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How to Reduce Sibling Rivalry

by Melbourne Child Psychology & School Psychology Services

Parents are often concerned about their children fighting and arguing with each other.

Excessive fighting can be very frustrating and can cause severe stress for parents and children alike.

Jealousy problems often start soon after the birth of a younger sibling (in some cases, even before the younger sibling is born).

Although sibling rivalry usually decreases as children grow older and develop better language and social skills, the conflict between siblings often continues throughout childhood and sometimes even into adulthood.

In a moment I’ll share some strategies to help reduce the conflict. But first, let’s take a quick look at the problem and its causes.

How To Talk With Your Teenager Effectively – 5 Helpful Tips

by Melbourne Child Psychology & School Psychology Services

Adolescence is a transitional period from childhood into adulthood. It is a period of physical, cognitive, emotional, and social changes, that frequently result in confusion. As it is a period of self-discovery, it’s normal for teenagers to experiment with friendships, activities, substances, and sexuality. In search of their identity and independence, teenagers often push their limits, confronting parents, teachers, and any other authority figure.

However, teenagers are not all bad. They are curious, fun, and intense! They are in a very vulnerable stage, and they need the support, care, and guidance from adults.

To help your child and yourself to survive their teenage years, you need to have a strong relationship with them (one in which you are involved in their life, but you are not their best friend – they still need to see you as an authority). Effective communication is the foundation of a strong relationship between you and your teenager.

Here are my top 5 tips to effectively communicate with teens.

The Art of Getting Things Done With Kids’ Homework

by Deborah Jepsen

The art of getting things done is to have a system and then implement that system. Dave Allen is the guru of “getting things done” of the modern era. Though his books and seminars he has actively engaged with people to organise their life and get things done!

For kids, it is about getting organised and taking action.

The 5 Keys of Getting Things done

Key 1: Capture your thinking
This means have a place to write everything down. Either in a diary or a notebook or on an electronic device.

Key 2: Define actions and next step
The key here is to define what the work to be done and use the right map

Key 3: Use the right map and organise information in appropriate categories

Key 4: Review actions

Key 5: Track the big picture

You can watch a video of Dave Allen in action here.

Waves of Positive Emotions

by Deborah Jepsen

I have been enjoying a morning run along the beach for the past few months now (well, I wouldn’t technically call it a run, more like a slow jog or shuffle!). It is such a great time for me to think about things and clear my mind. Something about being close to the water that gives me a real buzz (yes I run along the sand and sometimes my feet get wet!).

On my jogs this week I have been thinking about emotions, both positive and negative and how they tend to come upon us likes waves. I have started to wonder how much attention we pay to positive emotions?

In my work with kids, I love exploring emotions. I have a nice set of cards with both positive and negative emotions. The positive emotions include cards such as, inspired, motivated, joyful, awed, confident, hopeful, happy, respected, strong, secure, captivated, fascinated, powerful, appreciated and amazed, to name the key ones.

When I ask kids to explain what these positive emotions feel like and give an example, I am often stared at with a blank face! I have to define the positive emotion and then give an example myself before kids even understand what I am getting at! What is going on here?

Counselling for children: Working with parents

by Melbourne Child Psychology & School Psychology Services

Counselling helps children understand, manage and overcome many different personal challenges. Some of the most common problems parents come to seek advice for include anxiety, anger, and difficulties with friendships.

In counselling sessions we will work on your child’s self-esteem and empowering them so they can work towards achieving their personal goals. However, often we need to work in collaboration with parents so the work we do during counselling is supported and reinforced at home.

Why do I like to work with kids?

by Melbourne Child Psychology & School Psychology Services

As an educational and developmental psychologist, I am often asked by friends, family, and parents, why I have chosen to work with children.

When I get asked this question, my immediate thought is: why wouldn’t I like to work with kids?!

I love it! There are thousands of reasons why I think helping children and their families is the best job in the world, but I will focus on my top four.

What Should I Do If My Child is Resistant to Counselling?

by Melbourne Child Psychology & School Psychology Services

One of the most common questions we encounter as Child and Adolescent Psychologists is “What can I do if my child doesn’t want to come to counselling?”.

This is very common and the child’s attitude can range from a little bit of trepidation to full blown refusal.

It can be tempting to give in and hope that all the concerns you have about your child’s emotional and mental wellbeing will just blow over and resolve themselves. But, more often than not, the very fact that the child is resistant to counselling is a sign that something is troubling them that they might find uncomfortable to face.

So, what should you do and say to them? And, of equal importance, what should you NOT do or say?

Dyslexia in Children – Some Helpful Facts

by Melbourne Child Psychology & School Psychology Services

There are many myths and misconceptions about dyslexia.

In fact, it’s a very complex and confusing topic for parents and educators alike…

So this week I decided to answer some common questions we get asked about dyslexia in children.

What is Dyslexia?

The word “dyslexia” literally means “difficulty with words”. Its meaning comes from the Greek roots:

DYS – impaired, difficulty with, or inability to; and
LEXIS – word.

In fact, there has never been a single, broadly accepted scientific definition of dyslexia as a specific disorder and it has been used mainly as a general term applied to anyone who has difficulty with reading or who tends to confuse or mix up sequences of letters and numbers.

Children’s Smart Phone And Tablet Use Linked With Weaker Literacy Skills

by Melbourne Child Psychology & School Psychology Services

Research recently conducted by the National Literacy Trust in the UK examined the relationship between children’s literacy skills and the proportion of reading time on electronic displays, such as tablets, smartphones and ebook readers.

The main finding of this study was that young children and adolescents who read printed books (either exclusively or in addition to reading on screens) were 68% more likely to have above-average reading skills than those who read only on screens.

Unfortunately, a summary of this research was published in the Daily Mail in the UK under a completely misleading headline: “Children who read on iPads or Kindles have weaker literacy skills and are less likely to enjoy it as a pastime, charity warns”.

But is it really possible that reading on screens can impair children’s reading ability?

7 Things to Remember when Interpreting NAPLAN results

by Melbourne Child Psychology & School Psychology Services

Ok, so NAPLAN* is over for another year… Phew! Hopefully your kids got through it without any issues. But the next big hurdle is how to interpret the results… Eeek!

[*National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is an annual assessment for Australian students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9.]

Some parents and teachers put a lot of emphasis on NAPLAN results, while others do not.

Do the results really mean anything significant? Should you be rushing down to the school at the first indication that your child is performing below the expected level?

Or should you be introducing accelerated learning programs if your child is performing above the national average?

The 5 Keys of Getting Things done

What is Dyslexia?

How can we help?

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