Diagnosing Kids' Anxiety Not So Cut and Dried, experts say
Parents watch their children and know something is wrong, but many North Jersey families find it can take a long time and many doctors' appointments to be told the issue is anxiety. Even though anxiety disorders are the most prevalent psychiatric illness among children and adolescents - affecting as many as one in four - diagnosing it can be difficult. "It's often difficult to accurately assess anxiety disorders because anxious children and adolescents may be reluctant to dis
To the People who Think my Son Doesn't Look like he has Autism
"He doesn't look like he has autism" "But he seems so normal." "Oh, my kid does that, too." Trying to advocate for my son while attempting to raise autism awareness can be a tricky business, because my personal experience with autism is limited to one person...Mareto. Yes, I know other children with autism (which wasn't the case a few years ago), but I don't know them or have experience with them in the same way I do with my son. So, when I share about autism and parenting a
Dad of Kid with Autism Develops App so People with Disorder can Find, Rate Accommodating Places
A Pennsylvania father whose son has autism is creating an app that will help people with the disorder and their families. Topher Wurts is developing the "Autism Village" app which will allow people in the autism community to add, rate and review different restaurants, museums, parks, playgrounds, and other locations based on "autism friendliness" -- the level of comfort or accommodation a place is able to give a person with autism. The 48-year-old, who was inspired to take on
The Drama of the Anxious Child
When I was first studying psychology, thirty years ago, I learned that about 10-20% of children are born with a temperament that is highly reactive to anything new and unfamiliar. Some of these children go on in life to be anxious, timid or shy (or, as we shy people like to say, "slow to warm up.") A much smaller number of children, about 1-5% were diagnosed at that time with a full-fledged anxiety disorder. Nowadays, there are still 10-20% with that reactive temperament, but
The House We Build for ADHD: A Blueprint for Long-Term Care
You're building a home and a family -- one with ADHD in the mix. The sheer volume of information and misinformation about ADHD can compromise your designs and make your house seem built of straw more than bricks. But it needn't be this way. Reinforce the foundation of evidence-based care, build upwards to address the rest of ADHD and your home can be as solid as every other one on the block. ADHD Care from the Ground Up ADHD is a common disorder of child development that infl
Why it may be Hard for Someone with Autism to Enter a New Situation
By Ann Kagarise, guest contributor to Autism Speaks and assistant director at a school for children with autism Safety was a topic of discussion during social skills slass, at our school. Our students, on the spectrum, were asked where their safe places are, who their safe people are and how they feel when those safeties are removed. Hands went up around the classroom. Everyone wanted to have a voice on this topic. Collectively, one word was said when safeties are removed: FE