Few behavioural disorders are static in nature; instead, many are episodic, exhibiting periods of severe symptoms and periods of mild symptoms. One of the most well-known causes of behavioural fluctuations (even in the absence of another known disorder) is the changing of the seasons. Indeed, over the last two decades, the term “Seasonal Affective Disorder” or SAD has been used ...
“We are all gifted and we are all disabled.” These were the remarks of a developmental psychologist who I heard speak at a workshop. What a powerful reminder that as part of the human condition, we are each blessed with unique gifts, abilities and talents, and we each experience our own challenges in navigating life. What does this mean for ...
Parents naturally want the best for their children, and as such, they often hope their children will have and do those things that were denied to them in their own childhood. If, for example, a parent dreamed of becoming an artist when younger but was steered away from it, he might do everything in his power to support his child's ...
While most of the issues adopted children face while growing up differ little from the challenges experienced by non-adopted children, arising from individual temperament and the hurdles endemic to growth and development, some adopted children also experience difficulties which relate directly to the fact that they are adopted. Sometimes these problems are relatively mild or temporary, the result of the ...
You may have been approached by your child’s teacher or you may have noticed yourself that your child is ...
The last two years have been a period of prolonged stress and isolation for many people, leading to an increase ...
For parents, even the little white lies that children sometimes tell - e.g., claiming to have completed their homework ...
If you find yourself concerned about your child's tendency to give up in frustration and proclaim himself unable to complete tasks or engage socially with his peers, the skill of metacognition — a technical term used to describe the act of understanding your thought process — may be able to help. Metacognition allows children to deconstruct challenging situations, figuring out why they ...
Adolescence radically reshapes the parent-child dynamic, and in doing so, profoundly changes the way in which parents and children communicate. A child who was once open may become sullen or combative when asked to share her feelings; a child who was formerly outgoing may become quiet and withdrawn; a once easy-going youngster may stubbornly insist that she is "fine" while ...
In many households, the mere word “homework” is dreaded. Both parents and children want nothing more than to wind down and relax after a long day, but instead they regularly find themselves locked in a battle of wills over the necessity of doing homework. Parents in this situation try everything from coaxing and pleading to yelling and threatening the removal ...
No matter how much parents try to protect their children from the reality of death, most children gain an awareness of it by the time they reach school age; they witness it in fiction, by seeing dead insects, birds, and other animals, or through catching it depicted on television. While very young children may not fully understand what death means, ...
