I’ve talked before about using sand trays or sand drawing in telehealth sessions. Although you lose a sensory component when you move these kinds of activities online, it makes for easier cleanup and has a really cool visual component. Recently, I discovered another sand-based telehealth activity at ThisIsSand. If your client is using a smartContinue reading “Sand Art”
Tag Archives: kids
ADHD Online Presents: Managing Behavioral Issues in Parenting Kids with ADHD
Thank you again to the wonderful people at ADHD Online for allowing me to present on parenting kids with ADHD! If you weren’t able to view it live, or you want to watch it again, the video is available on Facebook. The slides from the presentation are also available for download. If you’re looking forContinue reading “ADHD Online Presents: Managing Behavioral Issues in Parenting Kids with ADHD”
Healthy Screen Habits
This article was published in a local newspaper in February. Since then, screen time has become even more of a concern as parents struggle to find appropriate activities for kids who are home all day, and many kids are attending online school, which increases their screen time by a huge amount! I thought it wasContinue reading “Healthy Screen Habits”
Bubble Breathing 2: When The Bubbles Pop
Back in August, I shared a therapy activity that teaches kids to visualize blowing their negative feelings into bubbles. This is a great way to introduce therapeutic breathing techniques and one that I’ve used myself when I’m trying to fall asleep after a stressful day. Recently, a client gave me some feedback: they said theyContinue reading “Bubble Breathing 2: When The Bubbles Pop”
Go Fish
Simple card games are a great therapeutic tool because they allow the client to focus on the game while still engaging in talk or another intervention. The game distracts from anxiety about the topic at hand and can lower inhibitions. Of course, Uno is probably the most popular therapeutic card game, but it’s important toContinue reading “Go Fish”
White Boards
Therapists who use Zoom might be familiar with the white board feature: when you select “share screen,” one of the options is to share a white board. If you’re using a Chrome book, you can also use Whiteboard Fox to create a private whiteboard to use with your client. In my office, I used whiteboardContinue reading “White Boards”
Animals in Therapy
Hands down, my favorite part of telehealth is meeting everyone’s pets. A close second is my clients meeting my pets. A while back, I shared a story about my cat, Vera, and how she was affected by trauma. I’ve shared this story with kids at my practice for years as an allegory to some ofContinue reading “Animals in Therapy”
Backgrounds
The intervention I want to talk about today isn’t a specific game, so I am writing in a different format than I usually do in this series. Details about the client interaction that I describe below have been changed for privacy, but the spirit of the story is in tact. Since March, I have gottenContinue reading “Backgrounds”
Press Pause on Impulsivity
Impulse control is one of the last abilities our brains develop, so children and teenagers really struggle with this. Sometimes this gets labeled as disobedience, but kids are literally not capable of controlling their impulses the way that adults are. This activity helps kids work on improving impulse control by visualizing a remote control andContinue reading “Press Pause on Impulsivity”
Dominoes
Before I started working from home, I had a huge box of dominoes in my office. I rarely used it for its original intent, as kids much prefer to build with the tiles or make a path that they can then knock over. But when I was looking for games that could be played overContinue reading “Dominoes”
