NESCA’s Newton, MA location has immediate availability for neuropsychological evaluations. Our MA clinicians specialize in the following evaluations: Neuropsychological; Autism; and Emotional and Psychological, as well as Academic Achievement and Learning Disability Testing.

Visit www.nesca-newton.com/intake for more information or to book an evaluation.

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19

Life Skills for College to Work on Now – Part 1

By | NESCA Notes 2020

By: Kelley Challen, Ed.M., CAS
Director of Transition Services; Transition Specialist

As a transition specialist working with students who have the cognitive and academic potential for college but have sometimes missed opportunities to develop life skills while keeping up with rigorous academic and extracurricular schedules, I am encouraging families to think of this time as a gift. Students, especially those in 8th-10th grade, have a novel opportunity to build life skills that can help them to live away from home and self-direct their schedules. Without school closures, this opportunity likely would not have come until after 12th grade. With that in mind, here is a list of 4 life skills that are critical for attending residential college that I am recommending some of my students work on:

  • Getting up “on time” each morning: We all know that teenage sleep schedules are rarely in alignment with traditional high school hours. Without transportation time, there is a new opportunity to practice using an alarm clock and build a sleep schedule and that is a little closer to teenage physiological needs. If teens are using a cell phone alarm, it is helpful to put the phone in airplane mode and plug it in away from the bed. With an alarm clock, some experts recommend clocks with blue numbers and facing the clock away from the bed. Good sleep hygiene depends on many factors, such as diet, caffeine intake, exercise, temperature, clothing and electronics use, so teens may want to organize their own “sleep study” to figure out what helps them personally to build a successful sleep routine. Teens can also play around with the sound an app or alarm clock makes to find something that is effective in waking them up without startling.
  • Laundry: When building new skills, I always recommend that students learn and practice the skills to the point of automaticity. Given the amount of time that we are now spending at home, this is the perfect opportunity to learn to do laundry, including reading labels, sorting clothing/linens and running the washer and dryer. If a teen is not interested in learning from a parent, YouTube is a great resource for learning steps to manage laundry and how to operate practically any model of washer or dryer. Teens will learn more quickly if they are practicing the skills multiple times per week, so consider building a schedule that takes into account repeated practice (e.g., clothing is washed midweek, and sheets and towels are washed on the weekend).
  • Basic kitchen skills: While colleges do have meal plans available, many students will still choose to cook a least one meal a day or week for themselves. Being able to cook some basic breakfast, lunch and dinner foods allows students to save money and time, be creative or enjoy a preferred taste/food that they are missing. If a student enjoys cooking and wants to learn to cook for others, that is a great social skill—food is definitely a way to build community (I still have college friends who request I make them grilled cheeses when we get together). I recently came across this parenting piece in The Washington Post highlighting 7 kitchen skills kids need before they leave for college, and now is certainly a good time to work on some of these skills. The article highlights wielding a knife, boiling water, sautéing, baking and roasting, using a slow cooker, planning meals and doing the dishes. But you may want to just start with planning and prepping preferred cold foods or microwave safety. Teens should consider their favorite basic foods and go from there.
  • Using basic tools: You don’t need to know every household maintenance skill to live in a college dorm. But being able to assemble things, fix loose screws and make other basic repairs is important for setting up your dorm or apartment space and saving time (and energy) chasing down maintenance. Some of the basic tools that are useful to be familiar with include a hammer, screwdrivers, measuring tape, pliers, a level, Allen keys and even some wrenches. There are lots of ways to start building familiarity with tools, such as inventorying current household tools, tightening screws on cabinet and drawer handles, hammering down loose nails on a porch, etc. As home repairs need to be tackled, use this as a life skills lesson and include teens in the process. One additional maintenance task that does not require tools is replacing lightbulbs—students should know how to safely remove bulbs from floor and table lamps and check the size, shape and wattage of the bulb, and shop for replacement bulbs.

Stay tuned for additional Life Skills recommendations in next week’s Transition Thursday blog!

 

If you are interested in working with a transition specialist at NESCA for consultation, coaching, planning or evaluation, please complete our online intake form: https://nesca-newton.com/intake-form/.

 

About the Author:

Kelley Challen, Ed.M., CAS, is NESCA’s Director of Transition Services, overseeing planning, consultation, evaluation, coaching, case management, training and program development services. She is also the Assistant Director of NESCA, working under Dr. Ann Helmus to support day-to-day operations of the practice. Ms. Challen began facilitating programs for children and adolescents with special needs in 2004. After receiving her Master’s Degree and Certificate of Advanced Study in Risk and Prevention Counseling from Harvard Graduate School of Education, Ms. Challen spent several years at the MGH Aspire Program where she founded an array of social, life and career skill development programs for teens and young adults with Asperger’s Syndrome and related profiles. She additionally worked at the Northeast Arc as Program Director for the Spotlight Program, a drama-based social pragmatics program, serving youth with a wide range of diagnoses and collaborating with several school districts to design in-house social skills and transition programs. Ms. Challen is co-author of the chapter “Technologies to Support Interventions for Social- Emotional Intelligence, Self-Awareness, Personality Style, and Self-Regulation” for the book Technology Tools for Students with Autism. She is also a proud mother of two energetic boys, ages six and three. While Ms. Challen has special expertise in supporting students with Autism Spectrum Disorders, she provides support to individuals with a wide range of developmental and learning abilities, including students with complex medical needs.

Neuropsychology & Education Services for Children & Adolescents (NESCA) is a pediatric neuropsychology practice and integrative treatment center with offices in Newton, Massachusetts, Plainville, Massachusetts, and Londonderry, New Hampshire, serving clients from preschool through young adulthood and their families. For more information, please email info@nesca-newton.com or call 617-658-9800.

149

Helping Children Transition from One Activity to the Next

By | NESCA Notes 2020

By: Sophie Bellenis, OTD, OTR/L
Occupational Therapist; Real-life Skills Program Manager and Coach

Here at NESCA we often talk about Transition as the process by which an adolescent or young adult develops the necessary skills to function independently in the adult world (Big “T”), but many younger students are working to master much smaller transitions throughout the day (little “t’s”). Classroom teachers are all acutely aware of the difficulty that some student have when transitioning back from activities, such as lunch, recess, physical education or art class. These students also frequently struggle switching from math to English or social studies to science. It is a balancing act when determining what is a reasonable expectation and what supports we may need to build in for our kids to be successful during these times. Here are some tips to try at home, as parents continue to take on the role of teacher and attempt to keep children on task and sticking to a schedule.

  • Give warnings. Some children just need a quick heads-up, such as, “In 5 minutes we will be heading inside to practice your math problems!” Other children may need repetition, with 5-minute, 3-minute and 1-minute warnings. Consider using a timer if your children seem hesitant to believe that it has truly been a whole 5 minutes!
  • Remember that children love to finish! Allow adequate time for kids to complete the project or activity that they are so diligently working on. If this is not possible, identify a specific time that they can come back to the project. For example, “It’s time for you to move onto your math homework, but at 1 o’clock you can take out your art supplies and finish your picture. 1 o’clock will probably be right after we eat lunch.”
  • Use movement. Movement breaks or “brain breaks” are often great transition activities between two sedentary tasks. If a student is transitioning from Delta Math online to a reading comprehension activity, movement can help them re-regulate their bodies and wake up their nervous system a little bit. Getting outside for a quick run around the backyard, kicking a soccer ball back and forth or doing 10 jumping jacks are great outdoor options. On rainy days or when there is limited outdoor space, consider videos from GoNoodle, Cosmic Kids Yoga or The Learning Station YouTube Channel. Try to keep these movement breaks to under 5 minutes so that children do not lose their focus.
  • Use calming activities. While movement breaks may be a great option between two low energy tasks, kids may need a different strategy to help them transition back to schoolwork from a high energy activity. This is the case for many of our students after lunch in a traditional school setting. Creating a calming environment (i.e. soft music, low light and minimal distractions) and allowing children to choose one peaceful activity, such as coloring, building with Legos or reading a favorite book, to focus on for 10 minutes can help them calm their bodies and prepare for work. Make sure that it is something they truly enjoy.
  • Try a transition “cue.” A transition cue is really any prompt that is used to notify a child that it is about to be time to switch activities. It acts as a concrete representation of the upcoming shift. These prompts can be auditory, visual or tactile. Examples of each include:
    • Auditory – Many teachers use songs as auditory cues throughout the day. From the Welcome Song to The Clean Up Song, teachers prompt their students to change their behavior and get ready for the next activity of the day through song. If you do not feel comfortable singing at home or this feels too immature for your child, consider picking a song to play when it is time to start transitioning. Challenge your student to be ready for the next activity by the end of the song. Provide a direct explanation of expectations, such as, “By the end of this song I want to see the table clear of your art materials, your science notebook in front of you, and you seated at the table with a pencil.”
    • Visual – Visual cues could include a transition card that is carefully placed next a child 5-minutes before they need to move to a new activity, a visual timer or even a pre-agreed upon hand signal.
    • Tactile – Tactile cues are less frequently used in the school setting, but may be helpful at home. Some children benefit from a transition object, such as a fidget, a ball or favorite stuffed animal to hold and play with while a new activity is being set up.
  • Give feedback and teach children to self-monitor. Make sure to give feedback on both the positives and the negatives. Many children thrive on positive reinforcement and love having their successes highlighted. Consider including children in this process and allowing them to reflect on how they did during a transition. Use questions such as, “How did playing that song work for you? Was it helpful?” or “I noticed that you had a hard time calming down after we played outside today, do you think that coloring or a listening to a book on tape would help? What do you think might work for you?” Giving our children the language they need to describe how they are feeling and experiencing this learning process will help them to develop the ability to self-monitor and reflect on their own performance.

As we all do our best to get through these unique times, remember that sometimes the littlest things are the most difficult. Accept that our children are almost all still building the ability to transition successfully, and they will need time to practice, especially in the new remote learning environment.

 

About the Author

Dr. Sophie Bellenis is a Licensed Occupational Therapist in Massachusetts, specializing in educational OT and functional life skills development. Dr. Bellenis joined NESCA in the fall of 2017 to offer community-based skills coaching services as a part of the Real-life Skills Program within NESCA’s Transition Services team. Dr. Bellenis graduated from the MGH Institute of Health Professions with a Doctorate in Occupational Therapy, with a focus on pediatrics and international program evaluation. She is a member of the American Occupational Therapy Association, as well as the World Federation of Occupational Therapists. Having spent years delivering direct services at the elementary, middle school and high school levels, Dr. Bellenis has extensive background with school-based occupational therapy services.  She believes that individual sensory needs and visual skills must be taken into account to create comprehensive educational programming.

To book an appointment or to learn more about NESCA’s Occupational Therapy Services, please fill out our online Intake Form, email info@nesca-newton.com or call 617-658-9800.

 

Neuropsychology & Education Services for Children & Adolescents (NESCA) is a pediatric neuropsychology practice and integrative treatment center with offices in Newton, Massachusetts, Plainville, Massachusetts, and Londonderry, New Hampshire, serving clients from preschool through young adulthood and their families. For more information, please email info@nesca-newton.com or call 617-658-9800.

 

149

Skill Highlight: Touch Typing!

By | NESCA Notes 2020

By: Sophie Bellenis, OTD, OTR/L
Occupational Therapist; Real-life Skills Program Manager and Coach

As you are sitting at home with your child and working to find a reasonable balance of academics, physical movement, chores, social time and relaxation, one specific skill to consider targeting is touch typing or keyboarding. As we move further and further into the digital age and, more recently, an unprecedented era of remote learning, the ability to successfully type and get ideas onto the screen is paramount. We often joke that our children are more technologically adept that we are, as they easily navigate between iPad apps and turn on anything with a screen. While this is, in many ways, true, two things I constantly observe in students are the propensity to type with just their pointer fingers (hunt and peck method) and that they initially learn about a keyboard for games rather than academics.

As their fingers fly around the keyboard, I am often asked, “Why does it matter if they can use all ten fingers? Who cares if they are typing with two fingers if they are getting the information out of their head?” These are all great questions, and I hope to answer and provide clarity around the ones I hear most frequently.

Why does ten-finger, touch-typing matter?

Massachusetts State Guidelines recommend that a student should be typing at a speed of 5 times their grade level with 80-95% accuracy. For example, a third grader should be typing at 15 words per minute (3 x 5), and a seventh grader should be typing at about 35 words per minute (7 x 5). Following this formula, by graduation, a senior in high school should type with a speed of at least 60 words per minute, a functional speed for an adult in most professions.

While it is likely that some third grade students can use two fingers and type at a rate of 15 words per minute, as these students get older and the demand increases, it is unlikely they will be able to keep up with these guidelines if they have not been taught a functional typing approach.

That may be true for some students, but I promise my child is able to type quickly! Can I just let her teach herself?

While children may be able to type quickly using their own typing method, ten-finger typing uses almost of all of the intrinsic hand muscles to complete the task. This means that children are much less likely to feel fine motor fatigue than if they were using two or three fingers. While this may not matter for a young student typing a paragraph, it will absolutely affect a high school student who is working on a 10- or 15-page paper. Teaching the correct approach will set young students up for future success.

Is it okay to start later in elementary school? My student is still working on handwriting.

There are some mixed opinions on the best time to start teaching keyboarding. I personally recommend first or second grade as an appropriate starting point. At this level, most students can identify their letters and are used to using computers to some extent. As with most motor tasks, practice makes perfect, and the more time our children spend using all ten fingers to type, the better at it they will be. It is perfectly fine to learn handwriting and keyboarding simultaneously.

How much time do you recommend my child spends practicing?

I recommend students practice for about 20-30 minutes at a time. This allows time for direct practice, as well as time for playing games that promote correct finger placement. If a student can do this practice two to three times a week, they will absolutely start to develop the motor patterns necessary and commit them to muscle memory.

What are your thoughts on speech-to-text software?

Speech-to-text software programs are excellent tools when they are used with the right student. They increase accessibility, help students get information on the page and can increase the speed at which a student completes their work. I am hesitant to introduce these tools too early or with the wrong student.  The need to type will not go away and not all programs can support a speech-to-text option. Additionally, in an academic setting, using a speech-to-text option requires a student to have extra testing accommodations, such as a separate room for testing and 1:1 test administration. For some of our students, this is exactly what they need for success, but for others these accommodations are not reasonable or necessary.

Can I leave my child to practice on their own?

Children quickly slip back into old habits. I recommend keeping a watchful eye to ensure that a ten-finger approach is truly being practiced.

Is there anything else I should consider?

Yes! Make sure to consider your child’s posture as they sit at the computer. Ideally, ankles, knees, hips and elbows should all be at 90 degrees, while wrists should be “neutral” or flat.

Where can I go to find lessons or tutorials for my child?

Great Question! Fortunately, there are many excellent online options to help teach children how to type. Some free online sites that directly teach and help to practice ten-finger typing include www.typingclub.com and www.typing.com. Other reasonably priced options include Typing Instructor for Kids Platinum, Mavis Beacon Keyboarding Kidz and Mickey’s Typing Adventure. For more entertaining, game-based practice, take a look at www.abcya.com and www.typinggames.zone.

 

About the Author

Dr. Sophie Bellenis is a Licensed Occupational Therapist in Massachusetts, specializing in educational OT and functional life skills development. Dr. Bellenis joined NESCA in the fall of 2017 to offer community-based skills coaching services as a part of the Real-life Skills Program within NESCA’s Transition Services team. Dr. Bellenis graduated from the MGH Institute of Health Professions with a Doctorate in Occupational Therapy, with a focus on pediatrics and international program evaluation. She is a member of the American Occupational Therapy Association, as well as the World Federation of Occupational Therapists. Having spent years delivering direct services at the elementary, middle school and high school levels, Dr. Bellenis has extensive background with school-based occupational therapy services.  She believes that individual sensory needs and visual skills must be taken into account to create comprehensive educational programming.

To book an appointment or to learn more about NESCA’s Occupational Therapy Services, please fill out our online Intake Form, email info@nesca-newton.com or call 617-658-9800.

 

Neuropsychology & Education Services for Children & Adolescents (NESCA) is a pediatric neuropsychology practice and integrative treatment center with offices in Newton, Massachusetts, Plainville, Massachusetts, and Londonderry, New Hampshire, serving clients from preschool through young adulthood and their families. For more information, please email info@nesca-newton.com or call 617-658-9800.

 

150

An OT’s Guide to Home Learning: Board Games and Puzzles

By | NESCA Notes 2020

By: Sophie Bellenis, OTD, OTR/L
Occupational Therapist; Real-life Skills Program Manager and Coach

As social distancing recommendations, stay-at-home orders and shelter-in-place mandates continue to keep families confined to the home, parents are quickly being asked to take on the roles of teacher, therapist, warden, work-from-home professional, best friend and more. For parents of children with special needs and learning differences, this can feel extra daunting. There are countless online resources providing specific in-home activities, recommendations, and suggestions for working on targeted skills (e.g., literacy, fine motor, sensory integration, gross motor, etc.) in the home. It’s easy to get quickly overwhelmed by the onslaught of information.

While I believe there are many useful and creative free resources available online (I’ve written some of them!), our “new normal” includes many barriers to easy implementation including time, expertise, resources and confidence. Today, I want to share how some fun activities involving board games that you may already have in your home could make the task of keeping children engaged, interested and learning a little bit easier. Our game makers are getting increasingly creative and aware of their role in helping children build their skills, and the games listed below are just a few of the many options available.

5 Board Games for Development of Visual Perception

  • Connect 4 – Playing Connect 4 with the traditional rules requires kids to track horizontally, vertically and diagonally with their eyes. They need to visualize where their checker will land and place it in the correct spot at the top. Additionally, children need to monitor two colors at a time to ensure that they do not need to block their opponent on their next turn. For younger children, consider using the board to practice patterns or make shapes out of one color.
  • Quirkle – Quirkle combines colors, shapes and a grid pattern to create an interactive game for children to play with their parents. It promotes form perception, visual discrimination, tracking and matching.
  • Dominoes – There are many different games that can be played with Dominoes, making it easy to scaffold the activity for all different ages. Dominoes works on many of the same skills as Quirkle, but really allows children to practice visual figure ground. Figure ground is the ability to distinguish relevant information from a busy or overwhelming background. Dominoes have lots of different colored little dots in different patterns and alignments allowing children to practice this skill. Notably, Dominoes often have a tactile aspect allowing children to both see and feel the dots.
  • Spot it! / Spot it Jr! – Spot it! has quickly become a favorite game of occupational therapists, speech language pathologists and school psychologists alike. It practices a multitude of important skills. In terms of visual perception, Spot it! focuses on visual discrimination, hand-eye coordination, attention to detail, figure ground and more. Due to its popularity, Spot it! has provided us with an excellent variety of specific versions, such as Alphabet, NFL, Gone Camping, Animals, as well as substantial Spot it Jr.! options.
  • Memory – Unsurprisingly, the game Memory works on increasing visual memory! Children have to remember which cards they have picked, where they are on a grid and where the matches are. There are lots of options to order online, but this can absolutely be played used playing cards or DIY pictures drawn on pieces of paper. Children are also able to practice pronation/supination by flipping over the cards and placing them back down on the table.

 5 Board Games for Development of Fine Motor Skills

  • Trouble – Trouble allows children to work on building hand strength as they push down the pop-o-matic die roller. Try to ensure that children are using the muscles in their hands and fingers to push down, and limit the amount of body weight they use to help them push down. Additionally, children practice a pincer grasp as they pinch their pegs to move them around the board.
  • Hi-Ho! Cherry-O! – This game includes little plastic fruit that need to be placed in a basket to promote a pincer grasp and a spinner board that helps teach kids to flick or push a spinner.
  • BedBugs – Tongs and tweezers are part of an OT’s go-to toolbox as they promote fine motor precision, keeping an open webspace, and hand strength and coordination. This game is for children age 4 and up and provides each player with their own tongs to try and catch little bouncy bugs on a bed. Add a layer of complexity by having kids each try to catch one color!
  • Avalanche Fruit Stand – Another game that incorporates tweezers, Avalanche Fruit Stand promotes grip strength, pincer grasp and problem-solving as children need to balance different fruits on a stand. There is also a spinner to add in another element.
  • Hungry Hungry Hippos – Use this game to practice finger isolation and increase finger/hand strength. Encourage your children to use one finger at a time to depress the lever and make their hippo eat the marbles. Try switching fingers for each round.

*Bonus!* While many of these games work on more than one skill at a time, one age-old recreational activity that targets visual perception, visual motor integration and fine motor skill is simply completing a puzzle. Focus on teaching strategy and problem-solving by having your children start with the edge pieces, organize by color or choose one figure or character in the puzzle to build independently.

About the Author

Dr. Sophie Bellenis is a Licensed Occupational Therapist in Massachusetts, specializing in educational OT and functional life skills development. Dr. Bellenis joined NESCA in the fall of 2017 to offer community-based skills coaching services as a part of the Real-life Skills Program within NESCA’s Transition Services team. Dr. Bellenis graduated from the MGH Institute of Health Professions with a Doctorate in Occupational Therapy, with a focus on pediatrics and international program evaluation. She is a member of the American Occupational Therapy Association, as well as the World Federation of Occupational Therapists. Having spent years delivering direct services at the elementary, middle school and high school levels, Dr. Bellenis has extensive background with school-based occupational therapy services.  She believes that individual sensory needs and visual skills must be taken into account to create comprehensive educational programming.

To book an appointment or to learn more about NESCA’s Occupational Therapy Services, please fill out our online Intake Form, email info@nesca-newton.com or call 617-658-9800.

 

Neuropsychology & Education Services for Children & Adolescents (NESCA) is a pediatric neuropsychology practice and integrative treatment center with offices in Newton, Massachusetts, Plainville, Massachusetts, and Londonderry, New Hampshire, serving clients from preschool through young adulthood and their families. For more information, please email info@nesca-newton.com or call 617-658-9800.

 

148

Five Tips for Promoting Fine Motor Development in the Home!

By | NESCA Notes 2020

By: Sophie Bellenis, OTD, OTR/L
Occupational Therapist; Real-life Skills Program Manager and Coach

  • Writing on a vertical surface is a great way to promote proper hand/wrist positioning and fine motor growth – try taping paper to an easel or to the wall and allowing them to try writing on this plane.
  • Skip the fat pencils for our little learners. While specific adapted writing utensils for children with fine motor needs can be best assessed by an occupational therapist, for the majority of our young learners, the rule “the object promotes the grasp!” is applicable. If we want our learners to be building strength and learning proper hand positioning, I suggest trying either a standard number 2 pencil or a mini golf pencil.
  • Let your children peel off and stick on their own stickers! In reality this could end up with some ripped stickers or extra time spent on a project, but peeling off stickers promotes a pincer grasp, bilateral coordination and visual motor integration. If your child is too young to find the edge and begin to peel, consider starting the sticker and then letting them finish peeling it off independently.
  • Use scissors to cut anything and everything! While supplies of construction paper and worksheets sent home from school may be dwindling, consider letting your children cut up junk mail (make sure it’s sanitized), old magazines, newspapers and scraps of old cloth. Some of our kids will want to use these scraps to create a collage or other art projects, while others will simply enjoy the act of shredding. You can make this activity accessible for really young kids by simply having them tear the paper with both hands.
  • Bring out the tool box! Twisting a bolt onto a screw, using a wrench to tighten a hex-nut and using a hammer to pull nails out of a block of wood all help with fine motor and increasing strength. For more of a visual perception task, considering mixing all of the screws, nails and bolts together and having your child sort them into different bowls or containers.

 

About the Author

Dr. Sophie Bellenis is a Licensed Occupational Therapist in Massachusetts, specializing in educational OT and functional life skills development. Dr. Bellenis joined NESCA in the fall of 2017 to offer community-based skills coaching services as a part of the Real-life Skills Program within NESCA’s Transition Services team. Dr. Bellenis graduated from the MGH Institute of Health Professions with a Doctorate in Occupational Therapy, with a focus on pediatrics and international program evaluation. She is a member of the American Occupational Therapy Association, as well as the World Federation of Occupational Therapists. Having spent years delivering direct services at the elementary, middle school and high school levels, Dr. Bellenis has extensive background with school-based occupational therapy services.  She believes that individual sensory needs and visual skills must be taken into account to create comprehensive educational programming.

To book an appointment or to learn more about NESCA’s Occupational Therapy Services, please fill out our online Intake Form, email info@nesca-newton.com or call 617-658-9800.

 

Neuropsychology & Education Services for Children & Adolescents (NESCA) is a pediatric neuropsychology practice and integrative treatment center with offices in Newton, Massachusetts, Plainville, Massachusetts, and Londonderry, New Hampshire, serving clients from preschool through young adulthood and their families. For more information, please email info@nesca-newton.com or call 617-658-9800.

 

15

7 Ways to Build Work-readiness from Your Couch

By | NESCA Notes 2020

By: Kelley Challen, Ed.M., CAS
Director of Transition Services; Transition Specialist

With schools across the country closed, special education and transition services are on hold for millions of young people. Fortunately, there are options for teenagers and young adults of all abilities to build important career planning, work readiness and even paid employment experience from home. Here are some suggestions for teens and young adults to build employment skills from the comfort of home:

  1. Use this time to draft your first resume (or edit an existing one). Even students with no work experience have plenty of information to put on a resume. Minimally, your resume should include your contact information, education to date and any volunteer, informal work activities or paid work experiences you have had. It is also appropriate to include skills and personal qualities, school accomplishments, and extracurricular activities that are nonwork related. Learn more about writing a resume for a part-time job at: https://www.thebalancecareers.com/part-time-job-resume-example-for-a-teen-2063248 and https://www.thebalancecareers.com/high-school-resume-examples-and-writing-tips-2063554.
  2. Take an online career interest test (or 10). There are a number of great free career interest tests available online for students with a variety of reading abilities. Some of the most common free tests include O*Net Interest Profiler, The Holland Code Interest Test and CareerOneStop’s Interest Assessment. Residents in Massachusetts can access many assessments online at the MassHire Career Information System. When inventory results are provided, each web site typically includes information about exploring ideas and careers further.
  3. Remotely learn about jobs of interest. Many students learn best experientially and, while current times prevent activities like job shadowing and internships, you can still virtually explore jobs of interest by watching career videos. Some web sites that offer a wide range of employment videos include Career One Stop Career Cluster Video Series, DrKit.org or MassCIS locally.
  4. Practice phone and video skills, including interview skills. While text messaging and social media communications may be better for connecting with friends, phone and video conferencing skills are increasingly important for seeking and maintaining employment. Take this opportunity to pick up the phone and call family members and friends. Build and practice video conference skills with platforms like Facetime, Skype, Google Duo and zoom.us. You can also download apps like Job Interview Question-Answer to work on video interview skills.
  5. Use the time to improve typing and digital literacy skills. Even if you have been taking notes on an iPad, Chromebook or computer for years, you can further improve your typing skills. One free web site that we like is com. To build Google or Microsoft Suite skills, check out other free resources like GFCGlobal and https://usefyi.com/g-suite-training/. You may even want to enroll in certification courses to build your credentials.
  6. Become a virtual volunteer. Whether you are trying to keep moving on your school’s volunteer hours requirement, looking for a meaningful way to spend time or want to beef up your resume, virtual volunteerism offers a great opportunity to use time at home meaningfully. To learn more about virtual volunteerism, check out this blog by GoodWill Industries or this lengthy resource assembled by Jayne Cravens at Finding Online Volunteering.
  7. Apply for a remote job. While employment trends are not clear, there are still companies hiring across the globe. Research and apply for remote and work-from-home positions, such as the examples listed here on The Penny Hoarder.

 

 

If you are interested in working with a transition specialist at NESCA for consultation, coaching, planning or evaluation, please complete our online intake form: https://nesca-newton.com/intake-form/.

About the Author:

Kelley Challen, Ed.M., CAS, is NESCA’s Director of Transition Services, overseeing planning, consultation, evaluation, coaching, case management, training and program development services. She is also the Assistant Director of NESCA, working under Dr. Ann Helmus to support day-to-day operations of the practice. Ms. Challen began facilitating programs for children and adolescents with special needs in 2004. After receiving her Master’s Degree and Certificate of Advanced Study in Risk and Prevention Counseling from Harvard Graduate School of Education, Ms. Challen spent several years at the MGH Aspire Program where she founded an array of social, life and career skill development programs for teens and young adults with Asperger’s Syndrome and related profiles. She additionally worked at the Northeast Arc as Program Director for the Spotlight Program, a drama-based social pragmatics program, serving youth with a wide range of diagnoses and collaborating with several school districts to design in-house social skills and transition programs. Ms. Challen is co-author of the chapter “Technologies to Support Interventions for Social- Emotional Intelligence, Self-Awareness, Personality Style, and Self-Regulation” for the book Technology Tools for Students with Autism. She is also a proud mother of two energetic boys, ages six and three. While Ms. Challen has special expertise in supporting students with Autism Spectrum Disorders, she provides support to individuals with a wide range of developmental and learning abilities, including students with complex medical needs.

Neuropsychology & Education Services for Children & Adolescents (NESCA) is a pediatric neuropsychology practice and integrative treatment center with offices in Newton, Massachusetts, Plainville, Massachusetts, and Londonderry, New Hampshire, serving clients from preschool through young adulthood and their families. For more information, please email info@nesca-newton.com or call 617-658-9800.

3

When Grandparents Become Parents Again

By | NESCA Notes 2020

By Yvonne M. Asher, Ph.D. 

Pediatric Neuropsychologist

Grandparents can hold a special place for any child. For some, though, grandparents play a central role in their day-to-day lives. When grandparents raise a child, it is often related to parental challenges, tragic circumstances or government intervention. This brings inherent, understandable stressors for grandparents. Additionally, grandparents face the more typical challenges of child-rearing, such as managing educational experiences, ensuring emotional well-being and navigating health care.

When concerns with educational achievement, behavior, emotional or social functioning arise, there are many obstacles with which grandparents must wrestle. Feelings of guilt may arise, which can stem from a variety of sources. Grandparents may question their own parenting practices, worrying about past “mistakes” in raising their children. They may be especially sensitive to shielding their grandchildren from exposure to risky situations that their children may have faced without their knowledge. Grandparents may struggle when grandchildren are given diagnoses such as ADHD, autism or learning disabilities, wondering if their children faced these same challenges without formal diagnosis or intervention. Many grandparents express understandable fears around their grandchildren’s future, particularly their level of independence. While many caregivers have concerns with the independence of the children in their care, grandparents are often acutely aware of the limited time they will have to support, counsel and assist their grandchildren through their young adult years.

In navigating the special education and mental health care systems, grandparents can face many complex situations. Complexity may be increased if grandparents are in a caregiving role due to parents’ substance use or dependence. Depending on the timing and extent of substance use, there can be long-lasting impacts on grandchildren’s educational, cognitive or emotional health. This can substantially increase the difficulties that grandparents encounter, both in terms of accessing necessary services and supports, as well as coping with the stresses of caregiving.

There are also a number of strengths that grandparents can bring to their time as caregivers. They may be more aware of their rights as caregivers within the educational system, seeking out services and interventions when the “first signs” of difficulty arise. They may have a broader perspective on the school system, potentially having raised children who went through the same schools in the past. With the wisdom that comes in later adulthood, grandparents may be more discerning and skeptical about the opinions of professionals. They may ask more pointed questions, with less reserve or fear. Grandparents may also have built stronger support networks and have deeper connections to community organizations. These strengths can serve grandparents well in managing the complex systems that all caregivers face.

Several states have created advisory councils or legislation specifically designed to support grandparents raising grandchildren. In addition, there are many resources available to grandparents who are caring for and raising grandchildren, including:

https://www.helpguide.org/articles/parenting-family/grandparents-raising-grandchildren.htm

https://www.grandfamilies.org

http://www.massgrg.com/massgrg_2019/index.html

https://sixtyandme.com/resources-for-grandparents-raising-grandchildren/

 

About Pediatric Neuropsychologist Dr. Yvonne Asher:

Dr. Yvonne M. Asher enjoys working with a wide range of children and teens, including those with autism spectrum disorder, developmental delays, learning disabilities, attention difficulties and executive functioning challenges. She often works with children whose complex profiles are not easily captured by a single label or diagnosis. She particularly enjoys working with young children and helping parents through their “first touch” with mental health care or developmental concerns.

Dr. Asher’s approach to assessment is gentle and supportive, and recognizes the importance of building rapport and trust. When working with young children, Dr. Asher incorporates play and “games” that allow children to complete standardized assessments in a fun and engaging environment.

Dr. Asher has extensive experience working in public, charter and religious schools, both as a classroom teacher and psychologist. She holds a master’s degree in education and continues to love working with educators. As a psychologist working in public schools, she gained invaluable experience with the IEP process from start to finish. She incorporates both her educational and psychological training when formulating recommendations to school teams.

Dr. Asher attended Swarthmore College and the Jewish Theological Seminary. She completed her doctoral degree at Suffolk University, where her dissertation looked at the impact of starting middle school on children’s social and emotional wellbeing. After graduating, she completed an intensive fellowship at the MGH Lurie Center for Autism, where she worked with a wide range of children, adolescents and young adults with autism and related disorders.

 

Neuropsychology & Education Services for Children & Adolescents (NESCA) is a pediatric neuropsychology practice and integrative treatment center with offices in Newton, Massachusetts, Plainville, Massachusetts, and Londonderry, New Hampshire, serving clients from preschool through young adulthood and their families. For more information, please email info@nesca-newton.com or call 617-658-9800.

 

To book an appointment with Dr. Yvonne Asher, please complete our Intake Form today. For more information about NESCA, please email info@nesca-newton.com or call 617-658-9800.

 

1

How to Help Children Grieve

By | NESCA Notes 2020

By: Angela Currie, Ph.D.
Pediatric Neuropsychologist, NESCA
Director of Training and New Hampshire Operations

and

Cynthia Hess, Psy.D.
Pediatric Neuropsychologist Fellow, NESCA

Oftentimes, the loss of a celebrity may be a child or adolescent’s first experience with loss or grief. Many this week who grew up admiring the talents of Kobe Bryant are unfortunately finding themselves in this group. Even when a child has never met the celebrity who perishes, they may feel as though they just lost a good friend.

If you are looking for guidance on how to help manage your child’s grief as it relates to the loss of a “hero,” we have some pointers to share with you. Most of these tips are also appropriate for the loss of a family member or close friend.

  • Talk about your child’s feelings openly, but try to let them approach you first. Normalize their feelings and validate them.
  • They will have questions about what took place, so be prepared to answer them and provide information to a developmentally appropriate degree.
  • Answer questions directly and truthfully, trying not to overly soften the information, as this can be confusing for children (e.g. “gone to heaven” is abstract, “died” is clear and concrete).
  • When it comes to celebrities or public figures who die, set limits around how much information your child is accessing within the media (i.e. keep access to television news limited, monitor internet use, etc.). An important aim is to not only control the influx of information, but also control the visuals that they are exposed to – preventing exposure to video clips and images that may be scary and difficult to let go of. With today’s 24-hour news cycle and on-demand access, there is just too much available to watch, so stay on top of what they see.
  • Be sure to pay tribute to the person who has died. It is important to share memories of that person. Let your child know that it is okay to talk about them.
  • While a death or tragedy is thankfully not a common occurrence, try to maintain the typical schedule that your child is accustomed to. Adhering to a “normal” routine will help them feel a sense of stability while learning to cope with loss.

Resources:

Talking With Children About Loss; Words, Strategies, and Wisdom to help Children Cope with Death Divorce and Other Difficult Times by Maria Trozzi

For loss of pets: All Dogs Go To Heaven by Lu Pierro and The Tenth Good Thing About Barney by Judith Viorst

https://www.nypl.org/blog/2017/07/21/childrens-books-about-loss-and-grieving

https://www.scholastic.com/parents/books-and-reading/raise-a-reader-blog/7-touching-books-to-help-kids-understand-death-and-grief.html

https://childmind.org/article/helping-children-deal-grief/

https://childmind.org/guide/helping-children-cope-grief/

 

About the Authors:

Dr. Angela Currie is a pediatric neuropsychologist at NESCA. She conducts neuropsychological and psychological evaluations out of our Londonderry, NH office. She specializes in the evaluation of anxious children and teens, working to tease apart the various factors lending to their stress, such as underlying learning, attentional, or emotional challenges. She particularly enjoys working with the seemingly “unmotivated” child, as well as children who have “flown under the radar” for years due to their desire to succeed.

 

 

 

Dr. Cynthia Hess recently graduated from Rivier University with a Psy.D. in Counseling and School Psychology. Previously, she earned an M.A. from Antioch New England in Applied Psychology. She also worked as an elementary school counselor and school psychologist for 15 years before embarking on her doctorate. During her doctorate, she did her pre-doctoral internship with RIT in Rochester, N.Y. where she worked with youth ages 5-17 who had experienced complex developmental trauma. Dr. Hess’s first post-doctoral fellowship was with The Counseling Center of New England where she provided psychotherapy and family therapy to children ages 5-18, their families and young adults. She also trained part-time with a pediatric neuropsychologist conducting neuropsychological evaluations. Currently, Dr. Hess is a second-year post-doctoral fellow in pediatric neuropsychological assessment, working with NESCA Londonderry’s Dr. Angela Currie and Dr. Jessica Geragosian.

 

 

To book an evaluation with Dr. Currie or one of our many other expert neuropsychologists, complete NESCA’s online intake form. Indicate whether you are seeking an “evaluation” or “consultation” and your preferred clinician in the referral line.

 

Neuropsychology & Education Services for Children & Adolescents (NESCA) is a pediatric neuropsychology practice and integrative treatment center with offices in Londonderry, NH, Plainville, MA, and Newton, MA serving clients from preschool through young adulthood and their families. For more information, please email info@nesca-newton.com or call (603) 818-8526.

12

Transition Planning at IEP Team Meetings – The Good, The Fun and The Beautiful

By | NESCA Notes 2019

By: Kelley Challen, Ed.M., CAS
Director of Transition Services; Transition Specialist

Transition planning is a complicated process for schools, families and related service professionals. It is not something that can be done well without key ingredients, such as open minds, collaboration and creative brain power… not to mention time. But when good transition planning happens in the context of a team meeting, it is a really powerful and awesome process – and even, dare I say, fun!

I recently worked with a young woman – let us call her Julie – who had spent four years of high school in a small therapeutic program. It took Julie, with great support from her team, a lot of effort to get through the academic demands of high school while simultaneously managing and remediating social and emotional complexities. As Julie progressed through her senior year, her school team recognized that she had not had the time or opportunities to build some critical life skills, including the self-advocacy and executive function skills she would need to manage post-secondary, real-world activities. Everyone agreed that she needed another year to build and generalize the functional skills that are essential for being a student in a post-secondary learning environment and to be deemed employable. With no option available for Julie to continue in her therapeutic school program, the team agreed to set up a meeting to create a new IEP that focused largely on Julie’s remaining transition-focused needs. Due to time constraints, the team meeting occurred at the start of this school year.

I was fortunate to be invited to consult at this meeting. After introductions, we dug in together to review Julie’s most recent transition evaluation. Julie had a thorough evaluation that had been completed by the school district, which provided a lot of information about her disability-related needs as well as her vision and interests. We talked about the most pressing areas to address in developing the IEP goals and debated options for creatively writing the annual goals in the IEP document (i.e. whether to focus annual goals on life, vocational and college participation skills with objectives related to social, emotional, executive functioning and self-advocacy issues in each arena or whether to employ a more traditional IEP format with seven goal areas).

We discussed objectives that would be most useful in the context of Julie’s long-term goals – attaining a college degree and working as a nutritionist. Julie’s mom had done a great deal of work prior to the team meeting, helping Julie apply to Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission (MRC) Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) Services, connecting with the local agency contracted to provide Pre-Employment Transition Services (Pre-ETS), and setting up Julie’s first internship experience for the summer. She also helped Julie to sign up for an adaptive driver’s education class to occur on weekends throughout the fall. Julie’s mother had also researched options for college classes that Julie might be able to participate in, even though she had missed the start of many fall classes.

Julie’s Special Education Director had worked equally hard in looking into resources within the school district and community that could provide Julie with meaningful activities and experiences and assist her in making progress with the skills outlined in the transition assessment. One such resource identified by Julie’s Special Education Director was a non-profit social skills group. Another resource was a coach who could provide hands-on support on a college campus and was already in place as part of a postgraduate program run through a nearby district. The Director also identified several staff withing the school district who were experienced in supporting transition-age students – the school social worker and lead teacher within the school’s therapeutic program – who could work with Julie.

We gathered in a room together not to talk about a program that already existed, but to design the individualized, unique transition program that Julie required. We brainstormed options for shoring up her writing skills with such approaches as drafting an independent research paper on being a nutritionist and participating in a dual enrollment college writing class. We thought of ways to build money management skills through an online personal finance class with school support and real-life practice by visiting her local bank and several ATMs with her school’s occupational therapist.

When we left the meeting, we had designed a brand new program for Julie that would satisfy her needs in the areas of social, emotional, self-advocacy, executive functioning, adaptive and vocational skills development through a combination of school-, community- and home-based activities, with defined support from the school district, community agencies and her family. Everyone left the meeting ready to carry out the next steps of planning for Julie, with roles and responsibilities clearly outlined to initiate the activities that would hopefully propel Julie toward greater independence and satisfaction in her adult life.

This is just one example of a great team meeting that I have been a part of this school year. Over the years, I’ve been fortunate to have had the opportunity to contribute to many of these meetings as well as some of the more challenging ones. After this meeting, I drove all the way home smiling about how much can be accomplished in a 75-minute team meeting when everyone comes to the table thinking about the student, willing to brainstorm, interested in collaborative problem-solving, thinking outside the box, and eager to share responsibility in supporting the student.

Certainly, there are many times when a school district or local collaborative already has a great program and peer group that will work for a student’s post-12th-grade needs, but, as a Transition Specialist, it is truly a lot of fun when everyone is ready to roll their sleeves up and pitch in to create a new tailored individualized education program that taps into the internal resources available to the student and school, while adding community supports and services as appropriate.

In thinking about what makes transition planning at IEP team meetings, such as Julie’s, notably successful, the following “ingredients” stand out:

  • The meeting focuses on the student, with the student’s vision presented at the start of the meeting (ideally by the student), and the team is in agreement about supporting that vision;
  • Team members come to the table eager to work with one another, willing to problem-solve, ask questions, listen to feedback and build on one another’s ideas;
  • There is good assessment data to inform the team process, whereby the team has a good sense of the student’s strengths, preferences and needs, and works together to prioritize what has to be addressed through the IEP; and
  • Team members come to the table knowing what resources exist inside and outside of the school program, with parents and educators having researched and reached out to invite new team members who may know about internal and external resources.

If you are interested in working with a transition specialist at NESCA for consultation, planning or evaluation, please complete our online intake form: https://nesca-newton.com/intake-form/.

About the Author:

Kelley Challen, Ed.M., CAS, is NESCA’s Director of Transition Services, overseeing planning, consultation, evaluation, coaching, case management, training and program development services. She is also the Assistant Director of NESCA, working under Dr. Ann Helmus to support day-to-day operations of the practice. Ms. Challen began facilitating programs for children and adolescents with special needs in 2004. After receiving her Master’s Degree and Certificate of Advanced Study in Risk and Prevention Counseling from Harvard Graduate School of Education, Ms. Challen spent several years at the MGH Aspire Program where she founded an array of social, life and career skill development programs for teens and young adults with Asperger’s Syndrome and related profiles. She additionally worked at the Northeast Arc as Program Director for the Spotlight Program, a drama-based social pragmatics program, serving youth with a wide range of diagnoses and collaborating with several school districts to design in-house social skills and transition programs. Ms. Challen is co-author of the chapter “Technologies to Support Interventions for Social- Emotional Intelligence, Self-Awareness, Personality Style, and Self-Regulation” for the book Technology Tools for Students with Autism. She is also a proud mother of two energetic boys, ages six and three. While Ms. Challen has special expertise in supporting students with Autism Spectrum Disorders, she provides support to individuals with a wide range of developmental and learning abilities, including students with complex medical needs.

Neuropsychology & Education Services for Children & Adolescents (NESCA) is a pediatric neuropsychology practice and integrative treatment center with offices in Newton, Massachusetts, Plainville, Massachusetts, and Londonderry, New Hampshire, serving clients from preschool through young adulthood and their families. For more information, please email info@nesca-newton.com or call 617-658-9800.

5

Why We Should Weed Out Lawnmower Parenting

By | NESCA Notes 2019

By:  Alissa Talamo, Ph.D.
Pediatric Neuropsychologist

There are many parenting styles and trends…helicopter parents, attachment parents, free range parents, and now…the lawnmower parent. All of these parenting styles come from loving, well-meaning parents who want to do what is best for their children and protect them from harm. However, the lawnmower parent, the newest iteration of such approaches, often prevents a child from gaining necessary lifelong skills.

If a helicopter parent is a parent who hovers over their child and jumps in to solve a problem that a child could actually resolve on their own, a lawnmower parent (also referred to as a snowplow parent or bulldozing parent) is a parent who goes out of their way to remove every obstacle for their child; trying to anticipate their child’s every need and solve the problem before the child even experiences it. Lawnmower parent behaviors include everything from choosing a young child’s activities to directly calling a child’s college professor to ask for an extension on an assignment, and—as recently seen play out in the news—the college admissions scandal. One college professor (as shared on the Pittsburgh Moms blog) described lawnmower parenting as ‘Curling Parents,’ “given the similarity to the Olympic athletes who scurry ahead of the gently thrown stone, frantically brushing a smooth path and guiding the stone towards an exact pre-determined location.”

A negative side effect of the lawnmower parent approach is that it suggests to the child they are not able to handle any situation on their own, and possibly the idea that their parents believe they will fail rather than succeed unless the parent clears the way. How can a child develop a sense of self, and confidence to know they can make mistakes and still be ok, unless they are allowed to experience both success and failure? Children need to develop their own problem-solving skills, at a developmentally appropriate level, to know they can solve bigger problems. While it is ok to help your child (or friend, spouse, sibling) out of a difficult situation at times, everyone needs to learn to self-advocate, develop problem-solving skills and feel that sense of accomplishment that doing so yields.

References:

https://grownandflown.com/college-professor-warns-lawnmower-parent/

https://pittsburgh.citymomsblog.com/

https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/parenting

About the Author:

With NESCA since its inception in 2007, Dr. Talamo had previously practiced for many years as a child and adolescent clinical psychologist before completing postdoctoral re-training in pediatric neuropsychology at the Children’s Evaluation Center.

After receiving her undergraduate degree from Columbia University, Dr. Talamo earned her doctorate in clinical health psychology from Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University.

She has given a number of presentations, most recently on “How to Recognize a Struggling Reader,” “Supporting Students with Working Memory Limitations,” (with Bonnie Singer, Ph.D., CCC-SLP of Architects for Learning), and “Executive Function in Elementary and Middle School Students.”

Dr. Talamo specializes in working with children and adolescents with language-based learning disabilities including dyslexia, attentional disorders, and emotional issues. She is also interested in working with highly gifted children.

Her professional memberships include MAGE (Massachusetts Association for Gifted Education), IDA (International Dyslexia Association), MABIDA (the Massachusetts division of IDA) and MNS (the Massachusetts Neuropsychological Society).

She is the mother of one teenage girl.

To book a consultation with Dr. Talamo or one of our many other expert neuropsychologists, complete NESCA’s online intake form.

Neuropsychology & Education Services for Children & Adolescents (NESCA) is a pediatric neuropsychology practice and integrative treatment center with offices in Newton, Massachusetts, Plainville, Massachusetts, and Londonderry, New Hampshire, serving clients from preschool through young adulthood and their families. For more information, please email info@nesca-newton.com or call 617-658-9800.

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