The holiday season is here! While the holidays are often a time for joy and celebration, they may also present some challenges for children with selective mutism (SM). Below are some helpful tips for supporting children with SM during this holiday season.

Reflections are repetitions of what your child has just said. This can be a verbatim repeating of what they have shared or a summary. Using reflections during dysregulated moments helps your child to slow down their own thoughts and big feelings while also allowing them to feel heard by letting them know that you’re listening to them.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a diagnosis that has evolved over the years. There is now increased awareness and greater understanding of ASD. However, there continues to be several misconceptions about this diagnosis and some may not realize that there is a diversity of presentations associated with being on the spectrum. In this post, we have addressed some of the most common myths and questions related to ASD.

Power struggles with children can emerge for a variety of reasons. These willful and increasingly autonomous moments are a normal part of development and typically begin around age two. When parents are confronted with navigating a newly willful toddler, they are forced to make tricky split second decisions as to how to manage a behavior, tantrum or big emotion. Fortunately, there are effective strategies to help end power struggles with your child, many of which can be simple changes in the way the parent views the child’s behavior.

Most adults haved learned to successfully integrate their “thinking brain” and “emotion brain” in a way that allows them to continue to problem solve in these moments. Kids typically haven’t yet mastered this regulatory capability. We have to help our kids learn to effectively integrate their “thinking brain” and their “emotion brain” when they’re experiencing big feelings.