Occupational Therapy

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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Coffee Chat: A&Z’s First Visit to the Podiatrist

| Patti Webb

I do not have flat feet. If anything, my arch is incredibly high and my friends complained that we couldn’t borrow each others’ shoes because of it. I also tend to underpronate which I didn’t really notice until college. So when Troy and I started dating and he wore orthotics, I totally thought it was an old man thing.

Last month, Troy suggested we take the girls to the podiatrist. I get being overzealous about your kid’s health, but exactly how many pediatric podiatrists are there?

He said that he noticed that Z’s ankles were crumbling in when she walked and that’s a sign of flat feet. A’s feet also were a bit weird; they curved inward. My little pigeon toe! My MIL also worked as an x-ray tech in a podiatrist’s office, and she reconfirmed they definitely needed to go.

I didn’t think this was a big deal, since they were still growing and neither of them seemed fully “in their body” yet. But when I looked at videos of Z walking in flip flops, it was very clear. Similarly, in videos of A running, she looked a bit “floppy” for lack of a better word. To the podiatrist we go!

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