To My Son's Autism Therapists
By Rebecca Smith Masterson, contributor to The Blog on The Huffington Post website and author of the blog, Sincerely, Becca Hi Therapists, I feel like I know you all pretty well now. You've been in my home with my son for almost a year. Four, five, six days a week, you're here. You've seen me in my pajamas, watched me do laundry and cook dinner. I spend more time with you than I do with my friends or family. We chat, I sit and listen to the sessions, I ask questions. But most
Surviving Christmas Break: Tips for Parents with Kids on the Autism-Spectrum
By Mark Hutton, M.A., Counseling Psychologist and author of the blog, My Aspergers Child Christmas break gives the family a reprieve from the ordinary time spent with school and work; however, crammed schedules and unpredictable routines, mixed with the sights and sounds of the holidays, can add up to two weeks full of stress for a youngster with Asperger's (AS) or High Functioning Autism (HFA) - and his or her parents and siblings. The change in routine is the biggest diffic
Hope For a Full Life for Those with Autism
By Susan McCorkindale, contributor to The Huffington Post and author of 500 Acres and No Place to Hide: More Confessions of a Counterfeit Farm Girl Last week, we celebrated my older son's birthday. As I sat in the restaurant, watching him hold his girlfriend's hand and joke with his friends as they joined us at the table, I thought I'd cry. Not because his 23rd birthday heralds my 53rd (OK, a little bit because his 23rd birthday heralds my 53rd), but because of all the progre
Behavior Therapy Improves OCD Symptoms in Young Children, study says
Reported by Reuters via FOX News A family-based cognitive behavioral therapy markedly improves symptoms in children as young as five years old with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), according to a new study. The behavioral treatment, which involved parents heavily and is already known to work for older kids and teens, left almost three quarters of the young children significantly better off, according to objective measurements. "I really think that the results highlight th
My Child's World is Defined by Intense Anxiety
By Darlena Cunha, contributor to The Washington Post and author of the blog, Parentwin We're having a problem with dirt lately. Every morning, when my child wakes up to go to school, she can't make her bed. Instead, she will spend 30 minutes swiping at invisible, nonexistent dirt in her sheets. She'd spend all day doing that if she could. I cap it at 30 minutes. She'll sit on the potty for hours if you let her, as if she's glued to it. Convinced she hasn't gotten every last o
ADHD in Young Women Misunderstood by Parents, Teachers, Survey Finds
By Kassondra Granata, contributor to Education World A new study released today finds that almost 50 percent of mothers of tween girls who are diagnosed with ADHD find that they first thought their behaviors were normal “teen struggles.” These findings are part of an online survey conducted by Edelman Berland and fielded by Harris Interactive on behalf of Shire Pharmaceuticals, said a press release. The study finds that 59 percent of mothers “reported that they initially hesi