What is joint attention? Joint attention is the ability to share a common focus on something (people, objects, a concept, an event, etc.) with someone else. It involves the ability to gain, maintain, and shift attention. Joint attention serves as a referencing tool that uses shared gaze (visually focusing on the same thing) and/or gesture…
What is stimming? Hand-flapping, rocking, spinning, and flicking. Stimming is a big topic in the autism world, in fact, stimming is probably the most recognizable trait of autism and the thing that people think about most when they think about autism. It’s also the thing that neurotypical people mess up the most about autism. The…
You might think that the sooner you accept and embrace an official diagnosis of autism, the better. After all, knowledge is power, and the sooner you know, the sooner you can get your child the help and services needed. But knowledge does not have to be tied to a label, and there are circumstances in…
You already know what ABA therapy is, and what is expected of you as an ABA parent. But if you’re child is recently diagnosed or has recently been prescribed ABA therapy, you may be wondering: what should you look for in an ABA program? What to look for in an ABA program Applied Behavior Analysis…
Spending a lot of time in your car? Same. As a special needs mom, a big part of the weekly schedule is filled with driving to and from various therapy appointments. But guess what? All that time doesn’t have to be wasted! Language building activities can be done anywhere, anytime. These language boosting games are…
When you think of ‘mindfulness’, what comes to mind first? Maybe a Buddhist monk posed in serenity? A blissful sunset? For me, it’s meditation. Or maybe yoga…two things I’m not very good at! My teen thinks immediately of my Calm app, which I love and he resists. The importance of mindfulness for kids and teens…