#301 - Does Your Toddler Have ADHD, SPD or Are They Acting in Typical Toddler Ways?

Check out our newly re-launched digital course: Early Intervention Blueprint: Sensory and Developmental Milestones for Infants and Toddlers

Designed for new and expecting parents, as well as therapists and professionals working with children ages birth - 4 years. OTs and OTAs - earn 11 CEU contact hours through AOTA with this digital course!

As pediatric therapists, we’re often asked about certain toddler behaviors - Is this ‘normal’? Should I be concerned about _____? Does my toddler have ADHD?

Today, we’re chatting about what is considered ‘normal’ in toddlerhood - what you can expect from your toddler and what are some signs that there might be some underlying challenges.

First, we dive into common things that toddlers go through, like struggling with a new event and pushing back during daily routines.

Then we dive into what it looks like for a toddler to have specific sensory processing challenges and what we might see if a toddler is showing signs of ADHD.

And finally we finish the conversation with what you can do!

Make sure to check out all of our links below!

We’d love to answer your questions on the podcast! Fill out this form -> https://harkla.typeform.com/to/ItWxQNP3

Brought To You By Harkla

This podcast is brought to you by Harkla.  Our mission at Harkla is to help those with special needs live happy and healthy lives. We accomplish this through high-quality sensory products,  & child development courses.

Podcast listeners get 10% off their first order at Harkla with the discount code "sensory". Head to Harkla.co/sensory to start shopping now.

Links
All Things Sensory Podcast Instagram
Harkla YouTube Channel
Harkla Website - Shop Sensory Products!
Harkla Instagram
ADHD Podcasts and Blog Posts
Overview of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Young Children
Overview of Developmental Milestones
FREE Sensory Preferences Checklist for Infants and Toddlers 

Transcript

Rachel: 0:00

If they're having complete refusals, meltdowns and really struggling to get through their daily tasks, things like getting dressed, going to the bathroom, potty training, eating, taking baths on a consistent basis. And this is like, generally like our catch all like, if someone is asking us like, Hey, should we go to OT? Like, how do we know if sensory is really impacting us? Well, it's that one right there. If the child is struggling to get through their daily activities with ease, we want to try to help them and see if there is an underlying challenge that's impacting their independence. Because that's the goal here with OT is to help them be as independent as possible, and as happy as possible. I'm Rachel.

Jessica: 0:45

And I'm Jessica. and this is All Things Sensory by Harkla.

Rachel: 0:49

We are both certified occupational therapy assistants and together with Harkla, we are on a mission to empower parents, therapists and educators to help raise confident and strong children of all abilities.

Jessica: 1:00

On this podcast, we chat about all things sensory diving into special needs, occupational therapy, parenting, self care, overall health and wellness and so much more.

Rachel: 1:10

We're here to provide raw, honest and fun strategies, ideas and information for parents, therapists and educators as well as other professionals to implement into daily life. Thank you so much for joining us. Hold on before we jump into today's episode, we are so excited to finally announce the launch of our newly redone course - Early Intervention Blueprint: Sensory and Developmental Milestones for infants and Toddlers. This course has been in the making for six plus months. We've had it done previously. We completely redid it updated it, added to it, and now professionals, occupational therapists and assistants, can earn 1.1 AOTA CEUs, after they complete this course, which means it's 11 hours of video demonstrations, teaching, lectures, videos, pictures, and you get a workbook as well. It is an absolute game changer for new parents, for expecting parents who are learning how to best support their child's sensory and primitive reflex development. Which is one thing that we get asked so often is can we incorporate primitive reflex integration for this population birth to three to four years old. In our other primitive reflex course, we focus on kiddos five and up. But this course here, our Early Intervention Blueprint, covers reflex integration for infants and toddlers. It tells you everything you need to know about developmental milestones, sensory milestones, sensory activities, sensory play for babies and toddlers, it is the jackpot that everyone, every parent, every therapist, every you know, anyone who works with kiddos, daycare, preschool, everyone needs to take this course in our opinion. So it is officially launched. We will put everything you need to know in the show notes of this episode, so you can check it out. Hey there, welcome back to All Things Sensory by Harkla. We're so happy to have you here today. I'm Rachel.

Jessica: 3:25

Oh, and I'm Jessica.

Rachel: 3:26

And we are both certified occupational therapy assistants and we are also Certified Clinical. What are we? Certified Primitive Reflex Clinical Specialists.

Jessica: 3:35

One day they will be able to say it without messing up.

Rachel: 3:37

One day. Yes. But we are here today and we were excited about it and a little sick. But that's okay.

Jessica: 3:42

We're working through it. We're going to talk about toddlers and answer a question that we get quite frequently.

And the question is: 3:53

Does my toddler have ADHD? Does my a toddler have sensory processing disorder? How do I know what's considered typical toddler behavior? Because I think we often get questions, like very specific questions, from parents of my toddlers doing this and my toddlers doing this. Should I be concerned? What does this mean? And oftentimes, it really doesn't mean anything, it just means that they're a toddler. But sometimes it might mean that they have a sensory processing challenge or maybe they're exhibiting signs of potential ADHD and so we just kind of wanted to break it down, go through some details, and then provide you with some tips and tricks at the end.

Rachel: 4:35

Yeah, and I think just from a personal clinical experience level, like we don't love, you know, putting toddlers in the ADHD box. We realize that yes, it is possible for toddlers to have ADHD. But as you'll learn throughout this episode, it's not our go to. We don't generally work with a three year old and we're like, Oh, yep, it's ADHD or definitely not the first thing that we're noticing. Just because there's so many other things going on in these little toddler worlds and we always like to rule out sensory processing challenges first. So I think let's break that down. Like what is typical in toddlerhood?

Jessica: 5:19

Yeah, we're not going to say normal because.

Rachel: 5:22

What's normal these days?

Jessica: 5:23

Yeah, We're not going to use that word.

Rachel: 5:26

You're a little closer to normal.

Jessica: 5:28

Yes, I thank you. Were gonna say more of like, what Rachel said,. What's expected in toddlerhood? What are some of the things that we can anticipate a toddler doing or the behaviors that we'll see. Some of the things that are just when we see them in toddlerhood are like, Oh, okay, that's a toddler thing that we want to be seeing that is not cause for concern.

Rachel: 5:52

Also, just to be fully transparent here in my own parenting journey, I have a three year old, and I can't tell you how many times I've come into work and I'm like, Jessica, is this okay? Is this normal? Like, what do I do? And sometimes it's just so helpful to have someone else to bounce ideas off of, and that's kind of why we're doing this podcast. Like just to hear like, it's okay, if your child is doing these things, like, we're gonna get through it, or oh, okay, here are some red flags to be aware of to potentially seek out help if needed.

Jessica: 6:26

The first one is some nervousness with new activities or new situations, but the toddler is able to participate with the help of a trusted adult. So we can expect that when we take our toddler to a new activity, a new playgroup, a new grocery store, a new or different situation that they might be nervous, they might be hesitant, they might cling on to us, they might cry a little bit. But with our help, as the trusted adult, the trusted caregiver, they will learn that it's a safe activity, they will learn how to regulate for that activity, and if it's something like a playgroup, or a swim class or gymnastics class, with consistent exposure, and with you there helping them they should be able to fully participate.

Rachel: 7:13

Yep. The next one is some clumsiness. But we see noticeable improvements as the situation or the underlying skill is completed, over and over again, and then eventually mastered. So it's pretty common for kids to initially struggle when they're learning new motor tasks, like skipping for one, or hitting a golf ball. That's what we're gonna do right now. But once they practice it and get the hang of it, generally, they do a pretty good job with it.

Jessica: 7:39

We can expect to see some pushback with daily activities as your toddler begins to, like, separate themselves from their caregiver. As they are learning more independence and control over their own body, there's going to be pushed back with daily activities like getting dressed or sitting down to eat a meal. But if you are consistent, and you can engage them in those daily activities, have consistent expectations, talk to them in a way that makes sense to their brain, then they should be able to still complete those daily activities. Occasional meltdowns are to be expected with those daily activities, because they're inserting their independence, seeing what they can get away with. But the majority of the time, they should be able to do those fairly easily with a consistent routine.

Rachel: 8:31

We might also, we generally also see.

Jessica: 8:35

We will see.

Rachel: 8:37

It would be a red flag if we don't see these. So we see big emotions, big meltdowns, big outbursts, but they are pretty resilient and able to regulate back to an organized state with the help of a trusted caregiver pretty quickly. So if they're having a meltdown over their socks being turned inside out or uncomfortable, and then you fix them, then they can move on with their day. Right? But if they continue to meltdown and meltdown and meltdown and they're not able to kind of have that mental resiliency, that's when we're like, Okay, let's look into this and see if there's a deeper issue here.

Jessica: 9:20

We're also going to see lots of movement. Toddlers, especially toddlers, are meant to move and they learn about their body and they learn about the environment through movement. So we want to see toddlers on the go the majority of their waking hours, unless they're sick, right or not feeling great. They might lay around a little bit more. But we do want to see toddlers up and running, jumping, climbing, and moving.

Rachel: 9:47

And then we'll also generally see the ability to sit and attend to a preferred activity like maybe play doh or Legos or something for several minutes at a time. But we don't know don't really expect them to be sitting down and focusing for more than five minutes of full sustained attention. It can happen of course, especially if it's like a really exciting activity. But just a few minutes of sustained attention at a time in toddlerhood.

Jessica: 10:18

And I think, too, you can redirect them to it, right? So if your toddler is playing with a new game, a new toy, or a preferred toy, maybe it's like a stacking toy, and it makes noise when you stack them, you're gonna play with it independently for a couple of minutes and then they might get up and move and that is to be expected. Because that's how they learn. They're not meant to sit still for long periods of time. But if you're there with them, you could then maybe redirect them back to the stacking game, and stack it in a new and different way to reengage their attention for a couple more minutes. Now, let's chat about some signs in toddlerhood that might tell us something is amiss. Something either from the sensory processing standpoint, or an executive functioning standpoint might be amiss. The first one is poor emotional regulation on a daily basis. So emotional outburst every single day that maybe last for 30 minutes to an hour or more. They're unable to regulate with a caregiver helping them and co-regulating these emotional outbursts are consistent every day for long periods of time, tells us that something is causing them to struggle to regulate their nervous system. .

Rachel: 11:34

Another one that we often see for kiddos who are struggling, especially in toddlerhood, is if they're having complete refusals, meltdowns, and really struggling to get through their daily tasks. Things like getting dressed, going to the bathroom, potty training, eating, taking baths, on a consistent basis. And this is like, generally like our catch all like, if someone is asking us like, Hey, should we go to OT? Like, how do we know if sensory is really impacting us? Well, it's that one right there. If the child is struggling to get through their daily activities, with ease, then when in doubt, rule it out, right? We want to try to help them and see if there is an underlying challenge that's impacting their independence, because that's the goal here with OT is to help them be as independent as possible, and as happy as possible. So complete meltdown, struggling with those daily tasks.

Jessica: 12:27

Going along with that if they are unable to participate in new activities and routines, despite the trusted caregiver being with them, and co-regulating. So I always think about, like swim lessons and taking your toddler to swim class. It's loud, it's visually stimulating.

Rachel: 12:45

It's hard for me.

Jessica: 12:46

It's hard for the caregiver and your toddler is hesitant, the first couple of sessions, but they're able to participate. Now, if they consistently after several classes, and several classes of you helping them participate, they're still fearful and anxious, maybe they're actually starting to have meltdowns when it's time to go to the swim class, that's a sign that something could be wrong. Not necessarily wrong, but something is causing them to not be able to regulate when they are at that class or that activity and it's causing them to be fearful of going.

Rachel: 13:26

And another one that we want to be aware of, we talked about movement and how movement is common, and we want toddlers to be moving. But if we're noticing that the child from like a really early age has just been on the go constantly, they're difficult to physically manage, and even like sleeping. Like they're just non stop to the point where you like, okay, maybe this is a challenge. Like that's kind of the arm ago that we want to look forand that could be a potential challenge. But kiddos are made to move so keep that in mind. Maybe they're not getting enough movement, and that's why they're physically wound up and all over the place. So I hesitate with sharing that one because I don't want people to think that just because the kiddo is on the go, they have sensory challenges. But you'll know the difference. As therapists we can tell the difference from like a kiddo who's normally we can tell a difference in a kiddo who is typically moving and being toddlers and crazy versus like, seriously nonstop on the go.

Jessica: 14:32

So the things we just talked about are oftentimes signs of sensory processing challenges. The next ones that we're going to go through are signs of potential ADHD in toddlerhood keeping in mind with ADHD, it's an executive And honestly, they're not even all symptoms or signs of ADHD. functioning disorder. We have several episodes on ADHD if you want to learn more, we can link them in the show notes for you. Most doctors aren't going to diagnose toddlers with ADHD. They're going to be more hesitant with it, which they should be because, again, like we said, toddlers are meant to move. So they're going to be on the go. They're going to be more hyperactive than an older child. They're going to have less attention than an older child. Their prefrontal cortex is not developed so their executive functioning skills are really just starting to develop, but they haven't mastered them. So generally, a child will not be diagnosed with ADHD until like six years old when they're starting elementary school. But also knowing that ADHD symptoms are going to start before age 12. Some can be as noticeable as early as age three. But again, just keeping in mind that our three and four year olds are still on the go. Their executive functioning skills are not fully developed, because they're not at an age where they need to be yet. So as we list off and talk about these signs of ADHD in toddlerhood, just keep all of that in mind. That these are not It's more of like, let's make sure we're understanding ADD and definitive, they're just some things to keep out, keep an eye out for. ADHD so that way, we aren't just immediately thinking that our child, our wild toddler, has ADHD. So just some like information, some helpful things to look at, in order to help a child from that holistic approach that we love so much. So we'll just kind of rattle off a few little nuggets of gold to keep in mind. So current classification for combined type ADHD, there are different types of ADHD, it requires a minimum of six out of nine symptoms in two or more settings. So if the toddler or well, okay, this is for older child who's getting diagnosed, if they are showing signs of ADHD, only when they're at home, but not signs at school or in the community, chances are it's not ADHD. It's something else. So they have to have these symptoms showing up in two or more settings. So home and school. Home,school, and during football. Home, school, football, and at grandma and grandpa's house. So I think that's a really important factor here is that if you do have a child a little bit older, and you're listening to this still, which is great, hopefully you are, and you're concerned about ADHD in your child, make sure you're keeping that in mind. That they have to show six out of nine symptoms, which are in the DSM. That's what is used to diagnose. In two or more settings where the child is on a regular basis.

Rachel: 17:52

I also just want a quick side note and say this article, Overview of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Young Children, is a little bit on the older side. It's from 2015, which a lot has changed since then. But there's just a lot of helpful information and we'll link this article too. It's just like a really helpful overview, exactly what it says, of ADHD in young children. So just keep that in mind as we're going through these items. Okay? Okay. Great. Cool. So the next one, is the DSM also allows the classification of to subtype disorders. So inattentive, or the child only meets criteria for inattention, and hyperactive-impulsive, where the hyperactive impulsive criteria are met. Okay? So that's what's so tricky about really diagnosing ADHD in toddlerhood is like.

Jessica: 18:40

That's why we shouldn't diagnose ADHD in toddlerhood. I can't even get it out.

Rachel: 18:46

Yeah, it's so hard.

Jessica: 18:47

It's why we shouldn't be. But anyways, this article also talks about diet, food additives, refined sugars, fatty acid deficiencies that all have an impact on a child's behavior, and I think we already know this anyways, that the more sugar we eat as adults is going to affect our behavior. So of course, it's going to affect our child's behavior. If the child is hungry, that's going to affect their behavior. So I think that's just true for everyone.

Rachel: 19:19

Yeah, just a friendly reminder of like, sugar and food dyes and nutrition in general should be one of the first places, after sleep, that we look at when we are thinking that ADHD could be a challenge either in our toddler and our child or in ourselves as well. Okay, so the next one chats a little bit more about the prevalence of ADHD and the genetic traits. Because generally give or take around 10 to 35% of immediate family members of children with ADHD are also likely to have the disorder and the risk to siblings being about 32%. and what we find is so fascinating is that if a parent has ADHD, the risk of the child or any children of that adult with ADHD, that parent, is 57%. So it's really highly genetic.

Jessica: 20:17

So if you're a parent listening to this, and you or your partner have ADHD, then it's not a guarantee that your children, your child, will have ADHD. But just knowing that it's, you know, it's likely that your child will also struggle with ADHD. I think that it actually can be helpful to know that because as a parent, you can prepare. You can say, I know the challenges that I've dealt with as an ADHD adult, or when I was a child having ADHD, I know the challenges that I struggled with and so now I know that I can find ways to help my child if they also struggle.

Rachel: 20:58

But it can also be even more overwhelming. Because having ADHD you could be more disorganized and more overwhelmed and struggling to organize all of your executive functioning skills. And that could make it even harder to help your child with ADHD too.

Jessica: 21:13

Which is why it's so important to seek out help.

Rachel: 21:15

It is. Yes, there's a lot of layers. There's a lot of layers here.

Jessica: 21:19

The next part in this article talked about environmental toxins. Toxic metals, pesticides, lead, arsenic, aluminum, mercury, all of those different things that are often talked about nowadays, and how those different being exposed to those different materials and toxins can potentially affect a child's behavior. And we talk about this often, we highly recommend working with a functional medicine practitioner, if you are noticing that your toddler or child is having challenges. Because we want to really dig in and find the underlying why and if it is due to a toxic metal overload or toxic something, then a functional medicine practitioner is a great resource to help you find those underlying causes.

Rachel: 22:15

And work through them. Yeah. I'm just laughing because we got a review on our podcast. I was talking about how we were talking about toxins in our podcast, and it completely made that person decide that we weren't trustworthy podcasts. Because we talked about toxins and how dangerous they are and apparently they're not dangerous, but apparently they are according to research. So I just had to giggle when Jessica was talking about toxins, but.

Jessica: 22:42

Because we got that review just recently.

Rachel: 22:44

Yeah, yeah.

Jessica: 22:45

Go look at the research. It's there.

Rachel: 22:48

Okay. The next one that we kind of mentioned earlier was sleep. And honestly, sleep is such a huge component of ADHD. Sleep disturbances, challenges falling asleep, staying asleep, being tired when you wake up, waking up multiple times during the night, and some articles found that these sleep disturbances were occurring twice as often in kids with ADHD versus like the control kiddos that they were doing the research on. So sleep is a huge place to start sleep and nutrition and sensory is like the my like top three with ADHD when helping kiddos, when helping myself for crying out loud. All the things.

Jessica: 23:37

For crying out loud. So all that being said, if you have a toddler and you're curious if they might be showing signs of ADHD, we will link some more information in the show notes. But just know that even if they are showing signs of ADHD, like hyperactivity, decreased attention, that doesn't necessarily mean that it is ADHD. It could just be a toddler behavior, but trying to make sure that you're addressing those areas that Rachel mentioned. Sleep, nutrition, and sensory making sure your child's getting plenty of sensory input. Good nutrition as much as possible even though toddlers become picky eaters, which is a whole other issue. We have episodes on picky eating. So check those out, and sleep. But yeah, I just it's so tricky because one of my favorite areas to work on is with toddlers. Like I love working with infants and toddlers and when I work with toddlers, oftentimes they will come in and they do have signs of ADHD they are running around. They can't even attend to a preferred activity for more than 30 seconds and it's just because their nervous system is disorganized and so once we can help the toddler get their nervous system organized by using a variety of sensory strategies. Heavy work, crawling is really my go to, oral motor activities using the Z vibe, blowing, doing bubble mountain, and using some sort of communication device if they are struggling with communication verbally, those make a huge impact in those like signs of ADHD that really weren't ADHD it was something else.

Rachel: 25:16

Okay, a couple of takeaways. Ask your pediatrician for a referral to a professional like occupational therapy. We always say when in doubt, rule it out. If you have concerns, it does not hurt to get an evaluation and to see if someone can help you. We also recommend checking out our infant and toddler sensory development course. It is now AOTA approved so therapists can get CEUs for early intervention, parents can learn all the things, new parents, it's like a one stop shop for sensory processing and reflex integration, and just overall infant and toddler development.

Jessica: 25:55

It's geared towards children birth to three to four years old.

Rachel: 25:58

Yes.

Jessica: 26:00

The next tip is to get outside every single day. Nature. Being outside in the natural sunlight, the natural air.

Rachel: 26:09

The natural air.

Jessica: 26:10

The natural sound. You know what I mean.

Rachel: 26:14

I know.

Jessica: 26:15

Getting outside is regulating to the nervous system and go barefoot as often as possible. One of my favorite podcasts that I listen to all the time was just talking about how we as humans were meant to be barefoot and how wearing shoes from an early age can actually negatively impact the child's ability to navigate their environment balance and postural control. So take your shoes off your toddler, take your toddler shoes off, have them take their shoes off if possible, and have them go barefoot on a more regular, consistent basis. So that they can develop those proprioceptive senses throughout their lower body. So that they can develop the muscles in their feet and develop those feet arches. Just like we have hand arches, we have arches in our feet that need to be developed. So go outside. Walk on different surfaces barefoot as much as possible.

Rachel: 27:10

Okay, the next one, like I mentioned 100 times, improve sleep hygiene and quality. I know easier said than done, trust me. But we do have a couple of podcast episodes that can help get you started on that journey to improving sleep. We also have some products here at Harkla that can help you with the sleep quality part as well. And then the next one is to get down on their level and engage in the activities that they enjoy and that they like. Focus on connection with them. How often in today's day and age, this is like a whole like soapbox for me, but just like I'm not saying I'm perfect on this either. I definitely have my moments.

Jessica: 27:50

I am, of course.

Rachel: 27:52

Leave it to Jessica. But like put the phones down, turn the TV's off, and just like play with no distractions. When's the last time you've done that with your toddler? Maybe you don't all the time. Good for you, keep doing it. But maybe you just need a little nudge, a little friendly reminder like I did. I'm working all the time and it's like, I just need to put everything down, turn it away, and just play. And when I do that, it's like night and day difference. My kids are just like, oh, like angels.

Jessica: 28:23

And it doesn't have to be like this big hour long play activity. It can literally be for 10 to 20 minutes every single day. Maybe it's when you get home from work and you intentionally spend 10 to 20 minutes with your child engaging in whatever play activity that they want to do. You're not telling them to do anything. You're not saying here, let's do this instead. It's you're following their lead, then you can set the timer if you need to. It doesn't have to be this big ordeal just a couple of minutes every single day.

Rachel: 28:59

Go on a walk and let it be toddler lead. Like let them show you where they want to go, go at their pace, pick up the rocks and throw them in the water, like go on a toddler led walk and that could be your connection too.

Jessica: 29:11

Totally. The next one is to decrease the amount of technology that your toddler is using. Technology is great. Tablets are great. There's a lot of great YouTube videos and TV shows out there right now. I think Miss Rachael is like the big one that everyone loves. That teaches your toddler a lot of things, right?

Rachel: 29:30

Yeah.

Jessica: 29:31

And that's great. But can you decrease the amount of time that your toddler is using it? Can you maybe you have a set limit of okay, we get to watch the TV for 15 minutes and when your toddler is watching the TV for 15 minutes, you do it with them. So instead of using the technology as a way to like keep your child busy while you're doing something else, can you find a way to do it with your child? So that you're sitting on the couch with your child, snuggling up while you watch this little show for 15 minutes, and maybe that's your connection time. Maybe that's what you have that day, you found to be your 15 minutes of connection time with your child. But if you can remove technology, not completely, because I feel like the day, the world we live in right now we can't remove it completely, and that's fine. But if you can decrease it, and when you do use it, do it with your child can make a huge difference.

Rachel: 30:28

My question I always ask myself when we do use technology with our kids is like, what are they not doing? What are they missing out on while they're watching TV? You know, that they could be doing if the TV was off. So that's always like what I'm thinking about, like, Oh, what are they missing out on right now? Like, what could they be doing instead?

Jessica: 30:47

Totally.

Rachel: 30:48

Sometimes it's arguing and fighting and causing trouble.

Jessica: 30:51

Which kids need to do.

Rachel: 30:52

Yeah, sometimes it's, you know, oh, we're missing out on some nice sunshine outside. So like, it's like an aha moment, right?

Jessica: 30:58

Yes.

Rachel: 30:59

Okay, another one that can be beneficial is to add more novelty into the daily routine. Change it up, drive a different way to school, try a new recipe, make it together, go on a different walking path or hiking trail, just subtle novelty items in your daily routine can be enough dopamine to improve their attention and to keep them engaged. So especially if we really are seeing some of those ADHD type challenges, adding that novelty, adding that dopamine into the daily routine, that dopamine boost, which is from novelty, can be really beneficial.

Jessica: 31:39

Next one is to review your expectations that you have for your toddler. We have linked a chart in the podcast show notes that you can look at, that kind of goes through what we can expect our infant and toddler to be doing at certain ages. So if you expect your toddler to be able to clean the entire bathroom, I'm here to tell you that's not an appropriate expectation for your toddler. Maybe they are able to help wipe down the counters. That is an appropriate expectation for a toddler. So just make sure that you kind of understand how a toddler's brain works, where their attention span is at, how many steps for a task they can follow independently, and just get a better understanding of those pieces. So that you can have appropriate, I say appropriate because it's true appropriate expectations for your toddler for where they are.

Rachel: 32:46

I love that one. I love it. And really the key takeaway here that we're gonna leave you with, the last golden nugget, the last golden egg.

Jessica: 32:53

So many golden nuggets, tickets, and eggs.

Rachel: 32:58

The last thing and then we're gonna let you go because this has been a long episode, rule out sensory processing challenges before going down the route of ADHD especially in toddlerhood. Rule out sensory seeking. Rule out sensory avoiding. Rule out sensory under-responsiveness. When you can look at a child's sensory needs, then you can see what they're missing or what they need more of, which could look like ADHD type tendencies. We will also link a toddler sensory checklist in the show notes that we have available for you. So you can take the sensory checklist. You can identify their sensory needs. It's non standardized, it's just for informational uses only. It's not a diagnostic tool, but it will be helpful for you. Let us know if you have questions. If you loved this episode, you thought it was helpful or maybe you didn't at all, let us know. Leave us a review. I know we talked about toxins and apparently that's not okay to talk about. But leave us review. I'm feisty today and we will talk to you next week.

Jessica: 34:01

Okay, bye.

Rachel: 34:04

Thank you so much for listening to All Things Sensory by Harkla.

Jessica: 34:07

If you want more information on anything mentioned in the show, head over to Harkla.co/podcast to get the show notes.

Rachel: 34:15

If you have any follow up questions, the best place to ask those is in the comments, on the show notes, or message us on our Instagram account which is at Harkla_family or at all things sensory podcast. If you just search Harkla, you'll find us there.

Jessica: 34:31

Like we mentioned before, our podcast listeners get 10% off their first order at Harkla. Whether it's for one of our digital courses or one of our sensory swings, the discount

code: 34:47

sensory, will get you 10% off.

Rachel: 34:50

Head to Harkla.co/sensory to use that discount code right now.

Jessica: 34:55

We are so excited to work together to help create confident kids all over the world. While we make every effort to share correct information we're still learning.

Rachel: 35:05

We will double check all of our facts but realize that medicine is a constantly changing science and art.

Jessica: 35:10

One doctor or therapist may have a different way of doing things from another.

Rachel: 35:14

We are simply presenting our views and opinions on how to address common sensory challenges, health related difficulties, and what we have found to be beneficial that will be as evidence based as possible.

Jessica: 35:26

By listening to this podcast you agree not to use this podcast as medical advice to treat any medical condition in either yourself or your child.

Rachel: 35:34

Consult your child's pediatrician or therapists for any medical issues that he or she may be having.

Jessica: 35:39

This entire disclaimer also applies to any guests or contributors to the podcast.

Rachel: 35:45

Thanks so much for listening