©iStockphoto.com - Carmen Martínez Banús

It’s that time of year again, when the kids have received lots of great presents during the holidays and now it seems all you do is step over toys. Maybe it’s time to go through the toys and not just pick out ones they don’t play with to donate but also pick out ones that are unsafe to discard. Here are some reasons you may want to discard toys and places to check for toy safety. (continue reading…)

©iStockphoto.com - Catherine Yeulet

The earlier you start introducing new foods to children, the more likely they are to take to new, healthy foods. Toddlers and school-age children can learn to enjoy new foods if they’re introduced in a low-stress way that works with the way children eat, taste and think. Introducing new foods and developing an appreciation for healthy foods can be more difficult for older children, but still possible. Here are some strategies that work for our Green Diva Moms.

Try and Try Again

When introducing new foods keep in mind that it can take over a dozen tries at different ages for your child to acquire a taste for new food. Children are sensitive to temperature and texture in addition to a food’s flavor, so a food prepared one way may be acceptable when it is distasteful prepared another way. Kids who balk at baked or grilled eggplant may like it roasted. Over the course of a month offer the new food every couple of days, and try different preparation methods. If a child hasn’t taken to the food after a month, try again a few months later. (continue reading…)

©iStockphoto.com - lovleah

The “nature vs. nurture” debate is old and well known. Are a person’s problems due to how they’re made, or how they’re raised?

A recent German study suggests that nurture can make nature. Everyone knows that children raised in difficult environments often have problems later in life. People have long been studying abused and neglected children to see how they fare in adulthood, and it’s not hard to see how this kind of a start could lead to depression and other psychiatric difficulty later in life. So far, though, there hasn’t been a direct link or any kind of understanding of how this works on a molecular basis.

Now there’s evidence of a possible direct cause and effect. Trauma and stress early in life, the study suggests, change genetic makeup and cause behavioral problems such as depression later in life. (continue reading…)

ⓒ iStockPhoto - dcdebs

Neurological differences leading to autism, learning disorders and attention disorders are often lifelong conditions, particularly given medical science’s limited understanding of the conditions’ underlying physiology. Interventions can reduce the impact of a difference, and in many cases make the differences barely noticeable as they age, but vestiges of the old issues can pop up throughout life, particularly in times of high stress. Encouraging your child to adapt to a difference eases their path through life.

Foster Lifelong Adaptation Early

Each child is unique and deserves recognition for his individuality.  Celebrate every little move forward in your plan. Celebrate with a few words or a special meal. All that’s important is the child feels the positive reinforcement of recognition. Keep record of progress to be able to look back and gain encouragement when progress seems slow. Eventually your paradigm will change to recognize the strength of what is termed by society as a disability.  Find an outlet to showcase and use your child’s strengths. (continue reading…)

ⓒ iStockPhoto - sjlocke

As mentioned in the first installment of Parenting a Different Child, children with neurological differences such as autism, learning disorders or ADHD may not realize they are different at first. To them, the world is how they see it, even if that isn’t how the “normal” people do.  Because the different perceptions affect how they interact with the world, their differences are bound to become an issue at some point, and as a parent, you’ll need to explain that to them. If they’re school age, they may have some inkling that they’re not like their peers, but not quite sure how or why.

“Political Correctness” gets a certain level of mocking for insisting on phrases like “differently abled” for what people under the middle of the bell curve see as a disability. What seems like an inconsequential matter of semantics to adults can have a profound impact on a child, so the language and presentation matter. A child told he has a learning disability, who sees disabled people in wheelchairs, may get wholly the wrong impression of his own situation. The way you approach your child’s situation right from the start affect how he sees himself and his situation. Therefore, consider your own perceptions, attitudes and phrasing before you address your child. (continue reading…)

©iStockPhoto.com - Philippa Banks

The previous installment discussed discovering that your child is different, whether because of autism, learning disorder or attention disorder. Click here to read Discovery

The first, and possibly the most fraught, step in developing an intervention plan is determining what you need to intervene in. Though lumped together because they are all neurological problems and may coexist in the same child, autism, learning disorders and attention disorders are unique problems that each require their own approaches to interventions.

Autism

Autism is a spectrum of neurological disorders that affect social interaction and communication. Autistic Disorder is only one of five related diagnoses of pervasive developmental disorders from the DSM-IV. The others are Rhett’s disorder, childhood disintegrative disorder, Asperger’s syndrome and PDD-NOS, a diagnostic category used for atypical autism. All five ASDs are identified through a list of characteristics. Though autism is generally accepted as a neurological problem, there aren’t clinical tests like a blood test or brain scan that show physiological symptoms of autism. (continue reading…)

©iStockphoto.com - mrPliskin

From the time mothers are children themselves, playing with dolls, they dream of how intelligent, athletic and amazing their children will be. A woman carrying a child is confident that child is going to be the first and best of every achievement imaginable.  Her child is going to be the doctor who cures AIDS or cancer.

Discovering a Learning Disability

Her child born perfect, with a button nose, tiny ears all his toes and fingers. Grandparents clamor over whose side of the family he takes after more. He grows and reaches milestones, but something just doesn’t seem right.

He’s no longer making eye contact or his letters are backwards and upside down.  Perhaps he won’t sit long enough to learn anything or he is just struggling harder than necessary. Skills come harder, and later, than other children in the play group. Fear and uncertainty creep into that confident mother’s mind. The dreadful feeling of failing at motherhood becomes her constant companion.  Her dream child isn’t “normal.” (continue reading…)