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Raising a child has never been easy, but it has gotten even more challenging due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite this challenging situation, this could be the perfect opportunity to teach our kids how to be more resilient and confident. To learn how this is possible, I sit down today with Dr. Louise Metcalf to discover ways on how we can look after our children’s wellbeing. We specifically talk about how we can teach our child to be more resilient and adaptable so they can enjoy life as kids while becoming more eager to face the challenges of life growing up. 

Dr. Louise Metcalf is a psychologist with about 30 years of experience helping people create better lives and healthier brains. Louise has worked in multiple sectors as a psychologist and has a keen interest in positive psychological change. Louise values away 1 individual could make a difference and have a strong interest in brain health and resilience. After years of supporting children with anxiety and mental wellbeing, Louise had the idea for a robot that can help kids with their anxiety. now launched in app form, Gheorg The Friendly Robot empowers children with emotional intelligence and mental wellbeing through check-ins and meditation exercises.

Key Takeaways:

Tune in to our conversation and learn about:

• • The moment Dr. Louise Metcalf decided she was going to become a psychologist
  • What resilience and adaptability means
  • What are the makings of a strong and confident child?
  • Are there children who are more naturally inclined to be more confident or resilient than others?
  • How we can teach our kids about resilience and building those adaptability skills
  • Patterns that might impede or slow down the development of building those adaptability skills
  • Some of the reasons we’re observing these mental health issues in kids nowadays
  • How do we help our kids know their strengths and find ways to use them?
  • Ways to continue fostering our child’s confidence in everyday life
  • Other ways Louise suggests for parents and carers who are already going through so much in their home environments and cannot handle raising their kids all by themselves
  • Why the Gheorg robot was born and how it has helped kids not only with their emotional intelligence and wellbeing but also in becoming better communicators
  • Some of the feedback they’ve received from kids and parents interacting with Gheorg

 

Tips for Parents and Carers on How to Best Provide Support during this COVID situation:

1. Limit the news you watch a bit.
2. Use this time to talk with your children about challenging circumstances and how you navigate those things as a family, how you can work together.
3. Slow down, practice a little bit of relaxation, meditation, teach your kids how to meditate, stop and breathe.
4. Prioritize your own self-care. The temptation for parents is to overwork a bit but you cannot sacrifice your own mental health.

Take-Home Messages for Parents, Carers, Educators on How to Raise Strong and Confident Kids:

For Parents and Carers: “It’s wise to be aware that anxiety is on the rise, but my take-home message is, Don’t look at that and go, oh that’s awful, I feel deflated, instead, look around at all the amazing people that are helping kids in this space right now, and I know there are a lot educators in school that are focus on this area, they’re all around you. So, find them, go and talk to them, engage with them, bring them into your child’s village and really maximize all that good stuff all around you. Build the village… the village should be quite big.”

For early childhood educators and schoolteachers: “I think it’s worthwhile finding little spaces in teaching where you can actually just allow kids to solve problems in their own ways. There are a million, trillion ways to solve any given problem and sometimes we can get hooked into just one method, and it can be so hard for kids because they might not be using their strengths. But if you look at the problem and think, actually there’s a million ways to solve the problem, and there are probably lots of strengths that can be used to do that, I think using that as an educator really helps keep kids loving learning in the classroom and get them to really say, they do have a lot of strengths at school, and school can still be really empowering.”

Links and Resources:

Learn more about Dr. Louise Metcalf and Gheorg the Friendly Robot on: https://www.gheorg.com/

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Have you ever had days when you were just so happy to be able to find the perfect song to accompany you while driving your car, getting to work, running a marathon, or even while putting your kids to bed? Regardless of what song you put on (or lullaby you sing), there’s no denying that music has this amazing ability to affect our moods, boost our energy, bring back memories, and even sometimes, soothe our pain. Our guest today talks more about the wonderful benefits of music and how she uses it as a therapeutic tool in her practice working with families, children, young adults.

Dr. Grace Thompson is a music therapist and senior lecturer at the University of Melbourne. Grace has worked with children, young people, and families for over 20 years within the early childhood intervention and special education sector. In her clinical work, Grace developed a collaborative approach to music therapy practice for families guided by ecological theories and family- centred philosophy. Her research continues to explore the ways music therapist can foster relationships and social connection through participating and engaging in accessible music-making. Grace is past president of the Australian music therapy association and co-editor of the book, Music Therapy with Families: Therapeutic approaches and theoretical perspectives. She is also currently an associate editor with the Nordic Journal of Music therapy.

Key Takeaways:

Tune in to this episode and learn:

• What led Dr. Grace to discover music therapy and how she became a music therapist
• What is music therapy?
• The key areas where a qualified music therapist typically deals with
• Who music therapists most frequently work with
• The impact music can have on our mental health and wellbeing
• How we can proactively use music as a tool for therapy
• What happens during a typical music therapy session?
• Why Dr. Grace insists on playing live music and using live instruments in her sessions 
• The benefits of music therapy not only for kids but also for our young adults
• Some ways we can help our kids use music as therapy in their everyday lives
• Ways to know if you need to consider music therapy for your child
• How long would a music therapy session last and how many sessions would my child need?
• The interesting crossover between music therapy and music education
• What you would need to do if you would like to explore music therapy as a profession

Tips for Parents, Carers, and Educators on How We Can Incorporate Music to Impact Our Positive Wellbeing for our Children:

1. Draw attention to the way certain music makes you feel. Link that with what’s happening inside the house and share that with your children. Ask them how does this music make you feel? Ask them how it makes their body feel and draw their attention to that.
2. Keep trying to introduce variety in the music you play or listen to. Some children with disabilities really love a certain type of music. For parents, please don’t take their favourite music away from them, respect the fact it’s their favourite, but make sure you have a turn, so keep introducing different music to them.
3. Make sure in your family that you muck around with music. Make up silly songs, compose them yourself, show your creativity with children, and encourage them to do that too. It’s a way to show your personality.

Quotes:

“The types of goals that music therapists are often working on are around being able to social interaction. It’s about being able to read people’s cues, initiate social interaction, concentrate and stay focused on the social environment, Hopefully, the domain of music provides a rich learning opportunity for all of those social elements. So, through music, the children’s social development is actually being enhanced.”

“Remember that music is a domain of play, and to be playful with music I think is the greatest gift you can give any child or young person.”

Links and Resources:

Australian Music Therapy Association – https://www.austmta.org.au/

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In today’s episode, we are absolutely honoured to chat with Sue Dengate and talk about her fascinating research on food intolerance that has helped countless people and has changed so many lives for good. She shares with us her personal experiences as well as stories of families who have implemented her research and gotten amazing results. She hopes to educate more parents and children about the effects of food chemicals and additives on our health and behaviour and to inspire more families to take food more seriously. 

Sue Dengate is a psychology graduate and former teacher. She became interested in the effects of food on health and behaviour as a result of her own children’s experiences. Since then, Sue has published five best-selling books and a DVD. She’s spoken to tens of thousands of people all over the world and was an Australian of the Year finalist in 2009. For the last 25 years, Sue and her food scientist husband, Dr. Howard Dengate, has run the Food Intolerance Network through their website, fedup.com.au. 

Key Learnings 

Tune in to this episode and learn as:

• Sue recounts her life before going into the research of food intolerance, additives and chemicals found in food and how it affects us and our families
• Sue and Dr Howard’s 11-year journey and trying 30 different treatments to understand why their child was exhibiting tantrums, being difficult and defiant, and struggling in school
• How a routine 24-hour water-only fast led her to a discovery that would change her life and tens of thousands of other families’ lives
• What is the RPA Elimination Diet?
• The difference between food allergy and food intolerance
• Why more and more people are suffering from food intolerance without even knowing it
• What the food industry isn’t telling us about the food products we consume
• How to deal with the challenges most families face when trying to go through the RPA elimination diet
• Main behavioural effects that could be seen in our children and in adults that could be linked to food intolerance—namely irritability, restlessness, inattention, and sleep disturbance
• Positive effects were seen in children after 2–3 weeks of following the elimination diet
• More stories of how the Failsafe way of eating has helped change the lives of children and families all over the world
• Evidence-based studies showing ultra-processed foods being linked to depression
• Just how many additives are permitted in the food industry and most of these chemicals—whether synthetic or natural—should be avoided
• Myths around fruit we’ve been led to believe and the truths we should know
• Tips on how to get started on the Failsafe way of eating or switching to Failsafe recipes

Take Home Messages for Parents, Carers, and those who work with children: 

1. Take food seriously, because most people don’t realise either that they’re affected or how badly they’re affected, and it can be really life-changing.
2. Take things slow and one step at a time because it can be overwhelming. Be more organized, try some recipes in the Failsafe Cookbook first, and then take it from there. 
3. It is much better to get the whole family on board and to work with a nutritionist/dietician.

Quotes:

“I have devoted the last 30 years helping other people so that no parent should ever have to go through what we went through.”

“One of the advantages of doing the low-chemical elimination diet is that you understand what is in our foods.”

“Fifty years ago, traditional foods didn’t have many additives in them. We’ve lost track of what traditional diets actually work. Everything’s sort of over the top and it’s much easier with processed foods, to have access to foods that are out of season… if you ate a strawberry then, it was just one as a topping, and I can tell you now, strawberries are just so high in salicylates… a punnet of strawberries a day is asking for trouble.”

Links:

• For more tips and information, you can visit:
• The Food Intolerance Network: https://www.fedup.com.au/
• The Failsafe Cookbook: https://www.amazon.com/Failsafe-Cookbook-Updated-Reducing-Chemicals-ebook/dp/B005LV6VN8
• Free video resources: https://www.fedup.com.au/information/support/video-resources
• Sue Dengate Failsafe Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/128458328536/

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In honour of Speech Pathology Awareness Week and this year’s theme ‘Communicating with Confidence’, Sonia Bestulic shares her top ten tips to nurture confident communication in kids. Sonia has been a speech and language pathologist for over 20 years now, having had the the privilege of working with thousands of children and their families to support their communication development – both at oral and written communication levels for a variety of purposes.

She founded the Talking Heads Speech Pathology clinics in Sydney, Australia in 2006, which provides a speech pathology service to individuals of all ages.

To find out more about speech pathology and communication disability, please visit https://www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/

Key Learnings

Tune in to this episode and learn:

• Top 10 Tips to Nurture Confident Communication in Kids
• Facts about the speech pathology profession
• The work done by speech pathologists with the 1.2M Australians who have a
• communication disability
• Various areas speech pathologists currently work on to improve an individual’s
• communication skills
• How we can increase our children’s confidence by doing one simple thing
• Quick tips on successful communication

Quote:

“Ultimately, a child needs to feel the benefits of what communication can do for them – it can give them choices, it can meet their needs and wants, it can help them self-regulate and express their emotions. So, whether your child is verbal or whether they’re using a communication device, those opportunities for practice are critical, as is ensuring a positive and successful association with communication.”

Links:

Download our Free Top 10 Tips to Nurture Confident Communication in Kids EBook here!

Visit the Talking Heads website: https://talkingheads.net.au/

Checklist for Communication Development

Visit the Chat about Children website to get access to these free e-books:

• 6 Steps to Boost your Child’s First Words
• 4 Power Tools to Ready your Child to Read, Spell and Write

Speech Pathology Australia

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We’ve all seen communities, governments and organizations work towards improving the quality of life for people of all ages – from baby boomers, Gen X, millennials, all the way to Gen Z. But latest research reveals that there is actually a newer generation that exists today, and this is where our youngsters – aged 10 and below – belong, Generation Alpha. Today we chat with Ashley Fell to learn more about Generation Alpha, what sets them apart from the older generations, ways to better understand, connect, and engage with them, and how we as parents can teach our Gen Alpha kids to thrive in these rapidly changing times and prepare them for the future.

Ashley Fell is a social researcher, author, TEDx speaker and Director of Communications at the internationally recognized McCrindle Research company. From topics including future trends, business insights, leadership and communication skills, Ashley delivers over 50 visually engaging, tailored and research-based presentations annually for corporate, government and not-for-profit clients in Australia and overseas. As a generational expert, Ashley’s expertise is in training and equipping leaders and teams on how to lead across generational divides, particularly, Gen Y, popularly known as millennials, Gen Z, and now the newest generation, Generation Alpha.

Key Learnings 

Tune in to our conversation and learn about:  

• What led Ashley to do the work that she’s doing at McCrindle Research
• Who is Generation Alpha and where did the name for this generation come from?
• Why organizations, parents, and educators need to research and understand Generation Alpha
• How Ashley describes this current generation and their distinct characteristics and abilities
• How the Coronavirus global pandemic is shaping Generation Alpha in unique ways 
• How we can use this current situation as a learning opportunity for our kids to develop their critical thinking skills, creativity, adaptability, and resilience
• What Generation Alpha kids expect of this world and how it can lead us to better connect and engage with them
• What TLDR means and how we can cut through information overload and make an impact with our messaging
• Why organizations should focus on authentic, people-centered storytelling and creating short, simple, and engaging content  
• Why instilling a positive mindset and positive self-belief in our kids is so important especially in our world today

Take Home Messages for Parents, Carers, and Educators who Have or are Working with Gen Alpha Children:

1. Take the time to understand them. Stop and look at the world around us and the changes that are impacting this generation, the technologies, and realize that it’s quite a different world to the one we knew or grew up in as kids.
2. Know that even though our kids may face challenges with technology, they are actually well-positioned to thrive in this world and we as parents have a real opportunity to help them do that.
3. Continue to adapt to the changing times and make small modifications on how we teach the leaders in the next generation.

Quotes:

On the crucial life skills we need to teach our Generation Alpha kids to better equip them for the future: “Perseverance, resilience, adaptability, curiosity, and the ability to be lifelong learners is really important to instill in Generation Alpha.” 

On how being vulnerable can help us connect better with this generation: “As adults, we have that false pretense to feel like our kids must think that we know it all, and sometimes that can be harder to connect with them. But by being vulnerable in the right different circumstances, we let them know that we care about them and we can help them. We want to be able to connect and break down those barriers that might exist between generations and people of all ages.” 

On how we can provide a safe space for our kids to facilitate curiosity, making mistakes, and learning: “The ability to fail directly leads to ability to innovate, and that’s really key for organizations and personal success. So, as long as we have moments where we can teach and bring kids into the conversation, help them come up with the solution, help them contribute something and collaborate, and make sure that they know it’s okay to fail, that we can try again, and do things in different ways is really key to their development as a citizen of this world.”

Links 

If you want to know more about Ashley Fell and the work she does at McCrindle, check out their website: https://mccrindle.com.au/

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One of the most common effects that occur in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is their difficulty to navigate social environments. This can be quite frustrating for parents because we don’t want our child to feel isolated from their peers or have difficulty communicating effectively. We want to be able to teach them essential social skills, so they can function and interact normally with other people. Our guest today works around play, specifically using LEGO® in his clinical practice to help children on the autism spectrum to become socially competent naturally, but in a fun way.

Dr. Daniel LeGoff is a clinical and developmental neuropsychologist who was born and educated in Canada and is currently a clinical supervisor and consultant based in Pamplona Beach, Florida. He was educated in Vancouver British Columbia and completed his clinical training in Chicago and Honolulu. He is best known for his work on improving social development using collaborative LEGO® Activities. This model was developed to meet the needs of the growing population of children and adolescents who had social learning difficulties and who did not appear to be improving with standard forms of psychotherapy or behavioral interventions. After publishing the initial studies on this method, Dr. LeGoff collaborated with colleagues in the USA and UK to write a treatment manual and a subsequent book of case studies. Since then, this approach has been adopted in over 50 countries and the manual is available in six languages. Dr. LeGoff continues to do research and provides consultation and training internationally to universities, clinics, and provider groups on LEGO®-based therapy.

Key Learnings 

Tune in to our conversation and learn:

• What Dr. LeGoff was doing before he got into the area of helping children with social learning difficulties and pioneering LEGO®-based therapy
• How a simple observation of two boys playing in his clinical practice led him to pioneer LEGO®-based therapy
• The roles kids get to play during a LEGO® session and how these roles teach interdependence
• The difference in the way boys and girls bond socially
• How he started LEGO® Clubs and the rules Dr. LeGoff made along with the kids
• How each level in the LEGO® Club teaches different ways on how these kids become socially competent
• The distinction between abilities, skills, and performance
• How this distinction is important when looking at the progress of these kids during LEGO®-based therapy
• How stop-motion films became a student-led initiative inside the LEGO® Club
• The benefits, advantages and social competencies kids can learn from LEGO® Club
• Where we’re currently at with research regarding LEGO®-based therapy
• Do the benefits of LEGO® based therapy transfer outside the clinical setting?
• How parents and families can become an engine for their children to increase social competence
• What some professionals are doing wrong in LEGO®-based therapy
• Resources for professionals are looking to train or facilitate LEGO®-based therapy in their clinical practice

Quotes

“One of the things I try to convey about the LEGO® Club is how real it has to be (for the kids). You can’t orchestrate this. You have to kind of let it happen… it has to be their interest, their connection, their motivation.”

“LEGO®-based therapy is not glamorous, but it is meaningful to kids. It’s not like playing a game. But in LEGO® Club, this is real, this is meaningful, these are your friends, this is a real situation, and I encourage them to be emotionally invested in their relationships and their accomplishments.”

Links:

LEGO (R)-Based Therapy: How to Build Social Competence Through Lego (R)-Based Clubs for Children with Autism and Related Conditions

By: Daniel B. LeGoff, Gina Gomez De La Cuesta, G. W. Krauss, Simon Baron-Cohen

The two books on the topic are widely available, as well as one by two speech-language pathologists, Dawn Ralph and Jacqui Rochester (Building Language Using LEGO Bricks, A Practical Guide), which is also published by Jessica Kingsley.  The first book was the treatment manual, LEGO-Based Therapy (2014), which has been translated into five other languages and is now used in over 50 countries.

Dr Daniel LeGoff is currently working on a third book, tentatively called, LEGO-Based Therapy: Guidance for Families.

Research Article:

• Two large replication studies underway in the UK, one sponsored by the LEGO Foundation, involving Simon Baron Cohen at Cambridge University, and the other sponsored by the NHS at York, Sheffield and Newcastle Universities https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/9/5/e030471

Recent Article:

• https://www.engadget.com/2020-03-11-lego-therapy-autism-spectrum-disorder.html

Email Address: Dlegoff1@hotmail.com

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