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Emotional regulation

Reach Children's Services

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What is Autism?

What is Autism? 

Autism a lifelong neuro-developmental difference that affects the development of the brain in areas of social interaction and communication.

People with autism have differences in communicating and forming relationships with people, in addition to developing language and using abstract concepts. This then impacts the way that they make sense of the world around them.

It is often referred to as a ‘hidden’ condition, this is because people who are on the autism spectrum show no significant physical difference to their peers. Typically, it is their behaviour that appears different to others.

Autism effects each person differently, but there are some common characteristics. These can include the following:

Communication

  • Differences in the way that they express wants/needs/emotions
  • Differences in understanding non-verbal cues & gestures
  • Tendency to interpret language in literal ways

Social Interaction

  • Apparent lack of interest in interaction
  • Limited use of gestures
  • Differences in conversational turn-taking
  • Differences in their use of eye contact

Behaviour

  • Extreme comfort in same & reliance on routines
  • Intense and limited interests
  • Stereotyped or repetitive movements such as rocking, flapping hands, walking in lines
  • Over or under sensitivity to sensory experiences (e.g. sounds, smells, lights, etc.)

Autism is often referred to as a spectrum. This is because the characteristics can present themselves in a wide variety of combinations and can range from mild to more pronounced. Therefore, two people with the same diagnosis can act very differently from one another and have varied skills. Some children will grow up and require significant supports into adulthood, others will need nothing more than acceptance.

Our therapists have been specialising in supporting children, as well as families, living with autism for over two decades. We are available to provide diagnostic assessments and a range of support services to help your child reach his or her potential.

Early Intervention for Autism Spectrum Disorder

Early intervention is very important for autistic children to ensure that development is supported effectively.

For more information on early intervention please visit Early Intervention for Autism.

Get in touch with us, we’d love to help!

We want to hear from you!

Send us a message, or give us a call.

One of us will get back to you to talk about how we can help.

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Get In Touch

+353 83 0021958
info@reachchildrens.com

Opening Hours: Mon – Fri 9am – 5pm

and by appointment

Business Name /Contact Person: Reach Children’s Service

Address
Ballinakill
Tubberclair
Westmeath
Ireland
N37 RT72

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Becoming involved in your child’s early intervention can feel intimidating and overwhelming. You may not feel like you have the skills needed to support your child’s needs and it is better to leave it to the therapist.

The fact of the matter is, your child will spend a lot more time with you, their parents, than they will with their therapist. If you picture all the hours in the week as individual marbles, there will be 168 marbles. The jar on the left has 1 marble, representing 1 hour of time spent with a therapist each week. The jar on the right has 167 hours representing all the other hours in the week.

At Reach, we want to empower parents to become involved in their child’s growth. Research shows that involving parents in our supports allows the parents we work with to support their children’s development and achieve more progress in areas such as communication skills and parent-child relationships.

We know this is a common anxiety amongst parents of children who are accessing supports, so we wrote a blog on this topic where we laid out the advantages of parental involvement, and our ethos around involving parents in supporting their children. You can find a link to our website where you can find this blog ion our website
... See MoreSee Less

6 hours ago
Becoming involved in your child’s early intervention can feel intimidating and overwhelming. You may not feel like you have the skills needed to support your child’s needs and it is better to leave it to the therapist.

The fact of the matter is, your child will spend a lot more time with you, their parents, than they will with their therapist. If you picture all the hours in the week as individual marbles, there will be 168 marbles. The jar on the left has 1 marble, representing 1 hour of time spent with a therapist each week. The jar on the right has 167 hours representing all the other hours in the week.

At Reach, we want to empower parents to become involved in their child’s growth. Research shows that involving parents in our supports allows the parents we work with to support their children’s development and achieve more progress in areas such as communication skills and parent-child relationships. 

We know this is a common anxiety amongst parents of children who are accessing supports, so we wrote a blog on this topic where we laid out the advantages of parental involvement, and our ethos around involving parents in supporting their children. You can find a link to our website where you can find this blog ion our website www.reachchildrens.com
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0 CommentsComment on Facebook

Are you working with your little one or a child you support in an early years setting, trying to encourage them to repeat sounds and words?

Did you know that before a child can imitate sounds and words they should focus on imitating actions.

⭐Start by imitating your child when they complete an action. This can be banging a drum, rolling a car, shaking a rattle.

⭐Try to move the activity to a turn taking activity. They shake - you copy -they shake - you copy etc.

⭐When they stop, you can then try to initiate the action. Shake the rattle yourself first and see do they then imitate you.

⭐Once you can get them to imitate this action after you, try to change the action and see if they will imitate that e.g. bang the rattle off the floor.

⭐Once they can imitate various actions you can then begin to add sound effects. Imitating sound effects will begin earlier than whole word approximations e.g. boom book boom while banging the rattle off the ground.

Once you have progressed through all these steps you can then begin to work on imitating whole words.

***Remember to keep the interactions fun! This should be done on the floor or wherever your child would typically engage with toys or similar materials. Don't try to do too much in one sitting. Think small achievable steps.

Set up for success and celebrate the small wins! 🏆

#repost #reachchildrens #reachchildrensservices #imitation #earlyintervention #imitateactions #BCBA #childled #followtheirlead #asd #specialeducation
... See MoreSee Less

4 days ago
Are you working with your little one or a child you support in an early years setting, trying to encourage them to repeat sounds and words?

Did you know that before a child can imitate sounds and words they should focus on imitating actions. 

⭐Start by imitating your child when they complete an action. This can be banging a drum, rolling a car, shaking a rattle. 

⭐Try to move the activity to a turn taking activity. They shake - you copy -they shake - you copy etc. 

⭐When they stop, you can then try to initiate the action. Shake the rattle yourself first and see do they then imitate you. 

⭐Once you can get them to imitate this action after you, try to change the action and see if they will imitate that e.g. bang the rattle off the floor. 

⭐Once they can imitate various actions you can then begin to add sound effects. Imitating sound effects will begin earlier than whole word approximations e.g. boom book boom while banging the rattle off the ground. 

Once you have progressed through all these steps you can then begin to work on imitating whole words. 

***Remember to keep the interactions fun! This should be done on the floor or wherever your child would typically engage with toys or similar materials. Dont try to do too much in one sitting. Think small achievable steps. 

Set up for success and celebrate the small wins! 🏆

#repost #reachchildrens #reachchildrensservices #imitation #earlyintervention #imitateactions #BCBA #childled #followtheirlead #asd #specialeducation
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0 CommentsComment on Facebook

Delighted to be here at @rare_ireland Disability Information Day & Conference.

#rareireland
#rareaware
#disabilityawareness
... See MoreSee Less

1 week ago
Delighted to be here at @rare_ireland Disability Information Day & Conference. 

#rareireland 
#rareaware
#disabilityawareness
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3 CommentsComment on Facebook

Well done Reach Children's Services!

Great to see ye ❤

Lookin good ladies 👍🏻

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