Tips to Help Keep Children with “Special Needs” Safe and Have Fun This Halloween
Halloween is approaching quickly, which means ghosts and goblins will be trick-or-treating in our local neighborhoods. During this fun holiday we also need to keep our children safe from harm and injury while trick-or-treating. Here are some suggestions to make the most out of the Halloween experience:
- If the sensory rich experience is to much for “our children” plan a party at home that is more sensory friendly.
- You can practice trick or treating with your child in the days leading up to Halloween. He could knock on the door to the bedroom, you could open it, and he would say “trick or treat!” Then you could give him a little toy or candy to put in his bag.
- The most important thing is do what is fun for your child and don’t be too worried if a meltdown happens anyway.
- If your child is not able to eat the types of treats typically given, have some of their favorite treats available, trade them the candy they can’t eat for the candy or other treats they can eat.
- If your child can not adapt to the sensitivity of a costume, you can give him the option to just wear a funny or scary Halloween t-shirt.
- Be sure costumes do not limit mobility or breathing.
- Use only flame resistant costumes
- Have the child try on and wear the costume on different days prior to Halloween to make sure they are not sensitive to it.
- Trick-or-treaters in costumes need to be able to see and be seen. Do not use costumes that impact any of “our child’s” senses.
- Give them a flashlight to light their way and reflective tape on costumes or trick-or-treat bags to help them be seen. Keep in mind that the sun sets around 6:30pm on Halloween evening.
- Make sure that child’s vision will not be obscured by masks or headpieces, you may want to choose face paint instead of a mask.
- Be cautious around animals, especially dogs that can be frightened by costumes and unexpected guests coming up to their house.
- Stay in neighborhoods you are familiar with. Visit homes that have the exterior lights on and only accept treats at the door, never enter a stranger’s home.
- Parents and older siblings should set a positive example. Walk on sidewalks, if available. If not, walk on the edge of the roadway, facing oncoming traffic. Always look both ways before crossing the street and cross at corners or traffic signals when possible.
- Bring bottled water for trick-or-treaters. It’s still hot in Florida, and wearing warm costumes could overheat children.
- Travel in groups and encourage parents to walk children door to door while trick-or-treating.
- Always check children’s treats before they eat them. Discard anything that looks like it has been unwrapped or tampered with.
- For those who may not be able to say Trick or Treat, make cards or a sign expressing what they would like to say
- Halloween should be fun for everyone participating, if trick or treating is not fun for your child, substitute it
with a preferred activity that is fun for them. It is ok.
Dr. Eric Nach, Ph.D., M.Ed., A.S.D. Certified Developmental and Behavioral Specialist
For more information about our online “student success” courses visit our website at: https://drnachonline.com/
For more information about the services available at the Support for Students Growth Center in Boca Raton, FL, visit our website at:
https://www.supportforstudentsgrowthcenter.com
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Creatures of Habit
by Dr. Eric Nach
Most of our children are “creatures of habit”. They develop systems for coping with their lives that make sense to them. When their routines are interrupted they may act out in overt (outward) or covert (not so obvious) ways. Regardless of whether they yell, scream, act confrontational, or shut-down, we want to help them resume life ASAP.
So what can parents and others do to help their children get back into routine after experiencing a hurricane or other traumatic event? I anticipate you may find some of my “top ten list” useful.
- Set a date for you and your child to go through their backpack and make sure their papers are organized. Read through the last couple school days class notes with them to help them get into the mindset of school once again.
- With your child, clean-up and organize the areas they do their schoolwork in.
- At least a couple days before school resumes reset bedtime and waking up time to prepare for a return to a regular school schedule.
- A few days before school resumes set time aside from your child’s’ day to read or do some school work, increase the amount of time each day to closely resemble time typically spent doing homework or studying.
- After school resumes, be sure to give your child a limited amount of time to regroup after school before starting homework. Some form of physical activity, for 20-40 minutes tends to work best. I suggest avoiding “screen time” as an activity to wind down, as the use of their screens actually stimulates not relaxes them.
- Resume morning routines before school resumes, practice waking, grooming, breakfast routines and other morning rituals for the entire family, don’t forget about caring for your pets.
- Make sure school clothes are clean and ready to go, if they were damaged due to a hurricane or other catastrophic event, have substitute clothing prepared and send a note to the teacher with your child explaining the clothing situation.
- Once school resumes, spend a little extra time the first week going over assignments and helping your child become and stay organized.
- Odds are your child has been spending more time engaging in screen time than usual, start to wind down. Remember, professionals recommend no screen time at least one hour before bedtime (it is too stimulating). I recommend children under 16, shutting phones off and giving to parents before bedtime.
- Listen to and observe your child for signs of difficulties adjusting back into routine. Consult professionals if you suspect prolonged difficulties with adjusting back into routine. Resume after school activities such as sports, hobbies, therapies, and social groups.
Dr. Eric Nach, Ph.D., M.Ed., A.S.D. Certified
Developmental and Behavioral Specialist
For more information about our online “student success” courses visit our website at: https://drnachonline.com/
For more information about the services available at the Support for Students Growth Center in Boca Raton, FL, visit our website at: https://www.supportforstudentsgrowthcenter.com
Follow us on social media as well @
How to Work Smarter
Those of us at the Support For Students Growth Center in Boca Raton, FL, are constantly helping students and others develop their skills to be a success in life. If you strive to be a business owner, an executive moving up the corporate ladder, or if you are a student trying to balance school, a social life, and perhaps a part-time job, there never seems to be enough time in the day to get everything done. The reality is that you find yourself with seemingly unending tasks you have to plan for and complete on a daily basis. Without effective tools to establish and prioritize worthwhile goals, to navigate proper time management and interacting with groups of peers you can easily end up bogged down, distracted, inefficient, unproductive, alone, and ultimately unproductive. This can seriously affect your chances of being happy, successful and slow the pace at which you make progress. Here are tips you should use to effectively manage your time, set worthwhile goals and complete tasks, and be a functional part of dynamic and productive group of others looking to be high achievers.
Work with far shorter deadlines than you are used to and stick to them
One thing that fuels procrastination is the illusion that you have more time to work on activities. To avoid this, create shorter deadlines to create a sense of urgency on the various tasks you need to complete. You should not struggle with perfection, as when you get the tasks done you will have adequate time to brush through the work. Shorter deadlines also allow you to fit more tasks in your daily schedule.
Establish your priorities
In order to have time in your day to do the things you need to do and those tasks you really want to do, become expert in establishing your priorities. Quite often very well meaning people get distracted by the unimportant things. To prioritize like a pro: make a list of all your tasks, identify the most valued tasks, make a list of tasks from the most urgent to the least urgent, establish how much time should be used for each task, adapt to the unexpected, and know when to let something go that proves to not be as important as you once thought it might be.
Learn not to procrastinate
Most of us would prefer to eat our desert before our vegetables. Life experience has shown us that nothing will help us complete a task faster than by taking action. Overcome procrastination by doing the most difficult tasks first, chunk large projects into smaller, meaningful pieces, and just keep doing the next part. Delegate all tasks that do not require your direct personal input and those outside your area of expertise. Learn how to effectively delegate to free up your time for more demanding tasks.
Become a “Group Master”
Being an excellent listener is arguable the most valued trait of being a strong group leader. Those of us who are productive in groups are careful to pay attention to what others are saying so that we can be responsive to the group dynamics. Strong group members and leaders leave themselves open to constructive criticism and use this feedback as opportunities to better themselves.
Save unimportant but time-sucking activities for the end of the day
All activities that need to be done but take most of your time should be set towards the end of the day. This allows you to focus more on the valuable and more productive tasks during the peak business hours. You can deal with social media and mails as well as return personal calls at the business end.
Develop your executive functioning and soft skills
Being able to plan, organize, and complete tasks are essential executive functioning skills necessary to be productive in all aspects of your live. If you are deficit in any of your executive functioning skills, you know how challenging life can be. Reading articles about executive functioning, taking classes, and seeking professional assistance are some ways to enhance one’s executive functioning skills.
Having the “hard skills” is of little value without the “soft skills”
We go to school to learn the “hard skills”, how to do the math, how to read and write, how to do scientific activities. You need to be able to do the skills required to be a valued employee. If you want to be an accountant, you need to be able to do the math. However, many of you lack in the soft skills, the ability to deal with conflict in the workplace, how to manage your time, solve problems, knowing how to prioritize, and so on. Studies conclude that soft sills are just as valuable or more so than hard skills in predicting future success.
Dr. Eric Nach, Ph.D., M.Ed., A.S.D. Certified
Developmental and Behavioral Specialist
For more information about our online “student success” courses visit our website at: https://drnachonline.com/
Learn How to Work Smarter
For more information about the services available at the Support for Students Growth Center in Boca Raton, FL, visit our website at: https://www.supportforstudentsgrowthcenter.com
Follow us on social media as well @
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https://twitter.com/NachAcademy
MANAGING DISTRACTIONS
When you or your child are finally ready to get some work done, you may find it impossible to focus on what you need to do. “Let me spend a few minutes on Facebook or listen to my favorite song on YouTube then get some psyche to do the work,” you tell yourself. Before you know it, 2 hours are gone and you haven’t even started doing the work. It happens to the best of us.
Good thing is, it doesn’t have to always be this way. There’s a lot that you can do to maintain focus, avoid distractions and finish what you had set out to do. Here’s how you can avoid distractions and get more done with little time.
Focus on the end goal
Knowing why you need to stay focused and achieve the work you set out to do every day is important. It gives you the strength to push through even when distracted. Do you want to learn a new computer program? Do you want to get the job done and make extra income? Are you contemplating quitting your job in order to work from home? Think about your vision/goals and it will help you to remain focused.
Breakdown tasks in order of importance
When you have more than ten tasks that you need to do in a day, there are definitely a few that are not as important as others. Only handle a few important tasks instead of taking on too much and giving up along the way. You’d rather accomplish less work than none at all because you set too high expectations.
Do tasks early
Don’t wait too long to start working on something. Do it as early in the day as you can. This will help to avoid the distractions that usually come in the middle of the day. It’s going to be harder to accomplish your goals when you don’t do the tasks as early as possible.
Maintain momentum
Sometimes taking breaks when working on something makes you lose momentum and you waste a lot of time before you get back on track. Work on smaller tasks that you can handle and finish before taking a break. This way, you will leave no room for distractions.
Focus on what you can do and skip what you don’t know
This usually helps you to finish up the work as fast as possible. You may realize that you spend so much time trying to figure out the difficult parts such that you end up losing focus entirely. Choose to work on the difficult area later and focus your attention on the areas that you can handle.
Stay away from distractions
Escape or get rid of external things that often distract you. If you’ll distracted by the TV, work in a different room. If there are kids or coworkers who often distract you, wake up early and do the work before everyone else comes. If you are often distracted by the internet, turn off the connection. This is possibly the simplest form of advice for getting your work done in less time. But many people overlook it.
Dr. Eric Nach, Ph.D., M.Ed., A.S.D. Certified
Developmental and Behavioral Specialist
For more information about our online “student success” courses visit our website
at: https://drnachonline.com/
For more information about the services available at the Support for Students
Growth Center in Boca Raton, FL, visit our website at:
Follow us on social media as well @
https://www.facebook.com/NachAcademy
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Support for Students Growth Center
5458 Town Center Road, Suite 8, Boca Raton FL 33486
Ph. 561-990-7305 Fax 561-465-3564
DrNach@SupportForStudentsGrowthCenter.com
Dr. Eric Nach, PhD, MEd, ASDc.
www.SupportForStudentsGrowthCenter.com
Preparing Children With Autism, ADHD, & Other “Special Abilities” To Transition Into Middle School
August 8, 2017 8:30 AM Sponsored By Children’s Services Council of Broward County
Written by Eric Nach, Ph.D., Development and Behavioral Specialist and President of the Support for Students Growth Center.
Making the transition from elementary to middle school is a huge milestone for all children and their parents. For children with Autism, ADHD, and other “special abilities”, this dramatic change of life is even more traumatic than for their NT (neuro-typical) peers. As life is full of many unforeseen challenges, the unpredictability of daily interaction is exceptionally difficult for these children and equally challenging for their families. We can plan and prepare for the change to middle school, however, experience shows that nothing is guaranteed when it comes to realities of life.
Setting goals is very easy but staying focused and achieving them is the hard part. We all struggle with procrastination and distractions that draw us further apart from our goals. But it is indeed possible to set goals and achieve them. Let’s look at a few tips to help you be on the right path to achieving all the goals you set:
Make SMART goals
You need to set goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-sensitive.
Specific goals: Don’t be vague when it comes to goal setting. You need to be certain about your goals in order to know how you are going to achieve them. If you set ambiguous goals, be ready to produce ambiguous results.
Attainable goals: One mistake most people make is that they set goals which they can’t achieve. Don’t set unreasonable expectations otherwise you may end up giving up.
Realistic goals: Set goals that are realistic you are able to make a reality. Think about what it will take for you to do it and if those things don’t happen then it cannot be achieved.
Time-sensitive goals: When setting goals, have a time end because it will help you to work harder knowing that there is a deadline that you have to meet. If it’s a big goal, break it down into smaller parts. Just remember every goal you set needs to have a timeline.
Let someone hold you accountable
Share with someone what your goals are and they will help you to be accountable. Accountability is what helps you to keep on moving forward even when you feel like giving up. You’ll know someone is watching you and possibly encouraging you to stay focused.
Write them down
When you have the goals written down it’s a good reminder for you every day. Have each one of these goals written on a piece of paper and stick it on your bathroom mirror so that you are reminded every morning. It can help you not to lose sight of them.
Have an action plan
It’s important for you to really understand how you intend to achieve those goals. Is there a specific method that you need to employ in order to achieve them? Write it down and take a deep look. Have you stretched yourself too thin? Don’t just set goals for the sake of it or make action plans that are not realistic. Make sure you have the strength, willingness and capability to stay on course.
Get your priorities right
When setting goals, think about the things that are most important to you; those goals need to be in line with each one of these priorities. For instance, if you want to set long term goals, think of what you need to improve on and what doesn’t have to change.
Track your progress
Decide when you are going to track your progress. It can be once every week or monthly but it’s a good idea if you want to remain focused on achieving those goals. In fact, you can track your progress on a daily basis.
Dr. Eric Nach, Ph.D., M.Ed., A.S.D. Certified
Developmental and Behavioral Specialist
For more information about our online “student success” courses visit our website at: https://drnachonline.com/
For more information about the services available at the Support for Students Growth Center in Boca Raton, FL, visit our website at:
https://www.supportforstudentsgrowthcenter.com
Follow us on social media as well @
#MSDStrong
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