Little Life Development

10/02/2026

My personal favourite was stabbing the rubber! And tipexing everything in sight including my nails. Anyone else? 😂https://www.facebook.com/share/17BKQdQbmP/

"Old School Fidgets"
😂
I bet you had this one, too: https://amzn.to/4tiLfdy?utm_campaign=meetedgar&utm_medium=social&utm_source=meetedgar.com

04/02/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/1HW1F75tV2/

Safety is something a person decides internally.

It doesn’t matter if someone tells us ‘you’re safe’.
People who say that are usually referring to physical safety.
‘Physically you are safe here.’

It’s often not as simple as that.

If we don’t feel safe, we don’t feel safe, and we often don’t mean physically.

The thing we’re missing might be relational safety. It might be sensory safety. Emotional safety. Environmental safety.

We may not be able to explain what exactly is happening in our bodies, or why.
We may not have the words to wrap around our experience.
If our nervous system is heightened, for whatever reason, it can be hard to identify messages from our bodies. It can be even harder to explain that to someone who clearly is not experiencing the same thing as us.

It’s a big ask. We may not be able to.
But you might see clues in our actions, our emotions, our energy, our capacity, our behaviour.

Returning to authentic connection and coregulation in these moments is always a good move, whether you believe we have reasons to feel unsafe or not.

If we don’t feel safe, for whatever reason, it’s not up to you to decide something different.

It’s your job to recognise that our nervous system may be different to your own, and support us in our tricky times. And make sure that support is kind, curious, and empathetic, otherwise you are only pushing that sense of safety further and further away from us.

Yes?

Em 🌈

04/02/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1FCAQoMZsd/

13/01/2026

Echo Carly Budd Developmental Play Academy thoughts here entirely ❤️ let me know yours! 🙏❤️

13/01/2026

When you have the best view of the water under a shelter to hide out from the heavy rain! 🌳🌧️

Today was a wet one and we got pretty soaked taking the equipment down at the end of our Eco Sensory session. The weather can impact our mood and engagement and everyone is different. The weather is a sensory experience and as we all have different sensory preferences and profiles, what is enjoyed by one person could be really uncomfortable for another. I have worked with children who love being under the rain and love the feeling it gives them, whilst others have a real aversion to it. It is also important to remember that our regulation and arousal levels fluctuate throughout the day. Just because a child LOVES standing in the rain one day, it doesn't mean they will the following day.

When I was a teenager I would love long walks in the rain.. I am sure this helped me to navigate all the changes I went through. Now? Most of the time I'd prefer to be under an umbrella and just listen to the beautiful sound! ☔😂

Who here loves walking in the rain? Or are you someone who tends to hibernate as soon as there is rain forecast? ☔🌧️🧠

09/01/2026

Receiving this thankyou card this week made my heart happy 🥰 from a child on caseload who has recently found his love for drawing, it includes items related to our sessions including beautiful trees, clouds, natural items we find and create with, my backpack of resources, dogs we come accross on our walks and the drinks we make... And the fact he got my coffee cup on there means he knows me very well 😂☕

Thankyou Harry (pseudonym) I'll be keeping this envelope and will cherish it 🙏🌿🌲



❤️

08/01/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/14TZxhxY4Yt/

08/01/2026

🦆Just me..casually hiding ducks in theraputty first thing in the morning prepping for a session..😂

🤩 I love the little moments of joy that being a Paediatric OT provides. Of course there are some challenging times in this job, but there is also so much fun, creativity and joy in the small meaningful tasks that we do in every day 🥰🦆👐

As we start a new year, I am super thankful to be an OT 🙏❤️


❤️

24/12/2025

Happy Christmas Eve Everyone!🎄

I just thought I would take a moment to thank you for supporting Little Life Development this year and being part of this little family. This year I have continued to deliver sessions in schools, homes and in the beautiful outdoors as part of my Eco Sensory Therapy offer. I love the diversity of the work we do and how it is constantly evolving to meet the child's needs. 

I have loved working with all of your amazing children, supporting them through the challenges and seeing the progress they make with everyone's consistent approaches and hard work. So many successes this year from improvements in writing, gross motor skills and coordination, to developments in noticing body signals and connecting these to emotions. The increase in confidence for so many of the children this year; being able to advocate for their own needs a little more has been wonderful to see. 

Here are some pictures of the wonderful Christmas creations in sessions from the past couple of weeks. So much creativity, focus and fun! Thankyou for supporting my small business this year and I wish you all a magical Christmas. See you in the new year- I'm looking forward to continuing to support your children to develop what matters to them

Merry Christmas.🎄

16/12/2025

Let's talk transitional items and object attachment ❤️🦆👐🎒

What is a transitional item?

This is an object (usually familiar) that supports a child or person to feel comforted and secure during times of change and transition. This can be when moving between environments (home to school for example) or when the physical environment may be the same but the people or situations may be changing (in OT people are part of our environment). For example a new person may be coming to the house or there could be a change in routines.

A transitional item should ALWAYS be the child's choice. Imposing a transitional item on a child will not necessarily provide security and comfort as the item may not be meaningful to them. Obviously as caregivers we sometimes need to prioritise safety and if your child's transitional item just happens to be a chandelier (I've witnessed situations not dissimilar to this.. My daughter wanted to take a spiky pottery owl to bed with her as her transitional item as a toddler 😂) then we need to explain why this isn't possible and intervene.

With neurodivergent individuals, object attachment (becoming emotionally attached to inanimate objects) can be common. These objects can provide sensory support, significant co-regulation and can cause distress if the object is removed. It stands to reason why this attachment would happen.. after all, does this inaminamite object have social-emotional expectations of the child/person? Would that object expect them to engage in complex communication, answer questions or meet neuronormative demands?

The photos here are from a recent session with Billy (pseudonym). Billy was struggling to engage in the session and was unable to access speech. The duck he decided to bring with him, supported him to seperate from caregivers, supported play and connection in the form of shadow puppets and role play. Engagement in the session after this playful moment took an upward turn. The duck was an incredibly valuable piece within the session.

If your child is struggling with transitions, if you know that situations, routines and environments are about to change with Christmas..Consider transitional items ❤️🎄❤️