Family Support Network of North Carolina

The Family Support Network of North Carolina has an Outreach Library for families and professionals who need information regarding children with special needs.  They have up-to-date information on a variety of topics ranging from Autism Spectrum Disorder to social skills.  It is a free service and they will send you information and you just send it back when you are done.  I have called them and they sent me information on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome a few years back and it was very helpful.  The Outreach Library is supported by NC Department of Social Services and UNC School of Medicine, Community Pediatrics.

Family Support Network of North Carolina
CB# 7340, University of NC
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7340
1-800-852-0042 (TDD/Voice)
Phone 919-966-2841
Fax 919-966-2916
www.med.unc.edu/commedu/familysu

The Importance of Post Adoption Services

Celebrate National Adoption Month by...encouraging and supporting families who are fostering or adopting from foster care!

Thousands of children each year find themselves in the U.S. foster care system due to abuse and/or neglect and are unable to return to their birth parents.  For those unable to return to their birth parent(s), many are adopted by their foster families, relatives, or newly recruited families. 

A number of studies have found that many foster children have emotional and behavioral problems.  Post-adoptive services play a key role in supporting children and their adoptive families toward health and healing. It is important for communities to support families who adopt children from foster care.  In addition to support that agencies provide, adoptive families report that friends, family, and other adoptive parents are instrumental in their family success.

To learn more about the importance of post-adoption services visit this link to an article by the North American Council on Adoptable Children.  http://www.nacac.org/adoptalk/postadoptpaper.pdf

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month and Autism Awareness Month

April is a busy month in the lives of those working to bring awareness to two important mental health issues facing children in America.  It is through the work of agencies that the public is educated about children and families that have impact in every facet of our society.  Autism is on the rise as is child abuse.  The statistics are shocking and we all need to take a look at what we can do to raise awareness so that research and prevention services are funded.  Join with me and celebrate Autism Awareness Month and Child Abuse Prevention Month. 

Autism

The increase in the prevalence in autism as been all over the news lately.  This is the latest information regarding the prevalence rates.   Here are the highlights from the new report by CDC as summarized by Medscape.  I will be blogging about autism followed by information regarding child abuse.

Did you know this about autism?

A new report by the CDC last month shared the following findings. The new estimates are published in the March 28 issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

-  New estimates put the figure at 1 in 68 children aged 8 years (or 14.7 per 1000) ― roughly 30% higher than previous estimates reported in 2012 of 1 in 88 children (11.3 per 1000) having an ASD, the agency said.  "The criteria used to diagnose ASDs and the methods used to collect data have not changed," the CDC noted.

- "Over the last decade, the most notable change in the characteristics of children identified with autism is the growing number who have average or above average intelligence, from one third in 2002 to nearly 50% in 2010," Dr. Boyle said.

- "To better understand why, there is an urgent need to do more research. It could be that doctors are getting better at identifying these children. There could be a growing number of children with autism and higher intellectual ability, or it may a combination of better recognition and increased prevalence," she added.

- The data continue to show that ASD is almost 5 times more common among boys than girls: 1 in 42 boys vs 1 in 189 girls. White children are more likely to be identified as having ASD than are black or Hispanic children, the CDC said.

- "Community leaders, health professionals, educators and childcare providers should use these data to ensure children with ASD are identified as early as possible and connected to the services they need," said Dr. Boyle.

- New Initiative Announced
         Birth to 5: Watch Me Thrive! program will help families look for and celebrate milestones; promote universal screenings; identify delays as early as possible; and improve the support available to help children succeed in school and thrive alongside their peers, she [Dr. Beckman] noted.  The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is a partner in the initiative.

 MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2014:63;1-21. Full article

Stress Management Tip #2: Time Management

This is too funny.  I should not be writing about time management since I am the world's worse time manager. I excel at the art of procrastination and if there were an award, I would win.  All joking aside, it is important to take time to look inward, to identify our strengths and weaknesses, and commit to make needed changes. When thinking about time management all that comes to mind is that there is not enough time.  By the time we get out of the bed it seems like we are in a race against the clock.

Here is a day in life of a parent... get out of bed, get dressed, get the kids dressed, get the kids to school, get self to work, work, get the kids from school, get home, get dinner, get homework completed, get baths, get kids to bed, talk to your spouse for 5 seconds about the next day, and fall into bed... anyone with me? How do we all get it done?  The answer is we don't!

For years I have held onto an index card of the time management matrix developed by Covey.  I have used this matrix to prioritize and further divided it into categories at home, work, and social activities.  It has not "cured" me from a life-long battle with this thing called procrastination, but it has been a helpful tool. Procrastination is a form of avoidance and it just leads to anxiety.  I have often told myself that I work better under pressure and often times that is true.  When you do well under pressure, it only reinforces the belief, "I can wait until the last minute."  The fallacy of this line of thinking is that it is highly probable that you would have done even better if you had not waited until the last minute.  In addition, you would not have been in a state of sheer panic or high anxiety.  If you struggle like I do with procrastination, I encourage you to start working on it today.  Don't wait!

Figure 1 or 2

NC State Middle and High School Study Skills Summer Program Information

Parents of Middle and High School Students,

 

I received information on the NC State Study Skills Camp for this summer.  For more information, please visit the website: www.ncsu.edu/psychology/studyskills or call the clinic 919-515-1713. 

 

For grades rising 6-8 options are :June 23-27 from (9:30-11:30am) or July 14-18 (9:30-11:30am) or August 4-8th (9:30-11:30 or 1-3pm).

 

For grades rising 9-10 July 28-August 1 (9:30-11:30am or 1-3pm)

 

The fee is $185

 

There is a parent meeting on the first Monday of each session.

Family Support Network of North Carolina

Do you know that the Family Support Network of North Carolina has a lending library of books and videos for all families and professionals?  All you have to do is call the toll free number, request one to two books and return them when you are done.  They even include free return postage!  It is a great way to get up-to-date information on issues like ADHD, Autism, Child Abuse and Neglect, Down Syndrome, FAS, foster children, HIV/AIDS, medically fragile children and much, much, more.  

Family Support Network of North Carolina
CB# 7340, University of North Carolina
Chapell Hill, NC 27599
1-800-852-0042
www.med.unc.edu/commedu/familysu

TEN QUOTES ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF PLAY

“Play is the work of the child.” – Maria Montessori

“Play is the highest form of research.” – Albert Einstein

“It is a happy talent to know how to play.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Play gives children a chance to practice what they are learning.” – Mr. Rogers

“The playing adult steps sideward into another reality; the playing child advances forward to new stages of mastery.” – Erik H. Erikson

“Children learn as they play. Most importantly, in play children learn how to learn.” – O. Fred Donaldson

“The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct.” – Carl Jung

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” – George Bernard Shaw

“Do not keep children to their studies by compulsion but by play.” – Plato

“Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.” -  Fred Rogers

Stress Management Tip #1

Take Care of Yourself

I was walking my dog yesterday and pondering the woes of the world when I began to think about my last blog.  Are you stressed?  With the day to day business that we all face between home, work, and family it is easy to get overwhelmed.  Add on top of that anything that you see on the news and what do you get... STRESS!!!

So here  are some suggestions on ways we can take better care of ourselves and learn to manage our stress in a healthy way.

• Get plenty of rest.  Simple, but in America it is not done well.  Adults and children alike do not get enough sleep.  Not getting adequate sleep has been linked to heart disease and obesity.  The National Sleep Foundation gives the following recommendations for amount of sleep needed for the average American according to age.  

• 
• Exercise.  The American Heart Association suggests at least 150 minutes per week of moderate exercise or 75 minutes per week of vigorous exercise (or a combination of moderate and vigorous activity). 30 minutes a day, five times a week is an easy goal to remember, however you will also experience benefits even if you divide your time into two or three segments of 10 -15 minutes per day. Physical activity is anything that makes you move your body and burn calories, such as climbing stairs or playing sports. Aerobic exercises benefit your heart, such as walking, jogging, swimming or biking. Strength and stretching exercises are best for overall stamina and flexibility.  The simplest, positive change you can make to effectively improve your heart health is to start walking. It's enjoyable, free, easy, social and great exercise. A walking program is flexible and boasts high success rates because people can stick with it. It's easy for walking to become a regular and satisfying part of life.

• Eat well.  A particularly hard one for me as I come from a long line of chocolate addicts!  
• Don't smoke.  If you smoke, make a decision to quite no matter what the costs.  You will not regret the decision.
• Limit how much you drink.  
• Engage in an activity that you enjoy.  For some it is gardening, meeting with friends, crafting, reading, or creating.  Find an activity that is fun and relaxing for you and  makes you feel good.   

Are You Stressed?

The Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale  

In 1967, psychiatrists Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe decided to study whether or not stress contributes to illness. They surveyed more than 5,000 medical patients and asked them to say whether they had experience any of a series of 43 life events in the previous two years.

Each event, called a Life Change Unit (LCU), had a different "weight" for stress. The more events the patient added up, the higher the score. The higher the score, and the larger the weight of each event, the more likely the patient was to become ill.

The Stress Scale

To score your stress levels, simply check the box in the right hand column next to all the events that have happened to you in the last year. Your score will automatically update.

This table is taken from "The Social Readjustment Rating Scale", Thomas H. Holmes and Richard H. Rahe, Journal of Psychosomatic Research, Volume 11, Issue 2, August 1967, Pages 213-218, Copyright © 1967 Published by Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved. Permission to reproduce granted by the publisher.

This scale must not be used in any way to cause harm to an individual's professional career.

Life Event		Value	Check if this applies
1	Death of spouse	100
2	Divorce	73
3	Marital separation	65
4	Jail term	63
5	Death of close family member	63
6	Personal injury or illness	53
7	Marriage	50
8	Fired at work	47
9	Marital reconciliation	45
10	Retirement	45
11	Change in health of family member	44
12	Pregnancy	40
13	Sex difficulties	39
14	Gain of new family member	39
15	Business readjustment	39
16	Change in financial state	38
17	Death of close friend	37
18	Change to a different line of work	36
19	Change in number of arguments with spouse	35
20	A large mortgage or loan	31
21	Foreclosure of mortgage or loan	30
22	Change in responsibilities at work	29
23	Son or daughter leaving home	29
24	Trouble with in-laws	29
25	Outstanding personal achievement	28
26	Spouse begins or stops work	26
27	Begin or end school/college	26
28	Change in living conditions	25
29	Revision of personal habits	24
30	Trouble with boss	23
31	Change in work hours or conditions	20
32	Change in residence	20
33	Change in school/college	20
34	Change in recreation	19
35	Change in church activities	19
36	Change in social activities	18
37	A moderate loan or mortgage	17
38	Change in sleeping habits	16
39	Change in number of family get-togethers	15
40	Change in eating habits	15
41	Vacation	13
42	Christmas	12
43	Minor violations of the law	11
0

Note: If you experienced the same event more than once, then to gain a more accurate total, add the score again for each extra occurrence of the event.

Score Interpretation

Score	Comment
300+	You have a high or very high risk of becoming ill in the near future.
150-299	You have a moderate to high chance of becoming ill in the near future.
<150	You have only a low to moderate chance of becoming ill in the near future.

What You Can Do About This

If you find that you are at a moderate or high level of risk, then an obvious first thing to do is to try to avoid future life crises.

While this is clearly easier said than done, you can usually avoid moving house, for example, close to when you retire, or when one of your children goes off to college; you can learn conflict resolution skills   to minimize conflict with other people; you can avoid taking on new obligations or engaging with new programs of study; and you can take things easy, and look after yourself.

For more on reducing stress, visit the Stress Tools area of Mind Tools.

Note 1:
Some scientists have suggested that the Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale is weak in certain areas. For example, some feel that different cultural groups react differently to different life events.

One study compared scores of Americans with those of Malaysians. Interestingly, Malaysians had different attitudes toward breaking the law and toward relationships than the Americans did, meaning that their experience of stress was different at the same score.

Keep cultural differences in mind as you score your own life events.

Note 2:While it's useful to know about this idea so that you can take action with it, don't dwell on it, and don't let this knowledge affect your mood. Think positively!  

Note 3:Stress can cause severe health problems and, in extreme cases, can cause death. You should take the advice of a suitably qualified health professional if you have any concerns over stress-related illnesses, or if stress is causing you significant or persistent unhappiness.

Key Points

The Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale is a well-known tool for measuring the amount of stress you’ve experienced within the past year. Taking the test can help you see clearly if you’re at risk of illness due to stress.

Warning: Stress can cause severe health problems and, in extreme cases, can cause death. While these stress management techniques have been shown to have a positive effect on reducing stress, they are for guidance only, and readers should take the advice of suitably qualified health professionals if they have any concerns over stress-related illnesses or if stress is causing significant or persistent unhappiness. Health professionals should also be consulted before any major change in diet or levels of exercise.

- See more at: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTCS_82.htm#sthash.tcDHtkLH.dpuf