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Being in a large, noisy crowd can be overwhelming, overstimulating, and intimidating for anyone. Add a sensory processing disorder, and you can understand why some children struggle with going to the Calgary Stampede or other crowded places in the summer.
Since parents want their child to be able to have the same fun experiences as their peers in the summer, the solution does not have to be avoiding these places all together. Here are some tips to make trips to the Stampede more enjoyable for everyone.
Even if the trip does not go as planned, pat yourself on the back for trying and remember that there are lots of other times and places to practice coping with big crowds. Author
Kelly Williams Registered Provisional Psychologist July 2022
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By signing your child up for camp, parents get some kid-free time while still giving their kids the opportunity to try new things, meet new people, and enjoy their well-deserved break. Author
Kelly Williams Registered Provisional Psychologist June 2022 Nowadays we have the news at our fingertips 24/7. We are constantly bombarded with stories about the pandemic, political unrest, the rising cost of living, gun violence, and climate change. As humans, we are built to keep ourselves safe by being alert of our surroundings. When we hear about something that could cause harm to us or our loved ones, this alertness kicks in to keep us safe from these threats. We tend to keep this alertness and scan our environments for other possible threats.
Here are some ways to combat feeling the effects of this news anxiety cycle:
Finally, reach out for help if you’re overwhelmed. It is normal to feel discouraged or upset by sensational news coverage, but if you’re finding that these emotions are taking over your life, reach out to a mental health professional to support you in finding healthy ways to cope. Author
Kelly Williams Registered Provisional Psychologist June 2022
As parents, we want to be able to give solutions and fix problems for our children. Supporting our teens in being social and developing meaningful relationships can improve their possible feelings of loneliness. Here are some ways to support your teen while they navigate new friendships:
Teens with autism spectrum disorder face challenges in building friendships that their typically developing peers might not face. The suggestions above offer some concrete ways to support your teen in building meaningful, healthy relationships that will make their teenage years enjoyable. Author
Kelly Williams Registered Provisional Psychologist April 2022 Emotions can be hard to understand and cope with for anyone, including fully functioning adults. Add being a teenager and having autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to that, and emotions can become a completely overwhelming and frustrating part of life.
As parents, we want our children to be happy and healthy. However, when we are unsure of how to support them, it can feel helpless. Here is a list of ways that can help support a teen in understanding and dealing with emotions: ✔️ Offer up new language for naming emotions. Black and white thinking is typical of people with ASD, so it is possible that your teen is lacking the language to share their feelings. Using a mixture of words when talking about feelings can help with this. ✔️ Model emotional expression. If you are feeling happy, describe to your teen what that feels like for you. Saying things like “I am really looking forward to my day today! I have lots of energy and am feeling really comfortable in my body” can give your teens some insight into how they might identify and share this same feeling. ✔️ Share the hard feelings too. Not shying away from talking about harder emotions like sadness, frustration, or anger is important. Normalizing these feelings for your teen will encourage them to open up when they’re not feeling great. Sharing something like “I am worried about how my meeting is going to go at work today. I’m feeling jittery and keep thinking about what could go wrong” can allow your teen to see that ALL emotions are a normal part of life. ✔️ Offer coping strategies that work for you. If you know your teen is struggling, share what helps to calm you down. Keep in mind that different strategies might work better for your teen. ✔️ Be patient when your teen is trying to share their feelings with you. Give them the time and space to reflect on their feelings and access the appropriate words. ✔️ Help them set healthy boundaries with sharing. While helping your teen navigate the world of emotions may be your goal, it is still important to remember that they might be striving for independence in their teenage years. Offer open communication around feelings, but also keep options like journaling or counselling open if your teen does not want to divulge every feeling to their parent.  Emotions are an important and complex part of everyone's life, especially for teenagers with autism spectrum disorder. While it can be difficult for them to understand and express their feelings, it is still crucial that they do so. There are various ways to help teens with ASD manage their emotions, such as through therapy or medication. With the right support, they can learn to cope with their emotions and lead happy, fulfilling lives. Author :
Kelly Williams Registered Provisional Psychologist April, 2022 We all know how important physical health is to keep our bodies going, but mental health is just as important, and many of us overlook its significance. It's important to work towards a balance between these two sides of your overall health. Here are 10 reasons you might want to consider when thinking about starting therapy. ✔️ A psychologist will help you make sense of your thoughts and feelings and will help you to work out how your thoughts and feelings affect the way you behave. ✔️ A psychologist will help you identify patterns in your behavior so you can understand your thoughts and actions and how they impact your quality of life. ✔️ A therapist will help you develop coping skills for dealing with stress, anxiety, depression or past trauma. ✔️ A psychologist can help you with your relationships, explore new things, and cope with stress more effectively. Therapy can also help you overcome depression, anxiety, or substance abuse. You may have to try a few therapists before you find one who suits your needs. ✔️ A psychologist will work with you to figure out what goals are most important to you and how to set up a plan to achieve them. ✔️ They can help explore and resolve inner conflicts and work with you on any mental health problems that may be present ✔️ You'll get a better understanding of yourself and the world around you, and learn to appreciate and respect other people's differences. ✔️ A psychologist can help you find a way to cope with difficult feelings and situations. ✔️ The chance to talk about your thoughts and feelings in a safe environment, without fear of judgment. ✔️ The chance to learn new skills and strategies for coping with your feelings or dealing with difficult situations in life If you are having a hard time and feel like you can't cope with your feelings, talk to someone. It's important to remember that it's not your fault. You aren't alone. Author
Bernadene Weskin. Registered Psychologist.  "Go upstairs, get yourself ready, and then we can go to the lake". Sounds easy doesn't it? Some kids (and adults too) struggle with these daily tasks and can quickly get overwhelmed and frustrated at the thought of completing a request like this. And let's not forget it can be frustrating to sound like a broken record on repeat as the person trying to get everything organized. But have you ever tried a visual schedule? A visual schedule is a sequence of images and/or words that provide a child a clear expectation of what to do for a particular routine or task. It clearly lays out in an easy to follow format, the sequence events are expected to happen, as well as when the activity is over. This type of schedule is great for things like getting dressed, going to school, or using the washroom. Visual schedules are helpful for a number of reasons, such as helping with transitions, reducing anxiety, increasing independence, and increasing flexibility. Creating a visual scheduleRemember that this is supposed to be easy and appealing, so creating the schedule with your child is a great idea. You are likely to get a much bigger buy in if they were part of the planning and creating stages. It may get messy but that's half the fun isn't it? This is also a great opportunity to model how to be flexible when things don't go as planned. Create some spaces in your schedule to allow for the unpredictable moments, use a blank visual or a question mark because some days don't go quite to plan.  Using a visual scheduleThere are a few key points to consider when you are using a visual schedule to make it as successful as possible.
Author
Bernadene Weskin. Registered Psychologist. The sun sets the night before we have to spring forward 1 hour on our clocks, 1 hour of sleep is instantly lost. Tomorrow is going to be a nightmare as you get used to a switch in time AND deal with the tired & grumpy kids. But what are some ways we can help them cope with the change? We have some tips to minimize the impact of this annual ritual of skipping forward an hour when spring hits.
Plan the Lead UpThere are a couple of things we like to address here. Firstly, if your child is well rested prior to the change, then they will handle the change much better. With this in mind, try to ensure they are getting sleep in the lead up to the time change. Secondly, and this may be the biggest suggestion, stage the time change. If it's not absolutely unavoidable, then don't try to have them adjust to a 1 hour change in one brutal hit. Move the clocks a little bit each day in the lead up. 15 mins per day or 30 mins per day is MUCH easier to handle and may even be almost unnoticeable to them. Once the 1st day of the actual change arrives, it will be a piece of cake.
Routine, Routine, RoutineDid we mention routine? It's more important than ever to stick to your regular routine of a bath, reading a book, or whatever you do in your house that sends the signal that bedtime is coming. This routine will help them so that the only thing that changes is the number on the clock. Don't Be Too Hard on ThemYes there may be more temper tantrums than normal, more backchat, or more attitude in general. It's important that you take care of your ability to handle the loss of an hour sleep too, grumpy meeting grumpier never ends well for anyone. Keeping the house calm, relaxed and even a little more forgiving than normal will benefit the kids and parents. Pick your battles, is this one even worth participating in? More than likely not
Author Bernadene Weskin Like it or not, Christmas is fast approaching!Yep December is here and the holiday celebrations are starting to step up and impact everywhere you go. Let’s think about that for a minute.
Then think about the big guy in the red suit bellowing Ho Ho Ho and approaching children. Think about the drive home and all the flashing lights, think about the radio in the car playing Christmas music all of a sudden. And this is just from going to the mall, even just going to get your groceries becomes a sensory minefield. Expectations are high, there are lots of events with family, friends and co workers. Your kids are expected to behave during all these times that don't usually happen throughout the year, and certainly not all in such a small space of time. Let that all sink in for a minute, it's a pretty big ask for a small child still finding their way through regular emotions.
Watch For Changes & Be Prepared.
Children are entering the time of sensory overkill, and it can be very disruptive to some of them. You may notice small things like sleep patterns changing, moods changing, or they may just be stimming more than usual. So what can we do? Let’s face it, unless we stay and hide indoors with the curtains drawn for the next little while there is going to be exposure to all this extra activity. The best course of action is almost always good preparation and communication.
Helping Can Be EasyFinally, please consider all these things when you see a child looking distressed, when there is a parent looking like they are having a rough time coping themselves, or if someone is huddling, flapping, shouting or making other noises to help regulate themselves. Sometimes a reassuring smile from a stranger says "You've got this, you're doing amazing" and can turn someones day right around ... from just a simple show of compassion and support. Plus, a smile costs nothing. Wishing everyone a safe and successful holiday season from everyone here at Northwest Psychology Calgary.
AuthorBernadene Weskin As parents we always want to see our children succeed and be happy. As a result, we tend to push them to do their best and protect them from hurt and failure. When we intervene, we can inadvertently impact the lessons that nature and logic provide.  Natural Vs LogicalNatural and logical consequences are great teachers, they foster our growth and build our resiliency.
Keep the Consequence RelativeConsequences are most effective when they are closely associated to the behaviour. We don’t want to take away their favorite tv show because they threw water over their sibling as there is no easy association between the behavior and the consequence. Associated consequences give them a chance to learn what happens when they behave inappropriately. Additionally, it separates the child from what they did, and does not shame or punish the child. Further, when done in a calm manner it provides children with the opportunity to learn to be responsible and accountable for their own behaviour. Rules and ExpectationsFor the most effective impact, parents need to follow some simple guidelines –
 Author - Leslie Sugden
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