Iceberg

Stephanie Cordingley – Psychologist

Breath In

Stephanie Cordingley – Psychology

It’s important for children to know that all feelings are ok. So, the aim of the exercise is to allow our child to calm down so that they can talk about their big feelings with us. We want them to understand that they should not avoid or feel ashamed for having big feelings.

A simple breathing exercise that is empowering for children is the five-finger breathing technique. With practice, it can be performed anytime and anywhere. Practicing this technique regularly means that breathing deeply will come naturally when it’s needed.

How a Mood Tracker is helpful

Melanie Chan – Psychologist

Using bubbles for language development.

Rachael Downing – Allied Health Assistant.

Bubbles can be a great tool for language development!

They can provide lots of opportunities for developing both nonverbal and verbal communication.

For instance, they can promote your child to learn:

• Eye contact
• Turn taking
• Create opportunities to use signs.

Bubbles can also create the opportunity for:

• Your child learning to request.
• Teaching new sounds such as /p/
• Teaching new words such as bubble or pop.
• Teaching your child to round their lips.

Remember bubbles can be used for all different ages and stages to promote language development. You can also use bubbles to describe and talk about them. For example: big, small, tiny, sticky, wet.

Recognising the signs of anxiety.

Stephanie Cordingley – Psychologist

Sometimes children will show signs of anxiety, worries and fear, this is a normal part of development. If you’re concerned that your child’s fears, worries, or anxiety are affecting their health and happiness speak with your GP or a health professional.

Children often communicate that they are feeling anxiety in less obvious ways than just lots of expressed worrying. Recognising the signs of anxiety can help us better support and respond when they are going through a rough time. See the pie chart for some examples of how anxiety may be expressed.

WORLD AUTISM UNDERSTANDING DAY

Aamina Shakoor, Speech Pathologist, Change for Life.

What is World Autism Understanding Day?

Every year, on the 2nd of April, the world celebrates World Autism Awareness Day. However, Autism Advocacy groups have been focussing shifting away from the word ‘awareness’ and using ‘understanding’ or ‘acceptance’ instead. The reason behind is this that language used to talk about Autism and Autistic people is very important. World Autism Understanding Day celebrates the resilience of those affected by the disorder and supports causes that promote awareness of it.

 What is Autism?

Defining Autism is a little tricky. Autism is a developmental condition that can affect how an individual learns and interactions with everyone around them. Autism has many different characteristics; therefore, Autistic people are not the same and are different in their own ways. Therefore, Autism is described as a ‘spectrum’.

How many people are on the Autism Spectrum?

According to Autism Spectrum Org “research suggests that an estimated 1 in 70 people in Australia on the autism spectrum”. Autism can be diagnosed in people from all cultural and economic backgrounds. The characteristics of autism may appear in early childhood, but sometimes they can go unrecognised until later in life

How to be an Ally to Autistic People:

• Listen to Autistic voices
• Support Autistic-led organisations
• Collaborate with autistic people on information that is about them
• Use ‘autistic’ vs ‘person with autism’ – this is preferred
• Ask questions if you aren’t sure about something.

How to read a book.

By Michael Audas.

It is important for children to read a vast quantity—and wide variety—of different books. Not only does this allow them to develop familiarity with different text styles, but it also exposes them to a cornucopia of new words and ways to use language. Sometimes, however, our zeal for certain quantitative metrics (e.g., how many books has Johnny read?) can overshadow the considerations that go into a quality engagement with reading. When we find ourselves rushing through a book to ’get it done,’ or because we sense that our young reader’s interest is flagging, we can be sure that we will have deprived her or him of the real treasures stored within a given work, unless we correct our course.

But how can we go about this? The first and most important thing to consider is speed: this doesn’t merely mean that we slow the cadence of our reading, or that we stop at encouraging the child to do the same, but rather that we approach a text as if we were in no real hurry to put it down. We should not expect a book to yield its riches any more than we would invite someone to tell us their life story—but only within a fixed timeframe. Getting to know a book, just like getting to know a person, requires that we spend the time to ask meaningful questions and that we wait to hear the answer in full; if we still don’t understand, we need to ask more questions, and/or think about it until we do.

Of course, a book will not always be so charitable as to answer verbal questions with a verbal reply, but this is where children are fortunate enough to have someone on hand who can do precisely that. Better yet: if a parent’s answer shows the child (and yes, they can tell) that they are thinking long and hard about a book, and that they are on the same journey of understanding as they, then the message they will receive is “this book is worth reading, because even my super-smart Mummy or Daddy is trying to figure it out!” Even a passage with very many unfamiliar words, or poetic flourishes, can be made comprehensible to an early reader if an adult is on hand to provide a well-considered explanation.

But children, just like their statistically-taller counterparts, can also be quite prideful. They may not want to admit that they don’t understand something. That’s where the parent or adult needs to be vigilant and anticipate areas of difficulty and address gaps in understanding. The support you can offer in this regard is incredibly valuable, especially when approaching older texts which, while infinitely worth the reading, are often difficult for children to parse due to their complexity and archaisms.

Restful reading at a slow pace, and driven by a spirit of genuine curiosity counts for far more than how many books your child’s bookmark has hopped between in a month.

5 Belly Breathing Exercises for Emotional Regulation

By Stephanie Cordingley – Provisional Psychologist

When experiencing intense or uncomfortable emotions (most commonly stress or anxiety) try paced belly breathing. Paced belly breathing helps us calm our bodies which helps us calm our intense emotions, so we feel safe and in control. Proactively model and practice using this strategy with your child, that way they can learn to use it as a calming strategy. A starting point is using it after exciting activities, for example playtime or sports, to help calm the body ready for the transition to the next activity or home.

Importance of Play Skills

Aamina Shakoor, Speech Pathologist, Change for Life.

Why are Play Skills Important for Speech and Language?

Play skills are significantly important when it comes to a child’s speech and language development. Play provides some of the earliest opportunities for a child to develop their social skills as well as forming symbolic relationships. These areas allow children to later develop higher-language functions.

 Play allows children to learn to navigate and react to their environment. Play skills are also foundational for the development of higher-level speech and language functions, such as conversational turn-taking and problem-solving. Play is essential to development because it contributes to the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional well-being of children and youth.

How to Facilitate Language Development Through Play

Play activities are an important part of your child’s life, and your child will want you to be a part of these activities. This is also an opportunity to help your child develop important language skills in fun and supportive situations.

Pepper and Weitzman (2004) recommend the following strategies:

Follow your child’s lead

An individual’s interest level often determines how engaged he becomes in the activity. Therefore, it is important to become observers of your child’s play and engage them in play activities that they find interesting. Increased child engagement allows greater opportunities for language acquisition.

Practice turn taking

Establishing successful turn-taking routines will facilitate social and communicative skill development in young children. Turn taking is a skill that can easily be promoted through play with children of any age. Offering a brief pause when it is his turn will increase your child’s initiation, communication, and independence.

Modelling language

Modelling language for your child provides exposure to new vocabulary and correct grammar while speaking. Play is an excellent opportunity for a child to attach meaning to words and build vocabulary. Providing accurate language input can include commenting about what you or your child are doing, adding a word or phrase to the child’s short phrases, exposing your child to synonyms, or by modelling the correct sentence structure.

Read books together

Books are filled with opportunities to facilitate language skills. While reading stories that are familiar to your child, you can develop speech, language, and memory skills. Expose your child to a variety of books and watch to see what books he/she prefers. By following your child’s lead, you will capture his attention. Initially, you should read books with simple pictures and simple text. Consider board books, pop-up books, books with textures, and other interactive books.