Music is often suggested as a means to calm down or fall asleep, however now they are developing app that will help you gradually change your mood. An article in the Age by Hannah Francis has announced that Australian researchers have begun to develop an app that will assist teenagers to change their mood through music.
Natural Environments in Kindergartens
Remember when you were in kindergarten and playing outside in the grass was your favourite part of the day. However some children in the city don’t have the opportunity to play with natural materials, instead their play areas are mostly concrete and plastic.
In this article from The Age, Miki Perkins discusses how Wes Fleming, who is known for his gardening expertise, has been transforming the play areas of the some kindergartens in the Melbourne area. The kindergartens are making the change from a plastic play area to a more environmental one with plants and trees.
Self-Sabotaging Behaviours in Students
Many students across all levels of academic ability engage in “self-sabotaging behaviours”.
For example, the student who waits until midnight the night before an assignment is due before making a start. Then, when they receive a low grade, will shrug and say “oh well, I left it until the last minute”.
Now in some cases it is intentional but in many cases, it is driven by underlying issues such as anxiety.
Behind presumed lack of organisation or presumed lack of skill, students who engage in self-sabotaging behaviours often have high needs for self-worth protection.
Here are some of the most common self-sabotaging behaviours students engage in:
Preparing To Use A Scribe For Exams
For students who really struggle with putting thoughts to paper, one of the things we usually recommend for VCE and university exams is the use of a scribe.
There are many reasons why a scribe is particularly helpful for some students. For students with specific learning disorder in the area of Reading (dyslexia) and/or written expression (dysgraphia) writing is a burden and causes anxiety.
Similarly, there are many students who experience slow processing speed (skills in the speed of mental problem solving, attention and hand-eye coordination). Generally, these students have difficulties completing work within expected time limits and they write very slowly.
Slow processing speed is a part of many clinical presentations (including specific learning disorder, AD/HD, and autism spectrum disorders), but it also affects people who do not have any diagnosable disorder.
Psychological and Therapeutic Benefits of Loom Bands
Loom bands are possibly just another passing childhood fad but here at Melbourne Child Psychology, we’re fans of the Rainbow Loom for their many therapeutic benefits.
So next time you’re pulling yet another handful of rubber bands from the vacuum cleaner and wondering if this is all just clever marketing, here are some points to ponder to (retrospectively) justify your purchase!
Why Do People Engage in Self-Harm?
Counselling a child to help them to stop their self-harming behaviour is hard work.
Many bewildered parents and novice therapists are unaware of, or overlook, the fact that the behaviour has very powerful psycho-physiological rewards.
Self-harm (or self-injury) is known to slow down heart rate and breathing rates, and floods the body with feel-good endorphins.
Is Your Child Experiencing Nightmares or Night Terrors?
Nightmares occur during the dream (Rapid Eye Movement, REM) stages of sleep, usually very late at night or in the early in the morning.
After a nightmare, a child will usually be responsive, will know who you are and be reassured or soothed back to sleep.
The child may or may not remember the content of the dream, but if you ask them about it the next morning, they’ll usually remember that they had a nightmare.
Competitive Milestone Checking
There are many apps available to check your infant or child’s developmental milestones. While these can be useful tools, it’s important not to become obsessed about the timing of your child’s milestones.
Many of these purchasable apps provide an indicator of ‘red flags’ for when your child is not meeting a milestone at the expected level. Parents need to be very careful about not letting these apps contribute to unnecessary anxiety and stress.
6 Ways Reassurance Can Actually Make Children’s Anxiety Worse
For children who are anxious, constantly asking for reassurance or repeating worrying thoughts is a typical part of daily family life.
Of course, it’s natural to want to reassure your child when they are worried about something…
But when the worry is irrational, constant reassurance could actually be making it worse.
Here are six ways that excessive reassurance can worsen anxiety in children:
Rethinking Childhood Disabilities – Happiness vs Healthiness
This inspiring TED talk by Para-Olympian, Karni Liddell, has really got a lot of people thinking about how we look at disability.
She begins by drawing our attention to the conversations so many parents-to-be have when they are asked “What do you want to have – a boy or a girl?” and the socially-acceptable answer they tend to respond with: “All I want is a healthy baby”.
Nothing particularly shocking in that exchange, right?
But, Karni asks us to consider “Does a healthy baby necessary equal a happy baby?”.