Family Learning Solutions Blog - Autism & Spectrum Disorders

Family Autism Remediation

nospam@example.com (Family Learning Solutions, LLC) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 23:09:00 -0500

Remediating autism through developing cognitive thinking, learning to communicate better with your child, and providing daily opportunities to help your child fill in the missing stepping stones is what remediation is all about! I have been an RDI- (Relationship Development Intervention) Certified Consultant now for several years. It is not an approach that is widely known about, but it should be. I have seen amazing results with this approach. With this, we work with coaching the parents in improving their communication, setting up opportunities throughout the daily routine of their day, learning to read their child even better, and identifying the missing developmental steps to be addressed. I encourage you if you are interested to research more about this approach or call me for more information. All ages, all levels of autism, respond to this and all the families I have worked with are very happy with their results and the relationship they have developed with their child.

Family Autism Remediation

nospam@example.com (Family Learning Solutions, LLC) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 23:09:00 -0500

Electronic Evils

nospam@example.com (Family Learning Solutions, LLC) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 21:29:00 -0600

As we all begin shopping for Christmas, it seems a good time to look at electronics and the role they play in social skills or the lack of them. Many children and adolescents on the autism spectrum are quite obsessed and fascinated with video games, computer sites and games, movies, TV shows, and handheld games. However, this becomes an addiction with these children as they are unable to turn off the thoughts of these and transition back to real life. Electronics provide a 2 dimensional, static world that appeals to those on the autism spectrum. It is predictable, and it is safe. However, it does not develop relationship skills. A child does not have to look at anyone or talk to anyone when they play these. I see time and again children who do not even look up at anyone because they are immersed in their DS or PSP, or whom can only talk about games they play or movies they saw and don't know how to talk about anything else. Social skills and relationships take practice, practice, practice. The more we interact, the more we learn about the effects of what we do on others, how others act, what others talk about and so on. Children on the autism spectrum need this practice even more so than the neurotypical child . For Christmas, do your child a favor and buy less electronics. Spend the holiday time playing old-fashioned board games together, building things together, decorating and cooking together, or taking a walk or bike ride. Teach and play the typical childhood games they may not know how to play- Tag, Red Rover, Red Light/Green Light, Mother May I, kickball, soccer, dodge ball, checkers, uno, tic tac toe, hangman...

Happy Shopping!

More Sensory Integration

nospam@example.com (Family Learning Solutions, LLC) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:26:31 -0600

Different senses and sensory integration problems show up in different ways. To fully learn more about each sense and the behaviors that indicate a sensory issue, read The Out of Sync Child. This author also has a book for teachers that is composed of checklists and examples of strategies to use in the classroom. It's a great gift to give your child's teacher!!

One red flag I look for to indicate possible sensory integration issues: a child who has meltdowns frequently and has a difficult time getting it back together or being consoled, or whose meltdowns seem really intense and extreme for the incident; a child who is bouncing around the room, throwing everything hard, jumping off of everything, running into things, knocking blocks over, making lots of noise with the toys, moving frequently- these are signs of a child craving deep pressure activities.

Deep pressure activities include: carrying a backpack of books or heavy items around, pushing a laundry basket down the hall or carrying it, pushing or pulling a wagon loaded with heavy items (rocks, a bag of soil, bags of garbage or leaves), moving books in the room, putting chairs on desks, carrying the garbage out, pulling the garbage cans down the driveway, clapping erasers, erasing the board, walking up and down steps with a backpack on your back, push-ups against the wall, jumping jacks, jumping on a trampoline ( or a small exercise one) bouncing on a hippity hop, bouncing and throwing a ball.

Provide your child with the sensory "diet" they need- look for the activities that give your child the sensations and information their body iis seeking.

Sensory Integration: A Missing Piece to the Puzzle

nospam@example.com (Family Learning Solutions, LLC) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:21:02 -0500

I see so many children all the time for behavior issues at home and school: temper tantrums, not focusing at school, impulse control, anger issues, loud, social problems and so on. Many of these children have already been identified as ADHD, ODD, bipolar, or Autism Spectrum Disorders and are being treated for such by medical doctors and/or psychiatrists. However, an additional piece of the puzzle is often the sensory integration piece which is frequently overlooked.

Most of us think of our senses as those having to do with seeing and hearing. But we also have the sense of touch, a sense of balance, a sense of taste, a sense of smell, and a sense of the placement of our bodies in the space around us. All of these senses take in information from the world around us and help us make sense of it. These senses work together to help us remain in control of ourselves and to understand and process what is going on in our environment. When these senses do not work well together, either by being underresponsive or overresponsive, we feel dysregulated or "out of whack" so to speak.

Often our children who exhibit huge meltdowns and cannot be consoled easily or who are bouncing all over the place and can't settle down, or who are loud and boisterous, clumsy, hard on toys, rough with others, who sit and don't like to move much and are underactive, are demonstrating signs of sensory integration problems. Understanding behavior from this perspective allows us all to look at the environment differently and help these children by controlling what we can in the environment and providing the external framework they need to regulate themselves.

This is a newer areas that many teachers and doctors are still learning about but it is a key element in working with many of these children who are struggling. I'll write more about this later with ideas of strategies to help. For a quick resource, check out the suggested books under Resources on my website. I highly recommend The Out of Sync Child books by Carol Stock Kranowitz for a better explanation than I can give and for activities you can do at home. Also I found this link on Facebook which looks interesting to check out as well http://shop.sensorytools.net/ .