Taking care of ourselves
A FREE stress reduction workshop for parents and caregivers of children with special needs

Parenting a child with special needs can be stressful. It is important to learn to manage that stress instead of letting it manage you. In this workshop, you will learn and practice simple stress management and relaxation skills that will help you to self-soothe.

When?
Wednesday April 24, 2013, 6-8pm

Where?
Extreme Kids and Crew, Space No. 1
40 Brevoort Place
Brooklyn, NY 11216

www.extremekidsandcrew.org

How do I register?
Contact Sonali via email at: sonali@sonalizoracki.com or via phone at: (917) 274-7248

Register early as space is limited!

Who is leading the workshop?
This workshop will be lead by Sonali Zoracki, LCSW.  Sonali has been working with children with special needs and their families for the past 10 years.  She has a private practice in New York City and specializes in providing psychotherapy to parents, caregivers, and siblings of children with special needs.

For more information about Sonali and the services that she provides visit www.sonalizoracki.com

Click here for a printable PDF flyer.

We use a standardized empirically validated parent-report questionnaire to help assess pragmatic language development in 18- to 47-month-old children. This assessment helps identify children with delay or impairment in pragmatic language development (i.e., the use of language in a broad variety of everyday settings and in interaction with other people) compared to children of the same sex and age in months; to identify children whose expressive language skills should be further evaluated with a comprehensive speech and language assessment. We mail you the questionnaire, you fill it out, mail it back to us & we score it, provide you with the results, and schedule a 30 minute phone consultation.

Total cost is $150. For more information, email Craig at craig@brooklynletters.com


As mentioned in the first part of this series, divorce and/or separation, for better or for worse, has a substantial impact on most children. Depending on the child, in terms of his/her age and individual characteristics, their reaction varies. Some children “clam up” while others “act out.” In my clinical experience, children who “clam up” tend to withdraw, show lack of interest in activities they used to enjoy, exhibit low energy or fatigue and often display somatic complaints, such as headaches and stomachaches. Often this child is seen as having difficulty focusing and “being in his/her own world,” almost detached from daily aspects of life. The “acting out” child displays more of an aggressive behavior by either becoming more verbally aggressive or, in some cases, physically. This child indicates low frustration tolerance and gets easily irritated or annoyed. Mood swings are also observed in these children. Clingy and attention seeking behavior is also reported. In both types of children, significant decline can be seen in social and academic functioning, low self-esteem, anxiety and feelings of hopelessness with frequent crying. Clearly no one child falls strictly into one or the other category and many children display symptoms of both.

Once the decision to separate has been made, it is important for parents to think about how to make this difficult transition less challenging for their children. How well children will adapt depends on several factors which was outlined by Hetherington et. al. (1998) such as:

Individual characteristics of parents (e.g. personality, education, psychological problems)
Mental transitions: divorce and remarriage.
Stressful life experiences/economic change
Family composition
Social support
Parental distress
Family process
Individual characteristics of child (e.g. age, gender, temperament, intelligence)

Some Dos:

Do keep consistency in your own and your children’s schedule. As mentioned earlier, children do not have control over many decisions relating to separation. It is important for them to have some level of predictability especially when it comes to a schedule.

Do make the “second” home their home as much as possible. Whether they take part in helping to choose the color to paint the room or choosing furniture, any gesture giving kids some power in decision making can be very helpful.

Do make sure that the second home has sufficient school supplies, even if the base home already has them. It is stressful enough to remember to bring books needed for homework and projects; there should be no added stress for kids to remember to bring needed supplies from one home to the next, if possible.

Some Don’ts:

Don’t bad-mouth another parent or complain about your ex to your children. If you need to talk about your frustrations, it should be done with adults in your life that you trust.

Don’t’ ask your child about your ex’s social and/or daily life. For example: Did daddy have dinner plans? Who did he go with? What time did your mother came home? Did she pay or give you money? No matter how delicate or well intended your questions are about your ex, children often feel guilty and needing to protect parents, fearing that they may say too much or too little. If you have any questions relating to your ex, you need to ask him/her directly without putting your children in the middle.

Don’t shower your kids with excessive gifts as a way to make them feel better and, for some, to reduce their own feelings of guilt. Spending QUALITY time with your child is the most important gift. Ask your child how they would like to spend time. Give them several options that you know they will enjoy.

Most importantly, remember to reassure your child that things are going to be OK and that you are going to get through this, even though it is difficult. When you are not sure how to respond to some situations, stop and think: if you were a child what would you want? And when you are inadvertently placing your child in the middle, stop for a minute and think is this truly the best thing for my child or is this about my own pain and anger.

References:
Hetherington, E.M., Bridges, M., & Insabella, G.M. (1998).  What matters? What does not? Five perspectives on the association between marital transitions and children’s adjustment.  American Psychologist, 53, 167-184.

Dr. Veronica Brodsky, licensed Child and School Clinical Psychologist, is founder and clinical director of Interactive Discovery Consulting and Psychological Services, P.C. Dr. Brodsky provides individual therapy, family therapy, parent consultations, school consultations, workshops, and group work, with children from preschool-age to adults. She uses an integrative approach, combining psychodynamic, cognitive behavioral therapy, biofeedback and existential therapy. Her clinical interests include working with children and adults who are dealing with different life transitions by helping them to cope with stressors associated with these events. She also conducts neuropsychological and psychoeducational evaluations.

Brooklyn Letters is currently forming a social skills group for children ages 3-4 years old with speech and/or language delays, and who need help practicing their social skills in a structured environment. We are looking to add at least one more child to this group.

Dates/Times: Week day afternoons after 3:30pm (days and times are flexible)

Location: Private home in Kensington (Church Ave. stop on the F/G train)

What we’ll be working on: Using eye contact to let others know we are listening; Understanding and maintaining personal space; Initiating play with other children; Asking for help when needed; Cooperating, sharing, taking turns and working as part of a group; Exploring a variety of feelings through books and games.

Price:

If the group size is two children- $65 per session based on a 10 week commitment.

If the group size is three children-$50 per session based on a 10 week commitment.

Please contact Jocelyn Wood (licensed speech language therapist) for more information. Jocelyn@brooklynletters.com

Our professionals who provide specialized literacy services for kids or for children or for students are like the Olympic coaches of language arts. We specialize in the complete literacy remediation package: reading, writing, speaking, and listening.

When we’re working with students (preschoolers, elementary, middle, and high school), we focus on all areas of language such as written and verbal skills or reading and listening comprehension. After all, you can’t have one without the other, since that would be like peanut butter minus the jelly.

We also offer in-home visits. Our team can travel to your home or child’s school for sessions, if you’re unable to come to our offices. Most of us are Brooklyn based but some of us travel to Queens and Manhattan. How’s that for customer service?

*Our reading specialists (Susan Littman, Jo-Ann Kalb, and Shelley Padilla) are important members of our team and their training includes Orton-Gillingham (PAF), Wilson Reading, Sounds in Motion, and Great Leaps.

* Our language specialists provide specialized intervention, remediation, and alternative learning services for struggling students (preschoolers through adolescents) including those with language processing difficulties and students with dyslexia; we also work with home schooled families. Our language specialists are trained in the Orton-Gillingham approach (40 plus hours of systematic decoding and encoding training)

Our expertise includes:
Writing & Speaking Intervention
Writing Intervention
Comprehension- Listening & Reading Intervention
Decoding and Encoding & Reading Fluency Services
Spelling Intervention
Vocabulary Intervention

Sharing is caring. We let the students in on what we’re doing so they can be part of the process. We also take their interests, strengths and learning style into account maximizing effectiveness and ensuring that the students don’t get frustrated. After all, we’re not trying to fit any square pegs into round holes. So, if your child likes music and flying saucers, they’re in! Drawing and imaginary animals? For sure!

Literacy is fun. We have a veritable toolbox to help your child. We will make them feel oh-so-good about literacy.