Meghan Belnap, Author at Raising World Children

4 Ways to Help Your Child Overcome RSD

Reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome, or RSD, is a medical condition that’s known to cause pain, swelling and skin discoloration among sufferers. If you have a child who has been diagnosed with this condition, there are certain measures that you can take as a parent to help your son or daughter manage symptoms better and live life to the fullest. Here are some of the best ways to help a child with RSD.

Coordinate with a Pediatric Specialist

A pediatric specialist is a doctor who treats many conditions that affect children. The specialist who you choose for your child can devise a personalized treatment plan that’s based on the severity of symptoms and how well your son or daughter responds to certain treatment methods. You’ll want to choose someone who can establish a good rapport with your child and show compassion while also being knowledgeable enough about this condition to implement the best treatment options possible.

Consider Ketamine Treatment

Ketamine treatment often works well in alleviating the physical pain caused by RSD. Ketamine has long been highly regarded for its anesthetic properties that work to numb pain and is one of the safer anesthetic treatments that’s currently available. There are chronic pain services that offer ketamine treatments to adults and children who want to experience relief from their symptoms. You should consult with your child’s doctor to prevent any interference with pre-existing conditions and set up follow-up appointments to monitor how your child’s system reacts to the treatment.

Track Symptoms

Simply keeping a record of your child’s symptoms can be an effective way to find the right solution. This record can be used for you to know what exactly makes your child’s pain better or worse. You can also gain a better understanding of the specific factors that can trigger symptoms so that you can try to help your child avoid them. The record that you keep should be shown to your doctor so that the information can be recorded in your son’s or daughter’s medical file.

Encourage Participation in Activities

Your child’s RSD shouldn’t stand in the way of living a productive and fulfilling life. By encouraging your son or daughter to partake in activities that many children enjoy, you can help your child maintain better physical and mental health. Even participating in sports can be good for children with RSD if symptoms aren’t too severe. While it is important to listen when your child expresses pain, it is important to encourage them to take time away from resting to have fun.

You can help your child manage his or her RSD symptoms better if you work together to find the right solution. Even though RSD has adverse effects, your child can learn ways to cope with the condition better.

How Parents Can Help Their Children with Speech Disorders

Speech disorders are more prevalent than many think. If you are the parent of a child with one of these disorders, it’s up to you to provide your child with a significant amount of support.

Early intervention is essential to help ensure that a childhood speech impediment doesn’t become a lifelong social barrier for your child. Below are a few ways you can help your child with their speech disorder.

Read with Them

Reading to your child can be incredibly helpful, especially if they have a speech disorder. Though reading is always helpful for instilling a love of language, reading out loud helps to provide a model for how to pronounce words.

This, in turn, can support your child’s ability to speak properly and even provide support for any therapy in which he or she might be enrolled. Having your child read along is an important element, as well. This gives them structured one-on-one feedback on where they need to improve and how to pronounce their words.

Record and Listen

If your child is older, it might be a good idea to let them record their voice. This will allow your child to hear what they sound like, giving the child a chance to focus on areas of weakness and to gauge their progress over their speech problems.

While this isn’t quite as useful for younger children, it can be a great tool for older kids who want to be more involved with their own treatment. This can also help bring greater awareness to your child of where they struggle and what it sounds like when they are speaking correctly.

Singing

Singing lessons can also play a role in helping with speech issues. Speech lessons are more about just hitting the right pitch—they have quite a bit to do with things like volume control, enunciation, and even proper breathing. If your child has difficulty with speech, allowing him or her to take singing lessons may be a way to allow your child to make significant progress. Practicing good breathing, resonance, and pronunciation through singing is a great way for a child to better understand how they can alter the sound and consistency of their speech.

Get Therapy

It’s vital that any child with a speech issue works with a licensed speech therapist. Taking the time to look at therapy solutions for speech issues should help you to find a therapist in your area who can help your child. Early intervention is essential for helping children overcome speech problems before they reach adulthood.

A therapist can help coordinate a variety of therapy methods, including many of the options mentioned above, to address your child’s particular struggle.

If your child has speech problems, do what you can to support him or her. Read to your child, look into singing lessons, and find a good therapist who will help your child to overcome the obstacles that may be in their way. It may take quite a bit of effort, but you’d be surprised by the progress a child can make when they have the right kind of support available.

When Your Teen Faces the Loss of a High School Friend

There is nothing fun about going through the pain of losing a loved one. For any average adult, the grieving process can bring them to their knees in anguish. This is why it can be even more traumatic for a teenager who’s faces the death of a high school friend. When children are young, they’re not used to losing loved ones or embracing the concept of death.

While teens are more capable of understanding loss, they are still new to it and will need guidance to handle it in a healthy manner. As their parent, consider the following ways you can help your teen through the loss of a high school friend.

Facing the death of a High school Friend

Keep an open dialogue about loss

Make sure that your teenager knows that you are open and available for a conversation at any time they need you. Oftentimes, people tend to bottle their emotions up in order to cope with pain. This ends up leading to unhealthy practices such as binging, excessive sleeping or substance abuse. In order to help your teenager fight through the tough emotions, invite them to speak with you on a regular basis. You can ask them questions. Give them space to breathe. Also, do your best to avoid judgment. They need to know they can be vulnerable in a judgement-free zone.

Find counseling services

Do your best to find local counseling services that will cater to your teenager. If you don’t know where to start, you can always contact friends and family members who might have their own recommendations. Keep in mind that the first counselor you speak with may not be the right fit for your teenager. Take the time to bring your teen to a variety of consultations to find who they connect with the best in order to get the best results from your teen’s therapy. You can speak with youth counselors, or find specialized grief counseling for young adults, depending on the level of guidance your teen needs.

Talk to the school administration

If your school administration knows what your child is dealing with, they’ll be able to notify the teachers and extend grace in their case. When a teacher knows that a child is dealing with a lot of emotional difficulty, they tend to be more understanding when it comes to their ability to function at optimal levels in the classroom. The school administration should be a part of your support system. Working with them can help give your teen better support while dealing with their loss and allow the administration to better coordinate the care of all affected students.

Help reduce daily stressors

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When someone is stressed, this can exacerbate any negative emotion. This is why it’s wise to find different ways to decrease the amount of stress your teenager is facing. Whether you take them out for ice cream one night after school or allow them to enjoy a few laps in the swimming pool, find ways to help them cope and enjoy a new pace in life.

Though the process won’t be easy, continue to be patient. You know your child. You know how they tend to deal with different issues. If you notice something uncommon, don’t ignore it. Embrace the process, and know that it won’t last. Your teenager will experience brighter days ahead.

Camping with an Autistic Child: 4 Ways to Handle and Prevent Sensory Overload

There are many challenges to raising children. This is especially true for children who are on the autistic spectrum, especially during the early years when they are still learning how to cope with sensory over-stimulation. However, this doesn’t mean that the family has to miss out on your favorite activities, even if those activities take place outdoors. While family outings such as a camping trip may take some extra effort and planning, it can be done in such a way that the entire family can enjoy the outdoors together.

Predictability is Key

It is very important to talk with your child well ahead of the time that you will be going on your camping trip. Autistic children need routine and can become agitated when their routine is disrupted. By talking with your child ahead of time and having them help with some of the planning, they will be more mentally and emotionally prepared to enjoy the trip. The uncertainty is often what overwhelms them in a new situation. They thrive on predictability and it is essential that they are well aware of an upcoming change to their schedule so that they aren’t caught off guard and overwhelmed.

Make a Sensory Go-Bag

Picking out a special backpack that is specifically for your child is vital. You will want to fill the bag with some of your child’s creature comforts of home that can give them a feeling of stability and promote a safe feeling for them. This can include smooth rocks, fidget toys, a favorite stuffed animal, or other favorite objects that they can carry with them. You will also want to include items that can help them to quiet the outside world during periods of over stimulation. These may include items such as sunglasses, noise canceling earmuffs, an MP3 player with headphones, a lap-pad or weighted blanket, and or even favorite coats or jackets. Don’t forget to bring this backpack with you when hiking or trips away from the campsite.

Create a Space for Sensory Time-Outs

A child that has autism needs to have space where they can regroup when they are experiencing sensory overload. Not having a space that is quiet and secure during times of over-stimulation can lead to an agitated state of being and even a meltdown. While this may seem like a task that is difficult to do while camping outdoors, it is not impossible. Camper trailers are an ideal way to offer your child that needed space during times of anxiety. While a tent may block out the visual stimuli, a camper can provide them with the benefit of quiet and complete isolation from the bugs and smells outside during times of stress. Let your child set up their own space in the camper with blankets and other things to help them remove themselves physically from the stimulus outside, and even just the knowledge that the space is there for them can help them face extended periods of high stimulus for longer.

Consider the Location

When going camping, you can make it easier for your child to enjoy the trip by choosing the right type of location. Avoid places that receive heavy traffic as a tourist location, as the isolation from society can work in your child’s favor when preventing anxiety. You can also look online at ratings to know if an area is heavy with mosquitoes or other insects that can aggravate your child’s senses and find places with fast-moving rivers for calming background noise. Another important thing to consider is to have a campfire ready site, whether you are cooking outdoors or not. The flickering flames of a campfire can provide a natural form of focus and promote a relaxed state in a child who is experiencing sensory overload.

With the proper planning, both you and your child can enjoy your time together camping outdoors. You know your child better than anyone else. Applying your knowledge with the steps listed above can go a long way with your child when making the transition of home routine to camping routine.