Behaviour Consulting - Lindsay Milnes

Home
Canada
Lake Country, BC
Behaviour Consulting - Lindsay Milnes

I collaborate with families of autistic children/teens to develop functional and meaningful goals.

12/18/2024

5 things to consider with neuro-divergent children over the holidays 🎄🎅🎁

➡️ 1. Skip aversive events/items or make a plan to accommodate child
-you don't have to do every holiday tradition... can you skip it and just stick to the ones your child enjoys?
-maybe your child just needs an accommodation, like the option to wear headphones in a busy and noisy environment or fidgets to use

➡️ 2. Allow children to explore and handle decorations safely before displaying them, then give them the opportunity to decorate
-to become familiar with them and de-sensitize to visually stimulating Christmas tree ornaments, etc
-model how to safely handle the items
-consider not putting up certain decorations for safety (e.g., no breakable items until your child is experienced with not touching them once displayed)

➡️ 3. If unwrapping is difficult for your child, then consider using gift bags.
-they may enjoy unwrapping gifts independently, but become frustrated when trying to take off wrapping paper
-maybe opt for no gift bag or wrapping paper and simply bring the toys out one by one on Christmas day

➡️ 4. Show your child pictures of less familiar people you will be visiting and mark the event on the calendar
-important for children who are socially anxious
-prepare your child ahead of time with who they will see and what they can expect at someone else's house

➡️ 5. Bring preferred items/activities to visits and identify a quiet area to bring child if too dysregulated
-offer that they can bring comforting and familiar items/activities with them
-ask the host ahead of time if there is a quiet room where you can take your child for sensory breaks, etc. when needed
-keep visits short, if possible, and leave on a positive note rather than leaving when your child becomes upset and shows signs of distress (even teach them how to ask for a break or to go home if feeling unwell/uncomfortable)

09/05/2023

🗓️ The beginning of September is often the time when we get back into a routine, whether that's with work, school, a workout/gym schedule, or getting your kids back into their school routine.

🎯 Here's a friendly reminder to revisit your values or goals and begin acting with intention this week! Remember that consistent everyday actions, no matter how small will get you to where you want to be! 🥰

🤔💭 Envision the type of person you want to be and what you would like to accomplish over the next few months. By reflecting and identifying your values, it's like you have a compass in your pocket guiding the way, making it easier to act in line with what matters to you! Go out there and get 'em! 🧭💜

I would love to hear how you're acting or planning to act with intention this week! Let me know in the comments ⬇️

07/05/2023

✨ Over the past couple weeks, I intentionally focused on using proactive strategies with the kids I support and noticed that it either completely eliminated challenging behaviour or significantly reduced it!

😬✅ Although it may take a lot of time and effort on the adult's part to prepare visual schedules and clear expectations for kids, it pays off in the long run as you practice how to use these tools with your child. They become less reliant on you and more accustomed to following their visual schedule and same expectations within a routine.

🤔 So, if you haven't incorporated visual schedules or other visual supports with your kids yet, ask yourself this question... "If I depend on schedules, calendars, and to-do lists to keep me on task every day, would these tools help my child as well?" The earlier we start, the more prepared they will be as adults to continue using these tools for better time management and organization!

💁‍♀️ In addition to preparing visual schedules and other visual supports, model to your child how to use them and practice it as often as you can! Also make sure to reinforce their use of these tools, by praising them, giving them extra attention, or providing a preferred toy/treat immediately after you see them attending to their schedule and following routine activities. ⭐💜

The reinforcement can be faded out over time, such that the simple action of completing activities from a visual schedule will feel good to them, just like when we check off things from our to-do list! ✅🙌

Save as a reminder to yourself to be intentional using proactive strategies with kids! ⬇️

06/28/2023

🤔 It's not easy figuring out what a child wants or needs, especially if they're not appropriately communicating with us in ways we understand. It's not always easy figuring out what we want/need as adults either!

💡 Since behaviors are heavily influenced by biological and environmental factors, it is CRUCIAL that we are considering these when supporting children. It is also important to teach them to how to notice and pay attention to their bodies more often so that they can get what they need in an appropriate manner. 😊

🗣️ Read the examples in this post and let me know in the comments if you have anything else to add!

06/19/2023

🕵️‍♀️🕵🏽Children do not have to speak for us to understand their wants and needs. Be mindful of their body language and you will learn a lot about their preferences and dislikes or sensitivities!

🥰 When we're more in tune with children, they pick up on this and will learn to trust you and seek your support. Teach them that they CAN do difficult things through your guidance and supporting them when they ask/bid for help.

✅ The steps in this carousel post are some of the initial things that I do when first getting to know a child and help me navigate the program planning process with families to determine which skills to teach and which toys/activities to include.

💜⬇️ Let me know your preferences with my content by liking, commenting, sharing, or saving!

05/15/2023

🤔 Children may not always have the communication and self-regulation skills to ask for your attention when they need it or they may find it easier to throw items, cry, or yell out for your attention.

If you find that your child often displays challenging behavior (e.g., throwing) during independent play time and then it stops as soon as you come to help them, they may be a connection seeker! 👥

💫 An evidence-based procedure to prevent future occurrences of this type of challenging behavior is to proactively schedule 'connection time' with them. Notice how many minutes pass until they begin seeking your attention through throwing behavior (e.g., avg. of 20 mins over 3 days). Then aim to provide them with a few mins. of quality attention during every 15 min. interval (before they begin throwing). 🕕🕒🕞

📉 Once you notice that their random throwing of items reduces after proactively providing attention, begin gradually increasing their time alone (without your attention) to fade out your support. ⬆️⏱️

This will take more time in the beginning, but it's a win-win to help them build up their independent play skills and to fade out adult support so that it frees up your time to do other things (e.g., chores, work, phone calls, etc.).

This procedure may reduce your child's motivation to engage in challenging behaviors to seek connection with you (Cooper, Heron, Heward, 2020) ✅💜

Save to try this out! 🙌😊

Address

Lake Country, BC

Website

https://www.lindsaybehaviourconsulting.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Behaviour Consulting - Lindsay Milnes posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.