Screens have become an essential part of our daily lives, whether it’s televisions, laptops, mobile devices or iPads. It isn’t possible to function without it anymore, our children need it for school, we need it for work, and it has become a main source of entertainment for us. We must embrace it. Stephen Hawking […]
A child’s social development is dependent on the development of their first interactions and relationships with others. The first form of social development for an infant is their attachment to their parents or primary care givers. Attachment refers to the emotional bonding that occurs between individuals. This attachment in their first few years of life […]
You are what you eat. This is a common expression that might take on a new meaning once you’ve read this article. There are numerous studies that have found a significant relationship between the symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and gastrointestinal problems. Abnormal peptides have been found in the urine of children with ASD […]
It is a widely known fact that exercise is good for us. It stimulates our “feel good hormones”, helps with weight control and increases our energy level. For most of us, exercise is just that; a way to lose weight, to look better, or to reduce stress. We might take a walk from time to […]
Any parent will know that raising a child can be an extremely daunting task. All the self-help books in the world cannot prepare a new parent for their first full blown tantrum in a supermarket when everyone is staring at them and their child is trashing and screaming on the floor because they can’t have […]
Imagine having a toddler who doesn’t make eye contact, doesn’t like affection or touch and has extreme tantrums when you take away the one toy they will play with for hours on end in a repetitive manner. They do not talk to you, they don’t express their wants, needs or emotions and cannot play appropriately […]
We’ve all had those moments before a job interview or before a test we didn’t study enough for. The feeling where your palms get sweaty, you have butterflies in your stomach and your thoughts are traveling to the worst possible outcome. Anxiety is a future-oriented mood state and concerns some future event that is either […]
Emotional well-being is a hot topic the world over at the moment. From civil unrest in the United States to mixtures of anxiety and relief, agreement and outrage at COVID-19 restrictions being lifted at varying paces, you’d be hard-pressed to find a single person who hasn’t felt some level of emotional turmoil in recent months. […]
As I write this, the world is in the clutches of COVID-19. The word “unprecedented” fills my news stream. It is surreal to think back to not too long ago, when I didn’t take it seriously and didn’t think it would impact my life or the lives of my loved ones. Now, the countries of […]
As a behaviour analyst, much of what I deal with on a daily basis is what’s known as “atypical development” – development gone awry. One thing I have learned is very important to do, is to stay in touch with what is considered, by comparison, to be “typical development”. What should this two-and-half-year-old or that […]
James is my neighbour across the aisle on a flight from Johannesburg to Cape Town. He looks to be about two years old, with big blue eyes and a crop of blonde hair. As I take my seat, I see him propped up in his, which looks massive in comparison to him, with his seatbelt […]
Behaviour can be defined as the way in which one acts or conducts oneself – essentially, it’s what we do and say on a daily basis. There are many theories in psychology pertaining to our behaviour. One which has been widely debated is that of nature vs. nurture? This article refers predominantly to the behaviour […]
Phonological Awareness refers to a pivotal skill that forms the foundation for early reading skill development. It involves the ability to hear and manipulate sound-structures within different words. Phonological Awareness is also defined as the general appreciation of how language can be divided into various components. These components form sentences to be used in general […]
How many times have you heard people say “boys will be boys, always full of energy”? Children generally have a lot of energy, during childhood they develop and learn through play. Their motor skills develop through jumping, running around, and “bouncing off the walls” as many like to say. There has been a lot of […]
People tend to look at challenging behaviour such as a tantrum and judge the actions of a child without taking into account the trigger or the reason for the behaviour. They tend to punish bad behaviour instead of addressing the root or cause of the behaviour. Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Oppositional Defiant Disorder […]
The Applied Behaviour Solutions team sees communication as one of the most important skillsets we teach our children. We place great emphasis on evaluating and improving communication skills because of how integral these skills are to social interaction and the abilities of self-expression and self-advocacy. Each of our interventions are tailor-made on a child-specific basis […]
Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) is a childhood disorder that is characterised by an age-inappropriate pattern of argumentative or defiant behaviour, vindictiveness, and an angry or irritable mood. Children with an ODD diagnosis often actively defy or refuse to comply with requests from authority figures or with rules, deliberately annoy others, and seldom take responsibility for […]
Have you ever found yourself mindlessly rubbing your hands together, bouncing your leg, or twirling your hair? These are all harmless self-soothing or self-regulating behaviours most of us engage in daily. In some cases, we use these behaviours as a way to cope with anxiety and stress, and they often become habitual. However, we are […]
Doctors help preserve human life, engineers keep introducing us to new technologies, and architects design our homes, but teachers are the ones who groom and shape every child on their path towards choosing a profession. Teaching is the process of attending to people’s needs, experiences and feelings, and intervening so that they learn particular skills. […]
Building rapport is essentially establishing a connection with someone which lays the foundations for a good and trusting relationship. Building rapport is generally a naturally occurring event between adults but it tends to be more challenging when it comes to building rapport with a child. When you build good rapport with a child you find […]
