Childswork-Childsplay Blog

We will now discuss the topic that no one wants to discuss: Autism and puberty Long before my daughter's hormones began to change I had thoroughly planted myself in denial. Not only would she begin puberty far, far into the...

I remember watching my daughter when she was young, sifting sand through her fingers and watching it fall, right beside a group of kids her age. They would be digging and pouring and building together and she would be cupping...

Determining when your young adult with autism is ready to live independently: 1. Talk with school staff about transition plans, career development and post-high training. Realize that there is another language of acronyms you must now learn. 2. Practice life...

During my daughter's 7th grade year of school she came home one day, sat at her desk and began attempting to draw horses. She tried again and again, becoming more frustrated with every eraser-laden picture. I was pretty sure I...

TMI. Too. Much. Information. For teenagers today, every thought, impulse, rivalry, and broken heart is open fodder for the world. When they get angry, they Tweet about it. When they get inspired, they update their Facebook status. Though this generation...

[caption id="attachment_1708" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Image by Scott Chan"][/caption] Recently, I wrote a post about a study conducted by researchers at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire which shed important light onto the influence that smoking in movies has upon adolescent...

In the digital age, parents are increasingly concerned about the influence of social media websites like Facebook on their developing adolescents. There are two camps here. In one, children are getting accounts at younger and younger ages. In the other,...

Not too long ago the definition of a rated ‘R’ movie was a far cry from what it is today. I remember clearly the first time I saw one, not to date myself, but it was The Bodyguard starring Whitney...

In case you haven’t noticed, one of Hollywood’s favorite bad boys is back on TV. Charlie Sheen’s new sitcom Anger Management recently debuted on FX and set a record for the most watched sitcom premiere in cable history. Playing a...

As summer’s high temps continue to scorch us here on the east coast, I decided to share a couple great summertime thoughts especially for teens. The first is a great article from the New York Times for incoming high school...

[caption id="attachment_1643" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Chances are, at least one of these teens has a mental disorder."][/caption] It has been a long-held belief within the field that most mental health disorders begin to manifest in late childhood and adolescence. This theory...

As we head into the summer season here on the east coast, we should focus on teen misbehavior -- because idle time for our kids and teens has many parents and educators concerned about the best ways to keep kids...