OT Month: Primitive Reflexes

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

We all have reflexes; fast, automatic movements our bodies make without us even thinking. Some reflexes stay with us for life, helping us stay safe and respond to the world around us. Others are meant only for infancy. They support early survival and movement, then fade as children gain more control of their bodies. When those early reflexes don’t integrate on schedule, they can influence how a child experiences their body and how they interact with their environment. These are known collectively as primitive reflexes.

What’s funny is that most parents (in non health-related fields) don’t even know what these are. Newborns have such weird movements when they are learning body control that you can get through the first six months without even realizing the reflexes at work.

FYI: This post has a lot of definitions and lists, so feel free to bookmark and save.

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OT Month: School Supports 101

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

Most parents only hear about school supports when something feels off. Their kid may be struggling with reading, falling behind in math, or having a hard time staying organized or regulated. While we may be familiar with supports like OT, PT, and/or speech, schools have far more tools, services, and interventions than most families ever realize.

Support begins the moment your child walks through the door.  Every school uses a layered approach to helping students succeed, much like climbing a ladder. The first rungs include everyday supports that all children receive. As you move up, the next rungs offer extra help for students who need a little more. At the top are individualized plans for students who require more intensive, personalized support.

What many families don’t realize is that most of this help happens long before an IEP or 504 is ever discussed. That’s because frameworks like MTSS and RTI are designed to catch challenges early and provide support right away.

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OT Month: The 504 Plan

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

If your child doesn’t qualify for an IEP, a 504 Plan might fit. It may sound like a highway number or a health code, but it’s actually a legal support that ensures students get the access they need to participate in school.

A 504 Plan is a school-based support plan that provides students with disabilities the accommodations they need to access learning alongside their peers. Its purpose is to adjust how a student learns, not what they are taught.

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OT Month: The IEP

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

When you’re navigating support services in the school system, it can feel like an alphabet soup (OT, PT, MTSS). This post is all about the IEP.

An IEP, or Individualized Education Program, is a legal, written plan that explains exactly how a public school will support a student with a disability in order to facilitate their learning and make progress. It’s part of the federal special education law called IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), and it guarantees students access to a free appropriate public education (FAPE).

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OT Month: A Crash Course on School OT

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

OTs show up in all kinds of places. You’ll find us in clinics, hospitals, workplaces; and yes, even in schools. Our job is to help people of all ages do the everyday tasks that make life meaningful. With such a wide scope, it’s easy to assume that a pediatric OT in a clinic does the same work as an OT in a school. But the school setting is its own world, with its own purpose.

School occupational therapy is special‑education–based support designed to help students fully participate in the school day. The guiding idea is straightforward: when a child’s developmental, motor, sensory, or executive‑function challenges get in the way of learning, an OT steps in to remove those barriers so the child can access and benefit from their education.

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