Handwriting challenges in children can stem from a variety of causes—fine motor skill delays, hand-eye coordination differences, or even emotional resistance to writing tasks. These hurdles can make writing feel frustrating or overwhelming for kids.
Kelsie Olds turns handwriting therapy into imaginative play. Through games, crafts, and storytelling, they help children build writing skills in ways that feel fun—not forced.
But school-based therapy comes with its own set of challenges:
Navigating multiple roles in the IEP team
Limited support or pressure from home
Classroom expectations
Peer embarrassment and social dynamics
Neurodiversity across students
Language and communication barriers
Medical complexities
🏫 A Conference That Understands For 26 years, Education Resources, Inc. (ERI) has hosted the Therapies in the School Conference, designed to support therapists working in educational settings. This event brings together experts who understand the unique demands of school-based therapy.
One standout session this year?
“Making Writing Meaningful: Play-Based Therapy for Kids Who ‘Hate Writing’” led by Kelsie Olds.
🎲 Try These 3 Play-Based Handwriting Ideas Want a sneak peek into Kelsie’s approach? Here are three playful activities that build writing skills:
Locks and Keys Adventure
Use real locks and keys in a pretend escape room. This builds fine motor control and finger strength.
Waterslide Maze Tracing
Create a giant wall poster with twisty waterslide paths. Kids trace the slides to boost hand-eye coordination.
Magic Scrolls for Queen Bear
Write secret messages to help Queen Bear escape! Can your child teach her to hold a pencil like a human?
💬 Learn from the Best Presenters at the Therapies in the School Conference are seasoned professionals eager to share practical, proven strategies. It’s all part of ERI’s mission: life-changing learning for therapists by therapists.
GROUP DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE:
– $40 off each person for groups of 3 or more (auto applied at registration).
– $50 offeach person for groups of 10 or more (contact the office for this rate).
– $60 off each person for groups of 15 or more (contact the office for this rate).
👥PLUS! Register 15+ participants together and receive a FREE on-demandcourse 🎁 (up to 3 contact hours) for each of your registrants. Reap all of the benefits of learning together + added value!
Call 800-487-6530.
STAY CONNECTED! Join our Therapies in the School Discussion Groupto connect with other school therapists. Network, share ideas, ask questions, share clinical challenges, receive recommendations, discuss newest research or hot topics all within this group.
🎉 ERI Launches New On-Demand Torticollis Continuing Education Series with Anjali Gupta, PT
Education Resources, Inc. (ERI) is thrilled to introduce a brand-new on-demand continuing education series led by torticollis expert and Cindy Miles mentee, Anjali Gupta, PT, MSPT, CLT. This comprehensive series is designed to equip occupational therapists, physical therapists, and speech-language pathologists with practical strategies, updated guidelines, and hands-on tools to confidently manage suspected and diagnosed torticollis.
Whether you’re new to treating torticollis or looking to deepen your clinical expertise, this flexible, self-paced series offers a valuable opportunity to build your skills from the ground up. This course is recommended for PTs, OTs and SLPs working in acute care, Early Intervention, home health, neurology, NICU, orthopedics and pediatric settings.
💡 What You’ll Learn
Looking to deepen your clinical expertise in torticollis from head to toe? Therapists play a vital role in both treating and early identification of torticollis across age ranges. This on-demand series offers a comprehensive, evidence-based approach—starting with foundational knowledge and progressing through assessment and intervention—to strengthen your clinical confidence in identifying and treating torticollis.
The course offers a comprehensive self-study allowing you to go at your own pace. Pause, rewind and reflect as often as needed. Covering evaluation through treatment, it provides practical, research-backed strategies that integrate into play and daily routines—supporting functional outcomes and effective caregiver carryover.
💡 What You’ll Learn This on-demand provides foundational information on the etiology, evaluation and treatment of infants with torticollis. This would be considered a refresher course for anyone already familiar with treating torticollis, or ideal for those new to treatment. You can expect to learn how to:
Identify thetypes of torticollisand the factors contributing to it in infants
Analyzered flagsfordifferential diagnosisand understand long-term implications of untreated/undiagnosed torticollis
Identify best practice to maximize torticollisoutcomes
🔎 Part B: Torticollis – Comprehensive Strategies – $319
Updatedassessment strategiesand tethered oral tissue(TOTS) – what’s the connection?
Relating the feet to torticollis – how are they connected?
Hands-on interventions through labs and videos: manual stretching, alignment, scar tissues, fascial correction, ROM, strengthening, vision and vestibular development.
*If you are a past participant of a Cindy Miles torticollis course and have any questions about this content, please reach out to our office at the info list below.
🧩 From Basics to Proficiency – Build Your Confidence
Created for OTs, PTs, and SLPs, these courses offer a complete learning experience to help you confidently manage torticollis in infants and children. Whether you choose a single course or the full series, you’ll walk away with actionable strategies and clinical tools you can use immediately.
📢 Ready to learn? Sign up today and take the next step in your professional development!
As rehabilitation professionals, Education Resources, Inc. embraces multidisciplinary collaboration in service of improved client outcomes. Laura Strenk’s guest blog speaks to speech language professionals, and to occupational and physical therapy providers because of the universal need and drive to communicate effectively. Take a read, share with colleagues, and see below for more multidisciplinary pediatric continuing education.
Guest Blog By Laura Strenk, MS, CCC-SLP
As a clinician who has always had strong clinical interests in both Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) and child-led therapy, I cannot count the number of times I have sat in continuing education courses on CAS feeling confused about how to apply what I have learned in a way that is efficacious while still consistent with my values and individual treatment style. Traditional motor speech therapy is typically very stringent in terms of (1) intensity, requiring long, drill-based sessions with high repetition, (2)target selection, with some programs requiring use of flashcards or nonsense words, and (3) cueing, with some programs requiring focus on the clinician’s face or touch input to the articulators. As a speech-language pathologist (SLP) at a DIR-Accredited outpatient clinic serving mostly autistic children, these features of motor speech therapy did not seem to fit neatly into my treatment toolbox, as they were created for allistic children. As a result, I found myself modifying what I was learning and then wondering if my use of these modified treatment approaches was “enough.”
Currently, research shows that up to 65% of autistic children may have CAS (Tierney, Mayes, Lohs, Black, Gisin, et al., 2015). Additionally, SLPs report suspecting CAS in 1 of 6 autistic children on their caseloads (Dawson, 2010). For these reasons, it is vital that we re-think motor speech intervention utilizing the broader principles of Neurodiversity-Affirming practice. The field of speech-language therapy is always evolving, and it is crucial that our practices evolve with it, particularly when working with neurodivergent individuals. That is why I am so excited to share a new framework that takes this need for change into account: the Motor Speech Intervention for Neurodiversity Affirming Practices (MIND-AP) Framework, developed by Moore, Boyle, and Namasivayam (2024).
The MIND-AP Framework encourages the use of connection-based, child-centered practice in which intervention progresses from core levels to higher levels, with maintenance of each level as one progresses higher and higher. The three levels of the MIND-AP Framework are:
Level 1 (Foundational Skills): Body Autonomy and Self-Regulation
This level highlights the importance of ensuring that clients feel a sense of autonomy over their own bodies and achieve sensory regulation prior to targeting language or motor speech skills. Strategies for honoring bodily autonomy may include: asking permission/receiving consent, providing advanced warning, providing rationale for actions, opting for hand-under-hand prompting if needed (vs. hand-over-hand), and honoring all forms of communication. These strategies are of the utmost importance when providing any sort of touch input to aid with motor planning, in particular. Strategies for addressing sensory regulation may include: integrating sensory motor activities into therapy sessions, providing consistent access to sensory supports, adjusting touch cues to match the preferences of each individual (e.g, selecting firm vs. light touch), and tuning into a client’s regulation moment-to-moment.
Level 2: Neurodiverse Affirming Language and Communication
This level emphasizes the communication differences present in autistic individuals and how these differences can be utilized to support language and overall communication within motor speech practice. In order to support language and communication, clinicians should provide strengths-based therapy, respect communication preferences, and help establish a meaningful lexicon. In order to support these areas, clinicians should use special interests and consider daily activities. Additionally, it is important to offer and model Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC) within therapy sessions, respecting each child’s communication choices.
Level 3: Motor Speech intervention
This level focuses on how to modify traditional motor speech strategies to be more affirming. These changes may include the following:
Balancing demands (e.g., decreasing dosage based on the impact a high number of trials may have on regulation)
Utilizing motivating activities
Providing alternatives to watching the clinician’s mouth (e.g., mirrors, videos, pictures, having the clinician wear sunglasses)
Utilizing comfortable, preferred sensory input when providing multisensory input
Providing increased processing time and presuming competence
Balancing feedback (e.g., decreasing auditory feedback based on impact on regulation)
This framework is the first of its kind, as it marries traditional motor speech intervention with Neurodiversity Affirming principles. By utilizing this framework, SLPs can more confidently provide high quality motor speech intervention in ways that affirm and support their neurodivergent clients.
Laura Strenk, MS, CCC-SLP is a pediatric speech-language pathologist who has built a career committed to providing children from diverse backgrounds and with a wide range of communication differences access to the most current and effective evidence-based practices. Laura’s passions lie in the areas of autism, neurodiversity-affirming care, apraxia of speech, and literacy. In addition to providing treatment in a private, outpatient clinic for children from ages 1-16+, Laura serves as her clinic’s Program Development Coordinator, allowing her to support the growth and development of a variety of programs, including student programming (including internships, fieldwork placements, etc.) and clinical/advocacy programs (including social clubs, DEI committees, etc.). Through this position, Laura developed a love for educating others, which led her to an Adjunct Teaching position within UNC-Chapel Hill’s Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, where she taught a Pediatric Speech-Sound Disorders course to first-year graduate students.
Citations:
Moore J, Boyle J, Namasivayam AK (2024) Neurodiversity-Affirming Motor Speech Intervention for Autistic Individuals with Co-Existing Childhood Apraxia of Speech: A Tutorial. Int J Autism & Relat Disabil 7: 168. https://doi.org/10.29011/2642-3227.100068
Dawson EJ (2010) Current assessment and treatment practices for children with autism and suspected childhood apraxia of speech: A survey of speech-language pathologists. Doctoral Thesis, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon.
Tierney C, Mayes S, Lohs SR, Black A, Gisin E, et al. (2015) How Valid Is the Checklist for Autism Spectrum Disorder When a Child Has Apraxia of Speech? J Dev Behav Pediatr 36: 569-574.
Upcoming ERI Courses related to autism for PTs, OTs, and SLPs:
Check out Tanna Neufeld Tanna Neufeld’s Plenary Session on Day One: From Movement to Meaning: Creating Connection and Communication with Complex Communicators Tanna Neufeld, CCC-SLP
September 21 – 27, 2025 marks the beginning of International Neonatal Therapy Week (INTW), a special time to recognize and celebrate the incredible work of neonatal occupational therapists (OTs), physical therapists (PTs), and speech-language pathologists (SLPs) who bring expert care and compassion to the NICU.
INTW was established by the National Association of Neonatal Therapists (NANT)to shine a light on the professionals who dedicate their careers to supporting the tiniest and most vulnerable patients. These therapists play a vital role in shaping lifelong outcomes for infants and their families.
Supporting Your Growth
As proud partners of NANT, we understand the deep emotional connection neonatal therapists have to their work and their drive to continually grow. That’s why ERI offers a wide range of continuing education courses designed specifically for NICU professionals, led by expert faculty who are leaders in the field.
🎉 Special INTW Offer: $50 Off NICU Courses
To celebrate INTW, we’re offering$50 offany NICU-related course—whether it’s a live webinar, in-person event, or on-demand session.
To all the neonatal therapists around the world – thank you. Your commitment, skill, and heart transform lives every single day. Your work in the NICU creates a ripple effect of healing and hope that lasts a lifetime and we’re honored to celebrate you this week and always.
NICU Courses That Make a Difference
Our NICU continuing education courses are designed to deliver evidence-based strategies and practical tools that you can apply immediately in your practice. Plus, the CEU hours count toward the 40 hours of education required for certification by the Neonatal Therapy National Certification Board (NTNCB).
Ready to Learn and Grow?
Reconnect with your purpose and elevate your practice through our NICU-focused education. Explore our NICU course offerings and take the next step in your professional development!
Balance Awareness Week is a campaign dedicated to raising awareness about balance loss, vertigo, dizziness, and other vestibular conditions. Adult vestibular disorders are typically under diagnosed and undertreated. An estimated 35.4% of U.S. adults aged 40 years and older (109 million Americans) experience vestibular dysfunction at some point in their lives. From September 14–20, 2025, we shine a spotlight on these often invisible and misunderstood disorders that affect millions of people.
What are the typical symptoms of vestibular disorders?
Dizziness: a sensation of lightheadedness, faintness, or unsteadiness
Vertigo: the perception of movement of the self or surrounding objects and has a rotational, spinning component
Disequilibrium: unsteadiness and imbalance that is often accompanied by spatial disorientation
What Is Balance Awareness Week? Launched in 1997 by the Vestibular Disorders Association (VeDA), Balance Awareness Week aims to bring visibility to balance disorders that are often hidden from view. These conditions may not be outwardly apparent, but they deeply impact the lives of those affected. While many vestibular disorders are chronic and incurable, knowledge and support can make a world of difference.
ERI Supports Vestibular Education Education Resources, Inc. is proud to offer a range of vestibular rehabilitation courses to support continuing education. Upcoming courses include:
Vestibular Rehabilitation: Evaluation and Management of Individuals with Dizziness and Balance Disorders LIVE WEBINAR September 20, 2025 Faculty: Richard Clendaniel
Management of Persistent Post Concussive Symptoms: What’s the Latest Evidence?
LIVE WEBINAR October 17, 2025 Faculty: Christina Finn
Vestibular Rehabilitation: Evaluation and Management of Individuals with Dizziness and Balance Disorders
IN-PERSON-Everett, WA
October 18, 2025 Faculty: Richard Clendaniel
Limb Loss/Amputee Rehabilitation: Evidence-Based Strategies Across the Continuum of Care
LIVE WEBINAR November 1, 2025 Faculty: Inger Brueckner
Leading-Edge Approaches for Concussion and Mild TBI Management: Applications for Comprehensive Assessment and Treatment
LIVE WEBINAR December 4, 2025 Faculty: Danit Macklin
For a full list of our vestibular courses, including our on-demand courses, visit our website:
Join our community to receive CEU course information to meet your professional development goals, hear the latest therapy tips, treatment ideas and connect with other therapists.
Kelsie Olds turns handwriting therapy into imaginative play. Through games, crafts, and storytelling, they help children build writing skills in ways that feel fun—not forced.
Guest Blog By Laura Strenk, MS, CCC-SLP 
A Heartfelt Thank You