realized that you know, yes, we were making we were making progress. We were seeing some amazing things. The teachers were starting to to kind of see. Oh gosh, these guys are doing some good stuff. So
Jayson Davies
yeah,
Terri Dinkelaker
that kind of then started our our pro our not our process, but kind of our just the road to kind of where we are now, I guess I should say, and it's been interesting these last 10 years. So, but all worth it. So, we've we've had you know definitely some of those moments where we're like, oh, that didn't go as planned, you know, and during those sessions. And but for the most part, you know, we've then learned from those those experiences and have grown as therapists, and I think as people too.
Jayson Davies
Yeah, yeah. And Denise, how do you how have the two of you have you had to manage the whole teachers not quite understanding the difference in role between OT and PT? Has that come up at all?
Denise Campbell
Yeah, it has, and I will say Terry and I I think work well together just in that we communicate. So even if a teacher were to come up to me and start talking about their walker or their wheelchair or whatever, like I'm happy to listen, but I make sure to reiterate back like let me talk with Terry the physical therapist, and then we'll kind of get back to you on that. So, you know, I feel like we collaborate together in our worlds, but I try not to step on, you know, her direct toes, and she tries not to step on my direct toes as well. I would say so. That works well for
Jayson Davies
us. Yeah, and then Terry, I guess a follow up kind of to this. We're going to be talking a lot about sensory today, and I think when we think about sensory, we typically think OT. But obviously, you and Denise are working together on the skills to thrive, and you've done a lot of presentations together and are putting resources together a little bit around sensory. So I kind of want to ask you, kind of, when did you? I mean, was it Denise kind of bringing sensory into your life. Did you already know about sensory, and and how has that kind of become part of your PT?
Terri Dinkelaker
Actually, Denise and I were kind of talking about this yesterday, and I said, you know, PTs don't typically do a ton of sensory. I mean, we do, but just that's not really our area. And I kind of like, girl. You lead me on this because you definitely are the expert. You know, this is your territory, and I just want to make sure that you know we're both giving. You know, I'm not stepping on your toes as well. So I would say though, I've you know I worked at Cincinnati Children's, and you know I've had some you know, some underlying you know knowledge and things as far as that the sensory and things like that, and then being in the schools. But I would say that Denise and I kind of working together has helped me kind of become more familiar and bring it more into practice. I think you know using the stoplight system that we'll kind of go through here later as part of our brake system that we use really helps kind of key in some of those PT areas like transition items, the bikes, you know, different things, seating that kind of thing that I think is you know a PT area, but also is an OT area too. So I think Denise and I, like she said, she'll definitely say, "Hey, that is more Terry's area, and then I will be like, "Oh, that's definitely Denise's area. So I think we do a good job of knowing where our boundaries are, and we don't cross that line. So you know, but we also work you know in a in a place that allows us to bounce ideas off of other therapists and things like that. So we I think we have that pretty good relationship amongst everybody, but we definitely Denise and I do for sure. So
Jayson Davies
yeah, that's good. I mean, collaborate communication is an important part of collaboration. So the more you communicate, the better. And hopefully, if you find someone that's a really good partner that you communicate with really well, makes it all that much better. So yeah.
Denise Campbell
And just to add to that, if that's okay, Jayson, I know sometimes you know we'll talk a little bit in lots of our stuff about different like levels of students. So I feel like sometimes those level, like one students, you know, have lower cognitive abilities and have lots of sensory issues. Often communication, you know, is a struggle for them. So those end up being, I feel like, those kids that we collaborate and co-treat on more often than kids that maybe you know are walkers or talkers or things like that. And honestly, when I co-treat with Terry, I end up giving more sensory experiences to the kids because if I see them by myself, I sometimes have them just sitting sedentary the whole time, just focusing on just their hands. You know what I mean? Whereas Terry and I, you know, we do a structured work bin system, but most often it's you know here, you know, jump across with Terry or move across with Terry, and then do an activity, and then jump or move back, and then you know, kind of come back. So, and I know if Terry's ever missing for a student, I'm always like, how do you see some of these kiddos that are? I mean, because there's no boundaries. You're just in a room. There's always things to touch and move. And you know, if you just sit a kiddo down. They're you know they practice sitting in school, and so they often it's almost easier to get them to do their you know move with their hands. So when they have the option to move around, you know yeah. But we've seen some really great growth with kids, so it's also a good
Jayson Davies
Yeah yeah. We we forget sometimes how much how much sensory input can come from a lot of the stuff that Terry as a PT might do with kids, right? There's a lot of vestibular, a lot of proprioception going on, maybe even some tactile stuff if you're crawling around or whatnot. So, yeah, sensory is kind of embedded into everything. We can't can't take it out. Like it's it's there. It's all around us all the time. So, yeah. All right. Well, speaking of sensory, we wanted to talk a lot today about different types of breaks, sensory breaks, and also kind of get out of the idea that sensory breaks always have to come from a reactive nature. And so, I think I kind of wanted to start this off a little bit with kind of defining what it means to have a proactive sensory motor routine or sensory motor break, and yeah, just start there a little bit. Start talking about these proactive measures as opposed to more of a reactive. So I don't know, Denise, if you want to take this one, what do you mean when you're talking about a proactive sensory motor routine?
Denise Campbell
Sure, you know pro. Active, we try to just build it into a student's daily routine, and you know, maybe even before, say, a behavior is occurring, we've often used the analogy of like a cup, you know, overflowing with sensory stuff. So you know, I mean, if you take a break, you're kind of lowering the liquid in the cup, and if you don't take a break, then you know, at one point, it may kind of spill over, and often you know I would find people saying, "Well, they looked fine. It didn't look like they needed a break. And I'm like, "Okay, but it could be that they were like at the brim of the cup, so they hadn't exploded yet, you know. But if you would have given them a break, could they then have maintained for longer? So I know, especially with our students who you know have lower cognitive things or lower communication. We try to just build it into their daily life, and thankfully, we work with a team of teachers that understand that, and so it's a part in their day. And it's not like my responsibility as the OT to just do the breaks for someone. It's kind of throughout their school day and those kinds of things. So, yeah, but proactively, you know, just I think sometimes people only introduce, you know, calming things or breaks when students are already, you know, in the red or they're already upset, which isn't a great time to take in new information. So our perspective is always, you know, if you can practice these breaks ahead of time, then if someone's upset, you're kind of reaching an already taught skill of using this break or having this break versus you know introducing a new concept when they're not in a place where they can take that information in.
Jayson Davies
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And within your the the two of you, you work in the same school districts and same schools and whatnot. Does this often look like something in the classroom, or is it something where the student is walking around campus, going to another room, or a lot of these proactive strategies you're trying to build them right into into the school school day and in class?
Terri Dinkelaker
I think that yeah, yeah. I'll go ahead and take that. I think that it kind of depends. I think that it depends on the availability of staff. I think it depends on maybe which classroom they're in, whether it's in a kindergarten classroom and you have a kiddo that they're you know they've scheduled these proactive breaks throughout the day. They may have then an aide being able to take them down to the sensory room, or may not. So then they may do the break in the classroom, same way within our multiple disabilities classrooms. Again, they do have a lot of breaks areas within the classroom that they're able to do them there. But there are times that they also then have them out of the classroom and doing breaks too, more so in the motor room. But we do have in one of our buildings an area up in the front of the building where we have a motor path, and that is where some of the kids will go as well. So it just it kind of depends. I think a lot on even you know we try to build it in a lot of their proactive breaks during natural transitions. So we will have you know sometimes the whole class going up and doing like the break up in the the front of the the school building part of that motor routine, so the whole class is doing it. So it just kind of depends, you know. Again, where it is in their schedule, because we like to build these into their daily schedule, and then also I think a lot depends, like I said, on the availability of additional staff to be able to take them for breaks. So.
Jayson Davies
Yeah.
Terri Dinkelaker
I think that is kind of depends just where the location of the break is.
Jayson Davies
Yeah, and did the two of you collaborate together on the the motor, not the sensory room, but the motor activity at the front of the building?
Denise Campbell
Yeah, we both did the motor path, and I think sometimes as school therapists, we just think you have to like theme everything every month or every quarter, and all of this stuff, but yeah, I I know I didn't have time for that for sure. So we actually have the same motor path. There's like a little tiny part at the end where you stomp. So like we might change that. Like last year they had Toy Story, so they had alien stomps, you know, or something like that. So there's a little part because we have to pull up things off the floor every year and re-put it down, so we can change that. But for the most part, we included they have some carpets, so we use like sit spots that are Velcro spots, and we have some stuff on the wall for wall pushes. There's balancing, there's crab walks, there's a scooter. So I think we tried to make it so there was enough activities that kids could kind of get all their energy out, and then it ends with like a heavy work kind of breathing area. But it's been very successful, man. This might be year five. I think we're going into, and initially we were like, "Oh yeah, we'll change it all here and there, and then we were like, "Now this seems good. You know, it's. Seems like it's working, and the kids, you know, there's a couple different options. Like there's a crossing midline area where they have a red and blue tape, and they have to, you know, cross their hands over, or we call it I call it a heartbeat sensor. It's just a tape line that kids have to kind of follow. So we have a couple variations for older or younger kids, but it's been a great success.
Jayson Davies
Did you have to convince anyone to let you do that, or were people pretty open to it, or how was that? No, I think we very suggest
Terri Dinkelaker
I think we just talked to our principal, and I think that first year we were it was kind of a couple of the MD teachers, maybe one of the ISSs or two ISs, maybe one of the kindergarten teachers, and then Denise and I. I think we all collaborated, but I do think that we, yeah, he he didn't. He's very supportive of us and the things that we are doing.
Jayson Davies
Awesome
Denise Campbell
and I know there are often kids that have a lot of behaviors in the building as well, and so I think the whole building approach, kind of starting with the principal and staff and teachers, is that you know if we can try to add these proactive breaks in ahead of time, then that will reduce office referrals. That will reduce you know lots of things. So yeah, I know when we do, we did like the motor path, and then we also have a motor room with the stoplight system that I'm sure we'll explain here in a bit. And we did education for all the staff in the building, so that that way everybody can kind of take ownership of that and make sure that everyone's doing it the correct way to kind of help more students. Because Terry and I are in the building every day, all the time. So in a perfect world, I would love to take every kid, you know, for a break, but nobody wants to pay for that. So we're kind of dividing and conquering, you know. And it's worked really well with with our building. And Terry, you're in other buildings as well. I feel like you've kind of shared some of that. Have you found that to be very positive for other places, or I would say that I I feel like we started in one of our buildings and then we kind of gradually have kind of done the other buildings as well. And I do feel like they use the motor room for sure, and I feel like they use some of their kind of we don't have the same setup in the front of the buildings, but we do have the setup in kind of that motor room, very similar to what we have in our other building with the stoplight system, and it is used tremendously. And I feel like, again, we have gone through and done some education and things prior on how to use the equipment, and as far as what's the the stoplight system and what's appropriate to use and when and things like that, which we'll talk about in a little bit. But yeah, no, it's gone well as well.
Jayson Davies
Perfect. Well, you know what? Why don't we go ahead and take our break, and when we come back, we can actually start to dive into that stoplight method. So we'll be right back. All right. Before we do dive into the stoplight method, I do want to actually get a little bit of a picture of what those rooms look like that you've mentioned. First and foremost, I guess would you call this a quote unquote sensory integration room, or is it a sensory room in the sense that there are different senses to be explored as opposed to maybe like an SI clinic?
Denise Campbell
I would say maybe Terri, correct me if I'm wrong. It's I think this space is more of like a motor room almost. We refer to it. I know. At one point, we had a very straight up sort of sensory room. Like a teacher wrote a grant, and it had you know six or eight little pods, and in every pod there was something to sit on, something to look at, something to touch. More of like a calm down, refocus sort of a room. Okay. I will say the way that our school is set up, it's like a U, and so of course this was on the far hallway from where these students were. And so there were years where the teachers would use it, or they would come in from recess. But I think they have found that having a staff member out of the room just doesn't work very well. So that room kind of disintegrated, and they moved some of those things just into their classroom, so now all the teachers in like MD and regular ed, they all have like a calm down space in their room. So that way, if there's a student that needs just headphones or quiet time or you know something like that, they have that in the room. So I feel like the area where we have Terry does her treatment in there on days she's there, and then, but yeah, I feel like it's more of a motor room. Would you?
Terri Dinkelaker
I would agree. I mean, we have the trampoline, which is you know the the scooters. We have bikes in there, and then we also have you know the steamroller. We have the weighted books. So yeah, but I do. My sessions in there, and I would say that's the same in the rest of our buildings too. It's kind of a multi-purpose room, and some of my buildings where the aides are in there as well too. Sometimes, so you know, space is limited, numbers are getting higher, and just so it's not a true sensory room, I would say, but we have it's a sensory motor room, you know. There are different sensory items and activities that we have, yeah,
Jayson Davies
Yeah. And as we mentioned a little bit ago, I mean, a lot of gross motor stuff is inherently sensory.
Terri Dinkelaker
Exactly sensory things.
Jayson Davies
So yeah, okay. And one more thing before we we dive into the the stoplight model. You obviously mentioned Terry that you use it also as your treatment room, but we kind of, I believe, alluded to that it's also used by students with either like an aide or a teacher at times. Is that accurate, or is it primarily you're only in this room if you're with Denise or Terri?
Terri Dinkelaker
No, the aide comes in. We've trained them. They've gone through the yeah, and we've they they're in there with the with the aides or the teacher, and I'm usually in there doing a treatment session too because these are more of those proactive breaks. They could be an in the moment break, and I'm then maybe then I go and find a different area to treat in because they need they need the door closed. They need you know they need the headphones on. They need that quiet area. So then I'm kind of out, but that's fine. I usually take my stuff for the kiddo, and we're flexible. Yeah. So.
Jayson Davies
Yeah.
Terri Dinkelaker
Yeah. Then I go both Denise.
Jayson Davies
Take over her space, yeah. When when others are using it, are they using it individually with a student? Are they using it in a small group or even whole class at times? Has that been kind of either permission? Never a whole class. Okay.
Denise Campbell
Never a whole class, but definitely I've had in a couple of my other buildings. I've had an aide bring a few students in there and go through our motor path, our motor sequence, and not necessarily do the stoplight, but go through our, like I said, our motor path, how we have it set up. So, which you know they end you know they go through the jumping and all the different things and then either the steamroller they do their core exercises and and with some deep breathing and things like that so there have been a few three or four kids that they'll bring through and go through that that system the building that Denise and I share I don't believe that we have that many that come through there, but I know in the front of the building there is the whole there are whole classes that will go through that sequence for sure, but not in in that my my area at that building.
Jayson Davies
Gotcha. Okay. Well, I'll stop kicking the can down. Let's talk about the stoplight model, and I believe it's Denise. You wanted to kind of talk about this one and just give us a quick overview, and then we can start to dive in a little bit more in depth.
Denise Campbell
Yeah, and it's kind of been a process, and I can't certainly take all the credit for it because I have two, you know, multiple disabilities teachers, Taylor and Riley, that are wonderful. So I think it actually kind of started in Taylor's class, and she was like, you know, I have this time, and we need everyone to just be kind of doing something, and so we kind of designed just activities for the students to do in an order, and then Riley is like the visual queen, and she makes everything look pretty and all the things. So she made it just look just wonderful. So, but for the stoplight, so we do start with you know like there's red activities, and usually those are activities that you know will you know increase your heart rate, maybe jumping on a trampoline, something where you get your energy out. The yellow activities are a little bit more focused on you know heavy work things or proprioception activities, and then green activities you know might be going through the steamroller or breathing or dots and squeezies, something that is you know a very calming activity. And then the nice part is is you know as a therapist, I can go through and kind of do those forced choices to be like, you know, this is what I want for the red activities. This is what I want for yellow and green. So we kind of have a big version in the motor room that has, you know, activities that are up there. And again, we're not going to put something up there we don't have. So you know, we have a trampoline, we have a scooter board. Terry's brought in a lot of adaptive Amtrikes, so we have those, and then depending on the student. So you know, if you had kind of a level one student that you know had lower cognition and things like that, I may come through and say, okay, this is Johnny's break. I want him to do this first, and this second, and this third, and then Riley created a visual, so you just take it from the to do part. And put it to the finish, so we have that visual instruction for the student, but also for the staff. You know, so if that ways there's you know a substitute for the day or someone that's filling in, they know how to do it as well. And then for some students, we have a choice of like two activities in each of the colors, and they can choose which color they want to do. And again, on our end, we've already chosen which ones would be a good suggestion for the colors, so they can choose whichever color they want as long as they do it in the correct order. And then, yeah, so the kid has a you know the student has a little bit of a forced choice, but they kind of have some ownership over it, and it's easy for the staff to follow as well.
Jayson Davies
Do you? I have a few questions, and I'll push you a little bit further on this. So, let's just start with red, right, and an individual child, because you noted that an aide might bring a student into into use this, right? So, are the choices that the student has from Red, or that the aide has from Red, are those individualized to the student, or are they kind of just these are a few different things that you can do with Red? Use any of those.
Denise Campbell
So it's kind of the latter in the motor room, like. And again, I feel like because it's those proactive kind of breaks for students, it ends up being that you know we just want them kind of to get in a place where they're calming. No, we have had students before, and my the one teacher is so wonderful. She literally has a stoplight for every kid, so we'll kind of sit down and be like, okay, I've tried this for so and so. Let's do this for red for them. So in her class, it is more individualized. Yeah. Or if I had like a regular education student, I might make it. There's like a folder version. Of course, she has like three sizes of versions. Riley made them all. So I might make a folder and say these are the choices for this kid. So it can kind of be twofold, but oftentimes, you know, we have kids coming in there that aren't on our caseload, and they're just students who are just in the building, and they struggle with regulation. They struggle with focus, and so this is just that proactive measure to give them something to do. In the past, I know we had aides who are very sweet and nice, and they were taking kids for breaks, but we found either the breaks they were taking. They just let the kids do whatever, you know. Like poor Terry probably had to yell at a couple people about use of a scooter board or you know use of a big therapy ball. Like why would you let a student do that with it? You know, or it became this power struggle where then the aide took them and they were like, no, these are the activities you must do, and you must do them. And so, we just have found with the visuals, and again, I would say it's probably more generalized for the most part. But also, you know, most people benefit from you know you know doing getting their energy out, you know, and they can kind of choose which way and that kind of stuff. So I don't know if that answers your question fully.
Jayson Davies
No, it it does, and it was kind of a a loaded question. I did ask on purpose because I know that the exact things that you're talking about have come up. Like we've had lawsuits come up because an aide took a student into the motor room, and the student got hurt, and it led to a lawsuit with the school, and I feel like oftentimes we get teachers and we get aides who want to use these rooms, but then as the OT and the P2 who are kind of in charge of the room, it kind of puts us in this weird spot where we want to support the kids as much as possible, but we've got to put limitations, and it sounds like these visuals have kind of helped you with putting limitations in place a little bit. It's like it's it provides structure, I guess.
Denise Campbell
Yes, and you know I would never add anything like a weighted vest on there because I don't want anyone just using like a weighted vest. Or we don't have a swing, but I would caution even using that sometimes with staff that are untrained, just because it is something you could totally dysregulate some, or you know, and kind of it could be harmful for things. So we do try to put a little bit more like not generic, but just you know, user friendly kinds of things. And I will say, especially with our MD teachers, we have some pretty close contact with them. So there's like one sweet boy, and for whatever reason, any kind of movement, which usually, you know, if you're jumping on a trampoline or things like that, it gets your energy out. I mean, it just flips him into dysregulation immediately. So we try sometimes in our sessions, especially with kids on our caseload, to try whatever activity first before we're like, oh, just go do whatever. Do you know kind of that makes sense? So, so it is kind of a a mixed bag. But the the staff that we have, we're very comfortable with, and we were just talking. We have some new staff members. This year, and they were like, "Wow, we might probably have to do another training, you know, just to make sure that people understand how it's used and what it's used, how it, yeah, what it works. And I would say.
Jayson Davies
Go ahead, Terri.
Terri Dinkelaker
If I could say that some of our kiddos that, and that may not be necessarily on my caseload, but definitely have a lot more sensory needs. They may be doing their breaks in the classroom too because they have such difficulty with transitions to the room. So again, their breaks are going to look a little differently than the ones that are coming down. And Denise mentioned that we do have, you know, and they do have some freedom in their choices, but these have all been practiced. The aides are very, you know, they're they're very skilled. They already know the what they're performing and what we've put up there. But there are other ones that we have already pre-selected the items that they're going to do, and we have been that discussion with the teachers as far as, hey, Johnny can't do this. You know, we want him doing this. You know, and we'll start with one activity in the red, one activity in the yellow, and then one activity in the in the green. So I think that also helps as well. You know, kind of alleviate and and you know those other you know where there could be some you know kind of difficulties that we minimize those and we want it to be successful.
Jayson Davies
Yeah, I mean something that I was going to bring up and I don't know. I mean we'll I guess we can can talk about it right now as a little bit about that MTSS side, but Denise already talked about how you know you've got the big one in the room, but then if you need to make it more individualized, you can create a folder, and I love that because you know one student can go in and select the big one. How many activities do you typically have like on the big board? Like how many red activities can they choose from?
Terri Dinkelaker
We just have like three or four, don't we, Denise? I mean, two or three.
Denise Campbell
Yeah, I don't even know we get to four, but we do have an an AM version and a PM version because I think one of our teachers were mentioning that you know someone that was going you know four to six times a day, you know that they were getting a little bored of you know whatever choice is. So.
Jayson Davies
yeah, there you go. And and but so you can have one student come in and they get to choose from the AM or the PM board, and then you can have you know a second student who comes in, but they bring their own personalized folder that's got one activity in each red, yellow, green, and boom, it's it's just those three, and that's what that student gets. So I love how you can individualize it in that way because, well, there you go. Like tier one, tier two, tier three, and then to be honest, like I feel like these are more tier two, tier three because it's more for for individual groups or not everybody. But then you have the the motor path outside. At obviously you talk. That's only at one school right now, but that's anyone can do, right?
Denise Campbell
Yeah, and the nice part is, is it kind of creates that language amongst like teachers and aides because I have we have this wonderful, wonderful aide named Melissa in our school, and she, you know, her job almost is to kind of take some of those kids for breaks, you know, maybe kids that are trauma kids or kids that have behaviors or things like that, and so she also has this stoplight kind of set up in her room. But she might come to me or Riley or Taylor, one of the teachers may come and say, "Hey, I was thinking about adding in, you know, weighted books. Like, what color would you put that on the stoplight? You know, would you make that a red activity or would you make that a yellow activity? And then, you know, sometimes activities like the scooter board. I'm like, well, you know, if you're just scooting around on the scooter board, that might be red. But if you're on your belly and you're, you know, kind of doing that heavy work on your belly, that could be yellow. So it kind of helps, you know, the teachers kind of understand, and the staff understand. You know, it's not just about taking a break, and I think that's what people did before. They would just, well, we're taking a break, and these breaks don't work. And I'm like, well, you just let them jump out of therapy ball in a very unsafe way. Like that doesn't do anything, you know. So, so it does kind of create that structure for the staff and the students, and Terry, correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel like we've seen less, you know, power struggles between staff and students, and we've seen, you know, more people just kind of including it in their day because it's just, you know, something you do.
Jayson Davies
Yeah.
Terri Dinkelaker
100% I think that we have definitely seen less power struggle, and I, we had definitely had a kiddo that came into our school with a ton of behaviors, a ton of office referrals, and that number went down to what was it, Denise? Within by the time she left. Building, how many? Just maybe two, maybe.
Denise Campbell
Yeah, I think she was at like maybe 15 or whatever, and like, but she had moved like several different schools. So, and if we have a student like that, our principal's great. He won't share all the details to the teacher because he wants the kids to have a fresh start. But if we have a student come in that has a history of having office referrals and behaviors, we'll start them undoing some of these proactive breaks immediately from day one. We won't wait until you know there's an issue. It'll be a positive, you know, from the start.
Jayson Davies
Yeah, yeah, good deal. You mentioned that you haven't really had any pushback. It sounds like you've had a very supportive team for all of this, but you did mention the need the need for training, and so I'm interested to hear a little bit more about that. What what techniques? I mean, obviously, you probably do some sort of like in service, or maybe with the individual agents in each classroom at a time. Maybe do something like that. But are there other strategies that you've found helpful?
Denise Campbell
I know, like for myself, I end up having lots of level two students, and you know they always love a good project. So we don't use like the Willbarger brushing protocol. I'm not sure that anybody can actually really follow it in the way that it was supposed to be followed back in the day. But we will sometimes use brushing as like a sensory intervention for students. So I do make sure that if somebody is doing that, we have like a training video, and there's a paper, and you know I do it to them; they have to do it to me and sign off on things. Oh, okay. I think with the stoplight system, it's just knowing a like you know it has books up there, but what does that mean? You know what I mean. So we have colored books that can go from the floor, or we have a bookcase or things like that. So we do a lot of video modeling too, where we may, you know, take a video. My son came in once, and he was the video person to show everybody how to do, you know, certain jumping and hopping and things like that. So we just like to make sure that not only they understand what the visuals look like and mean, but that actually they know what you know when it says trampoline. What does that mean? Like set a timer for two minutes, have them on the trampoline, or you know sorting books this way or something like that.
Jayson Davies
Yeah, yeah. Because not everyone knows how to do that. I'm interested. Are those published on? Are the videos are they published on YouTube but like marked as unfindable or how did you make that library so that people can find them? Are you just emailing them to the teacher so that they have them or something like that?
Denise Campbell
We'll email them. Although Riley is she's the youngest of our crew, so she is the tech staff. She's the one doing it all. She is though the videos and stuff. I think we have a YouTube channel. I'll have to check. I don't know if it's. That's what
Jayson Davies
I would do.
Denise Campbell
Yeah, I'll check. We have a YouTube channel, so I'll have to check with her and see. We can always send that afterwards if you have something to share, whatever.
Jayson Davies
But I, yeah, I mean, if you have public, I go ahead, Terri.
Terri Dinkelaker
I was just gonna say, Denise, you do have a YouTube channel, and I thought we were, but I don't know how I don't have to do all that either, because I'm definitely old in this stuff. So, but I do know that we email them a lot of our videos because Denise and I, if if we don't have a video for it, we're gonna make a video, and then we're gonna be like, okay, now, yeah. Now watch this. All the kids are following our videos, and it's been really successful. So, and yeah.
Denise Campbell
we've even done it because I know you know Terry works with a lot of students with adaptive equipment or chairs or this and that, and then you go back and you're like, why did you unloosen that? This is not for that. So I mean, we'll even just you know stop right there, make a video, make a QR code, and put it on the back of the activity chair. So then everybody that works at the activity chair can just scan it and know this is how you get so and so in the chair. Please don't touch this. This is very important to not touch. But if you want to adjust something, this is what you can adjust. So, and I think everyone's well-meaning about things, but yeah, if there's a knob or a twist or something, people are going to touch it. So.
Terri Dinkelaker
And I think people move fast. You know, when if you have somebody in a piece of adaptive equipment, sometimes you're moving quickly to transfer them. So things just kind of you may just touch the wrong thing one time, and then I go in because I hadn't been there in a couple days, and I'm like, "What happened to this? So it's just you know, yeah. I feel like we're constantly going over you know that, and they're okay with that because I'm always like, "What happened, you guys? Can you please tell me? Because it's not supposed to be like you know, but there our teachers are pretty good at knowing. They'll email me or call me and be like Terry, we push something, and then I'll be like Denise, I'm not there. Can you help them? Or I'll be right over, you know, in an instant to help them. So it works out in some way. But I think the the videos and the QR codes that we do have are very beneficial. We have those in the hallways. Well, for one of our break routines as well too. So we do utilize the hallway for pathways and breaks and things like that too.
Jayson Davies
Yeah, that's perfect. It's I mean today it's too easy to put videos into a Google folder or into a hidden YouTube channel and just share the QR codes like what you're doing or put a link to it in an email, and especially for OTs and PTs and OTAs and PTAs like us, you know, we're at multiple school sites, and it's so hard to like you can't. It's hard to train everyone at all the different sites. So I often will recommend like if you're going to do a training, might as well just record it, and that way, if someone emails you in the middle of the year asking you about sensory breaks, you've got this video that's really easy just to send to them. Hey, you know, here's a quick response, but you know what? For more, here's a video I have, and this will help you a little bit more. I love that the idea of just like short, little, tiny videos that you've got for each activity that that's great, love it. You talked a little bit about selecting the activities. You know, only a few activities on the board, and sometimes even individualizing it for a student. But I often know. I also know that sometimes when we're working with different students, the same little visual card that we're going to show one student might be too difficult for a different student. So I'm curious: Do you do it in the videos, or how might you show adaptations to an activity for the aide so they know if they're going with Timmy versus Johnny, the same card could mean something different? Does that make sense?
Denise Campbell
Yeah, and I think sometimes for some of those students, we may have like a more specific like thing picked out for them, so we would make sure that you know, hey, this is what you're gonna do. Or like one year, oh, our sweet girl did not like regular books; she was not doing an encyclopedia, so we made like little tiny, like you know, chapter book kinds of things. So sometimes we might adapt the materials that are at the station. So we have two different options for books, you know. So there's the the baby books and then the bigger books, so that they can still do the same activity, but it's a little bit you know modified for them. And I think in the training we kind of talk too about you know we don't want it to be a power struggle between the kids. So you know if if Johnny one day isn't doing all seven books, like I'm not going to die on the book hill, right? Why don't you help Johnny or ask them if they need help, you know, or something like that? Or you know some of them will have them move it from you know one place to another, you know, and then back. Like maybe you just move it from the counter to the floor. So we do try in the training to kind of make some modifications, or at least tell them about it. Because often the aids we work with are great, but I think they are used to people telling them exactly what to do exactly all the time. And I think some of these activities really are kind of you have to roll with it, right? I remember a particular session Terry and I have, and we actually had it video recorded, and it was in a conference. And this girl was not having doing it, so I think instead of doing all four matching, we did you know she did one, and then we did one, and she did one, and we did one. So I think we try to explain. The end goal is for the student to be successful. It's not necessarily that they do four out of four trials of whatever it is they need to do.
Jayson Davies
Yeah,
Denise Campbell
I do think though that those kiddos that do need some modifications, we are informing the staff and the teachers. We do meet monthly. We have team collaboration meetings.
Jayson Davies
Oh, perfect!
Terri Dinkelaker
Definitely for our MD kiddos in both of our MD rooms, and in my one building, and in a couple of my other buildings as well. So we are trying to then kind of go through and let them know. Then you know, like, hey, let's go through the breaks. Let's, you know, let's see what's working. Let's look at the time that we're doing our breaks, or you know, seating different things like that. But definitely talking about breaks and any kind of modifications they may need. Yeah. So that and the aides are there, the speech therapist is there, the PE teacher is there. So we're able to kind of go in more detail about carryover and things like that. What's working? What's not working?
Jayson Davies
That makes sense.
Denise Campbell
And I think one more point is just you know again we talk about these different levels of students. You know sometimes for a level one student a break is literally just removing them from the task demand. It might be just letting them kind of sit at the back of the class. We're overly blessed in that someone was getting rid of this amazing bubble tower. So one of our teachers has a bubble tower in. They were gonna throw it away. We rescued it. Oh, it's like this. You know, you can sit on it, and it literally has like a tube with water, and it has bubbles and stuff in it. It's pretty fantastic. So we definitely had a student, and if she was overwhelmed and she had very low communication, and I think the world just didn't always make sense to her. So for her, a break might look like sitting at the back doing fidgets or doing a preferred item just for her to calm down. So I think for some students, especially you know those lower level level one students, just being in a place where they can kind of bring themselves back and then come back to the demand versus doing three different activities and lots of transitions and those kinds of things.
Jayson Davies
Yeah. Oh. Okay. I want to. I've got to ask you two not not as much fun questions that we've been having, and that is a little bit around documentation and data. And we'll start with the documentation piece. When you're doing an IEP or maybe a 504 plan or an SST study, like I don't know if your district uses the term SST, but like a more like a tier two team meeting something. Are you documenting this directly into that, or are you being more generalized and saying under accommodation, sensory supports will be supported? Or I guess is it documented as like a program per se, or is it more generalized in the the official documents?
Denise Campbell
I mean, I think it's documented and generalized. Is that I want to say? And there's oftentimes that you know. I mean, I don't think for students, especially if you have autism or lots of disabilities, I'm never going to like fix quote unquote your sensory system, but.
Jayson Davies
Yeah.
Denise Campbell
If the classroom has proactive breaks that they're doing and what they're doing, and often between myself and the teacher, we are kind of specific in what breaks they're doing. You know, they're doing daily, you know, stoplight breaks, or often we'll have kids wearing weighted backpacks. You know, during transitions or pushing heavy carts during transitions. So if we have something specific, we know that works. We're going to put it in there in the event you know they go somewhere else. Yes. Yeah. So I would say you know it's usually in the top part of the section. You know, kind of in the profile, just talking about what works for the student. But then in the back, we also put them in as accommodations.
Jayson Davies
Yeah. Okay. And then the other side of that is, you know, after the IEP is in place, or even from a more MTSS standpoint, have you or are there plans to like use this as a data tool? I think earlier you talked about, you know, teachers are seeing that impact where students are going, you know, students are going, they're using the stoplight and they're coming back, and and they are more regulated. Have you actually taken data to kind of confirm that a little bit, as opposed to more of the whole just teacher report, or is or I mean, I don't know if your principal doesn't need it, doesn't want it, you don't have to do it. But just curious.
Terri Dinkelaker
I think that we have used the the scatter plot to kind of track behaviors, and then kind of we have then kind of met as a as a team, and then kind of tried to figure out what kind of breaks. Then you know what we're going to change, what kind of breaks that we've done, and then we'll kind of still continue to monitor after once we start, you know, that break then, and then you know we'll kind of go back and kind of obviously continue to to track the behavior as well. I feel like that may be the only data that we have maybe officially have taken, but Denise and I are always up for a good research project, so that could be a next big research project for us, Denise, for sure.
Denise Campbell
And I will say, you know, I have a pretty good relationship with most of the teachers in the building, and so if somebody comes to me, though, we do often start with-I don't know if you're familiar with the motivation assessment scale. So it kind of you have to look at like one specific behavior and I feel like with anything that someone's filling out subjectively you know it's subjective at times but if you look at a specific behavior and there's lots of repeated questions and it kind of categorizes it into is it a tangible item that the student might want is it a sensory underlying situation for the behavior? Are they trying to escape things, or I think avoidance is the other one? And so, if for some reason we do this and the motivation assessment scale pops up that it's tangible, then it really doesn't matter how many sensory breaks you're doing because it's not necessarily that they're exhibiting the behavior with a sensory underlying. It could be that they want to earn something. You know, they might need stickers or they might need you know something like that. So that's kind of a place to start. Just because if sensory isn't the reason for the behavior. Then it's not going to matter how many breaks we do; it might not make a difference in that regard.
Jayson Davies
Interesting. I just pulled that up, and so we will be sure to add the link to the show notes. It's got the the four categories are sensory, escape, attention, and tangible. Is that the right? Oh.
Denise Campbell
intention. Yes, that's perfect.
Jayson Davies
There we go. Okay.
Denise Campbell
Yeah, and then I think for again, there's kids that are, and I think part of the reason we had to develop something for the building is because I would say half the kids that go and use that they're not on our caseload, so it's not necessarily that we did a sensory profile on them and we looked at what worked well or best. Like it's just something that is generally good for most kids, and it has enough movement and activities in the right order to help kids like get to a place where they're more, you know, hopefully regulated to go back to class and to be in class more.
Jayson Davies
Hence the the MTSS part of it, which is which is great. I love that it's proactive as opposed to only a studio with the IEP who has had the sensory profile done by an occupational therapist can go through it. Yeah, like it. The more that we can do up front, the better. So awesome.
Denise Campbell
Yeah, and like Terry was saying, you know, if we still have behaviors, or you know, there is a scatter plot that you can plot, you know, behaviors for like, I think it's every 15 minutes or things like that. The answer might not be, "Oh, we have to adjust all the activities. It might be that we need more breaks. You know what I mean? Or you know, is it just a certain task? You know?
Jayson Davies
Yeah, yeah. I love the idea of the scatter plot. Like, I don't think we do that enough. I think a lot of that does come out a little bit because of the collaborative nature that you have with the team. Like you you mentioned a monthly meeting with the with the team that is just things like that really help. We don't think about that helping with data collection, but it does. Like things like that matter. So that's important.
Denise Campbell
The only other thing, and if my teachers are here, they would they would agree. You know, sometimes Terry and I are so excited. We just worked with a student. We found something amazing, and so we like burst into the classroom and just interrupt everything. Like, guys, guess what just happened? It was so good. And they're like, um, we love you, but we're teaching right now, so we do also have a clipboard with every student's name, and we kind of turn it so that way it's you know you can't see it in the classroom, and so then we can go in and I can write that exciting information because also I think from the teacher's perspective, you know they have six or eight kids. I mean we may have 40 or 50 kids, you know. So I'm not going to remember like next week necessarily everything about that excitement. So we'll just kind of write on the clipboard, hey, you know, talk to me about this, or this worked really well for so and so, and then either they can, you know, look at it that day and get back to us, or we at least pull it out each month. And then when she said, oh, for Johnny, you said this and this, then it will remind me, and we'll be like, oh yeah, try to do this with them or this with them. So that's been a very helpful resource, and it's helped our teacher therapist relationship because you know I don't want to interrupt class.
Jayson Davies
Yeah that's that's that's actually a really good idea because sometimes you forget before you have a chance to send an email.
Denise Campbell
100%
Jayson Davies
yeah good deal awesome all right well I want to give each of you an opportunity to share just one key takeaway that you hope that school-based OT practitioners, school-based PT practitioners, anyone that works in a school that's listening to this podcast can kind of take away from this episode. What is just one big thing that's really kind of been on your mind as we've recorded today? And Terry, would you okay with starting?
Terri Dinkelaker
Yeah, that's fine. I just think that you know the collaboration piece is is so beneficial. The collaboration with you know your your felt your OT, your even your speech therapist, and then you know your your teachers. I think the principal. I think just building that those relationships and having that communication is just been valuable, and I think that makes a huge difference in the things that you're working to put in place and help the students achieve. So I think that's you know just you know even if it I know a lot we have a lot of therapists you know we've when we present it things they're like how do we begin how do where do we start what do we do and you're it's always just like just build those relationships just start small build with one teacher and then you know, keep building from there. I think that's kind of you know the key is you don't have to do these big, huge things either. Just do with one teacher, with one classroom, and maybe just you know, go into that class, you know, and and work in. You know, during circle time, or you know, during their morning move, or things like that, and then just kind of build from there. I love dogs.
Denise Campbell
Ari loves that you go into classrooms, Terri.
Terri Dinkelaker
She does. She wishes she was there too, doing that. But I think that's the biggest thing is just, and I think once you start there and you start building one relationship, then you're going to build it. You know, the next they're going to see what you're doing and they're going to see the the positives, and it just kind of feeds into kind of then going into more. And you know, don't be afraid to just, you know, put yourself out there too. Because I think sometimes you're like in a new building and you're like, oh my gosh, I'm so overwhelmed. There's so much to do and there's a lot going on. But I think, yeah, just put yourself out there and and you know do what you know you think is best and keep pushing through. So, yeah. And but but find your best OT partner, and then you guys will make a huge difference. So yeah, yeah.
Jayson Davies
And then you feel about you. What's one takeaway?
Denise Campbell
Yeah. No. I mean, I think the collaboration piece and the relationship, not only with teachers but students, you know, is so important, but I know sometimes with sensory stuff, it's all about you know equipment, right? Like everyone thinks they need like you know now it would be lovely if we could have $700 in a separate space and all this stuff to grab.
Jayson Davies
700 more like 5000.
Denise Campbell
Yeah, well that too that too because I'm working on a budget, but you know interestingly enough, our sensory path, which I think I do have videos of that, I can always send that. But we have these Velcro sit spots, which you can get for like $10 on the carpet, and everybody likes them because you can remove them up if you need to, right? Heaven forbid you put tape on the floor, but we do actually use floor tape as well, so we just have to take it up periodically, and we just kind of put it in jumping patterns, and one of them had the alphabet, so they practiced that. And so, you know, sometimes you don't need all this huge crazy equipment that, in order to make a sensory space work, you know. And most of the gym teachers have scooter boards. A lot of we have this buy nothing group by us, where it's just like a group that gives things away, you know. So ask your friend. I love it.
Jayson Davies
It's my favorite.
Denise Campbell
Yes. Yeah. I can't tell you how many things we've gotten. Trampolines. We even have gotten exercise bikes before, you know.
Jayson Davies
And sometimes I won't even need something, but I will just comment on it being like, "Please give this to a teacher. Oh, I love that!
Denise Campbell
Yeah. So, and again, you know, if you want to do deep pressure, like there's gym mats, things like that, you know. So I just feel like there's lots of different things if you're creative, you know. But starting small and just, you know, I will say that stoplight visual is helpful, and I know Riley who made it. There's a free teachers pay teachers version of it, so we can do that your way if people want to check it out.
Jayson Davies
Absolutely.
Denise Campbell
but yeah, just kind of you know educating and using what you have. So.
Jayson Davies
Awesome.
Terri Dinkelaker
We do use the bikes, as Denise mentioned a lot. Yeah, those Antrike bikes, and I start it with just maybe one, I called a local chapter, and I was like, "Hey, can you donate me one for my building? And then we just started getting more, and I've gotten more into my other buildings. And then I started ordering. We started doing a bike club after school, and.
Jayson Davies
Oh, that's so cool!
Terri Dinkelaker
And then we got more. They got their own bikes to take home, but the teachers are using the bikes as a break in the hallways. I mean, they're they got their communication boards and they're just going down the hallway, you know, and they'll stop and communicate with with the you know staff and kids, and it's pretty marvelous. So find your local chapters too, because it's those have been wonderful as a as a transition and as a break choice. So been great.
Jayson Davies
Yeah. Well, Denise Terry, want to say thank you so much for being here. And before I let you go, Denise, you mentioned the TPT store where they can get the the resource for the stoplight. We'll add the link to that. But where can people go to learn more about the happenings of what the two of you are up to?
Denise Campbell
Yeah, and I don't know that we really mentioned too much, but Terry and I we've been working together for years, and we've been doing lots of videos and making things, and we're like, we're just gonna make some stuff and share it with people. So we started this skills to thrive, and so it's skills with a Z and the number two. And we started with a home program in service, you know, webinar, and we, you know, talked about, you know, we have. Four different levels of students that we often work with. So all of our activities that we have, you know, are graded for level one through level four students. So you know, our big thing is just about having everything be easy and ready to go, and you can have one activity that you can adapt for every student versus having you know five or 10 different activities you have to do. So we're excited. We're coming out with a school success, and we have you know a fall edition that has August through December, and we have pre reading and pre writing and visual ball bounce and gross motor activities for all levels. So that'll be coming out here soon in August.
Jayson Davies
Fantastic, very cool. Well, thank you so much, both of you. We appreciate it. And yeah, head on over to skills2thrive.com. Skills with a Z, the number two thrive. com. We'll have all the links that we talked about, including that one, in the show notes. So be sure to check out the show notes for this episode, so you find all the good stuff. Denise, Terri, thank you again. Really appreciate it.
Denise Campbell
Thank you.
Terri Dinkelaker
Thank you.
Jayson Davies
Thank you so much for tuning into this episode, Denise and Terri. Thank you for joining us here on the OT School Health Podcast. Your passion for making sensory motor supports that actually work in a real school day without the fancy equipment, without the endless prep, is exactly what OT practitioners as well as physical therapy practitioners need and want to hear about, and the fact that you're both still in the thick of it while building skills to thrive together-that is pretty awesome. Thank you so much. We really appreciate you sharing some of your insights as you're working to build skills to thrive. And as always, thank you so much for spending part of your day with Denise, Terry, and myself. If this episode got you thinking more about how you can shift from reactive to proactive sensory supports in your school day, I hope you'll take one small step this week to try and make it make it work and figure it out for yourself. If you want to keep growing as a school-based OT practitioner? I would love to have you join the OT Schoolhouse Collaborative. The OT Schoolhouse Collaborative is where school-based OT practitioners come together for professional development, mentorship, and a community that actually gets what you do every single day. And we're all here to support you. You can learn more and join us at otschoolhouse.com/collab. That's otschoolhouse.com/collab. C-O-L-L-A-B. Until next time, keep being the support that your students and your teachers need, and we'll see you in the next episode.
Amazing Narrator
Thank you for listening to the OT Schoolhouse podcast. For more ways to help you and your students succeed right now, head on over to otschoolhouse.com. Until next time, class is dismissed.
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