Blog — sensory blanket

There are many labels for what we deem as "different" in our society. In my opinion, Autism is the most overused. I can't tell you how many people assume a child is Autistic because they are anxious or tune out around crowds. So how do you know when to be alarmed and when to let it ride out? People with social anxiety disorder (sometimes called “social phobia”) have a marked fear of social or performance situations in which they expect to feel embarrassed, judged, rejected, or fearful of offending others. Social anxiety disorder symptoms include: Feeling highly anxious about being...

Having a child is one of the most terrifyingly rewarding experiences. Even when all goes well, there is the unknown of the next day, week and year. How do you know you are making the right choices for your child? Is your child is developing normally? Happy? And then there is parental instinct. That voice or feeling that tells you something is not right. After a recent trip to visit family on the East coast, topics of my business came up. Questions about autism in particular. A common thread of the conversations was autism. What qualifications does a child have...

The power of play to engage kids in therapeutic activities is accepted by most Speech and Occupational Therapists as one of the perks of our profession. This article from our friends at spectrumnews.org provides good information and evidence for the use of creative play towards the development of social skills for children on the autism spectrum...."Play provides some of a child’s first opportunities to rehearse social interactions, generate novel ideas, toy with symbolism and develop narratives — skills that serve us later in life, particularly in our highly social world. Indeed, children who engage in more complex play early in...