When a child has developmental difficulties, their cues might take longer to organize in their body and brain and harder for a parent to read or understand.

Hi ,

This week we have been digging into a relational approach in therapy, really taking the focus of therapy to the parent. What I loved about this approach was the explicit recognition that foundation of effective neurodevelopmental rehabilitation is an understanding and strengthening of the parent-child relationship ♥️ Helping parents to slow down and look for cues that may not otherwise be obvious and helping them to recognise that

1. When we are stressed, worried, or have a grief response it's much harder to tune in moment to moment to what's happening in our environment because we're consumed much more by our worries and our thoughts.
2. When a parent is more stressed, directiveness goes up and emotional availability goes down, and then the child may start to do less back for the parent.
3. In this context, parenting is a difficult thing to navigate and so it is understandable that parents need extra strategies and support than they would need with their typically developing kids.

My favorite clinical application from this part of the discussion is to use video recordings to help parents see their child's cues more easily and determine their own best / preferred response.

It's my favorite because not only will this support the parent-child relationship, but it's guaranteed to help us improve our own skills of observation and relational intervention - talk about win-win-win!

Jump into this Wise Table conversation to share your insights, consolidate your learning, ask questions and connect - that's why you're here right?

Click Here!

Take Action

1. Put your phone on record and record a few sessions this week.
2. Watch the videos back and see if you can pick up moments where you or the parent missed a cue.
3. Share your insights with someone (this is the magic sauce that makes it easier than eating apple pie to take it out of your head and into the clinic)

(Not sure where to share it - we're spoilt for choice in The Wired Collective - share in The Dashboard, share in Qwill chat, share in your progress pod, share on FB - it all works.)

Have a great week!

Mindy