Speech Freedom

03/09/2026

03/09/2026

02/09/2026

My work means I get to visit a lot of therapeutic clinics and the following is a conversation I have often:

*inside a small, bare therapy room, with work materials and 1 exercise ball*

Therapist: “Levi loves bouncing on the ball when he’s in here, it’s his favorite thing to do!”
Me: “Yeah, I’m sure he does…there’s not any other options.” 😔

Autism, by definition comes with limited interests, so seeing a rather bare therapy space is not uncommon.

I’m not going to tell you a simple environment is a bad environment, because that’s not true. Sometimes simple is exactly what someone needs.

But “simple” should still leave room for expansion.

Later, I’ll ask that same therapist: “Is there anything else Levi likes to do?”

She answers, “He likes to color - well, he likes to watch ME color.
He picks out the markers and points to where he wants each color to go.”

When autism makes novelty difficult, our clients may not seek out the experiences that could eventually become new interests, new skills, or new ways to connect with other people.

You might pull out the blocks and Levi pushes them away.
You might suggest a new game and he gets upset.

So over time, it's easy to fall into a routine of offering the things you already know will work.
But part of therapy is helping someone build a bigger life.

If nobody introduces new possibilities, how are they supposed to discover what else their life could include?

When I worked 1 on 1 with clients I taught myself to start thinking like a social media algorithm.

When you open Instagram, you don't have to search for videos.
The algorithm remembers what you’ve watched before and starts making educated guesses.

If you watched a cute baby duck…maybe you'll like a puppy.
If you watched someone decorate a cake…maybe you'll like watching someone paint.

We can do the same thing for our autistic clients.

Notice what PART Levi likes about an activity.

We learned he likes watching his therapist color…

Maybe he likes watching something change as another person manipulates it?
Maybe he likes choosing what happens next?
Maybe he likes being involved without having to physically do the activity himself?

Oftentimes, we CAN’T just ask, “Levi, what new hobbies would you like to try?”

Because even an autistic person with lots of language may struggle to imagine an unfamiliar experience, or predict whether they'll enjoy it.

You can't request an experience you don't know exists.
That's where we have to do some of the guessing.

Take what you know they enjoy, figure out what seems important about it, and use those clues to generate the next possibility.

You're going to guess wrong. A LOT. It’s ok! The algorithm guesses wrong too!

Does your client love throwing things?
Maybe try pushing a doll down the slide, or throwing balls at a target.

Do they watch the same 30 seconds of a video over and over?
Maybe they’d like using action figures or puppets to recreate that scene.

Do they monologue about a special interest?
Maybe that interest becomes trivia, a matching game, or an interactive presentation.

The question isn't just, “What does this person like?”
It's “What is it ABOUT this that they might like…and where else can we find that?”

Think like the algorithm.
Use what your client already loves to make an educated guess about what else they might enjoy.

And please, get rejected in the process!

You’re not trying to uncover a new hidden passion every session.

Expansion doesn’t have to mean huge change. It can simply mean adding another possibility. ❤️

01/09/2026

The classroom environment can make a huge difference for a child with selective mutism. 💛

The right accommodations aren’t about avoiding communication, they’re about reducing pressure, building safety and creating the conditions where communication can grow.

📖 In my new blog, I share 5 essential classroom accommodations every teacher should know.

🔗 Blog link in the comments.

💬 Teachers and parents — what has made the biggest difference in your classroom?

01/09/2026

I am so excited to let you know that THREE of my books are 99p on UK Kindle from today (Sept 1) for a limited time.

They are my first book,

Changing Our Minds - this is my book on self-directed education, what it is, how it works and what it looks like in practice.

The Teenager's Guide To Burnout - this is the first self-help book for teenagers who are burnt out by school. Fully and brilliantly illustrated by Eliza Fricker

AND the new book! The Teenager's Guide to Taking Control of Your Education - this is the book for the teens who are out of school and who just can't see what learning looks like when it's not in a classroom. Also fully illustrated by Eliza and including the stories of seventeen real life teenagers.

Both the teenager's guides are good to just flick through and read bits, or look at the fabulous cartoons.

These are amazing deals which will not last for ever so please share with anyone who might be interested.

31/08/2026

Felt cute, might delete later 😉

Nah, okay, I didn’t just feel like sharing some selfies for no reason…I wanted to show you a few of the different ways that I personally sit at my desk, in an office, in a professional work environment, each day.

Yes, my feet reach the floor. Yes, I have arm rests and can sit with my body at 90 degree angles…but I almost never do.

(My feet are on the floor as I write this. Both of my legs are jiggling fervently. That’s another way I self-regulate.)

Sitting at 90 degree angles — ESPECIALLY if I were forced to stay still and not jiggle — does. not. work for me. Not even a little bit. I would not hear what you were saying. The words would be in one ear and out the other. All of my hearing and focus would instead be on how uncomfortable I was in my body.

If I’m perched in my office chair like a bird, or typing with my hand wrapped beneath one knee, or even putting my feet on the table…I can focus on what I’m writing. Or focus on what you’re telling me.

But I’m an adult. So usually nobody tells me I can’t sit that way if I don’t want to. (…Well, with the exception of one grad school teacher who actually pulled me into her office for a meeting about how I wasn’t sitting professionally in class…I was not doing any of these things. I was sitting criss-cross applesauce in a chair in a lecture. It baffled me that this was important enough to her to have a meeting about.)

But in school, kids’ seating options are usually limited to…well…sit quietly without wiggling in your chair at 90 degree angles for 8 hours a day. (Or, more realistically, for 30-90 minutes at a time, maybe with 1-5 minute stretch or wiggle breaks…which is *something* but it’s not enough.)

Children — not just ones with sensory difficulties, but literally all children, even the ones who don’t seem like they’re having a hard time meeting the expectation to sit still — learn better through movement and play. And on top of that very basic fact, children self-regulate through wiggling and movement and proprioception and vestibular sensory input. And on top of *that*, children who *do* struggle with sensory differences or other neurodivergences need it even more and in greater quantities.

Here are some quick ways to incorporate movement or stop policing posture in a school environment:

*Let kids stand up beside their table to work if they would prefer that to sitting down.
*Even better, let kids lie down on their tummies and work on writing, reading, etc, on the floor. (Pushing up on elbows or arms.)
*Don’t force “criss-cross applesauce” during floor time or circle time. Allow kneeling, criss-cross, lying on tummy and pushing up, side-kneeling, sitting with legs out in front, squatting, etc.
*Don’t enforce a limit you don’t have to, when what you really mean is another one. An example of this: I don’t let my toddler stand on her chair during dinnertime. If I see her squatting in order to stand up, I tell her to sit down (and help her sit down if she needs help). But if she wants to squat quietly for the sake of squatting, that’s OK. You don’t have to enforce “only sit with your bottom in the chair” if what you really mean is “don’t run away from the table/room/teacher”. You can enforce the actual limit instead.
*Incorporate movement learning — like walking around the room to see and copy different things posted different places, or interact with different centers/stations.

Yes. These things take more time than trying to enforce compliance. It always takes more time to create inclusive systems based on the needs of the people within them, than it does to imagine a quiet non-chaotic system and then punish anyone who doesn’t fall into line with that quiet and non-chaos. But these are children we’re talking about. Anything that’s actually built for children is going to take time and accommodation in the short-term.

The long term is children who learn better and understand more fully and are more at home in their bodies and minds. It’s worth it to me.

[Image description: A person in a red plaid flannel shirt with pink short hair sitting in a variety of ways at an office desk. In the first image, I am sitting perched in a squat. In the second, I am in side-kneeling on the office chair. In the third, my feet are up on the desk out to the side. In the fourth, one knee is up to my chest and the other leg is crossed over it. End description.]