When people meet Buddy, our OT dog, they often ask me how I became interested in animal assisted occupational therapy.  While this picture says 1,000 words, I will still write a few more! Well, the journey began when I was born. No, really!  My family adopted a golden retriever puppy a few months before I…
What a spectacular night at the Atlas Theater in Washington DC for the screening of Deej! Deej is the must-see documentary about DJ Savarese, a nonspeaking autistic and his journey to be included as a college student. The film is powerful and a story that we hope will become common for all of our students….
GKTC’s Tribe has kicked off the fall schedule with an exchange between The University of Virginia students and Tribe members. The University of Virginia students are taking the undergrad psychology course, The Science and Lived Experience of Autism along with the young adults of Growing Kids Therapy Center’s “Tribe”. Â Last year, the Tribe completed the…
I am so excited to introduce Diane Belnavis and Brent Sullivan as guest bloggers! Â We formed an instant friendship when I met Brent, Diane and Dylan at the TASH Conference in Portland Oregon in November 2015. They have one of the most beautiful stories I have ever heard and it keeps getting better and better…
Hi everyone! Â My name is Karen Dorula and I’m an occupational therapist at GKTC. Â Elizabeth has challenged us all to jump onto the blog. Â I’m very excited to be able to share all of the wonderful chess that has been happening here! I started teaching chess in January 2016 after one of my letterboard clients,…
Recently, one of our parents asked what to do when her son become grabby and pinchy at home or school.  She recognizes that her son has motor control issues and knows that he is not trying to intentionally hurt her but is having trouble reconciling the difference between his intentions and actions. All of our clients…
