Small Steps - Tying it together & the App Launch!

In the final episode of the Small Steps series we talk about Theralinq's new Mobile App and how to implement the steps from episodes 1 and 2 to make progress towards therapy goals.

Bethany Darragh 0:20

Welcome to the Theralinq podcast, where we explore practical strategies and real-life solutions to help families thrive. I'm Bethany Darragh, a pediatric occupational therapist, and I'm excited to bring you this special series called small steps. Join me and my co-host, Brennan Barber in this three-part series, we'll focus on how small, intentional changes can lead to meaningful progress for families, especially for those navigating life with children who have disabilities or therapy goals, whether it's creating a consistent routine, working toward therapy milestones, or simply finding more balance in your daily life. We'll guide you through practical and manageable steps that build toward big transformations over time. If you've ever felt overwhelmed by where to start or how to keep moving forward, this series is for you. Every big transformation begins with a small step, and we're here to take those steps with you.

Brennan Barber 1:21

Welcome back to the small step series. If you've been with us from the start, you know we're all about meaningful change, one step at a time. Season One of the podcast really focused on human stories, specifically change-makers in the disability space. In season two, we're talking about implementing steps that allow families to make progress on their goals. Bethany, want to give us a quick recap of where we've been so far.

Bethany 1:45

Yeah. So in episode one, we talked about foundational routines and habits your family needs to be prepared for change. So, this the way I look at it, are just these daily anchors that set the stage for progress. And then in episode two, we started setting goals, and we talked about how to do that in a way that supports your family without adding extra stress, and so I'm really excited about today. We're diving into how to maintain progress. So, setting goals is just the beginning. These four keys, which I like to group into consistency, clarity, simplicity and celebration are key to staying on track in my 15 years as a pediatric occupational therapist, these four ingredients are consistently found in every family that's making really great success and progress.

Brennan 2:30

So, I'm really excited to share some more information in today's episode, and I know you are as well. You know, at the really at the root of it, we are a health tech company, we've been utilizing our podcast as a way to get information out. Be thought leaders in this space, bring thought leaders in. And one of the things that we've been working on over the last year and a half now is developing a mobile app that's designed to support each of these components, making it easier for families to say, stay consistent, stay clear and keep it simple and celebrate progress along the way.

Bethany 3:08

Yes, Theralinq app is out and available for people we need to practice what we preach and take a minute to celebrate. Yay. Brennan, you've been using it to manage your son's exercises. Can you explain a little bit how it works.

Brennan 3:22

Yeah, so, you know, the beauty of the app is that it really helps to manage at home care plans and creates a level of accountability for families at home. I think one of the challenges that we found as a family early on was that, you know, we were going to the clinic, going to appointments and therapy doesn't end when clinical sessions end. And you know, we our therapists would give us instructions, and they would typically be verbal or handwritten, and even with the best intentions, you know, we would lose those forget what we were supposed to be working on throughout the week, and it just felt like we were never making the consistent progress we wanted to be making at home. And, you know, figured there had to be a better way to do this. And you know when, when you and I teamed up on this, on developing this product, I think you came at it from a clinical perspective. I came at it from a family perspective, and really created something that, you know, allows us to one better manage our therapies at home, get reminders and notifications about when we should be doing something clearly explains the different types of exercises we should be working on. It's helping to facilitate better communication between providers and families, and ultimately, there's a lot of value being realized, both from the progress that we're making as a family, I think the communication that we have with therapists who are using it and with therapists, you can speak to this some too, just how it helps to you. Uh, better, uh, create more of a holistic picture for your patient portfolio.

Bethany 5:08

Yeah. So, all the evidence shows that the more reps you do, the more progress you make. And we all know that with therapy, doing more is always better, but we are all capped with what insurance will pay and how many times you can actually, as a family, get to a clinic. It's just it's a lot of work to get there. So, most therapy, cares of plan end up being kind of a weekly prescription. You know you need to come in once a week and do this, and we know that's just not enough to actually make progress. So doing things at home is evidence based the best way to make progress, but it's, sadly not the way most therapists are training their families how to participate with therapy. So, we're here to change that. I've been using the app with my students at my school, and I've seen the huge improvement and the rate of progress with the students that are using the app compared to the ones that are not. And it just makes sense. So, let's talk about the nuts and bolts of how it works. So, a family does not necessarily need to be already receiving therapy to use the app. There are exercises that are in our Theralinq library. So, you can download the app and answer a few questions, and the app will suggest two exercises to you, and then when you are done with those, it'll suggest two more. You can refill out your questionnaire, and it'll figure out the next best exercise for you. But we also know that this isn't going to replace actual occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech therapy, so when you are meeting with one of those therapists, they can use the app for free to send you their exercises and the app in a simple, cohesive format for all of your disciplines. So, what am I missing?

Brennan 7:01

Yeah, it was really well said. I think you covered a lot. I think one of the other features that we found really helpful is the video component. So inevitably, when we were doing therapies at home early on, you know, and had not been in therapy for a long time as a family, you know, we were novices to it all, and didn't necessarily know right positioning or things we should be doing appropriately. And I think the video component helps to illustrate that, helps to describe what you should be working on with your child, you know, given their milestones, given their goals. So, yeah. I think I'm very excited for us to release this. I'm excited for new users to come on board and experience what we've experienced as we've built this and we bring it out of beta.

Bethany 7:54

Great. So, I really want to break this episode up into four sections and talk about these components that are really important to making progress in therapy. And then we can also connect how the app is set up to provide these factors. So, the first thing is consistency, so progress doesn't happen with, you know, one big effort. It's the result of just like little tiny showing up every single day. So even if it's messy or imperfect or you miss a day, or Threeling you don't do great on a day, or you're you know, it looks like you step backwards, it's just the showing up every day that you really see progress. So, I've seen families make huge improvements just by implementing, like a two-minute fine motor activity after breakfast or during breakfast, or doing a simple breathing routine before bed. One family specifically just had their child do a crab walk from the bed to the breakfast table every morning, and that quick kind of playful burst of movement set the tone for the whole day, improved regulation and behavior. So, it's not about doing everything, it's just doing something regularly. So, Brennan, help us figure out how the app is going to help us with consistency.

Brennan 9:09

Yeah, for sure. So, the Theralinq app includes daily reminders to bring your focus back to the activities that matter, whether those are pulled from the fair link library or directly assigned by your therapist. We know how easy it is to get pulled in 100 different directions, so these little nudges help keep consistently front and center even on your busiest days.

Bethany 9:32

Great. So, the next factor that I want to talk about is clarity. One of the biggest roadblocks to success is when things feel unclear or confusing. And I see this in therapy all the time, when I'm explaining something to a parent and their eyes start to gloss over, I know they're not going to make any progress on that in the given week, and I need to try again next week to explain it in a different way, if you don't totally understand what you're doing or why you're doing it. You're not going to do it, right? So, clarity is very important. Brennan teased this a little bit with talking about the videos, but I'll let you get back to how the videos have helped you have clarity with what your therapist needs you to do at home.

Brennan 10:15

Yeah, totally. So, when you mentioned eyes glossing over, I can't tell you the number of appointments I've had at the end of a very busy day where I’ve picked my son up from school, we get to the clinic, and I'm exhausted, he's exhausted, and nothing is sinking in. So that's where I think these short, 32nd videos and written directions in the Theralinq app come in. So, each activity is broken down into really bite sized steps with clear with a clear visual guide and a simple written explanation. And whether it's quick movement exercise or a therapeutic activity, you kind of get everything you need to carry it out with confidence.

Bethany 10:58

Yes, I know some parents who really like to deep dive and get all the information on the internet and watch YouTube videos and like more props to them, but that is so overwhelming to me as a parent, when I need an expert to tell me that 30 second send me that 30 second video, that short description, so I can focus and know exactly what I need to do, because you can get very overwhelmed and bogged down with all the things that are out there if you try to figure out what you need to work on yourself. Great. So, we've talked about consistency, showing up every day. We talked about clarity, having really clear instructions to know what to do. And the next thing is simplicity. I've also watched families implement really complicated routines, and more often than not, they end up feeling very overwhelmed. If something takes too long or requires, you know, too much effort or expensive equipment, it's easy to lose momentum. So that's why simplicity is so important. Small simple activities are easier to integrate into your daily routine, and they're more sustainable. I really like integrating activities into your routine as it already exists, so that's why we talked about in in episode one, about having a routine, because once you have that routine, you can layer these things in and they just flow with your life a lot better. The other challenge that I see is when people have multiple therapists, and the therapists are all sending the exercises in different formats. So sometimes PTs have software where they, you know, email a picture and a description of their exercises, and speech therapist may send you video links, and I'm guilty as charge. OT who prints out a piece of paper and hands it to people, then the family comes home with like, was that in the email, or was that the link? Or is there a piece of paper somewhere and you can't find all the exercises? So how does Theralinq app help with simplicity?

Brennan 13:01

Yeah, so this is what I think is one of the biggest value adds as a parent, is that the app helps to manage all of your therapies in one single, simple interface, regardless of PT, OT, speech, feeding, regardless of whether it's a provider through a hospital system or at school, everything is accessible on one interface. You're not toggling between different EHRs and different platforms. So yeah, there's no more scattered notes or missing links. It stays really simple for families, because they don't have to worry about managing different formats or figuring out how to integrate everything like it's all right there in front of you, organized by the therapist and activity type. So, it really helps to bring it all together and make it easier for families to execute on these things inside the home makes it easier to be accountable, kind of across the board, with your therapies. And, yeah, I think that's one of the, one of the pieces that I was really most excited about when we were building this.

Bethany 14:15

Great so the last thing, and my favorite, is celebration. We often think of progress as something we just have to grind through, but it's really important to take a moment to recognize and celebrate the small wins. When we do, we're reinforcing positive behaviors, and we're actually training our brain to continue with that effort, whether it's a child completing an exercise without being prompted, or mastering a new skill, celebrating those milestones builds motivation and keeps everyone engaged. So, celebrating doesn't always have to be a big event. It could be as simple as a high five or a quick acknowledgement of a job well done, and these little moments make a huge difference in keeping spirits high and reinforcing consistency. So how is celebrating? Part of the Theralinq app.

Brennan 15:02

So, the app really helps to gamify some things and helps to really encourage each step and celebrates each step. The app has a street counter that tracks your consistency and celebrates those milestones along the way, so you don't have to do every single exercise every day you just need to show up. These celebrations help families stay motivated, reinforcing that every small step is worth celebrating, and consistency truly pays off. Speaking of celebrations, I'm not going to let you get away without celebrating the little victory at Venture Connect. So, end of March, Theralinq was fortunate enough to present on stage at Venture Connect, which is a capital conference in Raleigh and Bethany, had an amazing pitch for us, and we ended up taking home the top place in the Health Tech category. So, congrats!

Bethany 16:11

Alright, so that wraps up our discussion on how consistency, clarity, simplicity and celebration can help your family make progress with therapy goals and just family goals. And we're super excited for everyone to get their hands on the Theralinq app.

Brennan 16:30

Yeah, and the app is really designed to do all of that to help families track progress, stay consistent and celebrate each milestone along the way that's easily accessible on the App Store. It's a monthly subscription, it's still brand new, and we would really value your feedback as our first users, your input will be instrumental in helping us make the app even better moving forward. So, if you try it out, let us know. Let us know what works, let us know what doesn't work, and how we can improve, and you can find it, like I said, on the App Store, just search for Theralinq.

Bethany 17:06

Yes. And if you already have established therapists, the apps really ready for any age child to use with their established therapist. If you do not in your in your wanting, the app to suggest exercises for you. The Theralinq library right now is tailored for that early intervention zero to five age range.

Brennan 17:27

Yeah, that's all great. And you know, when we talk about providing, you know, access to as many families as possible, it's, you know, really any family that their child is missing developmental milestones. You mentioned early intervention, that really is a critical window of brain development. Neuroplasticity is kind of at its optimal point during that stage, and we know, as you mentioned, the more reps that we can get a child during that time will help improve their outcomes. So that's where the app is really unique, is with the Theralinq library.

Bethany 18:12

Yeah, you don't have to already have an established therapist to start working in that early intervention window with the Theralinq app because these baby, toddler, preschool type activities are already in the app and you can get started right away.