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The "what and why" guiding our services
Clinical reasoning is a term professionals use to inform our practice and it is the foundation we build our services on. From the outside play can look pointless; however, we promise it's much deeper than that! Hopefully you will get a feel for how intentional, thoughtful and devoted we are to using play in a powerful way to facilitate brain development both from the top down and from the bottom up, depending on your needs and your child's needs.
Master Growth Principle: Human systems adapt to stress when it is specific, progressive, and followed by recovery - producing resilience, strength, and efficiency in the body and mind.
"Motivational interviewing is a guiding style of communication that sits between following (good listening) and directing (giving information and advice)."
"Motivational interviewing is a guiding style of communication that sits between following (good listening) and directing (giving information and advice)."
Miller and Rollnick (2013) Motivational Interviewing: Helping people to change (3rd edition)
It turns out changing behavior has a step-by-step process.
It turns out changing behavior has a step-by-step process.
Precontemplation = not on your radar.
Contemplation = caught between awareness and committment.
Preparation = taking tangible planning steps to make changes.
Action = walking out your plan.
Maintenance and relapse = living out your change and experiencing mountaintops and valleys. Sometimes, it's back to square 1 and that's just part of the process.
Beyond Behaviors - Foundational Social Emotional Skills
Beyond Behaviors - Foundational Social Emotional Skills
Regulation and Attention
Purposeful Emotional Interactions
Engaging and Relating
Symobls, Words, and Ideas
Social Problem Solving
Building Bridges Between Ideas
Beyond Behaviors: https://bit.ly/3ZY3hnp
Beyond Behaviors - Developmental Iceberg
Beyond Behaviors - Developmental Iceberg
"As with an iceberg, below the surface is a much larger piece, concealed from view, but far more significant. Hidden here is the valuable information that can help us understand the 'why' of a child's behaviors, including the rich clues about possible causes and triggers."
Beyond Behaviors: https://bit.ly/3ZY3hnp
Self Care isn't always relaxing - it can be hard work.
Self Care isn't always relaxing - it can be hard work.
You are someone worth caring for! Caring for someone takes into consideration their wellness now, tomorrow, and far into the future. Some days you need a bubble bath for "today you" and other days you need to set aside intentional time for "tomorrow you". Here is where finding the right "Digest/Distract" balance comes into play - as well as setting daily intentions.
Motivational Interviewing: https://motivationalinterviewing.org/understanding-motivational-interviewing
Research shows the authoritative parenting style leads to the best outcomes in child development.
Research shows the authoritative parenting style leads to the best outcomes in child development.
Each quadrant is a combination of the following descriptors: nurture and demand. For example, an authoritative parent embodies structured (higher demand) and warm attunement (more nurture) to the child. With uninvolved parenting, the child experiences lack of support/structure (lower demand) and coldness (less nurture). If you recognize yourself fitting in a quadrant and you wish to change it - the good news is you can.
Parenting Styles: https://www.parentingforbrain.com/4-baumrind-parenting-styles/
The circles of security is a visual map for attachment theory.
The circles of security is a visual map for attachment theory.
"Learning, including therapeutic change, occurs from within a secure base relationship. Lasting change in the attachment relationship comes from caregivers’ developing specific relationship capacities rather than learning techniques to manage behavior."
"FLIP" challenging behavior by first earning trust by demonstrating genuine empathy.
"FLIP" challenging behavior by first earning trust by demonstrating genuine empathy.
Empathy looks like a lot of different things - we use active listening to address big feelings which looks like getting curious about emotions, ackowleding someones situation, validating their concerns, and summarizing what we hear. Just because we empathize with you does not mean we agree with you - that's where healthy limits (boundaries) come in. From there, we invite collaboration and problem solving with "just right" inquiries and prompts for support.
Before we can access the full potential of our "top brain" we must first feel safe in our "bottom brain".
Before we can access the full potential of our "top brain" we must first feel safe in our "bottom brain".
In order to "unlock" our frontal lobes, we must follow a neurodevelopmentally informed process. This requires meeting someone's safety, sensory, relational, and individual learning needs. If this sounds, looks, or feels hard - you're right. Try it in small ways with yourself, your child, or a friend. I promise you'll recognize the power in the process of showing up with someone in a respectful, connected, and loving way (which you'll learn is not just a nice thing to do, it's required to flourish).
Dr. Perry's Triangle of Regulation: https://beaconhouse.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/The-Three-Rs.pdf
Active listening makes people feel valued and heard, it's a sign of respect.
Active listening makes people feel valued and heard, it's a sign of respect.
Have you ever heard of "in one ear and out the other"? Active listening is a therapeutic tool to show up in a conversation with someone. Once you recognize how meaningful it is, you'll start doing it with your own kids, family and friends. This is an "act of service" to share kindness and empathy with someone and is a social skill we can all strive to develop.
"Special play" is an intentional way to strengthen a relationship and fosters brain development in many different ways.
"Special play" is an intentional way to strengthen a relationship and fosters brain development in many different ways.
Try labeling "special play time" or "quality time" with your friends or family. Just by carving out a designated chunk of time and showing up - you will immediately notice delight and appreciation from others. We invite you to notice before, during and after special play time and how the other person "lights up like a christmas tree". This is a relationship creating, maintaining, and healing tool we use each session.
We use "typical" child development as a benchmark to inform our service delivery.
We use "typical" child development as a benchmark to inform our service delivery.
Many of the clients we work with are missing crucial developmental milestones. Knowing these milestones gives us a solid groundwork for fostering growth and development.
Child Development: https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/Pages/default.aspx
Stage vs. Age in action:
Consider a child's ability to walk. If the caregiver has to carry the child - they are in "stage 1". If the child is cruising on furniture, pushing toys, or holding someone else's hands during walking - they are in "stage 2". Finally, if the child is able to move around on their own - we would classify them as "stage 3".
As you can imagine, there are "stages" of all types of skill development, roles, and more. I (Drake) am stage 3 with some meal preparation I'm familiar with and stages 1 - 2 with more complex or less familiar meals. I require recipes, timers, ideas, tutorials and more external support to be successful. Over time, I transfer skills and meals over to "stage 3". The idea is: you choose the skill/goal you would like to pursue, and we are an external support to join along in your journey.
Responsibility can be broken down into 3 stages and guides how we show in relationships.
Responsibility can be broken down into 3 stages and guides how we show in relationships.
Dr. Paul Jenkins coins stage 1 as "consequences" where the individual largely requires external support to achieve tasks. Stage 2 is titled "cooperation" and shows that control from the individual is directly related to how much they demonstrate responsibility. Finally, stage 3 describes "consultation" where someone is largely handling responsibility and control within their life and receives little external help or guidance. We are all at different stages in different areas of our life and sliding back in responsibility naturally results in more consequences and loss of control in our life. We have agency and this model describes how gaining control is possible.
Stage vs. Age: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Tq54wH-hTw
Evidence Based Growth: Search terms such as "Wolff's Law, Davis's Law, SAID Principle, Overload Principle, Fick Principle, Cardiac Remodeling, Neuro-plasticity, Motor Learning, Autonomic Regulation, General Adaptation Syndrome, Resilience Theory, Neuro-Biolocial Stress Adaptation, HPA Axis, Amydala and Prefrontal Cortex, Polyvagal Theory, Supercompensation, Hormesis, Allostasis, Homeostasis, "Low Load, Long Duration", and Titrated Stress with Co-Regulation."
Master Principle: Human systems adapt to stress when it is specific, progressive, and followed by recovery - producing resilience, strength, and efficiency in the body and mind.
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