Photo: JKP author Dr. Charlotte Thompson

Orthopedic Care in Children with Special Needs

“One orthopedist operated on a boy without my knowledge on a Friday afternoon. Fortunately, the mother and grandmother knew I had insisted that physical therapy should be started immediately. The child’s school physical therapist was a friend and made house calls over the weekend, so the boy would not stay in bed. He was able walk for several more years because of this. Thus, parents and grandparents must be very aggressive in order to be sure that appropriate orthopedic surgery is being done and physical therapy received, as needed.”

Home-grown strategies for dealing with everyday transitions – An Interview with Jane Donlan & Bob Smith

“When we were creating our Reward Plan we decided that it had to be 100% focused on the positive… [W]e were well aware of the negative impact our son’s out-bursts were having on his self-esteem, and we certainly didn’t want to add to that! And so our Reward Plan was born, and I am not exaggerating when I say that it was almost an over-night success.”

How professionals can help empower parents of a newly diagnosed child with Autism Spectrum Disorder

“Professionals need to feel comfortable as facilitators of parents’ learning and engagement with their child at home, rather than seeing themselves as therapist experts who work one-on-one with children. While the latter is sometimes necessary, the former is where we can have the biggest long-term impact on helping parents realise their full potential and assisting them to maximise their daily interactions with their child so that they become more responsive to their child’s needs and communicative attempts. This builds positive parent-child relationships.”

An Interview with Josh Muggleton, author of ‘Raising Martians’

“There is lots of information in the book, and I really hope that people take that on board, but to me, what is more important is that they gain an understanding of, and an insight into life with Asperger Syndrome. If you understand someone with Asperger Syndrome, then knowing that it is named after Hans Asperger is redundant. While that sort of information might be interesting, it is far more useful to know how the person with Asperger Syndrome thinks: what he or she might find hard and why, what things might set them off, and what things will calm them down, what things they will be really good at, and what things they might struggle at.”

Using occupational therapy techniques to help your child with autism live life to the full – An interview with Debra Jacobs and Dion Betts

“It is important for children to participate in ‘activities of daily living’ which are essential for good health. The more he is involved in the process and has some sense of control, the less he will see it as a chore and the more he will be willing to participate… When approaching these activities, parents need to ask themselves what they are attempting to accomplish. For example, if the goal is for the child to be clean, then does it really matter if bath time is 7PM or 3PM, as long as the time fits with the flow of the family?”