What is Social Skills Training?
Challenges with social communication are a core feature of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). For example, people with ASD may experience difficulty making eye contact, interpreting non-verbal cues, initiating interactions, engaging in back-and-forth conversation, and understanding what others are thinking or feeling. These difficulties can inhibit the ability to form relationships with peers, which can contribute […]
External vs Internal Motivation
Parents and teachers often want to know how to increase motivation in students. While we know how important motivation can be with initiation of tasks, maintaining focus and follow through, and putting in effort for quality work, the actual act of increasing motivation can be elusive. Parents may resort to bribery and negotiation, such as […]
Parenting In The Era of Screen Time
You may have heard some of the alarming news related to research that links screen time and media usage with anxiety and depression in children and adolescents. This analysis was done as a part of a larger, longitudinal study that will follow more than 11,000 children as they grow up around screens – an unparalleled […]
Talking To Teenagers
Parents often feel that they’ve entered a new planet, or at least a foreign country, when their sweet innocent children become teenagers. Adolescence is a developmental period where identity, responsibility, maturity, and hormones can bring about changes, heightened emotions, and a whole new set of tools for parents to master. Teenagers get a bad reputation, […]
Teaching Emotional Agility to Teens
For some people, the term “agility,” brings up images of border collies jumping through hoops, but for psychologists, the word conjures up a host of skills and abilities that can make life easier when times get tough. In her book, “Emotional Agility,” author, Harvard professor, and psychologist, Susan David walks us through what emotional agility […]