Helping Kids Thrive

Guest: Stephanie Hanrahan This episode of Helping Kids Thrive features Stephanie Hanrahan, a parent of two children with autism. Two years ago, Stephanie became weary of social media pressure to appear perfect and she made her private journal public. Since then, she has achieved viral success as a writer and speaker. During this episode, Stephanie tells her story of becoming a mother and receiving...

Guest: Michaela Landry, Licensed Clinical Social Worker Happy Valentine's Day! As we celebrate, the season of love, it's important to remember to also pour into yourself. We recognize that self care can be challenging for parents and caregivers, so we invited Michaela Landry, a licensed clinical social worker, to come share with us her top tips for taking a practical approach to self care. In this...

Guest: Amanda Hain, Speech Language Pathologist During this episode, Nicole chats with speech language pathologist, Amanda Hain, about practical ways to help your child produce speech that is more understandable to others. She shares tips and tricks to help parents determine HOW they make speech sounds in order to help coach their child to produce better speech sounds, as well as additional sugges...

Guest: Brooke French, Speech Language Pathologist In this episode of Helping Kids Thrive, Nicole talks with licensed speech language pathologist, Brooke French, about how we as parents can be purposeful with the play time that we have with our children. During this episode, she challenges us to practice full presence play, shares insight into how play develops as a child grows, and gives practical...

Guests: Elyse Rossman, Occupational Therapist, and Aliece Barklage, Speech Language Pathologist In this episode, Nicole is joined by certified occupational therapist, Elyse Rossman, and licensed speech language pathologist, Aliece Barklage to discuss how parents can use common household toys/items to target different developmental skills. Through the expertise of these two guests, parents will lea...

Guest: Rebecca Lofthouse, Licensed Clinical Social Worker specializing in grief and loss In this episode of Helping Kids Thrive, Nicole is joined by Rebecca Lofthouse, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with a specialty in grief and loss. Rebecca and Nicole converse about the loss and grief associated with the events of 2020 and Rebecca shares her perspective and professional opinion on how we as p...

Guest: The Huddle Up Team In this special holiday edition of Helping Kids Thrive, the Huddle Up (previously DotCom Therapy) team shares some of their favorite holiday traditions.  From all of us here, we wish you happy holidays and a warm end to 2020! Connect with Huddle Up .

Guest: Carey Llufrio, M. Ed, Board Certified Behavior Analyst. In this episode of Helping Kids Thrive, Board Certified Behavior Analyst, Carey Llufrio, pops in to chat with us about Applied Behavior Analysis. Discussed in this episode are the following questions: What is ABA? What are the four functions of behavior and how do we as parents determine the function of our child's behavior? Who would...

Guest: Dr. Sarah Florence, Educational Audiologist. In this episode of Helping Kids Thrive, we welcome educational audiologist, Dr. Sarah Florence, to discuss childhood hearing loss. Discussed in this episode are the following questions: What does an audiologist do? What are the first signs of a hearing loss and what might cause a progressive hearing loss in children? What is the difference betwee...

Guest: Jackie Dauw, M.A., Licensed Professional Counselor In this episode of Helping Kids Thrive, licensed professional counselor, Jackie Dauw, joins us to talk about mental health services and when/how to utilize them with our children. Discussed in this episode are the following questions: What skills can be helped through mental health therapy? Why are there so many options for mental health th...

Guest: Dr. Kayla Plutschack, Lead Occupational Therapist. In this episode of Helping Kids Thrive, occupational therapist, Dr. Kayla Plutschack, joins us to talk about the field of occupational therapy. Discussed in this episode are the following questions: What does an OT do? When should a parent seek help from an occupational therapist? Where should you go for help? And as a bonus, she drops some...

Guest: Holly Garrett, Speech Language Pathologist In this episode of Helping Kids Thrive, licensed speech language pathologist (SLP), Holly Garrett, answers all of our questions about the basics of speech therapy including: What does an SLP do? What is the difference between speech and language? How would a parent know when they need to ask for a speech therapy evaluation? How does speech therapy...

Guest: Rachel Robinson, Huddle Up Founder + President In this episode of Helping Kids Thrive, get to know the heart of the company that brings you the information on this podcast - Huddle Up (previously DotCom Therapy). Interviewed by our host, Nicole Pounds, Huddle Up's Founder and President, Rachel Robinson dives into how the company was started, why the mission is so important, and what sets Hu...

As parents, we all want what's best for our kids. We want them to be happy. We want them to grow. We want them to learn. We want them to thrive.  Do you ever wish you could have a professional in your back pocket that you could just ask all of those questions that you have about raising children - especially children with special needs? Well, let me introduce you to Helping Kids Thrive with DotCom...