Reader’s Digest: The Gut and Child Development

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

It seems like we’ve always treated the gut as something that matters.  Just look at our language: gut instinct, you’ve got guts, gut‑wrenching. We use these phrases because, on some level, we know the gut is central to how we sense and respond to the world. We’re not wrong though.

When we say gut, we are referring to the long digestive tube inside the body that starts from the mouth all the way to the stomach and intestines, also known as the gastrointestinal tract (the GI tract). But it does far more than break down food. It’s a major sensory, immune, and communication hub that helps shape how a child’s body takes in and responds to the world.

Because it’s in constant conversation with the brain through neural, hormonal, and immune pathways, the gut plays a meaningful role in mood, sleep, attention, and learning. A healthy, well‑nourished gut becomes a powerful driver of how children grow, adapt, and thrive.

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Course Notes: Allergies, Pt. 2

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

Allergies touch most of us at some point: sneezing fits, itchy skin, watery eyes set off by pollen, dust, or a pet brushing past. But food allergies are a different experience entirely. They’re far less common, and they’re not the same as food sensitivities.

My own mild food allergy, paired with watching a close friend navigate her daughter’s severe reactions, sparked a deeper understanding about how profoundly these conditions can shape childhood. For many families, food allergies carry a unique developmental weight because they show up during meals, classroom snacks, birthday parties, and playdates—moments that are supposed to feel simple and safe.

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Course Notes: Allergies, Pt. 1

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

Winter is finally starting to thaw, and spring is just around the corner. As the days warm up and the trees and flowers burst back into color, allergy season ramps up right along with them. For many people (including myself), those first blooms also bring sneezing, itching, and watery eyes. Whether the trigger is pollen or another allergen, it’s often enough to have us reaching for Benadryl, Allegra, Claritin, Zyrtec, pick your poison.

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Skin Deep: Skin’s Role in Child Development

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

Touch is a child’s first language. Studies show that early tactile experiences shape attachment, regulation, and the development of motor and sensory systems. It helps build our body schema for crying out loud.

All of this begins with the skin: the body’s largest organ, the first sensory system to mature, and the primary gateway through which infants learn about safety, connection, and their place in the world. Because the skin is a direct extension of the developing nervous system, it plays a central role in how children build body awareness, emotional stability, and early relationships.

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Talking Body: Kids and Body Schema

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

Kids have an enormous amount to learn, but before they can take on reading, writing, math, social skills, or even coordinated movement, they need a basic sense of themselves.

As children develop, it takes years for them to truly understand themselves—the “me I feel inside,” the “me others see,” and the “me I’m becoming.” That long process begins much earlier than most people realize. It starts when the brain first learns the physical boundaries of the body.

Those early signals (movement, balance, joint and muscle feedback, and deep pressure) are the “me sensations.” They give the brain its first clues about where the body begins and ends. Over time, these sensations fill in the brain’s internal “map of me,” the foundation for later self‑awareness, confidence, and coordinated movement.

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