March 2026
Hi Team, Welcome to March!
Please take the time (up to 30 minutes admin time) to read the newsletter and bring any questions to our upcoming team meeting on Wednesday, March 11th @ 11:00.
March 2026 Newsletter
- Thank you Esme for extending availability for home sessions for our EI clients and tirelessly working to make sure our Spanish speaking families are cared for!
- Huge shout out to Meghan for cleaning and re-organizing the food school kitchen!
- Thanks to Kayla and Emily for sprucing up the clinic during ski week and discarding unneeded supplies and equipment to make more space for treatments!
- Round of applause for Alli, Jazmine, and Bryant for staffing a Little Hands table at the upcoming GHA social at the end of March. We appreciate you representing our team!
We will be joined by Alexander Traugott from Bear’s Cairn for the first 15 minutes of our team meeting as he will be sharing more about his practice. Please submit any questions you may have during the discussion here by March 9th.
Background: At Bear’s Cairn, I provide experience-based mentorship for young people (ages 10-22) when conventional approaches don’t serve them. Serving Marin County and the San Francisco Bay Area, I work with therapy-resistant and neurodivergent youth through embodied experiences that build the emotional intelligence foundation that makes everything else possible.
My approach integrates clinical training (M.A. in Holistic Counseling, 6+ years in therapeutic settings) with professional adventure expertise (AMGA-certified climbing instructor) and relational mentorship—a combination rarely found in one practitioner.
My integrated approach combines:
- Emotional Navigation & Life Skills – Building emotional intelligence as the foundation, alongside executive functioning support, social skills development, values exploration, and practical independence capabilities
- Embodied Development Through Climbing – Physical challenge that builds more than strength: frustration tolerance, somatic awareness, emotional resilience, self-esteem, and the deep knowing that your body is home
- Wilderness Immersion – Reconnecting to the primal rhythms, spiritual depth, and aliveness that only wild places can teach—nature as co-regulator, teacher, and mirror
St. Patrick’s Day activities
Grade Down
- Pre-cut the leprechaun pieces so the child only needs to color and glue them in the correct place.
- Make your own so they have a visual model.
- Use loop scissors or spring scissors for children with weaker grasp.
Grade Up
- Color, cut, glue and then complete a writing assignment by writing a brief story about the mischief your Leprechaun got into.
- Hide various markers around the room and give your child clues to find the marker
- Give the child verbal directions only (no visual outline):
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- “Glue the hat first, then the beard, then the buckle.”
We’re excited to launch our quarterly Lunch & Learn series on Wednesday, 3/25 at 11:00 a.m. Meghan will follow up with a research article to review together, along with more details as the date gets closer.
Little Hands will be participating in the GHA spring social. We hope you all can make it. Thank you to Bryant for organizing this annual event!
Event details:
Date: Friday, March 27th 2026
Time: 4:00-6:00pm
Location: Golden Hills Academy. 64 Digital Dr., Novato CA 94949
Delish food catered by El Paisa Taqueria. Friends and family all welcome!
Spring Break for most Marin schools is the week of 4/6. Our admin team will send reminders to our families a few weeks in advance to support any scheduling changes. However, please anticipate a change in hours and talk to Kellie or Cierra if you’d like to strategize on any ways to fill gaps in your schedule that week.
OT Month begins April 1st! In celebration of the profession and recognizing our OT team, please share any ideas you may have with Kellie via email about ways we can celebrate OT month in the clinic with our clients and families!
OT’s please do not use any of the Speech materials from the closet or our rooms. Things are going missing or being put back piecemeal in the go back bin (and then the volunteers put it somewhere we can’t find it). Many of the materials are our personal belongings. If you need something for the OT side or for EI talk to the directors.
Improving Pencil Pressure through Proprioception
Neurodiversity Affirming Strategies
Episode 352: OT Kelly Mahler on Supporting Children’s Interoception – Tilt Parenting
Interoception for Parents and Caregivers
new learn play thrive course on interoception for non speaking clients
Selective Mutism Association courses
New tool: 5 lbs kettle bells in TRX bin in gym
