Oak Bloom OT

Lee-Anne is an Occupational Therapist, trained extensively in Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD), ADHD, and Autism Spectrum Disorders. Her work builds on human strengths, using play, creativity, imagination, exploration, and mindful awareness to build resilience and skills. With focused experience spanning educational, clinical, and governmental environments, she has experienced the positive power of collaboration when crafting “just-right” environments for those with specific sensory preferences. Lee-Anne understands the power of adapting sensory environments and having reasonable expectations for those with sensory sensitivities since she herself has sensory differences as does her son. She strives to help humans build skills and resilience surrounding emotional, sensory, and social regulation - while promoting access and adaptations that make the world more friendly for those with sensory sensitivities.

Find the updated website OakBloomOT.com HERE.

Located in the convenient Grand Lake District, Oak Bloom OT has two treatment rooms and a waiting room. Both rooms have suspended swings. One room is the primary motor room with lots of gross motor equipment. We have dubbed that the "sunshine room". The other treatment room, the "galaxy room" is a more subdued fine motor room.

We are up on the second floor (without an elevator). We have many learning toys and materials for inspiring creativity, the environment helps create the just-right challenge for building skills and regulating the body and brain.

Occasionally, we will take clients to a local park or trail to work on building well-rounded skills.

PRESENTATIONS

Presenting to schools, organizations, and Occupational Therapy conferences:

• “Is it Sensory or Behavior?”

• “Empathy in the School Environment”

• “Skills to Parent”

• The 3 Rs: Relationship, Resourced Parenting, and Reasonable Expectations”

• “Sensory Processing Tools for the Classroom”

• “Social Emotional Learning Tools”

• “Parenting Spirited Children”

• “Social-Emotional Curriculum in the Classroom”

More info on credentials

Lee-Anne Bloom is based in the Oakland Hills. She is a Bay Area native with her Master’s in Science in Occupational Therapy from San Jose State University, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Liberal Arts and Sociology from San Francisco State. Her master’s project was on treating Sensory Processing Disorders and Autism using Integrated Playgroups. Lee-Anne has worked in a variety of settings- schools, county office (California Children’s Services), Social Group clinic Communication Works, Early Intervention, and in-patient and out-patient rehabilitation. Lee-Anne has special expertise in self-regulation including emotional, sensory and social regulation, and qualifies as an autism specialist. She has many tricks up her sleeve for addressing a wide range of goals. Some of the specialized therapeutic techniques are listed but not limited to:

• SPD Advanced Mentorship Clinician Level II (SPD Pro II) in Sensory Processing Disorder through the STAR Institute

• SPD Proficiency Certification Level I (SPD Pro I) through the STAR Institute

• Research and Design through the STAR Institute

• The Zones of Regulation

• DIRFloortime ®

• SCERTS®

• Pediatric feeding and assessment

• Social Thinking ®

• Handwriting Without Tears

Resources

Find my master spreadsheet of Parenting, Sensory Processing, Emotional Regulation, Fine Motor, Gross Motor, Research, ADHD, Assistive Technology, Behavior, Mindfulness, Materials for Books, OT resources, Visual Processing and Testing.

Sensory Terms

Vestibular. The vestibular system provides information regarding head position with respect to gravity and head movement through space.  The vestibular receptors, located in the inner ear, detect the speed and direction of head movements. Adequate vestibular processing allows for balance, bilateral integration (i.e., the ability to use both sides of one’s body in a coordinated manner), and integrated oculo-motor responses that support visual focusing.  The vestibular system is also responsible for facilitating muscle tone (i.e., the “readiness” of muscles to contract), particularly in those muscles that sustain an upright posture against gravity. Lastly, vestibular processing plays a critical role in regulating the level of alertness. Dysfunction within the vestibular system can impact one or more of the aforementioned functions.  The dysfunction may manifest as hypersensitivity (i.e., fear and avoidance of heights or movement) or hyposensitivity (which may lead to excessive vestibular seeking behaviors such as spinning and jumping from heights).

Proprioceptive. The proprioceptive system provides one’s awareness of the position and orientation of specific body parts through receptors located in the muscles and joints.  This sense is responsible for providing conscious and unconscious information about force and extent of joint movements (i.e., how much pressure/force is needed to push/pull something or pick up an item) as well as the rate and timing of movements.  A dysfunction in the proprioceptive system can lead to difficulty controlling movement and can cause poor body and spatial awareness. Hyposensitivity within this system may cause seeking behaviors such as crashing, banging, pushing.  

Tactile. The tactile system provides information through receptors located throughout the skin.  This system serves important functions such as protection against tissue damage (e.g., it alerts one to withdraw from extreme temperatures or painful stimuli) and the development of one’s body awareness in order to navigate around physical obstacles.  Efficient and accurate touch perception is required for skillful manipulation of tools and objects. The tactile system has also been shown to play a significant role in the psychosocial development of children (e.g., when there is an over-reaction to tactile stimulation it can hinder a healthy attachment).  Hypersensitivity or tactile defensiveness may cause the avoidance of certain textures such as sand, paint, mud as well as “textured” foods or clothing which may be perceived as irritating. Hyposensitivity may manifest into seeking behaviors such as a child who touches everything/everyone and seeks out “messy” play.  

Praxis or Motor Planning. Praxis is defined as the ability to conceptualize, plan, and execute a novel motor activity.  Efficient integration of information from all of the senses, especially the proprioceptive and tactile senses is necessary for children to learn new motor skills.

Ideation. Ideation is a component of praxis. When presented with a novel toy or task the person may not have the “idea” of how to interact with the item.

Modulation. Sensory modulation is the brain’s ability to generate appropriately graded responses to sensory input.  Efficient sensory modulation allows the central nervous system to regulate such things as attention and activity level by enabling one to attend to important stimuli while tuning out irrelevant information.  For example, a child who has intact sensory modulation is able to listen and look at the teacher in the front of the classroom while tuning out the distractions (such as noises from the hallway, smells from the cafeteria, movement of peers around him, fluorescent lights flickering).  In contrast, a child who has a sensory modulation disorder will exhibit extreme over or under-reactions to sensations; he or she may become distressed by the lights in the classroom or the noises from the hallway. A child with sensory modulation disorder may have a difficult time inhibiting and filtering input in order to interact appropriately with the environment.  

Sensory Processing. Sensory processing refers to the ability of the nervous system to take in and interpret sensory information in order to generate an adaptive response.  To do this, the brain must register, select, organize, compare, and associate sensory information in a flexible, constantly changing manner. Traditionally, Ayres’ Sensory Integration® theory focuses on three senses: the vestibular, proprioceptive, and tactile (Ayres, 1974, 2005).  These three senses provide a child with information about his/her own body, and are foundational for the development of the other senses and for learning. The integrity of the sensory information received is the foundation for higher-level organizational skills.  Therefore, if atypical processing is occurring in one or more of these systems, a functional delay or deficit may occur in a number of areas including: praxis, gross motor skills, fine motor skills, visual motor and perceptual skills, language and communication, behavior, self-regulation, cognitive/academic skills and social skills.

Executive Function. Executive functioning refers to cognitive processes involved in the conscious control of thoughts and actions (Liebermann, Giesbrecht & Muller, 2007).  Mental operations that fall within the realm of executive functioning include but are not limited to: attention shifting, planning and executing a task with several steps, time management, working memory, self-talk, impulse control, understanding consequences, and the ability to behave appropriately for the social situation at hand.

Self-regulation. Self-regulation refers to one’s ability to attain, maintain, and change arousal and reactions appropriately, given a task or situation.  It involves many neurological connections in the brain. The ability to self-regulate depends upon adequate sensory integration, emotional regulation, and executive functioning. Emotional regulation involves monitoring, evaluating, and modifying the intensity and temporal features of one’s emotional response (Leibermann et al., 2007).  Simply put, emotional regulation refers to one’s ability to control emotions. Emotions are automatically elicited in response to events, but external elements, such as having objectivity (i.e., determining the size of the problem), motivation, and social perspective are utilized in regulating the emotion (Barkley, 1997).