The Butterfly Effect

21/08/2026

ADHD isn’t simply about being distracted or unable to concentrate.

In fact, many people with ADHD can concentrate incredibly deeply — sometimes for hours. The tricky part is having reliable control over where that attention goes, when it switches, and how easily it can be redirected.

And that’s only one piece of it.

Executive functioning, motivation, movement, sleep, emotional regulation, novelty and reward can all play a part in how ADHD shows up — and often in ways that are misunderstood as laziness, lack of effort or poor behaviour.

The more we understand what’s actually happening underneath, the better we can support children, teens and adults to work with their brains rather than constantly fighting against them.

Different brains need different supports. And sometimes, a little understanding changes everything. 🦋

19/08/2026

Trauma isn’t always something we can simply “think our way through.” Our bodies and nervous systems can carry the impact too.

Understanding this can change the way we support healing.

18/08/2026

18/08/2026

**THIS is Educational Therapy.**

Sticks. Seed pods. Play-Doh. Shaving foam. And, importantly… **pencil and paper.**

We’ve been working on persistent letter and number reversals using a **multisensory approach** — seeing, touching, building, moving and forming tricky symbols before consolidating the learning through handwriting.

**There’s good science behind this.**

Handwriting brings together visual recognition, spatial awareness, motor planning, movement and memory. Purposeful, repeated practice helps strengthen the neural pathways involved in these skills — **neuroplasticity in action.**

So we’ve formed letters in shaving foam, built them with Play-Doh, and today used sticks, bark, seed pods and wood slices.

🌿 Build it.
👀 See it.
🤲 Feel it.
🔄 Manipulate it.
✏️ **Then write it.**

The sensory work doesn't replace pencil-and-paper practice — **it gives the brain more ways to learn before we consolidate that learning on the page.**

That’s Educational Therapy: not simply asking a learner to *try harder*, but finding **different pathways to help learning stick.** 🌿🧠✏️

17/08/2026

Play therapy can look simple from the outside. But there’s a lot more happening than “just playing.”

17/08/2026

Three things I wish every parent knew about supporting their child.

Small shifts can make a big difference.

17/08/2026

I have a bit of a thing for these games.

They look like ordinary board games… except there’s one rather brilliant difference.

Nobody is trying to beat anybody else.

The kids are on the same side.

They have to talk, listen, make decisions, change their minds, cope when a plan doesn’t work, and work out what to try next — together.

Which makes Peaceable Kingdom cooperative games particularly lovely in the therapy room.

Because sometimes the most interesting part isn’t whether we can save the dinosaurs or find the treasure.

It’s what happens between the people around the board while we’re trying. 🎲

🦋

12/08/2026

Sometimes children don't have the words to tell us what's happening inside.

Instead, they show us.

A giant stomping through a LEGO world might represent anger. Fear. Worry. Sadness. Anxiety. Or perhaps something completely different.

In Play Therapy, we don't assume what a child's play means. We stay curious, follow their lead and create a safe space where they can express what feels too big or too complicated to put into words.

Play isn't "just playing"—it's often a child's most natural language.

Every child's story is unique, and every journey deserves to be heard.

09/08/2026

Therapy is not simply about reducing difficult behaviour or teaching a child to cope better. At its best, it can give a child an experience of themselves, another person, or the world that is different from what they have come to expect.

And sometimes, a different experience is where change begins.

— The Butterfly Effect, Longford Tasmania