The Playful Psychologist

In this episode of The Playful Psychologist, I explore whether every 'quirky kid' is autistic. I think when it comes to autism, we are more aware, but also more confused. We seem to have this idea that any social difficulty or any emotional regulation difficulty constitutes a diagnosis of autism, and that is not the case. I strongly believe that a lot of children with emotional regulation difficulties are misdiagnosed as having autism. So many children are diagnosed as having ODD, ADHD, and even Autism purely because they struggle to regulate their emotions. But emotional regulation difficulties alone, are NOT enough to diagnose any of these conditions. It is our job as allied health professionals to help children with their emotions and work closely with the parents, before jumping to conclusions about a child having a developmental disability. This episode will highlight key diagnostic criteria we are looking for when trying to determine whether a child may meet DSM-5 criteria for autism.

In this weeks episode of The Playful Psychologist podcast, I explore a technique called 'cognitive restructuring.' Cognitive restructuring is a useful technique for understanding unhappy feelings and moods, and for challenging the sometimes-wrong "automatic beliefs" that can lie behind them. As such, you can use it to reframe the unnecessary negative thinking that we all experience from time to time. This episode will explore the steps that psychologists can undertake in order to use this technique with their clients.

In this weeks episode of The Playful Psychology Podcast, I share how I like to use picture books to facilitate a lesson with kids. Picture books are the most versatile resource you can own as a parent or clinician. I love using them to work on emotional awareness and understanding, as well as theory of mind. I share my top tips on how to use picture books and 10 questions I like to ask kids when going through a book.

In this weeks episode of The Playful Psychologist, I share with you my five tips for keeping on top of things as a psychologist. For me, organisation is key to being a psychologist. If I am disorganised, my whole day is 50 times harder than it has to be. So I wanted to share five of my organisation hacks with you. For more information, check out my Student & Graduate Guide here: https://www.theplayfulpsychologist.com/product-page/the-student-graduate-guide

In this weeks episode of The Playful Psychologist, the topic of 'loud noise' is discussed. It is very common for children to dislike loud sounds, especially if they have not heard the sound before. Many children will become upset, anxious, or cover their ears if there is an unexpected noise.  These children may not like sounds such as vacuum cleaners, hand dryers, sirens, birthday parties, school bells, blenders cutlery, chewing and even some school situations. Young children may not be able to describe their fear in words. They might cry, scream, hit, bite, or refuse to go to certain place. In this episode, I will explore this in a little more detail, while also offering some general strategies to help kids who may be experiencing this.