NESCA is currently accepting Therapy and Executive Function Coaching clients from middle school-age through adulthood with Therapist/Executive Function Coach/Parent Coach Carly Loureiro, MSW, LCSW. Carly specializes in the ASD population and also sees individuals who are highly anxious, depressed, or suffer with low self-esteem. She also offers parent coaching and family sessions when needed. For more information or to schedule appointments, please complete our Intake Form.

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wellness

5

Good Ideas for Dogs are Good for People, Too

By | NESCA Notes 2020

By Dot Lucci, M.Ed., CAGS

Director of Consultation and Psychoeducational Services, NESCA

  • Play Every Day! — Play can promote calmness and reduce anxiety. This is true for adults and kids.
  • Play Is Learning — Reflect after play by creating and asking questions. Did you learn anything new? What surprised you? How did you feel before you played? How you feel now?
  • Walk, Walk, Walk! — Walking helps dogs stay engaged with the world and brains stimulated. Yup, works for humans, too.
  • Be Present While Walking — Go for walks with or without a dog. Feel the air blowing, smell the flowers, hear the birds singing, feel the rain on your face. Learn the bird calls, bring binoculars and look closely at the birds. Be present as you walk, laugh, sing, splash in puddles….
  • Game Play — Playing games can help satisfy natural instincts. Play old games, teach your children games you played as a child, learn new games. Any games will do – board, card, dice, movement, etc. Play skill games, games of chance or luck games, silly games, etc.
  • Feed Relationships Through Play and Exercise — Bond with each other (a child, a dog or both!) through playing or getting some exercise together. Be active together…teach new tricks, kick a ball around, play catch, take a yoga or Zumba class, watch GoNoodle as long as it’s together.
  • Be in gratitude that you are experiencing this time together to slow down and reconnect with each other. Laugh, play, sing and dance together. Love and care for each other. Enjoy each other.

 

About the Author

NESCA’s Director of Consultation and Psychoeducational Services Dot Lucci has been active in the fields of education, psychology, research and academia for over 30 years. She is a national consultant and speaker on program design and the inclusion of children and adolescents with special needs, especially those diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Prior to joining NESCA, Ms. Lucci was the Principal of the Partners Program/EDCO Collaborative and previously the Program Director and Director of Consultation at MGH/Aspire for 13 years, where she built child, teen and young adult programs and established the 3-Ss (self-awareness, social competency and stress management) as the programming backbone. She also served as director of the Autism Support Center. Ms. Lucci was previously an elementary classroom teacher, special educator, researcher, school psychologist, college professor and director of public schools, a private special education school and an education collaborative.

Ms. Lucci directs NESCA’s consultation services to public and private schools, colleges and universities, businesses and community agencies. She also provides psychoeducational counseling directly to students and parents. Ms. Lucci’s clinical interests include mind-body practices, positive psychology, and the use of technology and biofeedback devices in the instruction of social and emotional learning, especially as they apply to neurodiverse individuals.

 

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

 

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.

 

0

“Vitamin G” Project

By | NESCA Notes 2018

By: Ann-Noelle McCowan, M.S., RYT
Guidance Counselor; Yoga Specialist

Each school year I observe the fluctuations of student and adult stress, and each August the return of relaxed and recharged kids and adults.  For many, summer means a slower pace and longer days filled with activities that bring joy and support our health and happiness. Time with family, friends, and pets bonds us with others. We’re connected with nature through the fullness of trees or the heat of the sun, and our perspectives are turned outward with less time inside on screens and gaming devices.  We’re renewed with less packed schedules, fewer alarms, more sleep, and our bodies are nourished by eating outside, less complicated meals and more fruits and vegetables. So how can summer’s ease and joy build our resilience to handle the natural unavoidable stressors of the school year and seasonal changes? By starting a gratitude practice.

Gratitude practices that amp up “Vitamin G”  have been shown to help people feel better about their lives, experience higher levels of positive emotions and have fewer physical problems or even feel less pain. Vitamin “G” helps us act kinder and more generous towards others, feel less stress and then handle stress better when it shows up, as well as get more exercise, eat healthier and sleep better!  Neuroscientists have said that our brain has a “negativity bias” where our minds respond like velcro for bad thoughts and Teflon (non-stick) for good thoughts. Vitamin “G” to the rescue!  When we are thankful, it helps stop negative thoughts and increases the feel-good chemicals like dopamine and serotonin. Summer naturally provides time and opportunities to teach kids about gratitude, to practice the crucial ability to notice and acknowledge things in their life that bring them pleasure. Now how to begin…

  • Start by thanking your own children and help them learn about appreciation. Don’t worry too much about younger kids who might say they are thankful for a toy, you are building the idea of gratitude. It’s the practice, not perfection. Feel free to connect Vitamin G to other important nutrients or times when you have asked them to thank others.
  • Use age-appropriate language: we are going to learn how to name/ acknowledge/ build an account or recording of things that make us feel happy/ appreciative/ lucky/grateful. Give some examples of the benefits of Vitamin “G”. Explain that deposits to this “bank account” builds a mind that feels happier, less stressed and healthier.
  • Decide how you want to recognize daily gratitude. It could be a journal, a jar, a shared blog, drawings, colleagues, voice or video recordings, or a routine prayer with your child at night. I’ll expand on how to build a gratitude jar but experiment and choose what works for your child and family.
  • Gratitude Jar: Essentials are a writing utensil, slips of paper and a vessel to store your “gratitude slips” in. You could have your child pick one or two shades of colored paper or a special pen for recording, the jar could be decorated with pictures of things they enjoy or a beloved pet or kept blank to view the collection.
  • Cut up a few different sizes of rectangle slips of paper, or print a few prompts if that works for your child. Examples of prompts could be: Today I loved… I’m thankful for….. I appreciate that … I’m grateful for… I liked it when … I felt happy when….I feel good when.
  • Make a commitment to model this on a daily or routine schedule with your child, start recording and watch their account grow.

Your Vitamin G  project will hold beautiful recollections of summer as well as teach your child an important habit of mind and useful stress buster tool. Starting a gratitude practice will build resilience and empower them to find moments of happiness and goodness even when summer ends. Enjoy and have fun!

 

About the Author: 

Ann-Noelle provides therapeutic yoga-counseling sessions individually designed for each child. NESCA therapeutic yoga establishes a safe space for a child to face their challenges while nourishing their innate strengths using the threefold combination of yoga movement, yoga breath, and yoga thinking.

Ann-Noelle has worked with children and adolescents since 2001 and practiced yoga and meditation since 2005. Since 2003 she has been employed full time as a school counselor in a local high performing school district, and prior to that was employed in the San Francisco Public Schools. Ann-Noelle received her dual Masters Degree (MS) in Marriage, Family and Child Therapy (MFCC), and School Counseling from San Francisco State University in 2002, her BA from Union College in New York, and her 200 hour-Registered Yoga Credential (RYT) from Shri Yoga. Ann-Noelle completed additional Yoga training including the Kid Asana Program in 2014, Trauma in Children in 2016 and Adaptive yoga for Parkinson’s in 2014.

For more information on the therapeutic yoga at NESCA, please visit  https://nesca-newton.com/yoga/

 

 

 

Neuropsychology & Education Services for Children & Adolescents (NESCA) is a pediatric neuropsychology practice and integrative treatment center with offices in Newton, 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.

1

Acupuncture for Mental and Emotional Spectrum

By | NESCA Notes 2018

 

By: Holly Pelletier, L.Ac.
Licensed Acupuncturist

Acupuncture is a gentle approach to health care that utilizes energy meridians in the body to help facilitate and unblock areas of stagnation and congestion. There are many different ways to perform an acupuncture treatment, some don’t even require the use of needles. Because acupuncture works to restore balance in the body, it can literally work for anything. In fact, some of my favorite things to work with lie on the mental-emotional spectrum; it works wonders for anxiety, depression, stress, obsessions/compulsions, and ADHD. It can also treat everything from digestive disorders to insomnia.

Acupuncture is a great preventative medicine, so you do not need some big serious main complaint to get treated. In fact, I recommend seeking treatment before anything arises, and even after your symptoms clear! I strongly encourage patients to continue treatments as a preventative and maintenance approach to their health.

For more information or to set up a consult and/or treatment please feel free to email me at hpelletier@nesca-newton.com.

 

About the Author: 

Holly Pelletier has been working with children of varying ages, in many different capacities since 2004. Prior to treating kids with acupuncture, she worked as a teacher, coach, and mentor. She especially enjoys working with children and acupuncture because of their speedy response time and genuine excitement about this form of medicine. Acupuncture is a wonderful healing modality because children’s bodies are very adaptable, and, being so young and not yet deeply affected by the stresses of life, children generally show signs of response to acupuncture quickly.

Holly has a very gentle technique and has specific training in non-insertive acupuncture styles, which does not require needling directly into the skin. Acupuncture is great for many different concerns because it’s focus is that of bringing balance back to a body where this has been disrupted. Therefore, basically any form of imbalance can be helped with acupuncture. Common imbalances kids seek treatment for, are stress, anxiety, digestive issues, headaches, low energy/motivation, and fluctuations in mood.

Holly is licensed by the Massachusetts Board of Medicine and by the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. She graduated from the New England School of Acupuncture at MCPHS University in Newton, MA where she studied Japanese and Chinese acupuncture styles, along with Chinese herbology.

For more written by Holly, check out her personal blog, www.holisticallyinspired.org

 

 

 

 

Neuropsychology & Education Services for Children & Adolescents (NESCA) is a pediatric neuropsychology practice and integrative treatment center with offices in Newton, 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.