Mary Kostka recommends teaching parents one new thing each therapy session, tracked with a checklist to avoid repeating tips. Examples include proprioception activities, weighted blankets, and reframing requests as "you can" instead of "can you" to keep sessions feeling valuable and parents engaged.
Hey, guys, it's Mary. And working on number six of our 11 things to help make our sessions have more value. This one's really important, and I really love this one. That we are going to teach them something new could be for their mind, for their body, every single session. So what helps us do that and to keep track, especially if they're going back and forth between therapists, is we have that nice list in our file so that we know which things we've shown them, which handouts we've given them. And it's important to either be following up on something that we told them last time or ideally giving them a little something new each time. Not to overwhelm them, but just to keep it from so that they feel like they're always learning and gaining new ways to help their child. We have a lot of things on that list. Everything from telling them about proprioception, activities that they can do with their child, vestibular tactile using lycra clothing, how to make their own spandex swing using weighted blankets, just all kinds of tips and helpful hints and just really good things that we can do. If you tell them something that's not on the list, it's nice to make a little checkbox and write it in so we know that we gave them that tip too. It's really helpful for us to just know what we're doing and not be telling the same thing over and over. But we can look at the list and see what we've given them and follow up on it and give them something new. And sometimes something new is just something really simple, like telling them about saying you can instead of can you or I want you to. Just little hints and tips to make the job of parenting their child more effective and enjoyable. So there's a lot. There's a lot to these 11 things in every session that we're trying to do. But the more you do it, the easier it gets and really adds huge value. It makes it so worthwhile for them to come and be excited for every session. So be sure to teach them something new every session. Aloha.
