Therapy is Fun in Taree, New South Wales | Health/beauty

Therapy is Fun

Locality: Taree, New South Wales

Phone: +61 468 515 164

Address: 147 Cowper Street 2430 Taree, NSW, Australia

Website: https://www.therapyisfun.org

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23.01.2022 Autism explained in the most beautiful way. Created by: Alexander Amelines "Break the barriers" ... #autism

23.01.2022 Can everyone keep sharing so we can get this out to all those that could use this idea Covid19 vs autism mom #mymind #recreationalcenter #quarantinelife #covid19

18.01.2022 "Restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior" is one of the criteria for the diagnosis of autism. Clinicians and other professionals who work with autistic indi...viduals often consider these behaviors as undesirable and even problematic. Often, there is a focus on reducing those behaviors through behavioral approaches. What behaviors are these, specifically? Some examples are: repetitive play lining up/piling up toys stimming (self-stimulatory behaviors) echolalia need for sameness adherence to routines "special" interests I would like to share a different perspective on these behaviors that I have developed in my practice. Some of my observations are also complemented by information gleaned from writings by autistic adults. Repetitive play and Lining up/Piling up toys Autistic children usually play in repetitive and rigid ways when they do not have the skills to play more freely. To play, a child needs to be able to regulate their emotions, to tell a story, to understand the emotions and behaviors of others, to make planned movements, and to coordinate and solve problems with others if playing together. Many of those are challenging for an autistic child. Always playing in the same way allows a child to be sure of success. It is also a familiar, comfortable activity that allows a sense of control and reduces the anxiety that usually comes with a lack of skills. Lining up or piling up toys is one example of repetitive play that is very common. By arranging objects, a child can self-regulate and organize their world in a way that makes sense to them. If adults on the spectrum have collections or favorite objects, they can be sensitive to others touching, moving, or re-arranging them because it violates their need for the order that is comforting and is based on their own rules. Stimming Self-stimulatory behaviors, often referred to as "stims," can involve movements, vocalizations, as well as mental processes. "Stims" can serve the following many functions: Self-Regulation: Overstimulation: Stimming can help block out unpleasant or overwhelming sensory input Under-stimulation: Stimming helps provide extra sensory input when needed Self-soothing and comforting, stress release Pain reduction: Repetitive impacts can reduce the overall sensation of pain Possibly, stimming causes the release of beta-endorphins in the body, which then causes a feeling of anesthesia or pleasure Management of emotions: Both positive and negative emotions Joy or excitement -- jumping or hand-flapping Frustration or anger stim can become destructive Habit Echolalia: Echolalia is defined as the "meaningless repetition of another person's spoken words." Echolalia can be immediate or delayed. Consider the following exchange: Parent: Do you want some juice? Child: Juice. This is an example of immediate echolalia. You might want to say, let's get rid of it, the child is not answering the question, they are just repeating the last word they heard. But if you leave the content out, you can see that the child understands that question requires an answer. The child understands that a conversation involves back and forth. The child is using echolalia to follow the form of the question-and-answer type exchange. You can build on that strength to move a child forward to being able to answer questions. It will likely take learning core vocabulary and a lot of practice. It can be done using behavioral strategies of shaping and positive reinforcement of approximations to the correct answer, or it can be taught via modeling. If you get rid of the echolalia, you will lose an opportunity to use it as a bridge to more functional communication. Often, echolalia is a strategy that helps a person understand what has been said. By repeating a part of it out loud and hearing it again, there is an additional processing opportunity and extra time that can help comprehension. "Scripting" is an example of delayed echolalia. For a person who has trouble coming up with their own language, "scripting" can be a way to communicate more quickly while relying on "ready-made" phrases. Sometimes these are connected emotionally or situationally to what a person is trying to say. It can take some knowledge of the individual and their life to understand what scripted communication means. "Scripting" can also be a way to stim and have no communicative purpose. In this case, the purpose is to self-regulate. Need for Sameness and Adherence to Routines Repeating the same experiences and following the same routines are functionally close to organizing and controlling the world through piling up toys and playing repetitively. If your experiences are the same every time, you are never faced with not having skills to manage a new, unexpected problem. If you always eat the same food for breakfast, cooked in precisely the same way, you are sure to enjoy your meal. You are not going to need to deal with unpleasant tastes, textures, or smells. Familiarity can be soothing. It also reduces the demand load for using skills that might not be automatic, and in this way it conserves energy. Creating predictability is a way to stay regulated and in control. "Special interests" These are very deep, focused, intense, and specific interests that autistic individuals often pursue. They can change over time or remain the same. I like the way Barry Prizant calls them "enthusiams." Special interests serve a dizzying variety of useful functions: - Self-regulation strategy - A coping strategy, for example, for anxiety - Deeply satisfying and enjoyable, a source of positive emotions - Source of a positive self-image, expertise, self-confidence, control - Finding social connections via common interests, finding "your people" - Can be a gateway to a vocational choice - Can be a way to accomplish goals - Increased sense of well-being - Increased life satisfaction in the areas of connectedness and leisure - Interest and knowledge - Engagement and flow - Prestige (status in one’s one social circle) and achievement To sum up, "restricted, repetitive behaviors" in autism serve a function. The same behavior can serve different functions depending on the circumstances. The main point is, these behaviors are not useless. They cannot be evaluated based on neurotypical norms. Even if some of them are "annoying" or "distracting" to neurotypical individuals, it is important to recognize that they are meeting a valid need. That the behavior is not "typical" does not mean that it has no right to exist. If you take it away, the autistic person's well-being will suffer. We need to shift our perspective from reducing these behaviors to making the environment more friendly for autistic individuals and increasing the options autistic individuals have to get their needs met. For example, if an autistic individual stims to self-regulate due to the environment being overwhelmingly noisy, we can reduce the noise. We can also teach the person to recognize the problem and communicate, "It's too loud here, I need to leave." Repetitive and restricted behaviors do not need to be pathologized. They have many useful functions. They can also communicate the challenges the individual is experiencing and give clues as to the skills the person could use. We need to understand and respect these behaviors in the context of what they represent for autistic individuals. for more information https://thehouseofkidsdevelopment.ca/ or send us an email:[email protected]

17.01.2022 100 Reasons Not To Kill Yourself 1. We would miss you. 2. It’s not worth the regret. Either by yourself if you failed or simply left scars or the regret every...one else would feel by not having done enough to help you. 3. It does get better. Believe it or not. Sometimes the storm takes you to the rainbow. 4. There’s so much you would miss out on doing. 5. There is always a reason to live. It might not be clear right now, but it is always there. 6. So many people care, and it would hurt them if you hurt yourself. 7. You ARE worth it. Don’t let anyone, especially yourself, tell you otherwise. 8. You are amazing. 9. A time will come, once you’ve battled the toughest times of your life and are in ease once again, where you will be so glad that you decided to keep on living. You will emerge stronger from this all, and won’t regret your choice to carry on with life. Because things always get better. 10. What about all the things you’ve always wanted to do? What about the things you’ve planned, but never got around to doing? You can’t do them when you’re dead. 11. I love you. Even if only one person loves you, that’s still a reason to stay alive. 12. You won’t be able to listen to music if you die. 13. Killing yourself is never worth it. You’ll hurt both yourself and all the people you care about. 14. There are so many people that would miss out on who you are or will become with a little more time. 15. You’re preventing a future generation, your kids, from even tasting the miracle that is life. 16. How do you think your family would feel? Would it improve their lives if you died? 17. You’re gorgeous, amazing, and to someone you are perfect. 18. Think about your favorite music artist, you’ll never hear their voice again 19. You’ll never have the feeling of walking into a warm building on a cold day. 20. Listening to100 Reasons NOT To Kill Yourself 1. We would miss you. 2. It’s not worth the regret. Either by yourself if you failed or just simply left scars, or the regret everyone else feels by not doing enough to help you. 3. It does get better. Believe it or not it will eventually get better. Sometimes you have to go through the storm to get to the rainbow. 4. There’s so much you would miss out on doing. 5. There is always a reason to live. It might not be clear right now, but it is always there. 6. So many people care, and it would hurt them if you hurt yourself. 7. You ARE worth it. Don’t let anyone, especially yourself, tell you otherwise. 8. You are amazing. 9. A time will come, once you’ve battled the toughest times of your life and are in ease once again, where you will be so glad that you decided to keep on living. You will emerge stronger from this all, and won’t regret your choice to carry on with life. Because things always get better. 10. What about all the things you’ve always wanted to do? What about the things you’ve planned, but never got around to doing? You can’t do them when you’re dead. 11. I love you. Even if only one person loves you, that’s still a reason to stay alive. 12. You won’t be able to listen to music if you die. 13. Killing yourself is never worth it. You’ll hurt both yourself and all the people you care about. 14. There are so many people that would miss you, including me. 15. You’re preventing a future generation, YOUR KIDS, from even being born. 16. How do you think your family would feel? Would it improve their lives if you died? 17. You’re gorgeous, amazing, and to someone you are perfect. 18. Think about your favourite music artist, you’ll never hear their voice again 19. You’ll never have the feeling of walking into a warm building on a cold day 20. Listening to music incredibly loud. 21. Being alive is just really good. 22. Not being alive is really bad. 23. Finding your soulmate(s). 24. Red pandas. 25. Going to diners at three in the morning. 26. Really soft pillows. 27. Pizza. 28. Proving people wrong with your success. 29. Watching the jerks that doubted you see succeed. 30. Seeing someone trip over a garbage can. 31. Being able to help other people. 32. Bonfires. 33. Sitting on rooftops. 34. Seeing every single country in the world. 35. Going on roadtrips. 36. You might win the lottery someday. 37. Listening to music on a record player. 38. Going to the top of the Eiffel Tower. 39. Taking really cool pictures. 40. Meeting thousands of new people. 41. Hearing crazy stories. 42. Telling crazy stories. 43. Eating ice cream on a hot day. 44. More life-changing books could come out. 45. Traveling to another planet someday (you never know - Elon Musk is on it). 46. Having an underwater house. 47. Randomly running into your hero on the street. 48. The smell of the earth after it rains. 49. Trampolines. 50. Your favorite movie, you’ll never watch it again. 51. The feeling of laughing out loud in a public place because your best friend has just sent you an inside joke, 52. Your survival will make the world better, even if it’s for just one person or 20 or 100 or more. 53. People do care. 54. Treehouses. 55. Hanging out with your best friend in a treehouse 55. Snorting when you laugh and not caring who sees. 56. I don’t even know you and I love you. 57. I don’t even know you and I care about you. 58. Because nobody is going to be like you ever; embrace your uniqueness. 59. You won’t be here to experience the first cat world emperor. 60. WHAT ABOUT FOOD?! YOU’LL MISS CHOCOLATE AND ALL THE OTHER NOM THINGS! 61. The Artidote. 62. Hugs. 63. Stargazing. 64. You have a purpose, and it’s up to you to find out what it is. 65. You’ve changed somebody’s life. 66. Now you could change the world. 67. You will meet the person that’s perfect for you. 68. No matter how much or how little, you have your life ahead of you. 69. You have the chance to save somebody’s life. Even at this moment and besides your own. 70. If you end your life, you’re stopping yourself from achieving great things. 71. Making snow angels. 72. Sunsets. 73. Snowball fights. 74. Making life what you will of it. 75. Everybody has a talent; finding yours. 76. Laughing until you cry. 77. Having the ability to be sad means you have the ability to be happy. 78. The world around you would not be the same if you didn’t exist. 79. Quality & fulfilling conversations. 80. Cool breezes on hot days. 81. Heroes are ordinary people who make themselves extraordinary; the opportunity of being your own hero. 82. Being happy doesn’t mean that everything is perfect. It means that you’ve decided to look beyond the imperfections. 83. One day your smile will be real. 84. Having a really hot, relaxing bath after a stressful day. 85. Lying on grass and staring at the clouds. 86. Making your friends laugh. 87. Eating weird food. 88. Staying up all night watching your favorite films with a loved one. 89. Sleeping in all day. 90. Creating something you’re proud of. 91. You can look back on yourself 70 years later and being proud that you decided to live. 92. Being able to meet your Internet friends. 93. Tea / Coffee / Hot Chocolate 94. The pleasure of finding meaning in the meaningless. 95. Cuddling under the stars. 96. Being stupid in public just because you can. 97. If you are reading this then you are alive, Is there any more reason to smile? 98. Being able to hug that one person you haven't seen in years. 99. People care enough about you and your future to come up with 100 reasons for you not to do this. 100. But the final and most important one is, just, being able to experience life. Because even if your life doesn’t seem so great right now, literally anything could happen. (feel free to add to the list in the comments) painting by Horacio Quiroz

14.01.2022 As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. You ARE the product of your thoughts, and I’ve found when people can’t control them, they turn to managing the people... around them. Since people and life are unpredictable, a better use of your energy is to master your thoughts! Join me tomorrow morning for our weekly Sunday Service at 10AM EST. Help me spread the word, tag a friend to join us online tomorrow morning.

11.01.2022 Social Stories short/concise created with the child in mind... positive pictures

09.01.2022 A social story to share with your kids if they are feeling worried about everyone wearing masks. Credit: Autism Little Learners

02.01.2022 Sensory Parents! If your child struggles with regular wired earbuds or headphones, gets overwhelmed in noisy environments, and struggles with sensory meltdow...ns These EarBuddies are for you! Get yours today for 50% off and FREE shipping sensoryscout.com/sensory-earbuddies

01.01.2022 In our community ...