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How Children Learn to Self-Regulate: Co-Regulation and Counter Regulation
Many doctors and therapists believe that a child’s self-regulation comes from allowing the child to calm themselves down when stressed. Unfortunately, this belief leads to parents/caregivers being told to, While some of these parental responses can lead to a change in the child’s behavior, if they are used early in life, before a child has…
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How do I help my autistic child to learn, think and function well? How do I help my child academically?
Discussion: One of the real challenges with children with special needs is grappling with how you help them master reflective, analytic thinking – seeing the big picture and making inferences. In studies comparing children with autism to children without autism, who are matched for IQ, the separating factor isn’t academics. “What separates special needs populations…
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How do I help my child to interact more?
Discussion: “The key,” says Dr. Greenspan, “is to extend the circles of interaction.” Once a child is somewhat engaged, you always want to extend the circles of interaction and get more and more purposeful. Play dumb with the child so they have to extend the circles of communication. The ultimate goal is the continuous flow…
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How do I motivate my child?
Discussion: “You always want to be following the child’s lead during Floortime and throughout the day,” says Dr. Greenspan. It’s important to remember to “never say no to a child with autism unless they are in danger; otherwise, we block the interaction, and that is where the affect is.” You don’t want to prevent the…
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How do I set limits or discipline my child with autism?
Discussion: “What if you’re in a situation where you need to set a limit?” asks Dr. Greenspan. With Floortime, it’s very important for limit setting to take place under the umbrella of calm, back and forth interaction. “The child with autism should learn in a negotiated way,” reminds Dr. Greenspan. The ideal way to set…