How do you know when you have found your path?
What decision or life circumstance occurs to set that path in motion?
When I was in college, I was in a car accident that changed everything about who I thought I would be.
I guess I was mad, certainly bummed, but I think mad because I didn't understand why this happened to ME.
Eventually, I decided I didn't want to be mad at the world anymore for what happened...
I didn't like how that anger made me feel.
It was in this moment, I realized that I had power and control over ONE THING- how I respond.
I had to find purpose, and possibly goodness, in what happened.
This helped me to understand who I am.
I had to redefine.
I was an athlete, but now everything I did hurt.
I was a student, but just sitting to study was miserable.
I had no idea this accident would so greatly impact who I am as a human and ultimately, as a therapist.
In many ways, it was a gift, because in every negative, I was forced to find the positive, the purpose...
I was my own first therapist of sorts, and not only for Occupational Therapy.
Fast forward ...
My son was born, and he was perfect.
He didn't sleep, he cried for the first 9 months and had reflux so bad everything smelled like rotten milk.
But he was alert, inquisitive, engaged, engaging, and positively perfect. His smile would light up a room.
He asked questions about everything and loved anything related to dinosaurs, Legos, and science.
His vocabulary could contend with a 10-year old, and he was 4.
School should have been fun...right?
Except it wasn't.
As bright and engaging as he was, he could not "play school."
He would get so excited by the content that he wouldn't bother to do the homework or worksheets.
I had no idea how to help this child...my child.
He knew he was different, that he couldn't focus, that school was NOT fun.
I had to adapt to help my own son because he essentially had therapy from the day he was born,
and he still struggled.
Sensory processing is what I knew as an occupational therapist.
But there was more going on.
Fast forward again...
Brain tumor.
This one shook me, and I was not prepared despite all that I had been working on for the past 10 years.
How could this be the end?
How could ANYTHING positive come out of this one?
My daughter was 8...she needed a mom.
My son, 11, and he needed ME.
My tumor was benign, but it took over a year to feel relatively normal after treatment.
What I realized next was awesome- this tumor didn't make me mad.
This tumor was a gift because it made me realize that what I had figured out needed to be written down,
for MY son, for others who haven't figured out how to help their child or student.
I wrote a book and this is how the Dragon Phenomenon began.
My son needed a way to figure out what he felt inside (but first, he needed the words).
When he had the words, we could find the tools to help him focus and feel good inside.
I also realized my daughter needed these words too...
but for very different reasons.
So, what I do as a therapist doesn't fall into just one professional wheelhouse.
It also doesn't just apply to kids like mine.
Remember, this is a puzzle, and each kid is unique with different strengths and challenges.
Fast forward...
Middle school...
Smart kid, terrible grades. Why?
He understood the content but forgot to hand in his work.
He hated to write, so the content he was supposed to study wasn't on the page when he got home.
The missing assignments piled up,
Letting him fall on his face wasn't working because he couldn't dig himself out of the giant hole he was in.
This is how the Dragon Phenomenon grew to include executive functioning.
What people don't realize is that kids will do well if they CAN (Thank you, Dr. Greene).
If they aren't turning in work, aren't doing what they are told, it is because they CAN'T...
not because they WON'T.
Wouldn't you choose success over failure if both were options?
The people who think this kid is "lazy" or "defiant" haven't lived with this kid.
This is real, it isn't under their control, or they would have found success.
They need help.
Today, I give classes to parents and teachers to help them figure out WHY these kids CAN'T find success.
I consult in my private practice with families who just need to know their child is okay.
Any adult who lives with "THIS" child knows the heartache this kid feels when success is nowhere in sight
- some give up because it is just too hard.
These experiences have been so rewarding to me as a parent because I realize my child isn't so different;
other people are struggling with the exact same issues and heartache.
My name is Kristin.
I was born Martinsen and married Andrew Robison.
I have two incredible kids, Jens and Annika.
We have a standard poodle, two cats and a hedgehog I got in a moment of poor judgment
that turned into a very cool experience.
Thank you for taking this journey;
for knowing there are other ways to explain behavior that can actually help a child.
When we keep doing the same thing over and over, and the results never change
it is time to reassess.
It is time to figure out the puzzle and put on a different shade of lens.
What decision or life circumstance occurs to set that path in motion?
When I was in college, I was in a car accident that changed everything about who I thought I would be.
I guess I was mad, certainly bummed, but I think mad because I didn't understand why this happened to ME.
Eventually, I decided I didn't want to be mad at the world anymore for what happened...
I didn't like how that anger made me feel.
It was in this moment, I realized that I had power and control over ONE THING- how I respond.
I had to find purpose, and possibly goodness, in what happened.
This helped me to understand who I am.
I had to redefine.
I was an athlete, but now everything I did hurt.
I was a student, but just sitting to study was miserable.
I had no idea this accident would so greatly impact who I am as a human and ultimately, as a therapist.
In many ways, it was a gift, because in every negative, I was forced to find the positive, the purpose...
I was my own first therapist of sorts, and not only for Occupational Therapy.
Fast forward ...
My son was born, and he was perfect.
He didn't sleep, he cried for the first 9 months and had reflux so bad everything smelled like rotten milk.
But he was alert, inquisitive, engaged, engaging, and positively perfect. His smile would light up a room.
He asked questions about everything and loved anything related to dinosaurs, Legos, and science.
His vocabulary could contend with a 10-year old, and he was 4.
School should have been fun...right?
Except it wasn't.
As bright and engaging as he was, he could not "play school."
He would get so excited by the content that he wouldn't bother to do the homework or worksheets.
I had no idea how to help this child...my child.
He knew he was different, that he couldn't focus, that school was NOT fun.
I had to adapt to help my own son because he essentially had therapy from the day he was born,
and he still struggled.
Sensory processing is what I knew as an occupational therapist.
But there was more going on.
Fast forward again...
Brain tumor.
This one shook me, and I was not prepared despite all that I had been working on for the past 10 years.
How could this be the end?
How could ANYTHING positive come out of this one?
My daughter was 8...she needed a mom.
My son, 11, and he needed ME.
My tumor was benign, but it took over a year to feel relatively normal after treatment.
What I realized next was awesome- this tumor didn't make me mad.
This tumor was a gift because it made me realize that what I had figured out needed to be written down,
for MY son, for others who haven't figured out how to help their child or student.
I wrote a book and this is how the Dragon Phenomenon began.
My son needed a way to figure out what he felt inside (but first, he needed the words).
When he had the words, we could find the tools to help him focus and feel good inside.
I also realized my daughter needed these words too...
but for very different reasons.
So, what I do as a therapist doesn't fall into just one professional wheelhouse.
It also doesn't just apply to kids like mine.
Remember, this is a puzzle, and each kid is unique with different strengths and challenges.
Fast forward...
Middle school...
Smart kid, terrible grades. Why?
He understood the content but forgot to hand in his work.
He hated to write, so the content he was supposed to study wasn't on the page when he got home.
The missing assignments piled up,
Letting him fall on his face wasn't working because he couldn't dig himself out of the giant hole he was in.
This is how the Dragon Phenomenon grew to include executive functioning.
What people don't realize is that kids will do well if they CAN (Thank you, Dr. Greene).
If they aren't turning in work, aren't doing what they are told, it is because they CAN'T...
not because they WON'T.
Wouldn't you choose success over failure if both were options?
The people who think this kid is "lazy" or "defiant" haven't lived with this kid.
This is real, it isn't under their control, or they would have found success.
They need help.
Today, I give classes to parents and teachers to help them figure out WHY these kids CAN'T find success.
I consult in my private practice with families who just need to know their child is okay.
Any adult who lives with "THIS" child knows the heartache this kid feels when success is nowhere in sight
- some give up because it is just too hard.
These experiences have been so rewarding to me as a parent because I realize my child isn't so different;
other people are struggling with the exact same issues and heartache.
My name is Kristin.
I was born Martinsen and married Andrew Robison.
I have two incredible kids, Jens and Annika.
We have a standard poodle, two cats and a hedgehog I got in a moment of poor judgment
that turned into a very cool experience.
Thank you for taking this journey;
for knowing there are other ways to explain behavior that can actually help a child.
When we keep doing the same thing over and over, and the results never change
it is time to reassess.
It is time to figure out the puzzle and put on a different shade of lens.
"Put your oxygen mask on before assisting your child"
Sounds easy enough.
But when you are emotionally exhausted it is hard to know where to start...where is my oxygen!?
I spent many sleepless nights trying to figure out what I could do, as a mom, to give my child the skills he needed for school and with friends.
School and friends pretty much made up his world and how he viewed himself in this world.
As an OT I meet kids like this and their parents or teachers who desperately want tools or tricks to share with these kids. They need oxygen too!
I came up with some resources of my own, found and streamlined resources from other professionals and tried out different ways to reach the people who interact with these kids...
the people these kids rely on for guidance, support and stability.
I hope this website helps you see that you are not alone,
that we can help a child find happy.
It just may be time to see this child a little differently.
But when you are emotionally exhausted it is hard to know where to start...where is my oxygen!?
I spent many sleepless nights trying to figure out what I could do, as a mom, to give my child the skills he needed for school and with friends.
School and friends pretty much made up his world and how he viewed himself in this world.
As an OT I meet kids like this and their parents or teachers who desperately want tools or tricks to share with these kids. They need oxygen too!
I came up with some resources of my own, found and streamlined resources from other professionals and tried out different ways to reach the people who interact with these kids...
the people these kids rely on for guidance, support and stability.
I hope this website helps you see that you are not alone,
that we can help a child find happy.
It just may be time to see this child a little differently.
The secret to happy? It is so many things.
It is remembering to be kind to someone who may be in the middle of crisis when they don't smile back at you.
It is definitely in that moment of tucking your child in and seeing THEM smile.
It may be in the form of a simple gesture that helps you handle the raw emotion you feel when your child still struggles to find success.
WHAT is the key to this secret?
It is in the people.
It is in how we make each other feel.
When someone can see a child for more than behavior it is easier to find happy and this will affect all the relationships we have.
Thank you for being willing to adjust your lens.