Along with the holiday season comes bright lights, loud noises, large gatherings, and much excitement. Routines are often disrupted to attend special events and winter vacation from school. Home, school, and most places change in appearance with festive decorations. Streets, stores, and neighborhoods are adorned with bright, colorful lights to celebrate this jubilant time of year. Children who thrive on structure and routine may find all the change quite overwhelming. Not to mention the sensory challenges that the holidays may bring.This post is about how to reduce holiday stress and meltdowns in children with autism, ADHD, anxiety disorder, executive functioning, and sensory issues. Therapists and educators, please share this post with your parents!
Category Archives: Autism
How to Create a Sensory Smart Classroom or Home
When teachers and/or parents think of how they can support the sensory needs of their students or child, they often have ideas of elaborate sensory rooms that boast expensive fancy equipment. I am here to tell you that while this is a fantastic option, it is not the only option! You can provide meaningful sensory experiences using regular household and or classroom stuff. In this post, I will explain how to create a sensory smart classroom or home.
Sensory Processing Disorder Unveiled and Explained
In this post, I will explain what sensory processing disorder (SPD) is in simple, everyday terms. My hope is to bring insight and understanding to this very complex, often confusing, condition that many children have. About 1 in 20 children have SPD.
What Are Heavy Work Activities and Who Should Do Them?
What is heavy work? Heavy work is any type of activity that provides resistance to the body by way of pulling or pushing. Resistance could be created by something pushing against the body like water in the swimming pool, or the body pushing against the floor such as doing push-ups. Pulling on resistance bands, andContinue reading “What Are Heavy Work Activities and Who Should Do Them?”
Eight Handwriting Strategies for Children With Autism
It is with great enthusiasm that I share an article that I’ve written for the outstanding publication Autism Parenting Magazine. In the May 2021 issue, I share strategies that parents can use to prepare their children for the handwriting demands of kindergarten and beyond. These strategies are also recommended for teachers, those who homeschool, or anyone who provides care for children with autism.
9 Strategies to Increase Attention and On-Task Behavior
Above all, the most important thing needed for a child to progress with anything is focus. When presenting a child with a task, particularly a novel task, you must establish meaningful engagement with the child, in other words, where the child can focus on the task. What exactly does focus mean? The ability to sustain selective attention or concentration on the task at hand while ignoring or filtering out the non-relevant or distracting information in one’s environment. Sustained selective attention yields steady results on a task over time. For some children, often, this is very challenging.