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Prioritizing Autistic-Centered Self-Care for Mental Health and Well-Being
I could never relate to most social media posts with self-care ideas, especially the ones showing nails getting done or drinking wine in a bathtub. The thought of going to a beauty salon has always given me anxiety, and baths were never my thing. I couldn’t really find self-care tips or ideas...
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Setting Students Up for Success: Balancing Sensory Needs in the Classroom
Sensory considerations play a key role in developing a classroom environment conducive to learning. When classrooms are arranged with sensory needs in mind, teachers will often see increased levels of social participation and task engagement. Some students face challenges finding their voice in a...
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The Regulating Benefit of Rituals
The ball boy hands him the tennis ball. He drops it to the ground twice, his torso bent over and neck extended, looking at his opponent. He swipes his face swiftly, touching his right cheek, nose, left cheek, and back to nose. He moves his water bottle just outside the boundary line. Wipes the...
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The Power of Sensory Integration: Enhancing Communication for Non-Speaking Individuals
Communication is complex and extends beyond verbal expression. This is especially important to understand in non-speaking individuals. Non-verbal cues such as facial expression, body language, and sensory experiences play crucial roles in conveying and understanding messages. Sensory integration...
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Coping During COVID-19: Strategies to Reinforce Executive Functioning Skills During Times of Change
As the world enters a perpetual state of “new normal” due to the COVID-19 pandemic, previously developed routines and coping skills may not be readily accessible - or may not work at all. Along with the closing of many schools and workplaces, drastically changing societal norms,...
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Anger and Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Clinician’s Perspective
Psychology defines anger as a complex psychological phenomenon, a syndrome consisting of emotions, related thoughts, physiological reactions, and behavioral scripts or action tendencies that define the way in which the person acts when angry (e.g. Berkowitz & Harmon-Jones, 2004; Deffenbacher,...
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Social Coping and Autism Spectrum Disorders: The Power Combination of Psychology and Speech Language Interventions
Throughout our years working with the ASD population, parents often inquire about whether their child should be receiving speech-language or psychological services. The answer is frequently “both.” Research demonstrates that individuals with ASDs are at great risk for developing significant...
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Coping with and Avoiding Stressful Situations
A friend of ours once told us that two strong “Is” make a strong “We” in the context of marriage. Putting it in the context of a family dealing with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), parents should be mindful to allot enough time for themselves so that they are strong individually and as a...
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De-Stress, Not Distress
Living every day and night with someone with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can be extremely stressful. We know this, but we often don’t know how to deal with that stress successfully and in a practical manner. Below are some suggestions from many people who have had to deal with stressors...
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Research in Parenting a Child with Asperger Syndrome Identifies Challenges and Coping Strategies
The numbers of children affected by Asperger Syndrome (AS) in the United States is almost twice that of the number of children who exhibit classic autism. Despite these numbers, there is little empirically guided information about how best to serve families of a child with AS. Most federally funded...
