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THE STEWART CENTER | The Year's Best Therapy Tips
THE STEWART CENTER The Year's Best Therapy Tips
The Stewart Center at The Westview School is our on-campus therapy clinic staffed with qualified professionals ready to meet the needs of families and students at Westview and the Houston community. The Stewart Center team is always ready to go above and beyond to support a child. This year the team at The Stewart Center provided a "Top Tip of the Week" in our weekly email We are excited to share a few of our favorites here Thank you to The Stewart Center for sharing their words of wisdom with our community
CHANGE YOUR LANGUAGE FOR MAJOR IMPACT (Play Therapy)
Changing your language in small ways can have a major impact on your child’s development. Using effort based praise instead of result-based praise helps to develop a growth mindset and increases resiliency. For example: Instead of saying, “Wow, you made an 'A' on your math test! You’re so smart!” you can say, “Wow, you made an 'A' on your math test! You must have worked really hard to earn that! How does it feel to know your hard work paid off?”
ELISABETH DAWKINS, M.S, LPC-ASSOCIATE
SUPPORTING SUCCESS USING A STRENGTHS-BASED APPROACH (Occupational Therapy)
Autism can make learning and performing an activity more challenging, specifically because an autistic child’s brain is developing and processing information differently than neurotypical children If their brain is developing and processing differently, their response to a difficult task will most likely also be different. When a child is distressed in response to an activity, here are some questions that can pinpoint why the response is happening and support an action plan to help the child regulate and feel successful: How regulated was the child’s mind and body prior to the activity? Does the child understand the meaning of the activity? Do the child’s strengths meet the requirements of the activity? How can I change this activity to meet this child’s strengths? No matter what, it is important to let the child regulate their bodies and emotions in a different space with kindness first before coming back to the activity and trying to adapt it to the way that will support their strengths!
LIZZY SIMON, OTD, OTR/L
THE LANGUAGE STAIRCASE (Speech Language Pathology)
Language development can be pictured as a staircase. At the very bottom are the steps of regulation and engagement The middle steps are language, and the top steps are higher-level language, such as abstract language, figurative language, and reasoning or negotiating skills For a child to reach the middle steps, we first strengthen engagement and regulation through play and building a trusting relationship Ideally, these foundational skills lead to increased intrinsic motivation for the child to communicate It’s important to remember that the journey up the staircase isn’t always linear. A bad night of sleep or an unexpected change in schedule can change a child’s (or adult’s!) regulation, engagement, and motivation to communicate.
CARLIE KRUEGER, MS, CF-SLP
BE A PROMISE KEEPER (Psychotherapy)
“Don’t make a promise you can’t keep ” This goes both ways, so whether you are promising a reward or giving a consequence, you must follow through. This is important because your words will have weight, and you will foster an environment of trust and respect However, if something out of the ordinary happens, then please give them an explanation of why it couldn’t happen as planned
