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G.P.S. Newsletter for August

   Mealtime tips for autistic children with eating challenges Feeding challenges are among the most common issues that bring children with autism and their parents to my practice. Of course, children’s nutrition and mealtime behavior are common issues for parents everywhere. But research confirms what our ATN parents have long been telling us: Children with autism are far more likely to be overly selective in what they will and will not eat. As a result, many of them have less nutritional variety in their diets than their typically developing siblings and friends. Fear of new foods and outright food refusal are among the most common concerns I hear from parents. This is why the Autism Speaks ATN, in its role as the federally funded Autism Research Network on Physical Health, developed  Exploring Feeding Behavior in Autism: a guide for parents .   (Follow the title link to download free of charge.) Today, I’m glad to share ten of the strategies that, in my experience, prove the most suc
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G.P.S. Newsletter for September

  10 ways a parent can help their autistic child It seems impossible, but somehow you’ve crossed everything off your initial to-do list, and your son or daughter is set. Maybe he is now firmly ensconced in an Early Intervention program, and you’ve already booked the eight million school evaluations required to get him into a pre-school program. Perhaps your daughter is older and has just entered a classroom, spent a few weeks there and is doing well. You’ve dotted your I’s and crossed your T’s, and for once there’s no phone call to make, no appointment to schedule. You’ve gotten the help your child needs. And perhaps as you’re enjoying a latte (which I hope you are, you deserve it), you wonder what’s next. First of all, make sure you savor the moment. Take the time to celebrate your successful navigation of your state’s Early Intervention system or your school district’s IEP team, and give yourself about twenty hugs and buy yourself a little something fun. Then take a deep breath, gird
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G.P.S. Newsletter for October

  Top Five Tips for Getting Your Autistic Child Into Their Fall Coat Fall is in the air, and a change of seasons means a change in temperature. This can be problematic for some on the autism spectrum because of difficulty with temperature regulation. Jeannie Davide-Rivera, mother of three autistic sons, wrote an excellent  post  about this very topic. She says, “Temperature regulation is an automated body system that regulates the body’s core temperature in response to outside stimuli. The temperature of the body is regulated by neural feedback mechanisms in the brain, which operate primarily through the hypothalamus. It has the remarkable capacity for regulating the body’s core temperature that keeps your body temperature somewhere between 98F and 100F. When your body is exposed to heat or cold conditions this system balances your internal temperature with the temperature outside.” Because of sensory processing issues, autistic individuals may exhibit hyper or hypo sensitivities to he
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