Hard to believe that in some places (like Arizona), summer vacation is coming to an end! Whether that brings up excitement, relief, and/or a little sadness, we always say that all feelings are allowed :) 

If your family is anything like ours, the summer has much less structure than the school year. That is totally ok! But it means that the first few weeks of school can be a tough transition. Waking up earlier, packing lunches, getting everyone dressed and out the door... it's a lot to keep track of! Today, we are sharing three tips to help you with this transition. 

1) Start working toward a functional sleep schedule.

Summers are all about late nights! Again, no judgement over here. If your child has been going to bed later than their "school bedtime," you will want to start slowly working their sleep time up. 

There are different ways to do this, depending on how much time you have. If you have a few weeks, you can slowly move their sleep time by small increments, like 10-15 minut...

Hard to believe we are almost to the end of 2020... and what a year it has been! I (Katie) am really excited for the next few weeks to unplug from everything (literally... thanks a lot 2020!) so I can relax and spend time with my family.

Before I can really be "on break" this season, I have a few things left on my to-do list. It's hard to finish out the year strong! This is true for all of us, but ESPECIALLY our kids with ADHD, learning and language differences, autism, or anxiety. Some days, the hardest part is just getting started! 

A few weeks ago, we shared some of our favorite tools and strategies for getting started. Today, I'm going to be talking about a few more tricks you can use to help your child (or yourself, no judgement here!) get started on a task. 

1. Externalize Time 

Many children (especially those with ADHD) have difficulty conceptualizing time and understanding how long a task will actually take to complete. They may also have difficulty with the passage of time...

How's your week going? Is everybody in your family getting back into the swing of things after the Thanksgiving holiday?! I know that in my (Katie's) family, it has been hard to find motivation for these last few weeks leading up to the end of 2020! 

If you have been following us for any amount of time, you know that we love to talk with families of children with ADHD, learning differences, language disorders, anxiety... but the truth is, this is actually the topic that almost all of us struggle with from time to time. Some days, the hardest part is just getting started! 

If this is you (or your child), we are here to help. In our coming blog posts, we are going to share a few of our favorite tools and strategies for getting started. Our goal is to break down the science behind ditching procrastination and getting things done. 

1. Lead with movement

It has definitely been said before, but it's worth repeating: Exercise is an incredibly powerful tool that helps increase mental clari...

Hi there! Katie here. Today, I am making the case for why I have the best job. OK, I'm kidding. Sort of. What I should actually say is, I'm a speech language pathologist who gets to work directly with a team of psychologists. On most of our diagnostic evaluations, we are able to collaborate and do both psych and speech/language testing, and I love having both disciplines work together. 

One of the first things we tell families who come to our practice is: If your child has a diagnosis of ADHD (or autism, developmental delay, or a learning disorder), a speech language evaluation is an important part of understanding the whole picture of your child's strengths and needs. In this blog, I will address the primary questions that parents have about speech language evaluations for children with ADHD. 

Why does my child with ADHD need a speech language evaluation? 

Most people understand how important language testing is for  autistic children. Since social communication is part of autism, ...

After receiving your child’s diagnosis of ADHD, it can be an overwhelming task trying to find the best treatment option to help both your child and family. Many of you do a quick google search or join a Facebook group and attempt to sift through the never-ending recommendations. Unfortunately, this can sometimes lead to more confusion and overwhelm. There are so many factors involved in getting help for your child, including options for in-person therapies where you live, cost, time involvement, and effectiveness of the treatments.

Today, we are discussing one of the most effective, non-medical treatment interventions for ADHD—behavior therapy!

Behavior therapy is the only non-medical treatment for ADHD with a large base of scientific evidence. Because of this, it is recommended that behavior therapies begin as soon as a child receives an ADHD diagnosis. Behavioral therapies also do not produce the unwanted side effects that occur with medication that are a concern for most parent...

Do you have concerns about your child's ability to process information? Do you ever feel like you are talking, and they aren't really "listening" to what you are saying? Many parents have heard of Auditory Processing Disorder, but the symptoms can be hard to pin down - especially when autism, ADHD, or a language disorder are involved. To help clarify this complex diagnosis, we have gone to an expert in the field of hearing - Dr. Lindsay Cockburn, a pediatric audiologist in Los Angeles, California. Thank you Lindsay for sharing your expertise about auditory processing disorder! We are so happy to feature your knowledge on the blog today. 

What is auditory processing?

Hearing is perceiving that sound is present. Listening is an active process that involves paying attention to what is heard. Auditory Processing is making sense of what you are listening to. Auditory Processing involves the brain using prior knowledge, experiences, and language skills to give sounds and speech meaning. ...

Last week things were getting pretty rough in my (Lori's) house. We were dealing with frequent hitting, kicking, throwing, pinching, yelling, and slamming doors. Despite having a reward system at home, I really wasn’t using it often. I found myself resorting to punishment. When the kids broke a rule and became physical, I took away television for the rest of the day. The thing was though, I had not made clear expectations or rules with my kids. And of course, when I provided a punishment, that resulted in an increase in behaviors, frustration, and overall sadness. It seemed like we weren’t getting out of the negative cycle!

I know this is a pattern that many of us face as parents. Fortunately, I was able to pull us all out of this negative cycle pretty quickly. I’m happy to say that the hitting and tantrums have decreased while the kindness and sharing have increased. Today, I want to talk about the very simple and highly effective strategy I used—Praise.

Now, many of you might be th...

Today on the blog, we have teamed up with Cory and Kate from Be a Problem Solver. Dr. Cory is a Child and Family Psychotherapist with a PhD in Counseling and Counselor Education, and Kate is a pediatric speech language pathologist. They are passionate about helping children and families learn and navigate the social world. Today, they are sharing about how to keep our children safe within the digital world. We are excited for them to share their expertise with you! 

In today’s digital age, everyone is concerned how to keep tweens and teens safe - but as parents, we get it, the parental responsibility in making these decisions is enough to make you go crazy. The kind of crazy you feel when you’re trying to just write that one final email at the kitchen counter and your children decide that that is an ideal time to start a heavy metal band and start a small fire in the living room. 

Nonetheless, there are some things that you can keep in mind as a parent in the digital age and ways t...

I (Lori) once had a father come in for testing for his 5-year-old son. The father noticed sensory differences with his son (e.g., overreaction to noises, sensitivity to touch, clothing), so he had taken him to an occupational therapist for testing and treatment. After a few months, he was making some progress, but his kindergarten teacher was still very concerned about his behavior. His father was then referred to me, a psychologist, for more testing to look into ADHD. When I first met with the father, he expressed the typical ADHD concerns: his son had difficulty paying attention, was very distractible, disrupted the learning of other children, and was constantly moving and talking. He was completing little work at school due to his lack of focus.

However, there were also other concerns which were characteristics of autism. For instance, he had never really made friends with anyone and was often fighting with other children at recess. He liked to spend a lot of time at home lining up...