Early Intervention with an OT Mom with Danielle Delorenzo

12/09/19 • 106 min

Sarah and Danielle discuss:

Navigating early intervention assessment as a parent and a therapist
A blessing and a curse of being an OT going through this process
Roles of being a mom, an OT, getting her doctorate, and now being a therapy mom
The importance of having a “village”
The defining moment that made her seek out help
Developmental trajectories
Being the first person as an EI OT to tell parents that something is wrong
Caregiver dyad and regulation
How having a child in early intervention has impacted her as a therapist
Parental guilt
Being present in the moment through mindfulness
Value of working with the parents and families in early intervention
Being an expert means being a life long learner
Questions she had from the mom side
Dealing with people staring at our kids when we are out in public
Using video-taping to facilitate therapy and parental education
One piece of advice for therapists?
Her blog Mornings with an OT Mom: https://morningswithanotmom.com/
Her episode on the OT Schoolhouse Podcast: https://www.otschoolhouse.com/episode38

Sarah and Danielle discuss:

Navigating early intervention assessment as a parent and a therapist
A blessing and a curse of being an OT going through this process
Roles of being a mom, an OT, getting her doctorate, and now being a therapy mom
The importance of having a “village”
The defining moment that made her seek out help
Developmental trajectories
Being the first person as an EI OT to tell parents that something is wrong
Caregiver dyad and regulation
How having a child in early intervention has impacted her as a therapist
Parental guilt
Being present in the moment through mindfulness
Value of working with the parents and families in early intervention
Being an expert means being a life long learner
Questions she had from the mom side
Dealing with people staring at our kids when we are out in public
Using video-taping to facilitate therapy and parental education
One piece of advice for therapists?
Her blog Mornings with an OT Mom: https://morningswithanotmom.com/
Her episode on the OT Schoolhouse Podcast: https://www.otschoolhouse.com/episode38

Mentioned episodes:

If you have any reflections, please do not hesitate to reach out to me. You can find me at my

Youtube: ot4lyfe:

Sarah and Mona discuss:

How she incorporates llamas into her OT sessions
What other animals she has at her practice
Why llamas are effective in therapy
LlamaFest: http://ctcroanoke.org/news/
How animals facilitate verbal and non-verbal communication
Introducing clients to animals when they are afraid of them
The importance of skilled therapy when using animals
Link to her research article: http://ot4lyfe.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/llamaOT.pdf
How she got interested in using llamas in therapy
Using llama hair for crafts
How she structures her sessions
Other considerations for using animals in therapy
The interconnectedness of all animals