All Search Results
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What every parent should know about mental health in kids and teens
As a mental health provider, I often hear how parents and guardians of children tend to think their child is “too young” to have a mental health diagnosis. It is unfortunate, but I have noticed that the stigma of having a mental health condition gets in the way of understanding and treating children many times. Mental health conditions and disorders don't only affect adults. Children and teens can experience mental health problems, too. In fact, research shows that most mental disorders follow a developmental course that typically starts early in life. According to the National Institute of Mental Health “this is true not only of conditions such as autism and ADHD, which are well known for having onset in childhood, but also for mood, anxiety, and psychotic disorders. So, many people who suffer from depression, social phobia, obsessive compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia showed signs before they were 24 years old.”
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How we help teens get healthy in a healthy and enjoyable way
The Teen Xpress program is part of the Howard Phillips Center for Children and Families. We offer health care, mental health counseling, case management, and nutrition and dietary services to teens at select schools in Orange County. As the Teen Xpress mental health therapist, I meet with adolescents every day that are interested in changing their lives. Usually, the teens I work with want to make changes behaviorally or emotionally, but they often also express interest in making physical changes as well. It is not unusual to hear teens say that they want to lose weight.
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Why (and how) you should get your child involved in music
As a music therapist, I am a fierce advocate for using music to enact positive change in peoples’ lives. Music can do amazing things, and being exposed to music at an early age can have significant advantages. I believe my parents’ decision to enroll me in piano lessons as a kid was something that helped enrich my life and guide me to my current career. Music is something many of us are exposed to daily, but we don’t always engage in music with the purpose of fully understanding it. Of course, it is important to be well informed about how you are exposing your child to music throughout their development in order to ensure the most benefit.
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Are you cleaning your child’s ear with cotton swabs?
Earwax. It’s sticky, gooey and a terrible shade of yellow, certainly not something you want to see on your baby or young child. And when we do see that yellow goo, many of us manage it by what seems to be a very logical course of action- we take a cotton swab (often referred to by the brand name Q-tip) and clean out our kids’ ears. It seems as much a common sense act of caring for our child as brushing their teeth or washing their hair.
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Learn How You Can Keep a Child From Dying in a Hot Car
One of the greatest threats to your child’s health may be sitting in your driveway, and a life-threatening accident can occur in the blink of an eye. It’s not something we want to think about, but as parents we must think about the risk in order to prevent it from happening in our families.
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For Spina Bifida patients, a new program makes a tremendous difference as they age
The Spina Bifida Program at Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children continues to make strides to improve the health and quality of life of Spina Bifida patients both within the Orlando Health hospital system and the Central Florida community. The Spina Bifida Clinic at Arnold Palmer Hospital is a multi-specialty collaborative team of dedicated pediatric physician specialists and healthcare providers, including nurse managers, therapists and social workers that deliver comprehensive, quality care for our special kids and families. The program cares for children of all ages- from babies diagnosed in utero through childhood and into early adulthood- and has been serving the needs of Spina Bifida patients in Orlando for over 35 years.
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Teens are juuling at school and parents are clueless about it
Have you heard your teen mention “juuling” or something called a “Juul”? Perhaps you thought it was some new slang term your
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How smartphones and social media contribute to depression and anxiety in teens
I recently celebrated my 10-year anniversary working as a therapist with the Teen Xpress program. I have now spent over a decade counseling teenagers, and in that time clothing styles, technology, politics, methods of learning, even socializing has evolved. In all the ways that the world has changed, though, it seems that nothing has rocked a teen’s world more than the invention of the smart phone and social media.
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A simple change you can make if you're concerned about your child's weight
Here are some ways to prevent portion distortion and keep portions in check.
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How smartphones and social media contribute to depression and anxiety in teens
Social media: Our kids have never known life without smartphones, but has the digital revolution affected their development?
