Recent Posts

What to Know About Youth Diabetes

A diabetes diagnosis can feel crushing, especially when you aren’t expecting it. This is even more true when the diagnosis is for your child. But parents of children living with diabetes and doctors both have one clear message: the condition is manageable. What is diabetes? Diabetes is a chronic health …

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Making Sports a Safe Space for Kids

Kids playing a sport on a grassy field outside.

Sports are a great way for kids to stay active, develop their social circle and gain confidence. That can be especially important for kids and teens in minority groups who might not always meet peers who share their identities during school. Programs such as the Special Olympics provide a safe …

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Dungeons & Dragons and … Autism?

When I tell people that I use the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons in my group therapy sessions with individuals with autism, the question they ask is: “Does this really qualify as therapy? How can a game where you traverse an imaginary world completing imaginary quests and slaying imaginary monsters …

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Autism: Sensory Issues and Therapy Solutions

Children play educational games with a sensory bin in kindergarten

  Children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) can often exhibit sensory issues such as hyper- or hypo-sensitivity to various stimuli. As many as 70% to 96% of those diagnosed with autism can display signs of sensory dysfunction. In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association added sensory sensitivity to a list …

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Benefits of Early Diagnosis for Children on the Autism Spectrum

Autistic child girl holding ribbon symbol of colorful pieces of jigsaw together for day of raise awareness about people with Autism Spectrum Disorder throughout the world.

  During Maya’s* first birthday celebration, her mother knew something was different. “We were singing ‘Happy Birthday,’ and she had such a blank stare. In that moment, I knew something was off,” recalls Elizabeth Chaillou, who perhaps had special insight into typical childhood milestones given that Maya is the youngest …

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