Helping Kids Thrive

Welcome to another episode of Helping Kids Thrive. Today’s strategy for ensuring our kids flourish centers around the idea of helping them stay organized. We’re joined today by a special guest, Emily Waples who is a pediatric occupational therapist. Join the conversation as we talk about why organization is important for our kids, how we can help our kids build the skills required to be successful in staying organized, the importance of including them in the process of establishing schedules and checklists, and Emily gives insight into ages and their corresponding organizational skills. Tune in to hear more from Emily on helping your kids stay organized. Thanks for listening!

Key Points From This Episode:

• An introduction to our topic and special guest.

• Why organization is important for our kids.

• The skills required to be successful at being organized.

• How we can help our kids build their organizational skills.

• Tips and recommendations for getting organized for school.

• Incentives to adhere to organizational checklists and schedules.

• Including children in the process of establishing schedules and lits.

• Emily talks about different ages and corresponding organizational skills.

• Using technology to help with organization.

• Closing tips and tricks for getting your kids organized!

Not all children learn language in the same way. Neurotypical children usually learn through analytic language processing (also known as bottom-up processing), while children with autism who are verbal, are more likely to use gestalt language processing (often referred to as top-down processing). With gestalt language processing, children learn language in chunks or phrases, with single words only appearing at later stages as they learn to break down and recombine these gestalts (or language chunks) to create new, spontaneous utterances. Joining us today to break down the ins and outs of gestalt language processing and how adults can learn to adapt to a child’s unique style of learning, is Jesse Ferrell, a Certified Speech Language Pathologist (CCC-SLP) who has worked with all kinds of students, including those with autism. In our conversation Jesse expands on gestalts, where children pick them up, and how you can learn to recognize them. She also unpacks the concept of echolalia and how it relates to gestalt language processing, before examining how our understanding of echolalia has shifted in recent years and how we can better support children when we embrace their language processing style. Communication between children and their parents isn’t always easy, but sometimes the most important thing is simply showing your child that you want to connect with them. To hear all of Jesse’s knowledgeable insights on communication, language, and connection, be sure to tune in today!

Key Points From This Episode:

• An overview of gestalt language processing, also known as top-down processing.

• The prevalence of gestalt language processing in children with autism.

• Analytic language processing and the development you can expect in neurotypical children.

• How gestalt language processors differ from typical analytic language processors.

• An explanation of gestalts, also known as language chunks.

• Examples of how children use gestalts and learning how to recognize it.

• How to better understand what your child is trying to communicate when they use gestalts.

• The concept of echolalia and how it relates to gestalt language processing.

• An overview of the two main types of echolalia: immediate and delayed echolalia.

• The shift in how echolalia is being viewed, from non-functional to functional.

• Recognizing the style that a child is using to learn language.

• Adapting to a child’s style of language learning.

• Signs that can help a parent recognize whether their child is a gestalt processor.

• How stress can make your child revert to earlier gestalts.

• What parents can do to support their child’s language development.

Being rejected is never easy, and it can be especially soul-crushing for children. How do you, as
a parent, ensure that you are there for kids in their time of need, without adding fuel to the fire?
To help us get to the bottom of this question, we are joined by an esteemed school psychologist,Dr. Bianca Vasquez. After sharing her deep love for being involved in the education sphere, ourguest explains why being excluded hits kids the hardest, how parents can be more empathetic,how to manage your own feelings and emotions, and why your child’s age and temperament areimportant factors to consider. Then, we get a quick lesson on intelligent failure before exploringother ways that you can constructively help and support your kids. We also closely examinehow to build resiliency and foster your child’s self-worth, how to avoid common parentalmistakes when coaching your child through rejection, and why exclusion and failure can actuallybe the learning tools that your child needs for their own personal growth, plus so much more!

Key Points From This Episode:

• What parents can do when their child has been excluded from something
• Introducing Philadelphian school psychologist, Dr. Bianca Vasquez.
• Why being left out is so difficult for kids, and how parents can be more empathetic.
• How our own feelings as parents influence our reactions.
• Why your child’s temperament matters in how you respond to them (and how age fits in).
• The impact that the type of event may have on your child’s exclusion.
• A quick lesson on “intelligent failure.”
• Other ways to support and help our kids when they are feeling down about being left out.
• How to build resiliency and foster self-worth in your children.
• Common mistakes that parents make in their reactions and how to avoid them.
• How failure can help your kids learn new things about themselves.

For many kids, getting home after school can be a stressful period. There is so much to process from the school day and if the after-school transition isn’t properly managed, a child may feel too overwhelmed for anything other than a meltdown. So today, we’re taking a look at some helpful tips for easing after-school transitions. We are joined by Occupational Therapist, Evangeline Abraham, who explains how she got involved in this work and why today’s topic sits particularly close to her heart. Then, Van goes deeper into why after-school transitions are a prominent problem, the factors that make a child susceptible to after-school burnouts, the undeniable value of setting a routine, and why she is a big advocate of trial and error. We also discuss why age and grade are important details to consider, as well as the role that transportation plays in balancing or unsettling your child after school.

Key Points From This Episode:

• Today we will be sharing some tips and tricks for a successful transition home after school.

• Introducing Occupational Therapist, Van Abraham, and how she got involved in this work.

• Why the transition home from school is difficult for many kids.

• Factors that may influence a child’s susceptibility to be unsettled at home after school.

• What parents can do to ease that school-home transition for their kids.

• How to approach homework and playtime.

• Why Van is a huge supporter of trial and error.

• What to look out for if your kids are older (in high school).

• The role that transportation plays in after-school transitions.

DotCom Therapy

Guest: Kelly McGuinness, LCSW, CEIS

Most of us parent using behavior management techniques that we learned during childhood or have read about in a parenting book (okay, instagram, let's be real ;)) but have you ever stopped to think about if those strategies are actually working or not?

Returning to the podcast is licensed clinical social worker, Kelly McGuinness, to challenge our ways of managing childhood behavior.  During this episode, she discusses with Nicole about how "traditional" behavior management might not be the best options and ways that we can look at behavior differently with the children we interact with, wether that's in our homes or in a classroom. Her graceful way of approaching this conversation challenges listeners to challenge their mindsets around behavior and seek out what will really work for their family.

Episode Highlights:

• Behavior defined
• Behavior as communication
• Seeking out the root of behaviors
• Traditional methods and why they might not be working
• Importance of connection and skill building
• Considerations when parenting siblings
• Attention seeking behaviors + solutions
• Facilitating positive relationships in your family

www.dotcomtherapy.com

Guest: Melanie Almada, LMFT

Guest: Dr. Dawn Aerts, AuD

Approximately 5% of children struggle with processing auditory input but are never given a formal diagnosis or intervention options that can help. This is because when hearing concerns are expressed, a child is sent to an audiologist for a hearing test. If that test indicates normal hearing, they are sent back to the pediatrician - even though that child still struggles to understand or process auditory input, despite their normal hearing. 

In this episode, Nicole is joined by pediatric audiologist, Dr. Dawn Aerts. Dr. Aerts noticed the pattern of children with normal hearing who still struggled with auditory processing and wanted to create a space to help bridge the gap for these families to help them find interventions to help, including her main focus, remote microphone technology. She is a leader in research concerning auditory processing in children with normal hearing and has recently founded her company, Helpful Hearing, to guide families through the process of using remote microphone technology to help with these challenges.

Episode Highlights:

• What is auditory processing?
• How is auditory processing disorder diagnosed?
• What are things we can do to help?

Guest: Stephanie Fisher, MHC, LPC

Being in nature has many benefits for our mental health including stress reduction, boosted mood and focus, and connection with community. Sunlight triggers the release of serotonin and Vitamin D, producing positive outcomes for sleep, stress, and mood. In fact, children living in neighborhoods with more green space have a reduced risk of developing several mental health disorders such as depression, schizophrenia, and substance abuse. 

In this episode, Nicole is joined by licensed professional counselor, Stephanie Fisher, to discuss these benefits and to give practical suggestions for increasing our time in nature. 

Guest: Morgan Johnson, MS, LCSW

Ever notice a connection between your physical space and your mood? You're definitely on to something. In fact, research indicates that our physical enviroment can have an impact on our anxiety, stress, mood, and overall mental wellbeing. Even more, this connection affects our kids too! 

In this episode of Helping Kids Thrive, host, Nicole Pounds, chats with licensed clinical social worker, Morgan Johnson, MS, LCSW about the connection between our mental health and our physical environments.  She shares insight into what the research indicates about the connection between our homes, workplaces, and schools and our mental health and she gives practical suggestions for how we can work to create a space that is healthy, motivating, and life giving.

Episode Highlights:

• How our environment affects our mental health
• Effects of clutter on our wellbeing
• The importance of sleep and setting up a sleep friendly environment
• Applying these principals across environments (home, school, work)
• The importance of allowing our children to own their own space

Want to learn more about how our environment affects our mental health and the importance of stable housing, healthy home enviroments, our communities, and spending time outdoors? Check out our Mental Health Month Resources.

Connect with DotCom Therapy.

Guest: Samantha Russell, OTR/L, Pediatric Occupational Therapist

Autism affects 1 in 36 children, and about 25-30% of those children are nonspeaking. In this episode of Helping Kids Thrive, host and speech language pathologist, Nicole Pounds, M.S. CCC-SLP, is joined by pediatric occupational therapist, Samantha Russell, OTR/L, to discuss ways that parents and schools can support children who have nonverbal autism. Together they share insights from their professional therapy work with children who have nonverbal autism on various considerations with sensory processing, language development, social interaction, stimming, and overall support and inclusion in the classroom and home settings.

Episode Highlights:

• Discussion around the nuance associated with how we talk about Autism
• Overview of Autism diagnosis as outlined in the DSM-5
• Insight into social interactions for a child who is nonverbal
• Gestalt Language Processing and echolalia
• Need for holistic care
• Support for nonverbal autistic children at home
• Services and therapies available
• Support for nonverbal autistic children at school
• Ways parents can advocate for their children in the school setting

DotCom Therapy partners with school districts and employers to provide holistic care for children through direct therapy services and asynchronous learning activities accessible via their online learning platform. Click here to learn more about DotCom Therapy.