Be Yourself Allied Health

Be Yourself Allied Health Neurodivergent led. An affirming mobile therapy service in Echuca and surrounds.

25/08/2026

This one means alot

I’ve officially completed my Graduate Certificate in Autism and Neurodivergent Studies.

I came into this course with almost 18 years of physiotherapy behind me but also as a neurodivergent person, a parent of neurodivergent kids, and someone increasingly aware that the way we traditionally understand bodies, behaviour and participation doesn't always fit neurodivergent people very well.

And I think that's probably what I've taken from it most.

The more I learn about neurodivergence, the more interested I become in the body underneath the behaviour.

How motor planning affects participation.
Why proprioception matters.
What happens when maintaining posture or coordinating movement costs more than anyone can see.
How regulation, movement, environment and nervous-system safety intersect.
And why sometimes a body saying “I can't” gets interpreted as a person saying “I won't.”

Finishing this doesn't make me an expert on anyone else's neurodivergence.

It does however make me even more curious.

And it feels like another piece clicking into place in the kind of therapist I want to be.

11/08/2026

And here’s the part I think we get backwards....

Sitting still isn’t evidence of attention.

Movement isn’t evidence of its absence.

Sometimes the body needs to move to make participation possible.

Maybe we don’t need to teach every body to look ready.

Maybe we need to get better at recognising what ready actually looks like in different bodies.

31/07/2026

When words aren't enough... backpacks will do 😂

Anyone else have kids who greet each other by crashing together instead of hugging?
To most people it might look rough.

But what I see is two nervous systems overflowing with excitement.

Big feelings don't always come out as gentle hugs. Sometimes they come out as full-speed collisions, shoulder bumps, backpack jousting, or a burst of movement that's simply saying:
"I'm so happy to see you!"

For many neurodivergent kids, movement is communication.

Before we rush to correct it, it's worth asking:

What is their body trying to say?
Sometimes connection looks messy. Sometimes joy is loud. Sometimes love arrives at full speed... with a backpack 🎒

16/07/2026

"Sit still so you can concentrate."

It's one of the most common instructions children hear.

For some children, it's exactly the thing that makes concentration harder.

Many neurodivergent brains don't use movement as a distraction.

They use movement as information.

Rocking.

Swinging.

Bouncing.

Fidgeting.

Changing position.

Leaning.

Pacing.

These movements aren't taking attention away from learning.

For many children, they're what makes learning possible.

Rocking, bouncing, fidgeting and leaning provide vestibular and proprioceptive input. That input isn't noise, t's information the brain uses to support attention, posture and regulation.

When we remove the movement, we often remove the tool that was helping the brain organise itself.

Movement isn't the opposite of attention.

Sometimes it's the pathway to it.

So instead of asking,

"How do we get them to sit still?"

Ask,

"What is the movement doing for them?"

Because for some bodies, stillness isn't the starting point for attention.

Movement is. 💙

12/07/2026

"They just need to be more active."

It's advice neurodivergent people hear all the time.

But what if movement has never felt safe in the first place?

For many neurodivergent people, physical activity isn't simply about fitness or motivation. It's layered with years of experiences that others don't see.

• The joints that need constant muscular effort just to know where they are in space.

• The muscles working twice as hard, stabilising and moving, so fatigue arrives before enjoyment ever does.

• The motor plan that takes far more processing before the body can act.

• The sensory load of a noisy gym, a whistle, an unpredictable ball, or a body that never quite knows what's coming next.

• The constant correction. The fear of getting it wrong.

• The feeling that movement has always been harder than it seems to be for everyone else.

When movement repeatedly feels unpredictable, overwhelming, or unsafe, avoiding it isn't laziness.

It's adaptation.

As physiotherapists, parents, teachers and coaches, we often ask:

"How do we get them more active?"

But perhaps the better question is:

"What would need to change for movement to feel safe enough to choose?"

Because participation doesn't begin with confidence.

It begins with safety.

When success is actually within reach...

When the demands match what the body can do...

When movement is adapted instead of demanded...

Participation often follows.

Not because we pushed harder.

Because we changed the conditions, not the person.

And that's where participation begins.

08/07/2026

"They're so floppy."
"They're always leaning on things." "They just seem lazy."

I hear this a lot. And here's what's actually happening underneath.In a hypermobile body, the ligaments, the passive structures that normally help hold joints steady are looser than usual. So the muscles take on more of that job instead. All day.

Holding joints stable is background work most bodies get for free. A hypermobile body pays for it every hour with active muscle effort.

That's why you see it: slumping over the desk. Leaning on walls. Draping over furniture. Wrapping legs around chair legs. W-sitting.

These aren't bad habits, they're a clever body outsourcing stability wherever it can, conserving energy for everything else.

And that's why "just sit up straight" rarely works. The child isn't refusing. Their body is budgeting its energy.

Hypermobility occurs alongside neurodivergence far more often than most people realise and it's one of the most overlooked pieces of the puzzle.

When we recognise the hidden work, every⁴thing shifts. We stop asking the body to try harder and start asking what support would free up capacity.

Because the goal isn't a stiller body.

It's a body with enough energy, stability and safety to participate.

04/07/2026

What if this isn't messing around but a body finding what it needs?

Two children.
One unusual position.

Most adults would say, "Stop climbing on each other" Or "Be careful"

But before we interrupt, getting curious.

They're building strength..... Organising their bodies in space... Exploring balance.... Discovering where their body ends and another begins.... Giving their nervous systems the movement and sensory input they seek.

In these moments, their bodies are drawing on:

* Proprioception (body awareness)

* Vestibular processing (balance & movement)

* Motor planning

* Core and shoulder stability

* Coregulation through shared physical play

What looks unusual from the outside can make complete sense from the inside.

Movement isn't always a behaviour to change.

Sometimes it's the body's way of finding safety, connection and organisation.

The body is always communicating.

The question is whether we've learned how to listen

01/07/2026

We often assume that if someone knows what to do, they should be able to do it.

But for many neurodivergent people, there's a gap between knowing what they want to do and getting their body to do it.

They may know how to tie their
shoes, start an assignment, pick up a toothbrush or walk into a room but getting the body to organiseec and begin the action is the hard part.

This isn't laziness. It isn't a lack of trying or a lack of motivation.

Motor planning is the process that helps the brain to plan, sequence and carry out movement. When that process works differently, everyday tasks can require enormous effort.

Understanding the body first changes the question from 'Why won't they?' to 'What's making this movement difficult?'

That's the difference between judging behaviour and being curious about it.

💚 Embodied Neurodivergence

28/06/2026

If you'd asked her to sit on the couch, she probably wouldn't have stayed there for long.

Not because she wasn't watching.

Not because she wasn't listening.

Because her body needed something different.

Sometimes regulation looks like rocking.

Sometimes it looks like pacing.

Sometimes it looks like lying upside down on the floor while watching a movie.

Movement looks different when the body is recharging.

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