Preschoolers

How do we ensure that the lives of children with autistic traits are not harmed by rejection? We know that young children with autistic traits are more likely to experience rejection and non-acceptance, even when the traits are at a low level. Our study identified a particularly vulnerable group of young children with autistic traits: those who are also aggressive and disruptive. Children with autistic traits who also have behavioral problems need the most support with their peer relationships. Some programs focus on reducing children's behavior problems, especially when the problems are above and beyond the autistic traits that most convincingly predicted poor relationships in our study. In many cases, children with autistic traits can and do have friendships and experience acceptance. Our findings suggest many opportunities for improving the relationships of children with autistic traits.

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Now, in her second year at UVM, Loftness is refining another engineered health tool to identify other adverse conditions that often go undetected: anxiety and depression in young children. Young children may not have the vocabulary or ability to communicate problems to caregivers who might be able to help. That's the idea behind Loftness's project, "Discovering Digital Phenotypes of Childhood Internalizing Disorders for Point-of-Care Diagnostics." Her work builds on that of her faculty mentors at UVM, Ryan McGinnis, Karl and Mary Fessenden Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and Ellen McGinnis, assistant professor of psychiatry, to identify the biomarkers associated with internalizing orders in young children. During a therapy session with a five-year-old McGinnis suspected was depressed, she learned there were no existing tools to identify anxiety disorders in young kids. The field of psychology has generally not examined the mental health of young children. It hasn't really considered anxiety and depression something that young children experience, McGinnis explains. Perhaps flagging children earlier will help drive cases down by giving caregivers of children the information to them develop lifelong coping skills.

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My daughter is 4. By reflex, I call my child "baby" often. She calls me a pet name that came from toddler logic and toddler mispronunciation. Neither of us is happy about this, but we accept this about each other.

This past year, a little boy got placed in her class who had the boy version of her name. To topic it off, this name recently became gender neutral and her name is obscure in the US. After a few weeks, of being call the wrong name and being polite about corrections, she's gotten really aggressive about people "calling her the name she likes" as she puts it.

Well... This came to a head this past weekend. Apparently she had had enough of this baby nonsense and she wanted me to call her her preferred name as well. When this happened a lightbulb moment went off on her and I did a reverse uno on her. Sure, I can call you the name you like... if you'll call me the name I like, which is mom.

What followed is in retrospect a very funny time. Neither one of us was very good at keeping our side of the deal. She reflexively called me my pet name. I reflexively called her baby. We both corrected each other. We have both come to a quiet truce about it where we agree that neither of us will be pleased about what the one is calling the other.

Does anyone else have any funny stories like this with your kid?

I've just started down the dirt path that leads to the heart of Auburn's Kreher Preserve & Nature Center when it hits me: Nature school is loud. The children of the Woodland Wonders Nature Preschool throw their tiny bodies around the playground. "Getting exposure to nature is a beautiful thing, and it's already making a difference in the lives of Kreher children." With no personal cubbies stacked against the wall, many of the kids run blissfully barefoot along the Kreher trail, their shoes stuffed haphazardly into backpacks. The teachers "Are always watching for what's next, but they really like to let the children lead them into it. There are no boundaries there." According to author Richard Louv, more children than ever are suffering from "Nature-deficit disorder." Many case studies suggest that severely decreasing kids' exposure to nature leads to underdeveloped physical and emotional health. With more caregivers than ever looking into alternative options for their children's education, Crim said the only way to truly understand a nature school like WWPN is to experience it firsthand.

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Reposted from here

This is an update to a previous post where I got invited to a birthday party. It went better than I could have ever imagined.

Here are the highlights before I give a longer blow by blow:

• The birthday boy R had a choice between inviting the whole class or a few friends. He chose to invite 3 friends and my kid E was one of them.
• R and E basically never left each other's side the entire party.
• We went and hung out at R's house for a few hours after the party.
• Sadly R will not be attending the same school as E next year, but I did get R's mom's number, so they'll definitely keep in touch.

R's mother was late to the party and E was having a slow build up to a meltdown over the idea that she wouldn't get to see R that day. None of my normal de-escalation techniques helped at all. Luckily R appeared before we hit critical mass. When they say each other, they shouted each other's names and ran to give each other a hug.

What was shocking to me and R's mother was really how close they were. Although we had been told by the teacher separately that they were extremely close, neither of us knew who the other kid was or the parent lol. But R and E were so close. they hugged and then held hands and talked. They'd hold hands every moment they weren't actively playing and actively keep track of each other in the trampoline park. One particularly adorable thing to me was how they'd climb obstacle courses together and then link arms going down.

One moment I think back on in awe is the first conversation they had that day. They immediately showed off their shoes to each other. R had switched out his croc jewelry for a set of robots. E showed off her new light up Paw Patrol sandals.

Guys, E's special interest is planes, trains, automobiles and all things mechanical. R's absolute favorite shoe is Paw Patrol. I had a lightning strike moment about why she was so insistent on getting those sandals when we were in Target when she never cared about Paw Patrol before.

So many things happened at the party. It was a happy party where E got on with the whole group and they seemed to genuinely enjoy her. What is interesting to me is that her classmates are so accepting of when she's just done socially. E has a socialization limit and at that point she's just done and disengages from everything. About when she hit that I saw R and all the other kids give her space and accept that she wasn't gonna play with them much anymore. Something that also amazed me is how dedicated that E was in making R's party a happy one despite that. She was genuinely upset she missed the cake cutting because no one could find her. She cheered R on when he opened gifts (which he was not supposed to do, but apparently he wanted to show everyone the cool stuff he got lol). She displayed an unusable amount of grace in thanking R and his mom for the party favors.

I did get a chuckle when the party ended and I asked if she wanted to go to the pool. She said know. I explained that it would be at R's house and then she immediately changed her answer lol. R's mom had invited us to come over after everyone exchanged numbers. E was friends with all the kids there, but of course R was her favorite and the feeling definitely seemed mutual.

R was so hype for E to come over. He showed her his room and they had some kind of conversation, but I decided to let him have some privacy. We didn't leave until 8pm. It was a long, long day.

When we left it was very dramatic. R declared that he loved E. E burst into tears. I had to drag E out of the door. R declared that he was coming over to our house next time. Me and R's mom agreed that although I realized I had left some of E's stuff at her house, it was best if I collected them later. R had put on a brave face and apparently he had cried too the moment the door closed.

Please keep in mind that this is a group of 4 year olds lol. It's been an exhausting day, but I wanted you guys to know about it. I didn't type of so many sugary sweet moments between E and R and the other kids in attendance. It really warmed my heart to see that she doesn't have just a single friend, but she has a friend group. All of the kids seemed so accepting of her quirks. I'd been debating on whether or not to pull E out of this montessori school she's in and put her into public school, but I think the decision is kind of made for me. She's really thriving there.

Parent involvement in social skills training programs for autistic children has been associated with improvement in child and family functioning. However, limited research has explored parents’ treatment experiences, which may elucidate key therapeutic elements mediating long-term maintenance of outcomes. This study examines parent perspectives on the University of California, Los Angeles Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS®) for Preschoolers, a group-based social skills intervention for young autistic children with social challenges. Twenty-four parents reported on outcomes and participated in semi-structured interviews 1–5 years after program completion. Inductive thematic analysis was used to categorize parent responses across four domains: Parenting behaviors, Child Outcomes, Parent Perspectives, and Challenges within Treatment. Results demonstrated an overall positive impact of PEERS® for Preschoolers, with children displaying increased social competence in peer interactions and parents emphasizing greater positivity, new parenting strategies, increased understanding, and more robust community support. Mixed methods analyses revealed that parents who endorsed continued use of social coaching skills, in particular priming and preparing their child for social interactions, showed greater improvements in long-term child functioning and parenting stress. Findings validate the efficacy of PEERS® for Preschoolers, while emphasizing the value of providing strengths-based coaching and social supports to parents participating in social skills treatment for children on the autism spectrum.