NDC Tips Archives - Page 2 of 2 - The NeuroDevelopment Center

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Autistic behavior makes perfect sense

Autism Spectrum, NDC Tips

Autistic behavior makes perfect sense

People with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have difficulties smoothly and consistently processing information. Information from the senses about the properties of things, language information, information about the social world, emotional information, and also information from the body and self and what is going on there. People with autism especially have difficulty with understanding the big picture, putting all the pieces of information together so that it hangs together and makes sense. They get the bits of information, but the bits [...]

By Laurence Hirshberg|June 17th, 2013|Categories: Autism Spectrum, NDC Tips|0 Comments

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Shrink Tricks: Become an expert conversationalist in 6 easy steps.

Autism Spectrum, Learning Disabilities, NDC Tips

Shrink Tricks: Become an expert conversationalist in 6 easy steps.

Many teens and adults with Autism spectrum disorders or Aspergers or Non-verbal learning disability avoid conversations out of fear that they won’t know what to say. This fear usually is based on lots of experience. They may try a few stock scripted questions, but those rarely get you very far. After all, few conversations are sustained over topics such as the weather or your favorite movie or book, despite what your social skills instructor told you. Scripting just doesn't work very [...]

By Laurence Hirshberg|May 25th, 2013|Categories: Autism Spectrum, Learning Disabilities, NDC Tips|0 Comments

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Train self control to win the “marshmallow test”

ADHD + ADD, Family, NDC Tips, Neuroscience

Train self control to win the “marshmallow test”

A landmark study: Can preschoolers wait? A study done by psychologist Walter Mischel at Stanford in the sixties has long been a classic. But it takes on dramatically increased significance with the growth of our understanding of brain plasticity in the last two decades of neuroscience. In this study, preschoolers were seen in a small room with their mothers. The experimenter put a marshmallow on the table and told the child he can eat it right away. Or, if the child [...]

By Laurence Hirshberg|May 20th, 2013|Categories: ADHD + ADD, Family, NDC Tips, Neuroscience|0 Comments

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Sunshine helps to prevent ADHD

ADHD + ADD, Family, NDC Tips

Sunshine helps to prevent ADHD

A new study has shown a link between the prevalence of ADHD and solar intensity (SI) in the US and nine countries abroad. Using three datasets (across 49 U.S. states and across 9 non-U.S. countries) a relationship between sunlight intensity and ADHD prevalence was found. These results suggest that exposure to lots of sunshine has a preventative effect: Sunshine may help to prevent ADHD. A big effectThis "Sunshine Effect" was not a small factor. It explained 34%–57% of the variance in ADHD prevalence. This [...]

By Laurence Hirshberg|May 15th, 2013|Categories: ADHD + ADD, Family, NDC Tips|0 Comments

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Helping your stormy, anxious child

Anxiety, Family, NDC Tips

Helping your stormy, anxious child

Imagine this: It starts to storm outside. The thunder is loud. It is shaking your home. It's bothering you. So you go outside and say in a calm but authoritative voice: “Stop that.” But the storm continues anyhow. So you say more firmly, “Stop that right now. Just stop.” The storm ignores you again. It continues to storm. You are getting angry now! You say in a very loud voice: “I said stop that right now. I mean it: No more. This ends now.” When [...]

By Laurence Hirshberg|May 10th, 2013|Categories: Anxiety, Family, NDC Tips|0 Comments

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Schedule a Hurricane

Family, NDC Tips

Schedule a Hurricane

It was striking. We heard this from many of our families - life was better in many ways when we lost power for several days after Hurricane Irene hit New England. The pace of family life was slower. There was more togetherness, more communication, more interaction, instead of each individual lost to a screen. Everyone got to bed earlier, slept better, and felt better the next day. So we suggest: reclaim your family. Schedule a hurricane. Schedule time every week [...]

By Laurence Hirshberg|April 10th, 2013|Categories: Family, NDC Tips|0 Comments

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Duct tape will save your marriage.

NDC Tips

Duct tape will save your marriage.

Have you ever found yourself saying the same thing over and over when you are “discussing” an issue with your spouse? You think if you just say it one more time, he (she) will finally get it! Or maybe if you say it louder, or more emphatically. With more conviction, more feeling… It doesn't work does it? We all “get dumber" when our emotions are intense. We become too "bothered" to think straight. It’s as if there is a fuse [...]

By Laurence Hirshberg|February 2nd, 2013|Categories: NDC Tips|0 Comments

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Traumatic brain injury: Football and boxing, sure. But soccer?

NDC Tips, Neuroscience

Traumatic brain injury: Football and boxing, sure. But soccer?

There’s lots of buzz about the risk of concussion in football. Some interesting solutions are being studied, like a football helmet with built in sensors that measure the force of impacts and can signal the need to assess for concussion. Another great solution is the routine use of computerized neuropsychological tests, before any injury to serve as a baseline comparison, and then after a blow to the head to detect traumatic brain injury. Testing is done before the athletic season begins to establish [...]

By Laurence Hirshberg|November 7th, 2012|Categories: NDC Tips, Neuroscience|Tags: brain injury, brain maps, EEG, head injury, qEEG|0 Comments