In today’s episode, we’re talking to Aubrey Huntsman about occupational therapy handwriting exercises you can do at home. Aubrey is the Lead Occupational Therapist at The Arc of Loudoun/Aurora Behavior Clinic in Loudoun County Virginia. Today we will answer these questions:

• How does occupational therapy help handwriting?
• What kind of handwriting warrants the help of an OT?
• What makes it difficult for students to have neat handwriting?
• What do students need to be aware of to improve their handwriting (pencil grasp, line height, letter sizing, etc.)?
• What exercises can parents use at home to improve handwriting?
• Who might benefit from these exercises?
• Do these exercises work for a child without dysgraphia who might just need help making their writing a bit more legible?

More about Aubrey:

Aubrey is the Lead Clinical Occupational Therapist at the Aurora Behavior Clinic! She is from New England originally and moved to Northern VA in 2020. Aubrey graduated from Springfield College in Massachusetts with her Bachelor of Health Science in 2018 and again with her Master of Science in Occupational Therapy in 2019. She has been in the field for 3 years and has experience in both pediatrics and geriatrics. Aubrey has worked at Skilled Nursing Facilities, Inpatient Rehabilitation Hospitals, and Pediatric Outpatient Clinics, working closely with other disciplines and a variety of diagnoses throughout the years. She is currently on the road to becoming a Certified Autism Spectrum Disorder Clinical Specialist, as she gains more knowledge in working with children with ASD through each course.

She has always had a passion for working with children ever since her early days working in daycares and developing additional clinical experience in early intervention and pediatric clinics in college. As a member of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), Aubrey has attended conferences and participated in professional development opportunities such as guest lectures and hands-on activities to increase her knowledge of the ever-growing field.

Throughout her time at the Aurora Behavior Clinic, Aubrey has co-founded two programs. She has begun the Feeding Therapy Program and the Play and Say Group, alongside their speech therapist! Aubrey is always looking for ways to grow their clinic, which is evident in these early advances she has made!

Links and Resources:

• The Arc of Loudoun: https://abc.thearcofloudoun.org/

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