BLOGS
Educational blogs for parents and professionals
Mewsic Moves Wins an Award!
I am so thrilled to announce that I have received the “Top Music Therapy Writer” award from Autism Parenting Magazine for 2014! This is a terrific magazine that provides education and support to families of children on the spectrum. The Autism Parenting Magazine was also proud recipients of the 2014 Gold Award for Online Resources (websites, eMagazines and blogs) in the category of Family/Parenting from the Mom's Choice Awards®.
Here is a list of some of the articles I contributed to the Autism Parenting Magazine:
I encourage you to check out this excellent magazine! Also, look for more articles from me this year. If you have questions or are interested in learning more about music therapy, please reach out to me. Your question might even inspire me to write my next article!
Click on the picture to the right to subscribe to the Autism Parenting Magazine.
Musically,
John Mews, BMT, MA, MFTI
john@mewsicmoves.com
www.mewsicmoves.com
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Parents: This 5-Minute Ritual Can Change Your Life!
Parents of children with special needs usually adhere to a strict schedule of appointments that follow a set routine. But sometimes even the best-planned schedule will require last minute change ups, and when this happens, chaos often follows, which can last throughout the rest of the day.
Athletes use a visualizing process called, “mental rehearsal” to help them achieve their best performance. Have you ever tried visually planning your day first thing in the morning?
I promise you that if you practice this 5-minute ritual on a regular basis, you’ll find you're mentally better prepared for any eventuality, your general outlook improves, and you’ll feel much more grounded when things do go “off the rails.”
There are 5 simple steps to this ritual, one for each minute. I suggest you do this as soon as you wake up when your mind is in its most relaxed state. (This doesn’t work if you oversleep your alarm of course!)
First Minute:
Find a quiet place and breath deep. (Maybe play some slow classical music as background to help you relax) One of my favorite places to do this is in the shower.
Second Minute:
When you are feeling relaxed and calm, mentally start listing things for which you are grateful (e.g., I am grateful for my family, I am grateful for my health, etc.)
Third Minute:
Mentally forgive yourself and give yourself permission to make mistakes today. You can even visualize yourself in a stressful situation and guide yourself to a relaxing place of peace and resolution.
Fourth Minute:
Visualize your day's schedule and imagine that each item on your list is working out perfectly for you and your family.
Fifth Minute:
Acknowledge and appreciate that you are doing your best, your partner is doing their best, and your children are doing their best.
End with a deep breath and give thanks for the gift of Life.
Once you complete this morning ritual, you can go about your day knowing and trusting that things will work out for the best. You’ve given yourself some time and space to mentally plan as well as to guide your subconscious into planning and preparing your day to be a success.
Here are some books I recommend to parents who have children with special needs. These are great resources to help you find balance – taking time for yourself and your children to create a happier and healthier home life.
For FREE songs, videos and tips on how to support children with special needs through music click here.
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Image Courtesy of Stock Images/freedigitalphotos.net
Top 10 Christmas Gifts For Children With Special Needs
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At this time of year, parents often ask for Christmas gift suggestions for their child with special needs. For these parents, it can be quite challenging to find the right gift - a gift that is fun, not over-stimulating, and has some therapeutic value.
So in time for the holidays season, I have created a top-10 list of my current favorites. I have also included its potential therapeutic value under each link so you can see which gift would be best suited for your child. (Click on each item to view its description)
1. Sounds Shapes
- Gross motor skills
- Impulse control
- Sensory input
2. Cabasa
- Fine motor skills
- Stimulation and sensory needs
3. Ocean Drum
- Relaxation
- Sensory needs
- Impulse control
4. Melodica
- Fine motor skills
- Oral and breath control
- Eye-hand coordination
5. Ukulele
- Fine motor skills
- Eye-hand coordination
- Gross motor skills
6. Kazoo
- Oral motor skills
- Breath control
7. Legos
- Fine motor skills
- Joint attention skills
- Task focus
- Sharing
- Turn-taking skills
- Problem-solving skills
8. Eggspressions
- Social skills
- Emotional awareness
- Emotional Development
9. Trampoline
- Sensory input/needs
- Gross motor skills
- Balance/coordination skills
10. Dizzy Disc
- Sensory input/needs
- Gross motor skills
- Balance/coordination skills
I hope you discovered something new and useful from this list. If you have any toys that you would like to add to this list, please add it in the comment section below.
Happy Holidays!
John Mews, MA, MTA
For FREE songs, videos and tips on how to support children with music click here.
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Help Your Child With Autism by Changing Their Routine
Routines are important for most of us. We typically wake up at the same time, find the keys in the same place, and all the dishes are properly put away. We create routines and consistency in our lives to reduce stress and to keep things going smoothly.
This is particularly important for children with autism because they process information in a different way than most children. Keeping things predictable can help reduce stress, filter out distractions, and help them to focus on the task at hand.
But what happens if our keys go missing? Or we find our car has a dead battery? What would we do? Panic? Fortunately most of us have developed healthy coping skills to deal effectively in situations like this.
I’ve seen therapists as well as parents create strict routines for their children with autism, and they keep those routines going for far too long! I often ask, what happens if the school bus is late? What happens if the fire alarm goes off at school? What would your child learn from these strict routines about dealing with the unpredictable things in life?
Yes, I agree, whenever we start something new, we must first adhere to a strict schedule to eliminate distractions and keep the stress level down. But I do believe that once your child has learned this routine and can manage it without stress, then we need to start implementing changes to their routine.
For example, I begin and end each session with the exact same tune, but with different words (“Hello” and “Good-bye”). Depending on the child’s functioning level, I will slowly incorporate a few changes to the lyrics and sometimes the order of which the song is placed in the schedule to see if there is a response to this change. This can be a powerful tool in helping teach a child with autism how to cope when things don’t go exactly as they might expect. Then we explore options about what to do next, where we can go, how we can change things, what our options are and most importantly, how to manage the stress caused by the change.
How are you helping your child cope with changes in their routines or in everyday life? I hope you find this helpful and are encouraged to experiment by implementing subtle changes into your child’s routine. This will better equip them to deal with the realities of life. Every moment something changes and something is different. Their success in life depends upon how well are they able to cope with change.
I’d love to hear how you incorporate subtle changes into your child’s daily routine to help them cope with change. Please leave a comment below.
Here are some resources I recommend to help you and your child cope with change.
Image Courtesy of Stuart Miles/freedigitalphotos.net
Child having a meltdown during holiday shopping