Children, Adults, and Families
Specializing in working with Neurodiverse Individuals

How about a post that is more conventional and all about your good? Let's talk about sleep. I was working on sleep issues the other day and it reminded me there is so much we can do to improve our sleep. And, because good sleep is a moving target, all of us can always be working on better sleep. Dr. S's Big Three for behavior change include sleep, exercise, and nutrition. Of those, sleep is primary. The following will be behavioral advice, and not medical advice. My beh

In my field there is a science to asking questions. For instance, a technique called Motivational Interviewing is a method questioning that helps build a sense of control and autonomy in the client when discussing problems. Over the years I have learned to adjust my language to make questions easier to answer, highlight a person's autonomy, and train active decision making. I often use the question tag, "How did you choose to..." For instance, "How did you choose to stay i

I have changed my mind about the college housing options for my autistic clients. Until recently my recommendation to all of my autistic clients going off to college was to request a single room. Now, I am more likely to talk about pros and cons of the options (including living at home), based on my experience, and facilitate a discussion between parents and their kids. The reality I have discovered is that shared living arrangements have their risks, and single rooms also

Can I Pay My Own Way? Considering the difference between independence and autonomy has opened some cognitive doors for me. For instance, I have often become bogged down in working with clients on achieving financial independence. Among other reasons, financial independence is hard to define since most people find themselves in a nebulous financial state for much of their young adult lives despite living outside of their parents' house. For instance, I remember turning 30 a

Looking at something's opposite can often help us understand the thing itself. While thinking about Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) I was struck by the thought that the vast majority of people in the world must experience the opposite. Here's my questionable equation: autism affects an estimated 1 in 32 people. This means that, based on a current US census of 348M people, about 10.9M people are autistic. It is my very conservative estimation that about half of the aut

Purgatory is a place people can go when they don't deserve hell, but aren't quite ready for heaven. It's also that place between professional activities if a person has not made a smooth, expected transition. For instance, people who quit their job before getting another one, or finish undergrad early and have to wait a full semester before they can enter graduate school often find themselves in purgatory. Such people report that getting things done, including getting out

When I started working exclusively with families of children with special needs, divorce rates were around 50%, so it was not uncommon for me to create treatment plans for kids from divorced families. Over the years, however, I have seen some interesting marriage trends. For instance, I saw a number of couples divorce almost as soon as their child was stabilized in my care and in school. From what I can tell, couples who have children with special needs experience specific

Kids These Days The big complaint about kids these days is they let their feelings dictate reality. Sometimes this is called...

It's finally time for me to talk about PDA, or Pathological Demand Avoidance. I have avoided this topic for a while because I felt like...

For better or worse I have seen a number of parenting fads come and go. Parenting fads are much like fad diets in that they give us a...

The Dilemma I was talking with a colleague the other day who was consulting on an appropriate referral for a client. He told me the...

There's an episode of Seinfeld (S8.E19) where Jerry's dentist Tim Whatley converts to Judaism. Jerry (a Jew and comedian) notices that...

It is my great pleasure to tell my teenage and young adult clients that I was a full grown adult before I got my first email address. It...

Good marriages are really good, so I spend a lot of time thinking about and working on making marriages better. To that end, I have come...

Recently I have been interested in the idea of teaching neurotypical people to be better at communicating with my neurodiverse clients. ...

It has been my experience that there is less bullying being reported to me by the kids I work with. It would not surprise me that this...

A common trend among families with a young adult on the spectrum is the situation where one parent becomes the "good" parent and the...

Sunday morning is when I go for my run. I love running but if I go too often my body rebels, so I'm limited to about once a week. This...

A parent's ability to form the character of their child decreases dramatically at age 18. Prior to this, I think the relationship...

There are many ways to think about anxiety, but as a behaviorist I often focus on anxiety patterns. Some people worry in the mornings...