Helping Kids Thrive

Guest: Morgan Johnson, MSW, LCSW

Practicing gratitude seems like a really simple concept, but for some reason most of us go through life without making it a regular habit during our days. We often choose to focus on what's going wrong - what needs to be fixed or done - instead of what is going right.

During this episode, Nicole sits down with Morgan Johnson, a licensed clinical social worker, to discuss the benefits of practicing gratitude and some practical ways that we can begin to incorporate this into our family rhythms and routines. 

Episode highlights:

• Benefits of practicing gratitude
• Why it can be challenging to practice
• Practical ways to incorporate gratitude into our routines
• Resources: The Science of Happiness (Yale), Gratitude Meditations on Youtube, Gratitude Apps

For more information about pediatric speech therapy, occupational therapy, or mental health counseling from DotCom Therapy visit www.dotcomtherapy.com.

Guest: Melanie Almada, M.S. LMFT

Establishing a growth mindset builds resiliency, perseverance, and an intrinsic sense of worth. These are things that every parent desires for their children, but how can we ensure that our child develops a strong growth mindset instead of becoming fixed in an "I can't" mentality?

In this episode of Helping Kids Thrive, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Melanie Almada, chats with Nicole about the importance of helping our children develop a growth mindset and some practical ways to encourage this development. 

Episode Highlights

• Growth mindset vs. fixed mindset
• Benefits of establishing a growth mindset
• Ways to encourage growth mindset in children
• Additional Resource Recommendation: Mindset The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dwek, PhD.

For more information about pediatric speech therapy, occupational therapy, or mental health counseling from DotCom Therapy visit www.dotcomtherapy.com.

Guest: Elizabeth Soriano, M.A. CCC-SLP

Have you considered using a visual schedule at home but turned away feeling overwhelmed with how to get started and the amount of options out there?

It may seem impossible with the unpredictability of a home schedule, but in this episode of Helping Kids Thrive, speech language pathologist, Elizabeth Soriano, M.A. CCC-SLP gives practical, realistic tips for using a visual schedule with your child at home.

Episode Highlights:

• Why using a visual schedule can be beneficial
• Examples of different ways to create a visual schedule
• Routines that might benefit from a visual schedule
• Realistic tips for implementing a visual schedule in the midst of a busy home environment
• What to do if things don't go according to schedule

To download visual schedule templates from DotCom Therapy visit the Better Together Resource Library at www.dotcomtherapy.com/community-resources.

Guest: Amy Schnacker, OTR/L

The holiday season is full of fun and excitement - lots of time with family and friends, cookie decorating, present wrapping, songs, events, the list goes on and on. And while the holidays are a special time of year, they can also be overwhelming. 

In this episode of Helping Kids Thrive, Nicole speaks with pediatric occupational therapist, Amy Schnacker, OTR/L, about holiday stress and sensory overload in order to help parents better understand how their children may be experiencing the sensory input around them and develop practical strategies to help. 

Episode highlights:

• Considerations of sensory input specifically to the holiday season
• Proactive solutions to helping prevent sensory overwhelm
• Tips and tricks to help your child process during a busy event
• Ways for you as a parent to cope with unexpected changes in plans

Connect with Amy on LinkedIn!

For more information about pediatric speech therapy, occupational therapy, or mental health counseling from DotCom Therapy visit www.dotcomtherapy.com.

Guest: Jackie Wight, MA, LPC, Director of Mental Health Services

Helping children navigate through social media is definitely uncharted territory for a lot of parents that grew up before the era of smartphones and tablets. With the rise of popular sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, it comes to no surprise that it has greatly impacted how children grow up, and how they handle their face-to-face social interactions. From increasing rates of depression and anxiety, it’s definitely become a growing concern amongst parents of digital natives.

While it feels almost daunting and impossible, in this episode Nicole is joined by Jackie Wight, Director of Mental Health Services at DotCom Therapy, who share important insight into just how social media can affect a child’s mental wellbeing, and what can be done to protect kids in this new developing digital space.

If you found this helpful for your journey as a parent, check out our other episodes here!

Episode Highlights:

• The data behind social media’s impact on mental health
• Why children are at a particularly vulnerable age
• Your role as a parent in their digital world
• Concrete strategies we can apply for our children

Additional Resources:

• The Big Disconnect by Catherine Steiner-Adair
• Child Mind Institute
• Common Sense Media
• Mayo Clinic Research

Connect with Jackie:

• Jackie Wight | LinkedIn

Guest: Debbie Anzelone, Special Education Consultant

Have you ever wondered what FAPE is? Or LRE? What is the difference between an accommodation and a modification? IEP meetings can be filled with a lot of education heavy language and terminology which can create a barrier to parents being as involved with the IEP process.

During this episode, Nicole is joined by Special Education Consultant, Debbie Anzelone, to answer a listener question about special education terminology. Nicole and Debbie give definitions and context around commonly used terms in an IEP meeting, including examples, to help parents feel more confident as they participate on the IEP team.

Guest: Kay Simon, M.S. CCC-SLP

In the US Public School system, the language of instruction is Mainstream American English (MAE), a specific dialect of English. If a child enters the school system that has not previously had exposure to MAE, this transition can be difficult as they add the need to learn another dialect of English to the list of academic concepts that they are expected to master. As a child works to learn and use this new dialect, if a teacher or school district isn't familiar with the student's native English dialect, they may determine that the student is making language or even cognitive errors and refer for a special education evaluation.

In this episode of Helping Kids Thrive, Nicole sits down with Kay Simon, a bidialectal speech language pathologist from DotCom Therapy with experience working with children from various dialectal backgrounds. They chat about what this transition to school looks like for some students and how parents can come alongside their children and school districts to ensure that the appropriate challenges are addressed as their child grows in their education.

This podcast is sponsored by DotCom Therapy. To learn more about DotCom Therapy or working with a pediatric speech therapist, occupational therapist, or mental health professional, please visit  www.dotcomtherapy.com.

Guest: Adriana Capuano, M.A. CCC-SLP

Augmentative & Alternative Communication (AAC) is a communication system that is helpful for children who do not have functional communication. Often we think of this as being for only nonverbal children, but there are actually many different situations that AAC can be used in order to boost effective communication for children.

Listen in on this episode of Helping Kids Thrive as Nicole talks with speech language pathologist, Adriana Capuano, about the basics of AAC - what it is, how a team decides what kind of AAC is needed, and how it is used in a school and home setting. She talks at length about best practices for teaching a child to use an AAC system and how we as parents can encourage our children and advocate for them within school and social settings.

To learn more about DotCom Therapy or working with a pediatric speech therapist, occupational therapist, or mental health professional, please visit  www.dotcomtherapy.com.

Guest: Brya Hanan, M.A., LMFT

Positive affirmations is a little bit of a buzz word topic with people posting images of letter boards on their bathrooom or videos of dads and daughters reciting them back and forth. But are there actually benefits to using positive affirmations with our children and if so, how do we do it realistically? 

In this episode of Helping Kids Thrive, Nicole is joined by Brya Hanan, a licensed marriage and family therapist and certified family trauma professional to discuss how our words affect our children (for better or for worse).  You will learn how to use positive affirmations with your children (sneak peek: it's not just a set sentence that you have your child repeat), the benefits of using them regularly, and some "dos and don'ts" of what to say. 

Guest: Aimee Buckley, Founder of Study Help, Inc.

Does your child struggle with motivation to complete homework tasks after school? Do you find that every evening is a fight in order to get homework accomplished?

During this episode of Helping Kids Thrive, Nicole is joined by Aimee Buckley, a high school teacher and the founder of Study Help, Inc., an online tutoring platform that connects top quality teachers with students who are looking for a better understanding and academic skills. She shares tips and tricks that parents can use to motivate their children to complete homework and some examples of how to make this learning fun.

To learn more about Study Help and how to get your child set up with an academic tutor visit https://study.help/. 

To learn more about DotCom Therapy or working with a pediatric speech therapist, occupational therapist, or mental health professional, please visit  www.dotcomtherapy.com.