Adolescence is a tumultuous time. Children have to adjust to their changing bodies, develop a unique, individual identity separate from their parents, and learn about the complexities of life and the world around them. Physical activity is proven to have many mental health benefits for teenagers, including a positive impact on well-being, resilience, and emotional functioning (Hale et al., 2021). A major avenue through which adolescents engage in physical activity is organized sports. Besides the obvious positive effects on physical health, organized sports can provide teens with a sense of peer belonging, help them develop a positive self-concept, and teach discipline. Thus, organized sports can help children master developmental tasks of adolescence and put them on a path towards becoming successful adults.
Continue reading Team Spirit: Benefits of Organized Sports in AdolescenceHow to Talk to Kids about War
Many of us have been affected by the current events in Ukraine. As adults, we not only have to process these events ourselves but simultaneously figure out how to talk about it with the children in our lives. Children who have been directly affected by war will need psychological support far beyond the scope of this article. We wanted to focus on how to talk to children who have been exposed to war second-hand, for example via news, social media, family or peer connections.
In this situation, the first thing to remember is that kids are resilient. Most children who are exposed to war second-hand will be able to process this information without significant negative emotional impact. Having said that, when talking to children about a topic as difficult as war, adults should consider the child’s individual characteristics. In this article, we will examine how children understand the concept of war and discuss what to consider when talking to children about this difficult topic.
Continue reading How to Talk to Kids about WarChildren and Screens During COVID-19
Even before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, children’s screen use was a point of concern for many caregivers and professionals alike. Children have watched T.V for decades now, and with the introduction of computers and laptops, followed by smartphones, tablets, and e-readers, children are being introduced to screens at younger and younger ages and relying on screens in their daily lives more and more. Parents and professionals have been asking questions for years about how much time children should spend on screens. In addition, they have been concerned about the content and its influence on children, amongst other concerns.
Continue reading Children and Screens During COVID-19Making Decisions About Children’s Screen Time Resource
The COVID-19 Pandemic: What Has Been Difficult for Children and How They Are Adapting to Change
It has been over a year now since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. While the world continues to adapt to the changes brought on by COVID-19, it is important to acknowledge the ways in which children have been affected specifically.
Continue reading The COVID-19 Pandemic: What Has Been Difficult for Children and How They Are Adapting to ChangeChildren’s 3 Basic Psychological Needs and the COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the ways in which children around the world are learning, playing, and interacting.
Understandably, parents have felt worried and uncertain about their children’s physical safety, social isolation, and academic progress in school.
Aside from physical and academic needs, children have basic psychological needs that are essential to their well-being.
When these needs are met, children can continue to grow and thrive, even during times of change and disruption.
Continue reading Children’s 3 Basic Psychological Needs and the COVID-19 PandemicTwice-Exceptional Children: Meeting Their Educational Needs
In recent weeks, the only constant has seemed to be that there is no normal. Every day we are inundated with reports and numbers and projections that do little to quell the collective anxiety we are feeling. Parents, in particular, are struggling to balance suddenly having to homeschool their children in addition to keeping up with whatever demands their work requires. It can be hard to see past the immediate uncertainty and fear, but once we do, we find that much can be learned from this situation about our children, how they learn, and how to educate them most effectively. Remote learning opens up new possibilities for individualizing education. Individualizing education, in turn, allows us to encourage curiosity, internal motivation and learning beyond studying for tests. One population in particular that can benefit from this kind of individualized approach to learning are twice-exceptional children.
Continue reading Twice-Exceptional Children: Meeting Their Educational NeedsTwice-Exceptional Children: Why Making Friends Is Hard and How to Support Them
“I want to know: how do I compare in the world of 12-year-olds? How many people in the world are there with a personality like me? Where do I fit in?”
All children need connections in order to thrive. Learning to establish and maintain friendships is a crucial part of every child’s development. Sharing, turn-taking, trusting, communicating, and compromising are some of the vital skills children practice while interacting with peers. Although for some children acquiring these skills comes naturally and making friends is easy, others struggle to find and keep friends. Twice-exceptional children—because of both components of their exceptionality—often have difficulty finding a peer group and maintaining friendships.
Twice-exceptional children are children who are identified as being gifted while also having a disability. While “disability” is not the ideal word, it is the word used by schools and other agencies and, for sake of consistency, will be used here. The disability could be a learning, emotional, physical, sensory, and/or developmental disability (The Twice-Exceptional Dilemma, 2006). Dyslexia, ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder are just some examples of disabilities that impact a child’s functioning.
Continue reading Twice-Exceptional Children: Why Making Friends Is Hard and How to Support ThemVideo: Neuropsychological Evaluation
Understanding the various components that make up a neuropsychological evaluation!
Twice-Exceptional Children: Who They Are and Why We Need to Talk About Them
“Is my child gifted? Is my child delayed? What is my child?”
“Gifted and ADHD, how can it be both?“
These, and similar questions were asked by parents of children who were eventually identified as twice-exceptional.
Twice-exceptional children are a misunderstood and under-identified group of children. Many educators, professionals, and parents are not familiar with this term and do not understand the challenges and experiences of these children. It “can feel so overwhelming that you do not know where to start,” stated a parent of several twice-exceptional children. The first step in helping this group of children is to understand what it means to be twice-exceptional.
Continue reading Twice-Exceptional Children: Who They Are and Why We Need to Talk About Them