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Using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Parents with Autistic Children
Being a parent or a caregiver of a child with autism can present great challenges, often affecting the parent or caregiver’s psychological and physical well-being, especially their stress and depressive symptoms (Lunskey, 2017). Parents report feelings of despair, sadness, anger, denial, and...
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Breaking the Silence: A Parent’s Guide to Understanding Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) for Autistic Children
Imagine your child has thoughts, feelings, and ideas but struggles to say them out loud. For many parents of children on the autism spectrum, this is a daily experience. This is where Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) can help. What is AAC? Augmentative and Alternative...
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Activities to Try While Waiting for Occupational Therapy Services
When diagnosed with ASD, children are often referred to occupational therapy (OT) services due to common limitations experienced with self-care, feeding, sleeping routines, play skills, social development, fine and gross motor skills, sensory processing, emotional regulation, and executive...
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Celebrating Our “Dadvocates” on Father’s Day
On Father’s Day, we honor fathers, as well as the many paternal figures and mentors who make a meaningful difference in our families and our communities. It also feels like an opportune time to discuss fatherhood engagement in our systems of care, which can often feel like a hurdle to navigate...
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Project ImPACT: Empowering Parents with Evidence-Based Strategies for Early Autism Intervention
The prevalence of autism has increased dramatically over the last 20 years, with current estimates at 1 in 36 children having a diagnosis or special education classification of autism (CDC, 2023; ADDM surveillance network, 2023). The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that all children...
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Empowering Families Online: Reducing Barriers through a Virtual, Group ESDM-based Caregiver Coaching Program
Autistic children often experience difficulties with language and communication development (Tager-Flushberg et al., 2005). Early intervention (EI) is an integral and highly efficacious tool to target and promote optimal development in this population (Zwaigenbaum et al., 2015). By targeting...
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Parent-Led Strategies to Support Communication in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
When Mukri Yilma noticed her son Kibur’s use of words and gestures starting to fade at 22 months, she knew something was wrong. Suddenly, he was not waving “hi” or pointing at airplanes anymore, and he stopped using words that had been part of his vocabulary. Concerned, Mukri took Kibur to...
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Autism and Marriage: Making Your Relationship Work Under the Pressures of Caregiving
Having a child with autism can certainly put strain on a marriage. I should know. After over 20 years of marriage with two children on the autism spectrum, my marriage came to an end. So why am I writing an article about making your relationship work? Because it’s too important not to. My...
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A Mother’s Journey Advocating for Her Child’s Autism Diagnosis and What Fellow Educators Can Learn
As a registered occupational therapist (OTR) and Director of Portfolio Management and Delivery at Pearson Clinical Assessment, I have extensive experience working with students who have been diagnosed with a variety of conditions. And as a mom of an autistic daughter, I understand on a personal...
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Supporting Immigrant Parents (Now U.S. Citizens) In Navigating Services for Autistic Children
There has been an increase in the prevalence of childhood disability worldwide. One in six children, ages 3-17, has recently been diagnosed with a developmental disability.1 Parenting children with a disability poses challenges for all parents, although immigrant parents experience more...
