When your autistic child has support from you, they can learn to manage new situations, process appropriate emotional responses, and practice self-regulation – even with the changes that come with the holiday season.
Parent Guide: Helping Our Autistic Children Avoid Holiday Anxiety and Depression
Autistic children particularly struggle with making sense of new surroundings, changes in routine, and changes in the emotions of those around them – holiday season or not so go into the season prepared and ready to equip your child to understand and even embrace change.
Screen Addiction and Autism
In the last year, we have seen a rise in screen addiction, especially among vulnerable populations, such as teens and children with autism. How can we help?
Is Your Child Exhibiting Signs of Autism? When Should You Seek Out a Diagnosis?
There are a lot of different thoughts and feelings happening when you think your child might have autism. Sometimes it’s difficult to know whether your child is on the autism spectrum, if there’s a developmental delay, or if your child is just developing just a little later than usual. When it comes to what may be autism symptoms, what causes you to seek out a diagnosis?
Communication with Autism
In this webinar from the RDIconnect online learning community, Kat Lee interviews RDI® Program Certified Consultant Blair Armstrong on communication in the home. They discuss the differences between imperative and declarative communication, why parent training is so important in the RDI® program, and what myths about autism and communication are being perpetuated in the autism community.
Coming Out Of Chaos
One year after COVID Kat Lee and Lisa Palasti are coming back to talk about how they survived and more importantly, how you can continue to move out of the chaos.
Steps to Self-Compassion for Kids
Self-compassion is essential. It nourishes our mental well-being by reducing anxiety and depression. It keeps us from making self-limiting choices and from thinking thoughts about ourselves that can stifle our motivation and initiative.
Nurturing Ourselves: 10 Self-Care Tips for Autism Parents
As a parent of an autistic child, do you feel burned out or stressed? Are you in need of time alone, with nobody to watch the kids, yet you feel a heavy load of guilt?
Talking about Co-Regulation!
Learn how co-regulation improves communication, encourages independence and practical ideas to implement this core concept of parenting at home.
When Stimming Turns Violent
Your priority in addressing violent stimming is to remain calm and to keep your child and family safe. It may feel incredibly difficult when you are in the middle of an aggressive behavioral episode with your child but know that there are things that you can do to help the situation.
What Causes Regression in Individuals with Autism?
Autistic burnout can occur at any point in your child’s life, but it commonly presents during times of transition, such as toddlerhood, adolescence, or young adulthood. At these pivoting stages in life, children experience many changes which may promote stress and can lead to an episode of burnout.
Laying the Foundation for Intrinsic Motivation through Declarative Language
Being asked questions is perceived as a demand by many children. In fact, questions or demands actually raise blood pressure in the child, putting them on the defensive! Use declarative language instead!
Benefits of Free Time for Kids
Your child learns and develops from planned activities, but with a balance of free time, space is given for your child to naturally develop the motivation to learn.
Online Schooling When Your Child has Autism
Fall has arrived, and your child’s school has gone to online education due to the pandemic. You are not trained as a teacher. You have no idea how to manage online schooling for your child who has autism. What should the schooling focus be? How do you begin to adjust your life to this?
What is My Role as a Parent in Autism Treatment?
Do you look at your therapist or consultant as the authority that possesses the main role in your child’s autism treatment? You are the one that holds the dreams for your child’s development in life, and you are also the one that can best provide home-based opportunities for your child’s mental and self-growth.
Covid 19 Off the Rails: The Emotional Roller Coaster
It’s Wednesday—like no Wednesday we’ve ever known.Dr Sarah Wayland ( RDI Consultant and Parent) joins Parent to Parent host Kat Lee, revisiting the Emotional Roller Coaster in these...
Caring For Children And Teens With Special Needs During A Global Pandemic
Every now and then I come across a message so timely, an interview so relevant that I find myself wanting it to arrive in your inbox before I’ve even sent it. Dr. Sarah Wayland, RDI parent...
RDI At Home: Parenting in a Challenging Time
It’s Sunday—like no Sunday we’ve ever known. Maisie and Pete: This short description of steps to maintain and healthy lifestyle while our children are home all day will quickly pinpoint important...
Covid 19: At Home with Our Children
Even the most intrepid saint-like parents might feel the ominous weight and pressure of cabin fever when family time is not a choice but a 24/7 sequestered reality. Especially difficult are...
Presumed Competence
How Believing in Our Kids will Help Them Believe in Themselves
Your Child’s Potential
This blog post was originally published here. 90% of parents (if not more) share this common concern. “I know my child has good potential. But I don’t know how to tap into it.” This need not be at...
Slowing Down Your Life: Self Care for Autism Parents
Slowing down is always the first thing I look at with any new family. You have to take care of yourself FIRST.
MindGuiding Develops the Brain!
At RDIconnect, our programs focus on rebuilding the brain’s neural pathways that have disrupted the naturally occurring parent-child Guiding Relationship, which opens the door to...
Mindful Parenting
This blog post was originally posted on the brightsideoflife.com. It was also posted on the RDIconnect blog page in May, 2015. Mindful Parenting Mindful parenting sounds so easy, however, unless you...
Obstacles to Guiding
What challenges are normal when it comes to Guiding your child with autism?
Treating Your Autistic Child with Respect
How to Treat Your Autistic Child Respectfully and Create a Better Family Life
What It Really Means to Presume Competence in Your Child
Are you going to be the parent who believes in his/her child? Are you going to presume competence?
The Many Meanings of “NO”
What are they really trying to tell you when they say “no”?
Slowing Down in Autism Treatment
You have permission to slow down!
Are you Experiencing “Autism Burnout”?
Slowing down gives you a chance to be mindful and to let go of the chaos and hectic lifestyle of most autism therapies.
To Make Your Child With Autism Thrive, You Must Do This First
To every mother who wants to wants to live a happier and healthier life – it’s never too late.
Why It’s Time to Stop Teaching ‘Right and Wrong’ to Your Child
This guest blog post was originally published on the saiconnections blog page. You can read the original here. Three friends show up at your door to surprise you. It’s dinner time. You haven’t...
This is Better Than Eye Contact For Your Child
Of course, you want your child to look at you. But have you thought how it feels for him?
Accept and Believe in Your Child
Accept and Believe in your child. We all know what critical looks and sounds like.
Are You Stealing Your Child’s Thinking?
Changing our style of teaching children with autism from ‘static’ to ‘dynamic’ uses activities that require the child to ‘think’ his way to a solution.
Entertaining Your Autistic Child
Is constant entertaining a good thing?
Partnering with Your Child
A partnership is one where both parties have authentic roles in a meaningful task, activity, or project.
Listen Up!
Learning to listen to your special needs child.
A Guide to Your Child
Creating a Simple Guide for Your Child’s Teacher
The Importance of Parenting
Both parents are equally important to the success of RDI.
How to Teach Your Child to Learn by Himself
The parent guiding relationship is essential for activating growth-seeking.
Change Starts with You Mom
We autism Moms can’t give what we don’t have! We need help, just like our kids do.
When “No!” Means “I’m Scared or Overwhelmed!”
Sometimes the word “no”, does not mean what you think.
5 Ways to Stop Imprisoning Individuals With ASD
Making sure our attitudes are not keeping our children with ASD hidden in a box.
As an RDI Consultant, I Empower Parents
A lot of parents don’t realize that they have power to help their own kids.
