I love to trail run, mountain bike, play soccer and I believe that life is meant to be full; full of adventure, full of fun and most importantly-full of love.

I started working with children at the age of 11 as the neighbourhood babysitter, then moving in to pre-schools to work with children with neuro- diversities and disabilities. After graduating as a Registered Sign Language Interpreter, I took my work to the school district where I worked one on one with children in K-12 who were not just Deaf but also had ASD and other diversities. I was then asked to teach a non-speaking child with ASD Sign Language, which is where I was introduced to DIR Therapy. I saw the success this approach had and decided to become certified myself, along with a paediatric nutrition course. This is when Eat.Play.Sign was born.

In addition, through intuition and attunement, I work with what I feel, not only what I see. Attuning to the childs energy allows me to sense what they are feeling in my body, through empathy and understanding and the trusted connection through DIR, I can take proactive steps resulting in a lessening of dysregulation and challenging behaviours while offering empowerment and confidence and joy in a childs life. Reiki allows me to come in to session with a clear, calm energy and hold the space for the child, meeting them exactly where they are at.

Contact

To learn more or to book a free consultation, please give me a call or send an email:

Predictability and sameness are things that children with Autism need in various aspects of life, one being food. The bear paw cookie will always taste the same. The homemade cookies or smoothies will most likely not. This can guide children towards a diet of packaged and processed foods to make them feel comfortable and safe at meal times and with what they are eating.

Food aversions can stem from trauma, fears of choking, sensory processing and difficulty with tastes, textures and smells. However, diets high in processed foods and sugars can greatly impact a child’s behaviour, regulation and development. Incorporating nutrition and food therapy in to a session starts with healthy and whole foods being introduced in a FUN, playful way.

The goal in the beginning is to simply play with the food, we make it an activity to be creative and play with food that is child centred, healthy and fun. Over time, the child may go from simply watching to playing with the food, to pretending to eat, to putting it on their lips, to tasting and eventually to eating. The point is to make them feel comfortable, using a DIR approach of individual preferences and creating the safe, connected space for them to have the confidence to go ahead and try. What a joy to watch a child be messy, be curious and be creative!

DIR therapy, which stands for Developmental, Individual Differences, Relationship-Based, is a therapy approach that focuses on the whole child, learning who that child is and what they need, while regulating their nervous system and creating a relationship that the child can trust and feel safe in to take risks in development. This is done through play and by following the child’s lead. Children live in an adult driven world, and DIR supports teaching children through their most fluent language-that of play.

DIR Floortime is an approach used to promote an individual’s development through a respectful, playful, joyful, and engaging process. It uses the power of relationships and human connection to encourage the development of the functional emotional developmental capacities for self-regulation, engagement, communication, shared social problem solving, and creative, organized, and reflective thinking and reasoning. It is an evidence-based approach to promoting human development that is used with individuals of all ages…especially children on the autism spectrum.

The DIR Floortime approach is based on the fact that emotion is critical to the growth of the mind and brain. Following the child’s lead means following their emotions. What is of interest to your child? What gives them pleasure? Whatever it is, your child’s interest is your clue, your window into what they are feeling. The first step is for you to observe closely so that you can tune into their emotional world.

To read more on DIR, click the clink below:

https://www.icdl.com/dir

Children with Autism and/or other types of neurodivergence can often have speech delays, be non-speaking or have an auditory processing disorder. Incorporating sign language in to their lives can give them a means of communication, an ability to express their needs and an overall lessening of frustrations while maintaining regulation.

Using sign language to teach concepts that are too complex to process otherwise, or using a visual language when there is already too much auditory stimulation lessens dysregulation and offers them that quiet, calm, connected communication through sight rather than sound.

Reiki

Many of the children I work with are non-speaking and while sign language offers an avenue of communication and calmness, it goes much deeper than that. I have used my spiritual gifts to attune myself so acutely to their energies and their spiritual abilities, tapping in to other forms of communication through energy, soul talk and for some, telepathy. While these gifts are often overlooked, dismissed or just simply not noticed, I bring the ability to work on a soul level with these beautiful children who are here to teach us so much more than given credit for. 

Neuro-divergence in a world made for neuro-typical people is not easy, but can be made just that much easier when they are seen for exactly who they are, what they’re trying to communicate and that within is a soul bursting with gifts.

Reiki ensures that when I am in session, that I myself am bringing the clearest energy and most aligned version of myself to not only remain open to what their energy is communicating to me but to be a safe, happy, healing energy that they feel and absorb, holding that space for them. Through intuition, my energy and soul work, I can assist in the gifted child recognizing that their body has the ability to break up blockages, communicate and be grounded.

“Happiness is the spiritual medicine for all diseases.”

To learn more or to book a free consultation, please give me a call or send an email: