Help your little ones make the most of their summer by enrolling them in the TKIDST Summer Explorers Camp.
Our explorers will work on increasing independence in everyday tasks, expanding and negotiating ideas, mastering self-care skills, exploring our senses through play, strengthening communication skills and fostering friendships all while making awesome memories!
Read more about it. Space is limited. Contact Us!
At Thinkering Kids Therapy, we use engaging, motivating, safe and fun activities – Play – to capture children’s interest to actively participate in therapy. By playing, therapists and parents engage children through activities each child enjoys by following the child’s motivation. Play is a powerful tool that makes a great impact in children and parents.
What is play? Play is any activity where our children engage in for enjoyment and recreation, rather than a serious purpose. Play is the universal language, and the truly work of childhood. Play is motivating and fun. It helps support all areas of children’s development including learning how things work, physical skills, the art of thinking, communication, reasoning, problem-solving, attention span, flexibility, social skills and many other skills that are crucial for success in school and in life. Besides, play generates so many opportunities for you to enjoy playing with your child, and for your child to enjoy time playing with you! Just by playing with your child at least 20 minutes a day, as part of your daily routine, you will start seeing positive changes.
Join us next week to continue exploring The Power of Play!
For most of us the holidays bring feelings of excitement and joy, despite which holiday we celebrate. Often, we assume that everyone feels the same way. However, that is not always the case. For children who have Autism, sensory processing disorders, or executive functioning disorders and their families, the holidays may come with changes that can cause anxiety or stress. This includes major changes such as deviations in schedules and routines, decorations that can cause sensory overload (lights, music, fireworks), and spending time with family and friends who may not be familiar to the child’s routine. There are many ways to improve the overall enjoyment of the holidays and reduce the stress and anxiety. Some helpful holiday tips include planning ahead, preparing the child, being mindful of decorations, and communicating with family.
Planning for the holidays requires extra time, but will bring benefit in the end. This can include creating visual schedules for various holiday events which may include shopping, visiting Santa, dinner at a family member’s home, and community events. A visual schedule helps the child know what to expect when out of his/her normal routine. Additionally, allowing extra time for holiday shopping and breaks can be very beneficial for children. Around the holidays there are new sights and sounds which may be overstimulating. When going to various holiday events, creating a “break” kit can allow children to self soothe. Items for this kit may include fidget toys, sensory games, noise reducing headphones, or bubbles.
Preparing children for holiday expectations is monumental in helping them to cope with the stress and anxiety they may experience. Making a social story to explain what might happen and how they can deal with it better prepares them for upcoming events. Gifts under the tree bring excitement and temptation. Talking with these children about waiting to open gifts and doing a visual countdown will help to avoid early unwrapping and provide a time concept of when they can open them. Speaking with children about where they will be going, what they will be doing, and the people they will be seeing provides children with a sense of what to expect. It is important to remember that despite preparing them ahead of time, they may still become overwhelmed or require a break. A good strategy is to practice how to take breaks when needed to calm down if a situation becomes too overwhelming.
Remembering that decorations can be immense and sudden in change. Bright, flashing lights, as well as music can be overstimulating to these children. A sudden change in decoration from their expected norm and environment can be difficult for them; therefore, putting decorations up gradually helps children to adjust slowly. Additionally, children should be allowed to interact with the decorations and assist with decorating to help them cope with the changes.
Lastly, and likely the most difficult to do is to communicate with extended family that will be interacting with the children. Discuss with them the needs of your child, what is overstimulating to them, and ways to assist in calming them. These conversations are hard but need to happen; and ultimately will help avoid overwhelming situation for these children and their families.
Having awareness of situations that may be difficult, coupled with practice and implementation of these strategies can help to alleviate stress and anxiety and ultimately help to make the holidays enjoyable.
By: Veronica Cabrera, 9/16/2017
We are glad Irma did not cause too many damages to our homes and our city. However, we have been through a stressful time. Being in a hurricane can be very frightening and the days following the storm have been very stressful as a result of having been away from home, damage caused by the hurricane to their home and possessions, traffic challenges, loss of a pet, and loss of power. Some children and their families might be already returning to normal routines by now. Others may still be having reactions to the hurricane and its aftermath that can be affecting their thoughts, feelings and physical well-being. Understanding how Irma might still be impacting your child is important to learn how to support them.
Some common changes in behavior your child might be having are:
How Can You Help Your Child?
– The most important thing to have in mind is to support your child to feel safe and calm.
– Maintain routines as much as possible – including mealtimes and bedtimes. Having a predictable routine provides children with a sense of security.
– Spend time talking with your child to let them know that it is OK to ask questions and to express their feelings. Mealtimes are great times to talk and answer any questions about what is happening in the family as well as in the community. If your child is having a hard time talking about feelings or concerns, initiate conversations with them. Choices can be provided to support the conversation – “I wonder what you are thinking right now, or if you have any questions…. Are you thinking about _________ or ________?”. Remember to answering any questions your child might have in a simple and honest way.
– Follow hurricane conversations with a favorite story or a family activity to help them feel safe and calm.
– Ask your children how they are feeling– “I wonder how you are feeling right now”. Once your child answers (upset, concerned, bored, tired, happy), ask them “Where on your body are you feeling____?” and thank them for sharing that information.
– Let them see that you are really hearing what they are sharing and validate their feelings and concerns.
– Help them come up with games and activities to play together – and that will help them feel better.
– Play games that include movement, heavy work, pulling and pushing– riding bikes, tag, jumping, bouncing, tug-a-war, swings, basketball, pillow fight, being “squished”.
– Lots of sensory-based activities such as blowing bubbles, playing with clay or Play-Doh, throwing and catching a ball, making cookies with parents.
– If your child is doing a repetitive behavior – constantly scratching or picking his body, or engaging on a dangerous activity, have a conversation with them about it. It is important to bring awareness, explain why they are doing that, as well as the consequences that behavior might bring (hurting herself). Ask your child to help you come up with ideas of what to do to avoid getting hurt. Some ideas could be squeezing the body instead of scratching or picking, giving self-hugs, squeezing hands, pushing on a hard surface, or any other idea that includes pushing, squeezing or pulling. Come up with a word – secret code – that you can use to raise awareness, as well as a reminder of what to do at that moment.
– Help your child give back to the community – Make a trip to the grocery store to get supplies and donate to those who suffered severe loss, or gather supplies from your home that you may have bought for hurricane Irma and did not use. Getting involved in helping the community is a wonderful thing to do. They can learn a great deal as well as help themselves to feel better.
For more information about supporting your child, please contact your TKidsT therapist, or contact our center at info@tkidst.com . We recommend you visit our website www.thinkeringkids.com and follow us on Facebook , and Instagram for our greatest and latest updates. We are here to help you!
(305)200-3540
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