Dr. Blevins discusses why ADHD or ADD are commonly confused with anxiety. She talks about how this confusion can happen in the first place and
Read MoreGiftedness and Special Needs
I'm chatting today with a psychologist who specializes in giftedness, Andrea Lein. She and I really nerded out... for a while. We talk about what giftedness is, what twice exceptional is (when a gifted personal has a learning or emotional disability in school), and how parents can approach supporting twice exceptional children. Enjoy!! (I know we did!)
Read MoreHow to find a psychologist to evaluate your child
This video discuss how psychologists tend to specialize through their training in certain areas of assessment, and it aims to help parents to find psychological evaluators who are good fits for assessing their children. Common misconceptions with…
Read MoreYoung Family Estate Planning
Today's video is the second in a three-video series on supporting your child in the financial domain. A couple of week's ago I addressed college (and other after-high-school pursuits) planning. In a few weeks I'll be addressing growing financial skills through intentional parent-led teaching by interviewing Thomas Corley, an award-winning author.
Today I am chatting with Randi Johnson of Lilac City Law about young family estate planning. Estate planning is putting in writing (so everyone is clear) your wishes for your children in the unfortunate event of your and their other parent's passing. We will discuss estate planning for typically developing children and the concerns involved when raising a child with special needs.
Specifically, we'll look at considering power of attorney versus guardianship when your child becomes an adult, choosing a guardian and the different types of guardians, examining what a trust is and how it can provide
Read MoreWriting IEP Goals that Work
Today I'm continuing my series of expert chats with Brandie Rosen, a 25-year veteran of special education and teacher training. She's worked on over 5,000 IEPs! She shares with us valuable insight into writing good IEP goals.
IEP goals are the meat of any special education child's services. They provide the road map for what the school, his teachers, and the child will be accomplishing as part of the special education programming for the next calendar year. Brandie helps me to understand how this individualized map fits in with the general education curriculum and how it pulls services, like speech and language, to support meeting the IEP goals. We also dive into Brandie's work in training teachers, specifically with addressing anxiety in students. Brandie provides a framework for how she promotes a collaborative, expertise driven working style so that teachers can do their best work with students while students are getting all of their needs met.
Have a great day!
Dr. Blevins
Resources
Brandie's parent website: https://brandierosenconsulting.com/
Brandie's teacher website: http://learn2teachwithbrandie.com/
Here is a link to Brandie's resource page for parents; lots of good IEP content! :) https://brandierosenconsulting.com/faq-and-resources/
Read MoreFunding College: Info for special needs and traditional students
Dr. Blevins chats with Katrina Roy and Peter Tassoni, both employed with the state of Washington, about considerations for college financial planning. Planning for both special needs and typically developing children are covered.
Download the presentation here: https://teachdirections.enildaclinic.com/funding-college
Questions covered include:
1. What might be additional factors to consider, financial opportunities, or hurdles to overcome when planning for college if a child has special needs?
2. What if your child is considered disabled and won’t get a traditional college credential. Is funding available for them?
3. For typically developing kids, what’s the ideal planning path?
4. For typically developing kids, if I haven’t planned and my kid is now in high school, what should I be doing to best prepare for a good financial situation with them in college?
5. What is my child’s responsibility (at various ages) that I can encourage them to do to contribute to their college financial health?
Read MoreRestrictive and Repetitive Behaviors in High Functioning ASD
This week's learning video discusses restrictive and repetitive behaviors (RRBs) as they are sometimes seen in high functioning (HFA) individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
I often see, and many psychologists describe, that children and adults who have reached a higher level of adaptive functioning, or higher cognitive (thinking) skills level, will present differently than a moderately or low functioning person with ASD. First I'll provide some context for how I most often have seen HFA in my private practice among young children and when evaluating a range of ages up through adulthood.
A person with HFA can better compensate because …
Growing as a Parent Advocate for Your Child
When a child is diagnosed with a developmental or mental health disorder, many parents start their own journey of becoming a new, tougher parent. It involves grief, self-compassion, finding your tribe and your voice, and becoming your child's advocate. I'm chatting today with my friend Amanda who is a mother of two children on the Autism spectrum. She eloquently shares her journey from novice to pro in developing her advocacy skills for her children in the school system. I know from working with families that Amanda's journey will parallel many other's paths. Her lessons learned may be helpful to some as they are sorting out skills they need or finding courage to be bold.
A few tidbits from this video:
1. The arc of Amanda's path was to first find her voice, then learn her legal rights as well as her child's legal rights, and now she is currently working on supporting her opinion with data when she talks with the school. 2. She uses targeted parent support groups online to find her tribe where she feels heard and can gain new ideas to help her children. She identifies this as her most valuable resource in supporting her children. 3. She discusses the signs of autism she saw in her own children in early infancy and childhood. 4. She discusses how she had to push to get an evaluation for her first child when no one else shared her concerns, and how this experience made her feel and led to a delay in diagnosis. 5. She shares how she learned about Washington state law to empower herself to share her opinion with her children's schools. 6. She shares how she pushes now for the school to collect data to support continued interventions in her child's ASD areas of concerns, like elopement and anxiety, and how she helps them to identify appropriate interventions based on the data.
Read MoreGiftedness and Specific Learning Disability... Can a kid have both?
Can you be gifted and have a specific learning disorder, like dyslexia or dyscalculia, or even ADHD? Sure can! This is often called "Twice Exceptional." The symptoms look different for children who are gifted, and parents and teachers will still want to identify and support these children. You can reduce imbalanced school-life activity, inefficient work and study habits, and promote positive self-esteem by helping gifted children to understand how to self-advocate and to show themselves compassion.
Read MoreWhat is Educational Therapy?
Dr. Blevins is discussing educational therapy. Specifically she focuses on ed therapy to help with executive dysfunction, or managing time, space, and mental resources to be successful in academics. She talks about how this can help your child love learning again, build and keep your relationship with them strong, and help them to be more efficient so they can live life.
Read MoreCelebrate the Re-Launch of Enilda Clinic!
We're excited to be making changes that will lead to even better outcomes and care for our little patients! We are doing comprehensive psychological and neuropsychological assessments with recommendations that truly help in the school and home settings. We're also changing up our therapy approach to make it more intensive and helpful to the children we serve.
Read MoreWhat's the Difference between an ADHD Diagnosis by the Pediatrician and one from the Psychologist?
Dr. Blevins discusses what goes into diagnosing ADHD and how the process is different in the pediatrician's office from the psychologist's office. Learn more about Dr. Blevins' child psychology practice at 705 W 7th Ave, Ste D, Spokane, WA 99204 by visiting EnildaClinic.com or calling 509-844-0002.
Read MoreWhat do Psychology Test Scores Mean? How are they used?
Dr. Blevins discusses how psychology test scores work in the medical diagnosis field as well as when your child is tested at school. Learn more about psychology, children's behavior and emotional support, and parent support at EnildaClinic.com.
Read MoreBenefits of Psychological Testing for Your Child
Help your child by identifying the real reasons they are struggling, reduce their feelings of shame and self-doubt, and find targeted and effective treatment plans when you get skilled psychological, neuropsychological, or psycho-educational testing for your child. Learn more about Dr. Blevins' child behavior specialist and parent support services at EnildaClinic.com.
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