early trauma history

The Importance of Parents

As an occupational therapist working with children and adolescents who have special needs, I am repeatedly impressed by the amazing love and perseverance of their parents.  Supporting and encouraging parents is the most important job of doctors and therapists who are trying to help children and adolescents.  I repeatedly recall my doctoral dissertation on parental […]

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Occupational Therapy in Adolescent Mental Health

I was recently honored to present Grand Rounds at Solnit Children’s Center, the adolescent psychiatric hospital where I work. GrandRoundsOT Outline Our dynamic transdisciplinary team over the past 5 years was able to significantly reduce the use of restraint and seclusion.OT role in Restraint Reduction Solnit which was celebrated by making a bench for the hospital grounds

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FAB Strategies® to Improve Self-Control

FAB Strategies® are Functionally Alert Body Strategies that can be used by parents, teachers, as well as Occupational, Speech, Physical, and Mental Health therapists to improve youngster’s functional behavior.  FAB Strategies® were developed to guide transdisciplinary intervention for individuals with developmental, mental health, post traumatic stress disorder, and sensory processing challenges. FAB Strategies® combines developmental,

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School Occupational Therapy for Developmental Trauma

School occupational therapists emphasis on therapeutic relationships, mental health, sensory processing, attachment, development, purposeful activity and self-regulation offer a unique contribution for improving the behavior of students with developmental trauma disorder. School behavioral problems related to developmental trauma are seen in students who have experienced early chronic abuse. Many students with developmental trauma difficulties have

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Brain Based Emotion Regulation Strategies

Brain based therapy applies current neuropsychology to developing emotion regulation strategies. Emotion regulation involves learning to non-aggressively express strong feelings. People initially process anger and other negative emotions unconsciously in the right cerebral hemisphere, but require cross-hemispheric communication involving the left cerebral hemisphere for conscious awareness, verbal expression and emotion regulation (Riggs et al., 2006; Shobe,

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Environmental Adaptations for Improved Behavior

Environmental adaptations are an important yet underutilized way of helping individuals with behavioral, developmental, and sensory modulation challenges. While environmental adaptations are often included in positive behavioral support and relaxation programs, they are not given sufficient attention. A third of children with significant sensory modulation differences were found to have major psychiatric diagnoses http://www.fyiliving.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/re-examiningsensoryregulation.pdf Individualizing and teaching

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FAB Coping Card Strategy

The FAB Coping card gives clients, teachers and therapists a visual support strategy for achieving their goals. Based on Power Cards, coping cards use the child’s preferred interest to guide goal-directed behavior. Clients use an index card to depict their preferred interest, behavioral goal, coping strategies, and reinforcement schedule. Constructing and displaying the coping card

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Sensory Strategies For Teens With PTSD

Adolescents with PTSD and sensory processing challenges can benefit from sensory strategies to improve their behavior. Sensory strategies are particularly helpful for improving attention and decreasing aggression. While too seldom used for PTSD I have found that deep pressure touch sensory strategies can be particularly effective for reducing aggression and improving attention in teenagers with

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