My ASD Child

For children and teens with ASD level 1 (high-functioning autism), organizational skills are a mystery. We all need strong organizational skills. Teaching these skills starts very young and continues through childhood as they increase in difficulty. Kids with ASD lack these natural skills and must be taught these skills if they desire to be productive adults. When you think about teaching these young people organizational skills, you automatically think of lists, schedules and daily planners. While these are an important part of organizational skills, they are only a tip of the iceberg.    Organizational skills are also known as executive functions. The executive functions affect abstract thinking, memory, task oriented goal creation, and mental adaptation in a wide range of situations. Beginning at a very young age, we should teach our "special needs" kids organization skills that are age-appropriate (e.g., paying attention, understanding time, cooperation, memor

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Every child deserves a safe haven. In many cases, this is not possible for children with sensory processing disorder (SPD). It's no secret that parenting is hard, and when you have a child who struggles with sensory sensitivities, it can be even more challenging. They may find themselves overstimulated by the world around them and incapable of coping. This can lead to anxiety, depression, and even suicidal thoughts in some cases. The solution? Create a sensory safe-haven! Here are some tips on how to do just that! Identify your child's sensory needs. Every child is different. Some may need to be held, while others will require a darkened room with no noise. Without being able to identify your child's sensory needs, you cannot create their safe haven! This can also help professionals who are working on treating the disorder as well. By identifying what works best for your children, therapists can find an effective treatment regimen that incorporates these factors into therap

"My son is 16 years old and has developed a severe tic. He shakes his head and moves his shoulder up and makes a grunting noise. This has only happened in the last few weeks. Could this be stress due to us having to move to another city in  few months [he will be changing schools]?? He is becoming extremely anxious about it as everyone notices it!"     ASD  (high-functioning autism) can have many complications such as tics. Tics are rapid sudden movements of muscles in your body, or tics can be sounds. Both kinds of tics are very hard to control and can be heard or seen by others. However, some tics are invisible (e.g., toe crunching or building up tension in your muscles). Simple tics involve just one group of muscles and are usually short, sudden and brief movements (e.g., twitching the eyes or mouth movements). Some simple tics can be head shaking, eye blinking or lip biting. Simple vocal tics can be throat clearing, coughing or sniffing.    ==> Parenting System th