Reach Your Child's Potential with Professional Insights
There is a saying, “love makes the world go round,” but for real it is NOT love. Instead, it is hidden curriculum that makes the world go round! Any autistic adult will tell you that not automatically understanding hidden curriculum will pose numerous social difficulties in every day life! What is Hidden Curriculum? Hidden curriculum [...]
Many children with special needs have problems with friendships. The problems can surround not understanding nonverbal communication, to not being able to identify emotions, to confusion over humor and more. One thing we know for sure is that a life without friendships and human connections is a very lonely life. Humor is Good Among Friends [...]
“My child’s speech therapist wants to introduce PECS (picture exchange systems) while my ABA lead therapist wants to stick to modified sign language. My child already knows very limited sign language that is unique to my child’s needs. The therapists are arguing that ‘their’ method will lead to faster vocalization. PECS is universal. Where my [...]
Parents of children with special needs and particularly parents of children on the autism spectrum, are often led to believe that their child has “no emotions or no empathy”. Unfortunately, this is a stereotype based on the beliefs of unobservant people, and one which has been perpetuated by the media in stories, fictitious films and articles. [...]
Social interactions and conversations are a bit like a balancing act. Ideally, no one participant will take up too much “talking time” and no one participant will be left out. For many, this sense of balance or social timing is intuitive, but for others it is not. In the first two posts of this series, [...]
Many people who experience difficulties in communication are not sending or receiving nonverbal cues correctly. They do not always understand that body gestures impart meaning by adding to a statement, emphasizing a thought, or supplying meaning on their own. Therefore, reading a simple shoulder shrug which indicates the meaning of “I don’t know” goes unidentified [...]
As we explore the field of Music Therapy, it’s important to understand how to incorporate this treatment into your child’s life. The use of Music Therapy is a unique application of music to enhance personal lives, by creating positive changes in human behavior. The Benefits of Music Having said the above, I would like to [...]
Has your child ever felt hurt by other children at school? Has your child been teased about appearance or ability? What about being left out or excluded from a lunch group or conversation? Does your child overreact to a peer’s facial expression, comment, or action? Our children’s social world includes teasing, and how our children [...]
Learning the hidden curriculum social rules of society remains a struggle for autistics long after they grow up and leave school. For example, even though I am an over 50 woman with autism, over the past few years, I have learned a lot of new-to-me hidden curriculum items. The “hidden curriculum” refers to all the [...]
I’ve met some pretty amazing dogs in my life and we have one in our family. His name is Huck and he is a full-size Labradoodle. But the dogs who participate in the K-9 Club Autism program at Austin Dog Alliance in Austin, TX are as special as they come. They are teaching my son [...]
