The OT Corner with Mrs. K

Today April Rehrig, creator of Rise Educational Advocacy, joins me on The OT Corner with Mrs. K to talk about building a better IEP. April is a highly experienced educational advocate who has been working in the field for over 20 years. With experience as a teacher, school psychologist and mother, she has a deep understanding of the challenges that families face when navigating the educational sys...

Join Mrs. K on the OT Corner as she dives into the evolution of school based occupational therapy over the past  50 years with special guest Carol Conway, a retired pediatric occupational therapist. They explore the impact of legislation on OT practices in schools and discuss the changing landscape of OT roles. Tune in for a deep dive into the intersection of legislation, education, and occupation...

Join Mrs. K on the OT Corner as she dives into the evolution of school based occupational therapy over the past  50 years with special guest Carol Conway, a retired pediatric occupational therapist. They explore the impact of legislation on OT practices in schools and discuss the changing landscape of OT roles. Tune in for a deep dive into the intersection of legislation, education, and occupation...

The OT Corner with Mrs. K podcast is celebrating its one year anniversary! It has been quite a year, and I am amazed at the reach of this podcast, spanning across five countries! This endeavor has made me a better therapist for sure. It is amazing the professionals who reached out to me over the past year, and I appreciate their guest appearances on this show. I would also like to thank everyone o...

This week, I came down with a horrible cold, and did not have the voice for my new episode this week. So I decided to give an Encore performance of Grasp Development. Here are the details: Over the past few weeks, I have started using TikTok to share "typical" development progressions for prewriting and grasp. I had so many people ask me questions, that I decided to create a short episod...

Today I talk with Stephanie Bowlin and her role in language/communication development through teaching American Sign Language and tutoring students in reading, writing and spelling through the Orton-Gillingham method. As an OT I love her multi sensory approach to teaching language and am happy to have her here today to shed light on the importance of language in educating our children. Stephanie i...

Welcome back to another season of The OT Corner with Mrs. K. I have been on hiatus as I create other programs for The OT Corner. But, today I kick off a new season with my first episode of my third season all about helping a child create a functional grasp on a writing tool. I get a lot of questions around the subject of how a child holds their pencil. It is a big concern from teachers and parents...

Handwriting is an extremely complex task that we ask our students to do on a daily basis in school. So why is it so complex? And what are these foundational skills that a person needs to have in order to write. Today's episode answers those questions. As an Occupational Therapist, I am more than a handwriting teacher. My background allows me to analyze activity based on my knowledge of all the...

Erin Reynolds is a Kindergarten Intervention Specialist at McDowell Elementary within Hudson City Schools in Hudson, Ohio. This is her fifth year of teaching and her third year being a part of the Kindergarten team. Her first two years, she was a part of the First grade teaching team.  In the Spring of 2017, Erin graduated magna cum laude from The University of Akron with a dual degree: B.S. in Ea...

Dina Pruszynski joins me today to discuss mental health challenges in the field of Occupational Therapy. Dina and I discuss the stressors and strategies that OTs can use to help keep them healthy mentally and the best practitioner they can be for their students, patients and clients. Dina is a school based occupational therapist and co-owner of a therapy business that provides school based therapy...

Sensory Processing is the way the brain processes sensory stimuli from our environment. Sensory stimuli include vision, hearing, touch, taste, smell, body awareness and balance. Sometimes kids will have difficulties with processing certain sensory information, and this can cause dysregulation and behavioral issues in the classroom. Today on The OT Corner with Mrs. K, my guest Lauri Doxsey and I di...

Today, Founder and President of Learnlee Tutors, Nichole Lee, M.Ed, joins me to discuss the growing need of educational and emotional support for our children and their families. Nichole discusses how her Austin, Texas based business grew out of the pandemic, and how it impacts her community. For three years now, her idea of offering tutoring services to kids in her area has evolved into a thrivin...

As a parent of child that is identified with needs in their educational setting, process of evaluation, qualifying the student and creating the Individual Education Plan can be an overwhelming experience. So I decided to create an episode that outlines that process. My special guest today is the Principal and Director of Special Education at the Windham Exempted Village School District in Windham,...

Over the past few weeks, I have started using TikTok to share "typical" development progressions for prewriting and grasp. I had so many people ask me questions, that I decided to create a short episode that expands on some of these images. I always want to preface that these ages are averages, and that all children of all different abilities develop at different rates. As always, if you are conce...

Please welcome my coworker and friend today as we discuss how our preschool students benefit from our collaborative services. We work very closely together developing the foundational skills needed to access the school environment starting at the preschool level. Kate is a wonderful collaborator, and not only that, we have a lot of fun working together. Dr. Kate Arth is a Physical Therapist practi...

Today on The OT Corner with Mrs. K we are talking about the mental health in young children. Jessie Pollak joins me today to discuss how private therapy with a Licensed Counselor can benefit children at a young age and what types of therapy are out there for the 3-5 year old age group. Jessie is a Licensed Professional Counselor, who focuses on psychotherapy with children, adolescents, and their f...

The Individuals with Disabilities Improvement Act (IDEIA) is a federal law that guarantees eligible children with disabilities, ages 3-21 years old (or when they graduate from high school)  the right to a free appropriate public education (FAPE). Under this law, public schools deliver services to children with disabilities that are  designed by specialists to break down barriers that wou...

DISCLAIMER: I am an occupational therapist, but not your child's occupational therapist. This episode is not meant to provide any therapeutic or medical advice. If you are concerned about your child's development you should always contact your child's pediatrician. Thank you and enjoy the show! Before a child begins to learn how to form letters, they should learn prewriting shapes. The act of writ...

Leslie Burke, Development Director of the Down Syndrome Association of Northeast Ohio, (DSANEO), formerly the Up Side of Downs, joins The OT Corner with Mrs. K today. Listen in as Leslie and Mrs. K discuss the origin and evolution of the group, and programs available to preschool kiddos Birth-6 years old born with Down Syndrome. LIFE CHANGING EVENTS: Leslie and her husband Bob were unaware of how...

As a parent or educator of a child with special needs, navigating the educational system to ensure that a child can access their education in the least restrictive environment can be daunting. The current Individual Educational Plan (IEP) delineates roles and responsibilities to specific related service providers and educators. Each discipline and educator assesses different areas and are responsi...

Welcome to The OT Corner with Mrs. K. I am excited to announce that I will be launching this podcast in January 2023. I wanted to come on today and give you an idea of how I came up with this idea, and what I would like to see for this podcast in the future. Look for more announcements. And if you want to be a guest on this show you can contact me through Facebook, Instagram or at Jennifer@theotco...

Join me in January 2023  as I launch The OT Corner with Mrs. K for informative episodes on sensory motor development for children and activities you can do to enhance and enrich your child's development. Check out my Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/MrsKOT089/ Check out my Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7yCd7GNNwilGbD99t8bwUA

Mrs. K brings 22 years of experience as an occupational therapist to her listeners. And no, she doesn't teach people how to get a job. (Occupational therapists get that response a lot when telling people what they do for a living). Rather, Mrs. K has helped people of all ages in many different settings overcome barriers in their lives stemming from disabilities, injuries, cognitive deficits and/or...