Big Talks, Little Talks

Enrollment Options

Meet Your Instructor

Kelsie Mick Olds, MOT, OTR/L

Mick is an occupational therapist working both on- and offline to share knowledge widely about the ways that children grow, develop, and learn. Mick is passionate about play as the core meaningful occupation that underlies childhood, and about equipping adults with the education and practical tools they need to defend children’s right to play.

Mick has a Master of Occupational Therapy degree from the University of Oklahoma and has worked primarily in schools, as well as consulting with teachers, therapists, and parents to advocate on children’s behalf. Mick blogs as The OccuPLAYtional Therapist.

About This Course

Courses in This Series

1. Module 1

   Feeling All the Feelings: Co-, Dys-, and Self-Regulation

   0.175 General CEUs

   Children can dysregulate at both ends of the energy spectrum, and knowing the difference shapes how you respond. This course teaches the energy-place-task framework of regulation, explains how co-regulation supports the development of self-regulation over time, and gives caregivers and practitioners practical strategies to use in real moments.

2. Module 2

   Making Sense of Behavior: The Basics of Sensory Processing

   0.15 General CEUs

   Children’s behavior often reflects sensory needs that haven’t been met yet. This module covers the eight sensory systems, the four sensory processing profiles, and the difference between threshold and tolerance — then gives caregivers and practitioners a practical framework for identifying the sensory causes behind what they’re seeing.

3. Module 3

   Living in a Neurodiverse World

   0.15 General CEUs

   Neurodiversity terminology gets thrown around constantly, but the history behind it, the reasons diagnosis rates keep climbing, and what it all actually means can be hard to pin down. Get clear on the terminology, understand the real factors shaping who gets diagnosed and who doesn’t, and build a stronger foundation for showing up in neuroaffirming ways, rooted in universal design and respect for self-identification.

4. Module 4

   Moving & Soothing: The Power of Proprioceptive & Vestibular Input

   0.15 General CEUs

   Behavior that looks wild, chaotic, or dysregulated often comes back to what the body is looking for: movement, pressure, impact, or some combination. Get a clear understanding of the vestibular and proprioceptive senses, learn why different types of input can soothe or alert, and walk away with practical strategies for using movement and pressure as regulation tools at home, in the classroom, and in therapy.

5. Module 5

   Kids Don’t Want Your Power, They Want Their Own

   0.175 General CEUs

   Kids’ pushback, negotiation, and need for control often gets misread as defiance, but most of the time children aren’t looking for power over adults. They’re looking for power over themselves. Learn the difference between self-autonomy and power over others, understand how chronic disempowerment shapes behavior over time, and get practical strategies for sharing power meaningfully at home, school, and in therapy.

6. Module 6

   100 Ways to Do Hard Things: How to Alter, Adapt, & Accommodate Tricky Tasks

   0.15 General CEUs

   When a self-care task isn’t working for a child or family, it can feel like the only options are push harder or give up. But there is a whole middle ground of adapting, altering, and accommodating that gets treated like it’s a lesser solution when it isn’t. Learn a practical framework of categories you can change (position, tool, timing, people, sensory components, and more), work through the fear-based thinking that gets in the way of trying something different, and walk away with concrete ideas you can use today.

7. Module 7

   Sensory Processing & Sensory Mismatch

   0.125 General CEUs

   Every person processes sensory information differently, and when two people sharing the same space need opposite things from their environment, it creates one of the most common challenges parents, educators, and therapists face. This course teaches you about sensory mismatch and gives you practical tools and strategies for recognizing and resolving sensory mismatches.

8. Module 8

   Protecting the Power of Play

   0.15 General CEUs

   Play isn’t what kids do when they’re not learning. It’s how they learn, how their bodies build the strength they need for school, and how their brains develop the skills that reading and writing depend on. Understand the research showing play outperforms direct instruction for young children, learn the foundational skills that must be in place before academic learning can succeed, and get practical strategies for bringing real movement and play back into home and classroom settings.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, participants should be able to:

1. 1Define regulation and dysregulation through the framework of energy, place, and task, and describe how co-regulation and child-led play support the development of self-regulation across the lifespan.
2. 2Identify the four sensory processing profiles and describe how threshold, tolerance, and sensory cause can be used to interpret children's behavior.
3. 3Describe the regulatory effects of vestibular and proprioceptive input, including the three subtypes of proprioception, and explain how this knowledge can support children in various environments.
4. 4Define key neurodiversity terminology, explain the factors behind rising diagnosis rates, and describe how universal design and self-identification support neuroaffirming practice.
5. 5Distinguish between self-autonomy power and power over others, and describe strategies for sharing power with children while recognizing how adults' own history and resources shape their responses.
6. 6Identify the categories of change available when adapting self-care tasks, and describe how fear-based thinking can interfere with a caregiver's willingness to adapt.
7. 7Define sensory mismatch, distinguish between proxy and personal senses, and describe four tools for managing mismatch in shared environments.
8. 8Explain why play produces stronger learning outcomes than direct instruction for young children, and describe how different types of play support the foundational skills children need for academic readiness.