Last time, we talked about resilience and animations to jumpstart conversations with our students. The pictures above are just some examples of how a fabulous animation – in this case Soar, by Alyce Tzue, provides incredible material to help our students begin to understand what goes into resilience: the feelings and thoughts that can be involved, and how we all experience situations that can lead us to feel challenged, and even hopeless. . .

I am driving to work. It's a beautiful day, traffic is in my favor, my hair looks on the better side of okay, I have some great groups to look forward to - it's all good and I am feeling happy, optimistic, determined, grateful and enthusiastic…

The student illustration above came from such a series of exercises. We were able to talk about the event portrayed in his sketch, rather than going right to the "What do you think you could have done to help yourself feel better..."

This blog is finishing up my series of flexibility. What helps us find and maintain our ability to be flex? Well, I think it’s often encouragement – whether from within ourselves or from others.

After 2 blogs talking about flex and stuck, this time, let’s consider how we can support our students in building their flexibility. Remember, both flexibility and inflexibility reflect continuums – not static points…

With the coming end of the calendar year come HOLIDAYS. Once we are past that first signpost, Halloween, Thanksgiving (sometimes now with a week break!) seems to come overnight. Quickly followed by Winter break…

Ah, yes. Holidays - a time of differences. Different schedules, food, expectations, beds… Sometimes even disappointments and challenges…

There’s nothing like plowing through therapy notes trying to determine whether a student or group has already watched a particular animated video. And what work was done with that specific video…

In some ways, these two photos encapsulate my practice during COVID/SIP. And I know which one I prefer! So wonderful to be able to explore Critical Core (CC) in-person with my students. I got lots of comments and questions after my recent blog on the game, so this time I want to tell you a story that reflects the power of therapeutic role-playing games.

Some of you may have heard me talk about Critical Core the therapeutically applied role-playing game created by Game to Grow. Constructed on a DIRFloortimeR framework, Critical Core (CC) builds 5 “core capacities;” regulation, collaboration, planning, perspective, and pretend play…

I’ve worked with Tim, an autistic young man, since he was 3. Now he’s 22. A long relationship with him and his incredibly supportive family. When I became fascinated with mental state verbs (MSV) and talked with his mother, we agreed that they weren't words Tim used. Two years ago, we started a concerted effort to build his exposure to, understanding of, and use of MSV.