Ideas at Play: An Occupational Therapy (OT) Podcast

Michele Alaniz & Lacy Wright
  • 5.0 (24)
  • Courses
  • Weekly

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

  1. 3d ago

    Ep.89 AI for Pediatric OT: What's Emerging and Where to Start

    Send us a Text or Voicemail Conversational AI in pediatric OT is moving faster than the research. Lacy and Michele discuss a 2026 narrative review that sorts the evidence into four pathways based on who the AI is talking to: therapists, caregivers, children, and students. Most of the ideas and research are just beginning to emerge, and a lot is borrowed from other fields, but one pathway is rising to the top as the best place to start. We share our own thoughts in the Research Review and encourage you to read the original articles too. Pergantis, P., Bardis, N., Skianis, C., & Drigas, A. (2026). Conversational artificial intelligence in pediatric occupational therapy: A comprehensive narrative review of emerging applications, transferable evidence, and future directions. International Medical Education, 5(3), Article 93. https://doi.org/10.3390/ime5030093  Cason, J., Gafni-Lachter, L., Richmond, T., & Jacobs, K. (2026). Worldwide survey on artificial intelligence in occupational therapy. Work. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/10519815261469529 Stay informed, stay curious, and stay playful! ✏️  Sign up for our newsletter by clicking here. 📧  Email us a question or comment at IdeasAtPlayPodcast@gmail.com 👉  Find us on Instagram @ideas.at.play

  2. Oct 21

    Ep.88 What Works for Cerebral Palsy? Matching Interventions to GMFCS Level

    Send us a Text or Voicemail Cerebral palsy interventions work best when matched to a child's GMFCS level, and one umbrella review sorts the evidence into green, yellow, and red. Michelle reviews what it found across postural control, postural management, and tone management, including one green-light intervention you may not expect, a few popular approaches the evidence doesn't support, and why the same intervention can be right for a child at level II and wrong for a child at level V. We break down what to trial this week based on the child in front of you. We share our own thoughts in the Research Review and encourage you to read the original article too. Toohey, M., Blatch-Williams, R., Budini, K., Ferreira, A., Griffin, A., Hines, A., Jackman, M., Lind, K., Massey, J., Mc Namara, M., Mitchell, J., Morgan, C., Norfolk, E., Paton, M. C. B., Polyblank, D., Reedman, S., & Novak, I. (2024). Effectiveness of postural interventions in cerebral palsy: Umbrella systematic review. Paediatrics and Child Health, 34(8), 257–278. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paed.2024.06.003  Stay informed, stay curious, and stay playful! ✏️  Sign up for our newsletter by clicking here. 📧  Email us a question or comment at IdeasAtPlayPodcast@gmail.com 👉  Find us on Instagram @ideas.at.play

  3. Oct 14

    Ep. 87 Do Weighted Blankets Improve Sleep and Daytime Performance?

    Send us a Text or Voicemail Weighted blankets show up in therapy rooms, bedrooms, and shopping carts. Lacy and Michele discuss three recent reviews on weighted blankets for sleep, pain, mood, and daily function. Learn who they seem to help most (and who they don't) and where the research still has gaps.  We share our own thoughts in the Research Review and encourage you to read the original articles too. Dawson, S., Charlton, K., Ng, L., Cleland, J., Bulto, L., Page, M., & Attrill, S. (2024). Weighted blankets as a sleep intervention: A scoping review. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 78(5), Article 7805205160. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2024.050676   Yu, J., Yang, Z., Sun, S., Sun, K., Chen, W., Zhang, L., Xu, J., Xu, Q., Liu, Z., Ke, J., Zhang, L., & Zhu, Y. (2024). The effect of weighted blankets on sleep and related disorders: A brief review. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 15, Article 1333015. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1333015  Jaślikowska, A., Niderla, N., Rzeszutek, J., Rachwał, N., Grzyb, W., Kurnik, M., Grzybowska, D., Idzik, K., & Kubicki, A. (2026). Weighted blankets as a non-pharmacological intervention for sleep, mental and neurodevelopmental disorders: A narrative review. Journal of Education, Health and Sport, 95, Article 73069. https://doi.org/10.12775/JEHS.2026.95.73069  Stay informed, stay curious, and stay playful! ✏️  Sign up for our newsletter by clicking here. 📧  Email us a question or comment at IdeasAtPlayPodcast@gmail.com 👉  Find us on Instagram @ideas.at.play

  4. Oct 7

    Ep. 86 Play as an Occupation: The Play-Work Continuum in Pediatric OT

    Send us a Text or Voicemail Pediatric OTs use play in nearly everything we do, but how much of it is actually play? In this episode, we review the play-work continuum, which separates free play from play as a vehicle for goals. Michele also shares 10 ways to apply it in your sessions, from writing goals for play to setting up the environment and how to facilitate safe rough-and-tumble play. We share our own thoughts in the Research Review and encourage you to read the original article too.  Brown, T., & Lynch, H. (2023). Children's play–work occupation continuum: Play-based occupational therapy, play therapy and playwork. Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 90(3), 249–256. https://doi.org/10.1177/00084174221130165  Stay informed, stay curious, and stay playful! ✏️  Sign up for our newsletter by clicking here. 📧  Email us a question or comment at IdeasAtPlayPodcast@gmail.com 👉  Find us on Instagram @ideas.at.play

  5. Sep 30

    Ep. 85 Sensory Garments and Participation for Autistic Children

    Send us a Text or Voicemail Sensory garments are everywhere and frequently marketed to our clients and families — but almost none of the research asks what happens after a parent clicks "buy." This episode discusses a study with off-the-shelf sensory garments and their impact on participation for autistic children. The results split in a way that may change how you talk to families about these products — and expose a bigger problem with how we measure outcomes for autistic kids in the first place. We share our own thoughts in the Research Review and encourage you to read the original article too. Mische Lawson, L., Foster, L., Hamner, K., & Wright, L. (2022). Exploring effects of sensory garments on participation of children on the autism spectrum: A pretest-posttest repeated measure design. Occupational Therapy International, 2022, Article 3540271. https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/3540271   Stay informed, stay curious, and stay playful! ✏️  Sign up for our newsletter by clicking here. 📧  Email us a question or comment at IdeasAtPlayPodcast@gmail.com 👉  Find us on Instagram @ideas.at.play

  6. Sep 23

    Ep. 84 CO-OP for Kids with DCD and ADHD

    Send us a Text or Voicemail Up to 50% of kids with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) also have ADHD — and that overlap changes how motor gains actually stick. We're back with another episode on CO-OP: goal, plan, do, check, and 8 strategies for building motor skills through problem-solving instead of repetition. If you've been using a repetition-based, motor-learning approach with a child and haven’t seen much success, this episode has an alternative worth trying. And....if you missed it, check out our other episode on CO-OP with episode 35. We share our own thoughts in the Research Review and encourage you to read the original article too.  Izadi-Najafabadi, S., Gunton, C., Dureno, Z., & Zwicker, J. G. (2022). Effectiveness of Cognitive Orientation to Occupational Performance intervention in improving motor skills of children with developmental coordination disorder: A randomized waitlist-control trial. Clinical Rehabilitation, 36(6), 776–788. https://doi.org/10.1177/02692155221086188 Stay informed, stay curious, and stay playful! ✏️  Sign up for our newsletter by clicking here. 📧  Email us a question or comment at IdeasAtPlayPodcast@gmail.com 👉  Find us on Instagram @ideas.at.play

  7. Sep 16

    Ep. 83 Building Spoon-Feeding Skills

    Send us a Text or Voicemail “You gain what you train” — but what does that actually look like session to session? In this episode, Michele and Lacy review a case study that has all the ingredients of a solid motor learning intervention for self-feeding with a spoon. We talk through how the intervention was built, what actually improved (and what didn't), and where the study's limitations leave room to make this more practical — think play, caregiver coaching, adaptive tools.  We share our own thoughts in the Research Review and encourage you to read the original article too. Jajal, R. N., Vaghela, M. R., & Patel, B. N. (2026). Establishing independent spoon feeding through a structured motor-based shaping protocol in a child with developmental delay. International Journal for Multidisciplinary Research (IJFMR), 8(2), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.36948/ijfmr.2026.v08i02.73433  Stay informed, stay curious, and stay playful! ✏️  Sign up for our newsletter by clicking here. 📧  Email us a question or comment at IdeasAtPlayPodcast@gmail.com 👉  Find us on Instagram @ideas.at.play

  8. Sep 9

    Ep. 82 Teaching Daily Living Skills to Autistic Teens

    Send us a Text or Voicemail Daily living skill performance can be hard to learn for autistic teens, even when their cognition is average or above average. This episode covers a randomized controlled trial testing a manualized program that teaches laundry, cooking, and money management to autistic adolescents, compared head-to-head with the well-respected PEERS program. We cover the results and how an OT lens could take this already-strong intervention even further.  We share our own thoughts in the Research Review and encourage you to read the original article too.  Duncan, A., Meinzen-Derr, J., Ruble, L., Fassler, C., & Stark, L. J. (2023). A randomized clinical trial targeting daily living skills in autistic adolescents without an intellectual disability before the transition to adulthood. Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 44(9), e590–e596. https://doi.org/10.1097/DBP.0000000000001222 Stay informed, stay curious, and stay playful! ✏️  Sign up for our newsletter by clicking here. 📧  Email us a question or comment at IdeasAtPlayPodcast@gmail.com 👉  Find us on Instagram @ideas.at.play

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5
out of 5
24 Ratings

About

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

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