I'm a licensed occupational therapist. I have eight years of clinical experience across sensory clinics, schools, and early intervention. I believe deeply in the value of OT. I've seen it change children's lives.
I also built a parent coaching program. And I want to be honest with you about why, and about what coaching can and cannot do, because you deserve a clear answer, not a marketing pitch.
What Occupational Therapy Actually Is
Occupational therapy is a licensed healthcare profession. A pediatric OT evaluates a child's developmental skills: fine and gross motor function, sensory processing, self-care, visual-motor integration, handwriting, executive functioning and provides direct treatment to address areas of deficit. Treatment happens with the child, typically one-on-one with a therapist, using evidence-based techniques and specialized equipment.
OT is regulated, billable to insurance in many cases, and requires a licensed provider. A pediatric OT can evaluate your child, write formal reports, contribute to IEP and 504 documentation, and provide the kind of direct hands-on intervention that only happens in a clinical or school setting.
If your child needs an evaluation, clinical OT is where you get one. If your child has motor delays that require direct therapeutic intervention, clinical OT is where that happens. If you need documentation for school services, a licensed OT provides that.
OT is irreplaceable for the things only OT can do.
What Parent Coaching Is
Parent coaching is an educational service. The client is you (the parent) not your child. The goal is to give you the knowledge, framework, and practical strategies to support your child's nervous system in daily life: at home, at school, and everywhere in between.
Coaching doesn't diagnose. It doesn't treat. It doesn't write IEP documentation or provide formal evaluations. What it does do is take the expertise that usually lives in a clinic and bring it into your home, your routines, and your actual daily life- where your child spends the vast majority of their time.
In a typical OT clinic, a child sees a therapist for 45-60 minutes once a week. That's valuable time. But it's also less than 1% of a child's waking hours. The other 99% happens at home, at school, at the dinner table, at bedtime. With you. Parent coaching is what makes that 99% more effective.
"The most powerful therapeutic agent in a child's life isn't a weekly appointment. It's a parent who understands what their child needs and knows what to do about it."
How They're Different: Side by Side
| Area | OT (Clinical) | Parent Coaching |
|---|---|---|
| Who is the client? | The child | The parent |
| What happens in sessions? | Direct intervention with the child | Education, strategy-building, and planning with the parent |
| Who is the provider? | Licensed OT (requires practice under a license) | OT-informed coach (education-based, not clinical) |
| Can it be billed to insurance? | Often yes, with diagnosis | No, private pay only |
| Does it require a diagnosis? | Often required for insurance coverage | Never required |
| Is there a waitlist? | Typically 3–12+ months | None, start immediately |
| Can it provide evaluations or IEP documentation? | Yes | No |
| Where does the work happen? | In the home, clinic, or school | Anywhere: fully virtual, available nationwide and internationally, including through PCS and moves |
| What does progress look like? | Clinical skill development in the child | Increased parent confidence, reduced dysregulation at home, improved daily routines |
They're Not Competing, They're Complementary
This is the part that matters most: parent coaching and OT are not either/or. Many families do both and when they do, the results are often better than either alone.
A child who sees an OT once a week makes faster progress when their parent understands what the OT is working on and can support it throughout the week at home. A parent who understands their child's sensory profile, knows how to structure the morning routine, and can co-regulate effectively is giving every therapeutic intervention more surface area to land on.
Coaching doesn't replace OT. It amplifies it.
And for families who are on a 6-month waitlist and need something now, coaching is the bridge. It's the thing that makes the waiting period useful rather than just hard.
In most parts of the country, the wait for pediatric OT is 3 to 12 months or longer. That's not a gap in your parenting. That's a gap in the system. Parent coaching exists, in part, because children don't stop struggling while their families wait for services and parents deserve support right now, not eventually.
If your child is on a waitlist, coaching isn't settling. It's the most useful thing you can do with the time you have.
Who Parent Coaching Is a Good Fit For
Coaching works best for families who are looking for understanding and strategy. Parents who want to know what's driving their child's behavior and what to do about it, rather than just survive the next meltdown.
- Your child struggles with sensory processing, regulation, or school readiness and you want to understand why and what to do about it at home
- You're on an OT waitlist and need support now, not in six months
- Your child has completed a round of OT and you want to maintain and build on what they learned
- Your child doesn't qualify for school-based OT but is clearly struggling
- You've been told your child is "too young to diagnose" and sent home without a plan
- You want to be a more effective advocate for your child at school and in medical appointments
- Your child's behavior at home is significantly different from their behavior in public and you're trying to understand and support that gap
- You want practical tools you can use this week, not in 90 days
When You Need Clinical OT Instead Or In Addition
I want to be direct about this, because it matters: there are situations where parent coaching is not the right primary support, and where clinical OT is what's needed. I'll refer families to clinical OT whenever I believe it's the more appropriate service.
- Your child has significant motor delays that require direct therapeutic intervention: handwriting, gross motor milestones, fine motor development below age level
- You need a formal evaluation, diagnosis, or documentation for school services or insurance
- Your child has feeding difficulties that require clinical evaluation and treatment
- There are medical concerns that need a licensed clinician's direct assessment
- Your child's challenges are severe enough that the primary intervention needs to happen with a therapist, not through parent strategies alone
If I don't think coaching is the right fit for your family, I'll tell you and I'll tell you what I think would serve you better. A discovery call is a conversation, not a commitment. If at the end of it I think you need clinical OT first, I'll say so.
I built this program to serve families well. That means being honest about what it can and cannot do and knowing when to point someone in a different direction.
What the 8 Weeks Actually Look Like
In case you've been curious but haven't quite clicked through to the program page, here's what parent coaching with me actually involves.
We meet virtually via Google Meet, once a week for eight weeks. Each session is focused on you. Your questions, your child's specific patterns, your home environment and routines. There's no child present. You don't need to bring your child to a clinic or coordinate around school pickup. You show up when your evenings are free and we work through it together.
Over eight weeks, we typically cover your child's sensory profile, the regulation patterns you're seeing at home, how to structure your environment and routines to reduce dysregulation, how to co-regulate effectively in the hard moments, and how to communicate your child's needs to teachers and other providers. You leave with a written Family Regulation Plan- a concrete, personalized document that lays out what you've learned and what to do with it.
No waitlist. No referral. No diagnosis required. You can start as soon as we find a time that works. And because sessions are fully virtual, it doesn't matter where you are. Families across the US and internationally are welcome, including military families navigating a PCS. Your support doesn't have to start over every time you move.
A 15-minute call.
No commitment. Just a conversation.
If you're not sure whether coaching is the right fit for your family, a discovery call is exactly the right place to figure that out. I'll answer your questions honestly, including if I think you need something different.
Book a Free Discovery Call