Parenting

Weekends are a perfect opportunity to step away from the weekly routine and spend quality time with your family. For children with autism or sensory sensitivities, engaging in fun and relaxing activities can help them unwind, get some exercise, and strengthen family bonds. Here are some tips and ideas for planning a weekend filled with joy, movement, and connection.
For children with autism or sensory sensitivities, a balanced diet can also help manage sensory overload and promote calm. Here’s how you can pack delicious and healthy lunches that meet these dietary needs.
As the back-to-school season approaches, parents of children with autism or sensory processing disorders may feel a mix of excitement and anxiety. Ensuring your child has a positive school experience is essential, and being vigilant about potential challenges is key to advocating effectively for their needs. Whether it's dealing with bullying, a mismatched teacher, or an inadequate IEP, staying proactive can make all the difference.
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), as the name suggests, manifests in various ways across different individuals. The unique needs and challenges associated with autism can make routine transitions, such as moving from the school year to summer vacation, significantly demanding for children with autism and their families. This post explores the specific difficulties experienced by these children and offers potential strategies for parents and caregivers...

By nature, kids aren’t the best communicators when it comes to their feelings. It takes time along with trial and error to learn how to express negative emotions in healthy ways. Plus, most people would agree that they aren’t always perfect when it comes to dealing with their own anxiety. Kids with behavioral problems often struggle with anxiety. However, parents can be left scratching their heads wondering why their kids are acting out without realizing that anxiety could be the source of the behavior. Here are ways that anxiety often shows up in disruptive behavior in kids.

Oppositionality

Sometimes, kids may suddenly refuse to clean up after playing, refuse a learning activity, or just seem to not know any word other than “no” without any apparent reason. You may notice behavior or language that seems to have no purpose other than getting under your skin. These perplexing moments are understandably met with frustration, but there is often more happening under the surface. Whether or not your child has Oppositional Defiant Disorder will be determined by a professional, but these sorts of moments are also commonly caused by spikes in anxiety. Take the extra time to ask your child what if anything is making them anxious and look for stressors if they can’t seem to identify the source of their anxiety.

Meltdowns

Children with autism or sensory processing disorder can often display behavior that looks and sounds like a tantrum when feeling anxious. Other kids may also have meltdowns when they are feeling anxious for reasons related to sights, sounds, or smells around them. Sometimes, a tantrum is simply a tantrum and you should follow through with your system of discipline and rewards. However, if there seems to be no reasonable explanation for a tantrum, such as if there is nothing clear that they are trying to gain or they typically behave well in the situation, they could be having a meltdown from anxiety.

Aggression

Whether it’s something small such as angrily throwing an item or blatantly aggressive actions like hitting, aggressive behavior should always be taken seriously and dealt with as soon as possible. This type of behavior can be especially frustrating, but it’s important to remain patient to figure out why the aggressive behavior is happening. One of the most common reasons for child aggression is anxiety. Sensory overload, external stressors, anxious thought patterns, or physical factors can all manifest themselves in aggressive behavior in kids.

Of course, you should always address the behaviors themselves by not rewarding poor behavior but be sure to recognize when there are signs of anxiety in order to find the best natural ways to deal with anxiety. Being direct with your kids about talking about their feelings will go a long way in preventing some of the guesswork.

Look for ways to model healthy coping skills for your kids while also encouraging healthy coping skills like mindfulness, physical activity, art, and yoga. You should also consider how natural supplements can help your child feel calm and find the options that work best. There are also plenty of ways that changing your child’s diet can help them feel calm as well.

Don’t get discouraged if you notice disruptive behaviors in your kids. Discover the best ways your child can feel calm in order to help them thrive. Neural Balance contains the patented ingredient Anandanol, and supports natural calm and focus, natural social interaction, and normal sleep patterns. View our products to find out more about how Neural Balance can help your family.

When the school year begins, life often starts to feel like it’s shifted into high gear. While there are a lot of exciting things to look forward to as the fall season leads to the holidays, it can also cause significantly higher levels of stress.
With the start of the school year approaching soon, it’s important to start preparing for the change in routine and all that comes with it. One of the most important things to do in preparation for the school year is helping your kids beat back to school anxiety.
As the summer winds down and kids prepare to head back to school, many parents feel a mixed bag of emotions. While the summer always creates lots of fun memories, it can also be refreshing to jump back into a season of more structure and routine. One aspect of the busy routine of the school year that many parents try to master is finding time to make healthy lunches for kids to take to school. Here are some ideas for making sure your kids always have wholesome lunches with them at school.  
As simple as it may seem, maintaining mental focus is no easy task for some children. Challenges with focus can stem from conditions such as ADHD or other issues, and can be tricky to overcome at times. There are plenty of ways that you as a parent can help your child with their focus by using some simple strategies.

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