Ideas at Play: An Occupational Therapy (OT) Podcast
Welcome to Ideas at Play, the go-to podcast for busy pediatric occupational therapy professionals! Whether you're in school-based settings, early intervention, or outpatient practice, we bring you evidence-based strategies, practical tips, and engaging discussions to support your OT practice with children, teens, and young adults.
Each episode features:
- A deep dive into recent pediatric OT research and how to apply it.
- "Nailed It or Failed It," where we share what’s working—and what isn’t—in our pediatric OT practice.
- Real-world examples and listener questions about all things pediatric occupational therapy.
- Shout outs to People, Places, and Products that fill our occupational therapy hearts
Join the hosts, Michele Alaniz, OTD, OTR/L, BCP and Lacy Wright, OTD, OTR/L, BCP, as we explore innovative OT ideas, share professional insights, and help you stay up-to-date with the latest trends in pediatric occupational therapy. Subscribe now and unlock actionable strategies to help the children you serve thrive!
Stay informed, stay curious, and stay playful!
✏️ Sign up for our newsletter https://forms.gle/2aceiDDHBq6LR5TV6.
📧 Email us a question or comment at IdeasAtPlayPodcast@gmail.com
👉 Find us on Instagram @ideas.at.play
Keywords: occupational therapy, OT, pediatric occupational therapy, evidence based practice, peds OT
Episodes
38 episodes
Ep. 37 Is Interoception Worth the Hype? A Deep Dive into the Evidence
Interoception is everywhere in pediatric occupational therapy—but does the evidence support what OTPs are doing? We dig into a 2025 scoping review revealing the surprising truth: most research is preliminary and thin. We break down 3 i...
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35:04
Ep. 36 Home Programs That Actually Work
An occupational therapist came into Michele's office complaining that parents weren't following through with home programs—sound familiar? The problem isn't the parents; it's how we're setting them up from day one. This episode flips that sc...
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38:07
Ep. 35 CO-OP for Improving Motor Skills
What if you could peek inside a child's brain and actually SEE therapy working? That's exactly what researchers did with CO-OP (Cognitive Orientation to Occupational Performance)—and the results are amazing! Join Lacy and Michele as they bre...
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36:46
Ep. 34 Sensory Integration in Schools
Can sensory integration really work in schools, or are we just wasting instructional time? This week we're reviewing a study that finally gives us answers. Three students, 17.5 hours of intervention, and results that impressed both teachers ...
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35:49
Ep. 33 Play as Occupation with guest Dr. Anita Bundy
What if the biggest barrier to children's play isn't the kids—it's us? We are thrilled to chat with our special guest, Dr. Anita Bundy—the world-renowned OT behind some of the most transformative play research out there. She explains w...
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48:25
Ep. 32 Sydney Playground Project
What do old tires, crates, pool noodles, and hay bales have in common? They're the secret ingredients that revolutionized recess for hundreds of kids in Dr. Anita Bundy's groundbreaking Sydney Playground Project. In this episode, we get into...
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34:30
Ep. 31 Zones of Regulation: the Good, the Bad, and the OT Way
What happens when one of occupational therapy's most beloved programs gets put under the research microscope? Turns out Zones of Regulation—despite being wildly popular—has a shaky evidence base. BUT don’t panic and throw out all your materi...
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40:53
Ep. 30 Making Hospitals Sensory-Friendly
70% of autistic individuals have at least one mental health condition, but here's the kicker—the very hospitals meant to help them might be making everything worse. Picture this: you're already in crisis, then you're hit with buzzing fluores...
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36:06
Ep. 29 A Sleep Intervention with Dreamy Outcomes
95% of kids with neurodevelopmental disorders struggle with sleep—but there's an OT intervention that gives families an extra hour of sleep per night! In this episode, we discuss an occupational therapy study from Argentina that used telehea...
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36:42
Ep. 28 Responsive Feeding (and how OTPs are using this approach)
Many of our families know that sinking feeling when mealtime becomes a battlefield—tears, tantrums, and the stress of watching a child refuse meal after meal. But what is the best way to help? This week, we dive into a brand-new scoping revi...
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35:13
Ep. 27 Group vs. Individual OT for Autistic Toddlers
Drowning in long therapy wait lists? Researchers found that group DIR Floortime (4 kids, 2 therapists) produced the same outcomes as individual occupational therapy sessions for autistic toddlers—AND slashed wait times from 108 to 52 days! W...
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34:15
Ep. 26 Have Impostor Syndrome? (Here’s what to do)
Ever feel like you are in over your head? You're not alone—new research shows 84% of occupational therapy practitioners and students secretly battle impostor syndrome. From OT students to seasoned therapists, despite being well qualified, we...
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32:05
Ep. 25 Hand Strengthening for Handwriting
Michele presents research that offers a completely different perspective on OT handwriting intervention. While previous episodes emphasized task-specific training (doing writing to improve writing), this study suggests that students receivin...
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24:49
Summer of Play Series: Play Personalities
Ep 24 - In our final Summer of Play episode, we're uncovering the rich history and complex science that makes play genuinely unique in pediatric OT practice. Journey from Piaget and Vygotsky's foundational theories to Mary Reilly's revolutio...
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28:26
Summer of Play Series: Interventions for Play
Ep 23 - Ready to turn your occupational therapy sessions into playgrounds of learning? In this episode of our Summer of Play Series, we explore using play as both the vehicle AND the destination in pediatric OT. We'll discuss 5 manualized oc...
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31:36
Summer of Play Series: Assessing Play
Ep 22 - Think you know how to assess play? We break down the surprising gap between how important play is for EVERY PART of child development and how this occupation is often overlooked in OT/OTA education programs and practice. You'll...
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28:51
Summer of Play Series: 10 Fun Summer Therapy Ideas
Ep 21 - Summer just got a whole lot more fun! 🌞 Michele and Lacy kick off their Summer of Play series with 10 fun, evidence-based therapy activities. From DIY food trucks and table tennis for executive function to wate...
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27:56
Ep. 20 Green Light Interventions for CP: Do What Works (with special guest Iona Novak)
Stop guessing and start knowing which occupational therapy interventions actually work. World-renowned OT researcher Professor Iona Novak discusses her revolutionary Traffic Light System that rates occupational therapy interventions with...
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48:22
Ep. 19 Pictures vs. Videos: Choosing the Right Visual Support for ADL Goals
You've heard that a picture is worth a thousand words, but what about a thousand prompts? When it comes to helping autistic kids master daily living skills like brushing teeth, washing hands, and tying shoes, the visua...
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36:15
Ep. 18 Aquatic Therapy: Using the Pool for More Than Swim Lessons
When you think of therapy in the swimming pool, swim lessons probably come to mind. However, occupational therapy practitioners use water for so many life skills! This week, Michele dives into research from Spain that reveals how aquatic the...
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38:12
Ep. 17 Time Management Treatment Ideas for ADHD
Ready for an ADHD intervention that tackles the root problem of time management? This Swedish research hands occupational therapy practitioners a comprehensive protocol that includes both remediation and compensation strategies for time proc...
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38:25
Ep. 16 From Student Projects to Group Therapy: How to Build Better Teams
As occupational therapy practitioners, we spend our careers working in teams—yet most of us learned to hate group work in OT/OTA school. Sound familiar? We're breaking down brand-new research from the Journal of OT Education that studied how...
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45:29
Ep. 15 Accept, Adapt & Advocate: Autistic Adults Share Insights for OTPs
Ever wonder what your pediatric OT clients will say about you when they grow up? In this episode, Lacy & Michele explore qualitative research where autistic adults share what they wish their childhood occupational therapists had known. T...
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36:28
Ep. 14 Role of OT and Co-Occupation in the NICU (and why it matters!)
Step into the NICU where beeping monitors meet tiny fighters and discover how sensory connections are changing the game for premature infants. We unpack the SENSE program that's putting occupational therapists at the forefront of preemie car...
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43:19
Ep. 13 The Ultimate Evidence Guide: What 52 Pediatric OT Interventions & 90 Years of Research Reveal
Tired of Googling for interventions that actually work? We dive into the mother of all systematic reviews covering 129 studies and 52 occupational therapy interventions across nine decades of pediatric OT research. Discover which interventio...
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39:47