Maggie Lesher, MA, OTR/L

Founded Children’s Theraplay, LLC, in 1993.

Why I became an OT:  I wanted to help people, especially children, who struggled with becoming independent and enjoying their lives to the fullest in every way. I have a sister who struggled in school and other aspects of life and thought the combination of information from medical/health sciences, psychology, and education fields would be ideal. I was first attracted to the “science” aspect of OT, learning about muscles, kinesiology, neurology, neurodevelopment, and child development. But I discovered how “art” of therapy was important and felt immense rewards collaborating with patients/clients and their families, to learn what they wanted and needed to become more independent, finding effective strategies together.

Memorable moment: I can’t possibly choose one at this point in my life. I love seeing a child’s face when an “Ah-hah!” moment comes after a challenge has been overcome. It’s so rewarding when a child sees I “get it” as I tell them how parts of their brain are sabotaging their best efforts and good thinking and reassure them I see they are trying to do their best even when meltdowns happen. Once a young child, in that moment, told me “Miss Maggie, you are my Annie Sullivan.” I’ll never forget that. I enjoy wonderful parent-child moments of interaction and fun, and times that parents experience rewards of helping a beloved child…overcome challenges, find ways to interact and play with others, develop friendships.

More About Me  My husband and I are fortunate to have nearby family–3 children and significant others, 3 grandbabes, and 7 “granddoggies” plus 2 cats. My leisure activities include playing piano, Icelandic-American community involvement through Icelandic Hekla Club, reading, riding my bike, and watching movies. I’ve traveled to Iceland to visit my family 8 times and we periodically have Icelandic family visit us. Mostly I enjoy being a parent and an Amma, grand-mothering my dear grandbabes.

Special training, certification, and interests

• Master of Arts in Early Childhood Special Education
• Level I & Lcvel II Mentorship, STAR Institute & SPD Foundation, Dr. Lucy Jane Miller, Phd, OTR
• Sensory Integration and Praxis Tests/SIPT Certification
• SOS Certification
• Kinesiotaping
• The Listening Program/TLP and Therapeutic Listening
• Reflex Integration, Masgatova method
• Southern California Sensory Integration Tests/SIPT Certification
• NCAST Certification for Parent-Child Feeding and Teaching Scales
• 20+ years on Early Childhood Special Education team, including 18 years on a Birth-Three Team
• Play-Based Assessment training, including interventions such as Floortime/DRI and RDI training
• Numerous workshops/training regarding:  *ASD (including discrete trial training, visual communication systems)  *ADHD, Dyslexia, Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrome, and other diagnostic conditions  *Early neuromotor development  *Parent-child interaction *Infants and children with regulatory disorders and sensory processing (Ayres, DeGangi, Dunn, Miller, Benson, Williamson)
• Functional Emotional Assessment Scale/FEAS (DeGangi and Greenspan)

I enjoy volunteer work with various organizations:

• Recording secretary of my church’s Vestry/Congregational Council
• Active member of the MN Occupational Therapy Association/MOTA Government Affairs Committee and American Occupational Therapy Association/AOTA Habilitation Work Group.
• Recently accepted an invitation to be a member of the MN Department of Human Services EIDBI/Early Intensive Developmental Behavioral Interventions Advisory Group.