December 31, 2021

If your child is diagnosed with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder), chances are, they probably have some issues in the area of communication and socialization. Difficulties in communication can range from a child being not verbal to having high vocabulary while displaying repetitive speech and an inability to read social cues. Once your child receives an ASD diagnosis, seeking professional help is the first step towards helping your child reach their full potential. Early diagnosis and early intervention services show promising results to help your child live a fulfilling life. ABA therapy has shown empirical evidence to increase socialization skills, improve communication skills, build adaptive skills, decrease problem behaviors, and increase overall confidence. Below are some ABA techniques that parents can implement to help their child increase socialization and communication. Finding a System of Communication Each child with ASD has a different communication abilities; some children communicate with verbal language or word approximations; others are not verbal and may need professional help to develop a system of communication, such as gestures, using pictures, or/and a communication device. If your child is receiving ABA therapy or/and speech therapy, work together with the your child’s clinician to figure out what is the best way for your child to communicate at this point in time. If your child does not have verbal language in their repertoire, that does not mean that they won’t be verbal in the future. Fostering current abilities will help your child get to the next level of communication. If your child is displaying problem behaviors, they might be communicating wants and needs in an inappropriate way due to communication barriers. Teaching your child a more appropriate way to communicate, while not rewarding with preferred items during problem behavior, decreases the problem behavior and increases appropriate communication. Set Up Opportunities for Communication   Once you and your child’s clinician found the best communication system, start setting up opportunities for your child practice expressing wants and needs in an appropriate way by using preferred toys, activities, and/or food items. For example, if your child likes to pop bubbles, have your child request “bubbles” every couple of minutes. If you are playing with blocks, have your child request the color/shape of block that s/he wants. If your child wants a particular item, put it within your child’s view, but out of reach, so your child can request it. You can even set up opportunities during snack time. Give your child a little bit of food item at a time and have him/her request more. If your child doesn’t communicate within 5 seconds, prompt them to use their current communication method. Prompts are signals to help a person complete a task. You always want to fade your prompts to avoid your child becoming prompt depended. Talk to your child’s clinician about the best prompt sequence and a prompt fading program for your child. Do not provide your child with preferred items during a problem behavior. It is important to reward only appropriate communication. When your child requests items independently, provide a lots of praise and preferred item within 2 seconds. If the item is not available, let your child know when it will be available, and/or if there is alternative/ replacement item. Building Language During Playtime A good way to help your child build receptive and expressive vocabulary is to label items and actions during play. For example, while playing with blocks, saying “red block goes on top”. When playing with cars, saying “car goes zoom”. The repetitive statements associated with items will help your child increase vocabulary, especially during play. Any time your child labels an item or receptively identifies the item by pointing, provide a lot of verbal praise and encouragement. Make sure this activity is rewarding and fun. It is important for your child to associate play and the use of communication with good things. If your child is verbal and has the ability to label items and answer questions, ask your child various questions regarding toys such as, “what color is the truck?” “What color is this block?” If your child enjoys looking at books or reading book, have your child describe to you what they see in pictures or/and tell you what the story was about. This can also be an opportunity for learning various emotions by labeling the feelings of each character. Provide lots of verbal praise and rewards during this activity. References: Sunberg, M.L., Partington, J.M. (2013). Teaching Language to Children with Autism or Other Developmental Disabilities (Version 3). Pleasant Hill, CA: Behavior Analysts.  

If you have a child with Autism, most likely, you have experienced tantrum behavior. Most children on the spectrum have difficulty communicating wants and needs; tantrum behavior is a form of communication. They are basically saying ” I don’t like this” or “I want ….”. Below are some ways to decrease the likelihood of a tantrum occurs. Keep Track of Your Child’s Triggers Keep track of what happens before and after your child has a tantrum. Do they have a tantrum when they are asked to do something they don’t like to do? Do they have a tantrum to gain access to a toy or an activity? Are transitions a problem? Are there sensory issues such as loud noises or bright lights? Is the child trying to get your attention? Knowing the triggers can help prevent and/or minimize the likelihood a tantrum occurring. Knowing triggers can also help teach children skills such as asking for a break when frustrated, asking for a weighted blanket, requesting food, taking deep breaths, and appropriately asking for attention. Routine Most kids on the spectrum like to have a routine throughout the day. A common trigger might be an unexpected schedule change in a common routine or a sudden interruption in an activity. One way to help with transitions is to create a visual schedule. Sit down with your child and create a schedule with them at the start of the day. If there is a schedule change, let your child know ahead of time. If there is a transition from a fun activity to a less favorable activity, give your child at least a 5-minute warning. Set a timer to help with the transition. Use a ” First….Then…” statement. For example: “First we will eat breakfast, then watch YouTube.” Encourage Communication As previously mentioned, children on the spectrum have difficulty communicating wants and needs. Set up opportunities for your child to communicate when they are calm such as asking for food, toys, play, attention, taking a break, etc… If your child practices communicating when they are calm, they are more likely to communicate wants and needs when frustrated. During a tantrum, remind your child to use their known system of communication. Address Sensory Issues Your child may have sensitivity to noise, bright lights, textures, and food. If you are aware of any sensory issues, plan a way to address them ahead of time. For example, if your child is sensitive to noise and you know that you will be somewhere loud, bring noise-canceling headphones with you. Remind your child ahead of time that they can request a break from the environment or wear noise-canceling headphones. If you are going to a restaurant and your child is sensitive to food textures, take a look at the menu ahead of time to assure the restaurant can accommodate or bring your child’s favorite food with you. Social Stories Social stories are learning tools for kids with autism that explain communication, socialization, safety skills, and coping skills. If you noticed that your child has a tantrum surrounding certain situations, that might appear confusing, a social story might help them understand what is happening. Social stories also help teach skills. This website has a collection of free social stories: https://www.abaresources.com/social-stories/ What to Do During a Tantrum When your child has a tantrum, the best thing you can do is stay calm. Do not scream or show frustration. Have a calm and neutral face and a calm tone of voice. Make sure that you do not give your child access to rewarding items or attention. This will help your child understand that tantrum does not equal communicating wants and needs or gives them the attention that they crave. Remind your child of coping skills or/ and ways to communicate. For example, if your child needs a break prompt them to ” say break”, provide you a card that says break, or sign for a break. Remind them to take a deep breath or put their noise-canceling headphones on. Implement planned ignoring: this means that you are ignoring the behavior and not your child. Do not talk to your child about the tantrum. Just remind them in a calm way what you are doing, what they are supposed to do, etc… Wait until your child calms down. Once your child is calm, praise them. For example, “thank you so much for calming down”. If your child made a mess, have them clean it up. If you were in the middle of a task, have your child finish at least a portion of it. Provide praise for cleaning up or finishing the task. Also, provide lots of praise for appropriate communication. If your child has severe or/and frequent tantrum behaviors, seek help from Board Certified Behavior Analyst.

Anxiety disorders are one of the most common mental- health diagnoses in the United States. Forty million adults experience some form of anxiety every year. It is our prehistoric lizard brain, that is giving us a false sense of danger. Furthermore, anxiety is affected by a variety of factors, including genetics, brain chemistry, personality, and life events/environment. The good news is anxiety is highly manageable. With treatment and lifestyle changes, relief is possible. Below are some ways to help manage the symptoms of anxiety. Relaxing Self-Care   If you are experiencing anxiety symptoms, exam your self-care routine. Self-care has been a buzzword for a couple of years now for good reason. We are so busy with work and family life, that we put our needs last, causing burnout and other mental and physical health issues. In this busy world, taking time out to care for yourself will help be more centered and feel more energized to take on your day. Self-care looks different for everybody. For some people, self-care might be vegging out and watching reality shows and for others, it might be working out. Take time each day to do what relaxes you. For me, it is reading, hiking, painting, cardio, yoga, and watching light-hearted shows on Netflix. Each night, after a long day, my husband and I curl up on the sofa and watch our shows or movies. This is the self-care routine that we do together. Get in Touch With Your Feelings   Feelings of anxiety can occur when we are suppressing our feelings and are not aware what is the root of the problem. Writing in our journal or talking to a trusted friend can help us process a situation or a past event that has been bothering us. Sometimes anxiety is our body’s way of telling us that we are exhausted, burned out, or we are faced with a situation that we are not sure how to handle. Taking a day off from work and rest, reflect on your current situation, or do something that makes your heart happy might be just what the doctor ordered. Practicing Deep Breathing Our breath is the path to our serenity. The correct way to breathe is to have our breath slowly reach our stomach and slowly exhale out. However, when we get stressed out, our breath often reaches down to our chest. This causes us to build up carbon dioxide in our body, which can cause panic attacks and anxious feelings. Practice taking 10 deep breaths daily will help you breathe correctly during stressful situations. Meditation and Yoga   Studies show that yoga and meditation help decrease anxiety symptoms by producing serotonin levels to manage anxiety and depression symptoms. Meditation and yoga are not all the same. There is power yoga, light yoga, aerial yoga, hatha yoga, and yoga-pilates fusion. Furthermore, there are different times of meditation that include mindfulness, transcendental meditation, mantra meditation, and more. Explore various forms of yoga and meditation to see which one is right for you Exercise It is no secret that exercising has a lot of health benefits such as improving heart health, increasing energy, losing weight, and building muscle. Did you know that exercise can have the same effect as an antidepressant? It releases feel-good chemicals such as endorphins and serotonin. Exercise does not have to be strenuous. It can be taking a walk, dancing around the house and singing, or going for a swim. Always check with your doctor before starting any kind of exercise program. Examine Your Diet Past studies have shown that processed foods, foods high in sugar, and fried foods can cause or increase anxiety. Eating rich greens and whole grains can increase serotonin levels, which help ease anxiety. Also, eating often and drinking plenty of water can decrease the likelihood of nervousness due to a drop in blood sugar. Keep track of any food sensitives you may have such as gluten, dairy, or soy. An allergic reaction can cause symptoms of anxiety. Talk to a Therapist The first step you may want to take if you are experiencing anxiety is to talk to a licensed therapist. A therapist will help you process your emotions, help you identify triggers, and build some good coping skills to help manage anxiety. Just like going to a doctor if we break a leg, going to a therapist if we are experiencing uncomfortable emotions, experienced trauma, or/and are dealing with stressors. A therapist will help you find your zen and help you live a more fulfilling life.

Every day humans experience a variety of emotions. We can wake up in a great mood and an unexpected traffic jam can make us feel annoyed. A happy day can be ruined by an unkind word from a friend or spouse. The same thing happens to our kids. They can go to school happy and come home sad due to a bad grade or a fight with a friend. Emotions can vary day by day, moment by moment. Some emotions are pleasant such as happiness, excitement, and calm. Other emotions can be more difficult to experience such as sadness, loneliness, and fear. Heartbreaks from friends or significant others are the most painful of all and can be a challenge to get through. Learning to identify and manage emotions at an early age can set up your child for a healthy existence: physically and mentally. Here are some tips to help your child identify and learn how to manage various emotions. Start Labeling Feelings as Early as Possible When your child is as young as 12 months old, start labeling emotions in books and videos. For example, “Pooh is sad because he lost his honey” or “Peppa Pig is excited to see her friends”. If you and your child witness another child crying at the playground, say “that child is crying because he is in pain from falling”. When your child experiences emotions, validate them at the moment. For example, ” you are so happy to play in the water” or “I know you are sad because your toy broke, it’s okay to be sad”. Purchasing flashcards with various emotions might be a good way for your child to start building emotional language. There are videos on Youtube that teach emotions in a fun way. Here are my favorite youtube videos: 1- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jetoWelJJJk 2- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J7HcVLsCrY 3- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anHnpDfsItc Teach Coping Skills to Deal With Emotions Start teaching your child coping skills and problem-solving skills as early as possible. If your child is frustrated because they cannot find their favorite toy, validate their feelings of frustration and show coping skills by saying, “I know you are frustrated that you cannot find your favorite teddy bear, let’s take some deep breaths and calm down, and retrace our steps.”If your child came home crying because they fought with their best friend, validate their feelings and try to problem solve the situation. For example, ” I know you are upset because you and Emily fought, let’s talk about what happened, and come up with a possible solution.” There are curriculums and books you can purchase to help your child learn coping skills. One of my favorite curriculums is was created by Leah Kuypers to help kids identify and manage emotions is the “Zones of Regulations”. This curriculum groups emotions by color and attaches coping skills for each color. This curriculum can be purchased on Amazon or you can purchase activities based on this curriculum such as www.teacherspayteachers.com or https://www.socialthinking.com/Products/zones-of-regulation-poster. There are also youtube videos that help teach coping skills, problem-solving skills, and managing emotions: Below are my favorite:\ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_FMxPo4xDM This video teaches how to cope with anger. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Nf2Pzcketg This video teaches stress management. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDYx9qM_ygg This video is on test anxiety. One of my personal favorite coping skills to teach kids is yoga and meditation. There is an elementary school in Baltimore that replaced detention with a meditation and mindfulness room. As a result, the instances of suspensions and detention rates dropped significantly, and school attendance has increased. Meditation and yoga have shown lots of benefits including a decrease in anxiety, depression, and improves overall happiness. Enroll your child in a yoga kid class, practice breathing and meditation as a family, or find various videos on youtube that have fun yoga and meditation videos for kids. Below are my favorite kids’ yoga and meditation videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOD82D-Z1Fk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wf5K3pP2IUQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bk_qU7l-fcU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWOHcGF1Tmc In conclusion, there is no one-size-fits-all; every child has a different learning style and need. If your child has major emotional or behavioral issues, seek professional help.

Applied Behavioral Analysis is a process for helping children learn proper behavior and skills through reinforcements.

It’s funny how we find ourselves in the shoes of parents whose ‘spoiled’ kids we used to look at and think, I’m never raising my child like that. Children are seldom spoiled, but they do display problematic behavior. As a parent, your response to the following behavior will determine whether it’ll be a recurring feature in your child’s life. Here’s how. Tantrums We’ve all seen a child throwing a full-blown temper tantrum in public, complete with screaming and lying down on a filthy floor, and had their parents ignore them for the longest possible time. This is a belated attempt on the parents’ part to tell their child that a tantrum won’t get them what they want. You should ignore your child the first time they throw a hissy fit to attract attention and tell them point-blank that no amount of noise would change your mind. Teach them to communicate their needs in a more public-friendly manner from the get-go, and they’ll be unlikely to embarrass you in the future. Sleeping Challenges Your children may refuse to sleep by the designated bedtime, or they might want to sleep with you. Both of these scenarios are counter-productive to quality sleep. It’s also one of the reasons children throw temper tantrums during their waking hours. Sleep deprivation is one of the leading causes of behavior, not to mention physical problems in children. Sticking to the rules is the only thing you can do here. Don’t give them any sugar past six in the evening, and be consistent about bedtime. Tell them they have to be in bed by a certain hour and keep implementing it until it sticks. Disobedience Disobedience is a consequence of ignoring your child when they throw a tantrum. They might decide to take a page out of your book and ignore you when you tell them to do something. This might spell big trouble in the future, and you have to nip it in the bud earlyon. The solution is quite simple. Just like you reward them for good behavior, warn them about the consequences of bad behavior. For instance, if they refuse to pick up their Legos, tell them you’ll take away their iPad. If they ignore the warning, follow through with the consequence to nip it in the bud there and then. Excessive Screen Time It seems as if the children of this century have an appendage permanently reserved for an electronic device. This problem is as big an epidemic as any and comes with several consequences. If your child has a debilitating dependency on electronic devices, we suggest establishing clear rules and limits on screen time. Replace their electronic devices with healthier alternatives like outdoor games, so they aren’t tempted to break the rules. If you need further assistance, recruit Comfort ABA’s counseling services in New Jersey. Our in-home ABA therapy services include individual and family therapy for people of all ages. Help your child become a better version of themselves by reaching out to our behavior management consultants. Drop us a line to start mental health teletherapy today.