Photos from Bright SPOTs's post

We are very excited here at Bright SPOTs to now offer Music Therapy sessions. Esther-Anna Bennett will be working here at Bright SPOTs on Thursday afternoons offering Music Therapy sessions. Click on the pictures below to learn more about Esther-Anna and the benefits of music therapy. If you are interested in Music Therapy for your child please email us on brightspotsoffice@gmail.com for referral forms.

Autism Discussion Page

Another amazing insightful post for this page. Tomorrow is going to be stressful for lots of kids with back to school, the time change still confusing kids sleep patterns, lots of treats over Halloween. When a child is in a heightened, defensive state increasing demands, commands and expectations is only going to serve to increase the child's stressed state. No learning can occur in a stressed state, focus on getting a child to feel safe, comfortable, supported and happy and the learning will follow naturally.

Toddler Sensory Group starting next Friday. Open to any child age 18 months and up. Please email us at brightspotscork@gmail.com or send us a message here for sign up form. We are excited to get messy and learn through sensory exploration. See the poster below for more details.

Autism Discussion Page

Here at Bright SPOTs we are big fans of the below page and this week the page is discussing the links between Autism and Anxiety. We find that many children with Autism have anxiety, and it can be the anxiety that causes a number of issues alongside the difficulties Autism presents. There are already a number of posts up from the last few days including posts on anxiety and sensory issues and also social anxiety. Make sure to give the page a like as Bill shares extracts from his books daily on the page and offers great insights in to many areas of the Autism Spectrum.

Bright SPOTs are looking for an Early Years Instructor. The job involves working 1:1 with children, 2-5 years old with developmental delays and ASD diagnoses. All interventions are supported by the SLT and OT. More details in the picture attached or email brightspotsoffice@gmail.com with your CV and any questions.

I CAN

This may be information from the UK but it’s still relevant in Ireland. It’s also true that children with language delays can display mental health issues, because being spoken to at a higher level than they understand is stressful. Please consider both sides of the coin and watch for signs of mental health difficulties in children. Contact us in Bright SPOTs if you are concerned or have any questions relating to this post.

Great training yesterday with Safe Care Technologies and Tobii Dynavox in Cork! Thanks all for a very well organised event!

An amazing opportunity to help raise awareness and acceptance and even better it is here in Cork. It is so great to see more and more businesses in Cork educating themselves, staff and others to help raise awareness!

GLUE EAR - How it can affect your child! During the ‘Through Their Eyes’ campaign, something that stood out to us as professionals, was that the start of almost every diagnosis story started with a referral for an audiology appointment. What also stood out was how those referring children for audiology assessments, clearly were not explaining to parents why this is one of the first steps. Firstly, an audiologist will check functional hearing. Mostly, there is no concern with these children’s hearing level and so that is quickly ruled out. The important part to us is that they also examine the workings of the inner ear. While functional hearing can be perfect, any fluid in the inner ear can affect the quality of hearing, or the ability to hear certain speech sounds. When the inner ear is filled with fluid, it can be like you are under water and you are not hearing certain sounds, or words, properly. This is referred to as ‘glue ear’ or Otitis Media. The tests should include a tympanometry test, which measures how well the eardrum can move. If there is fluid in the middle ear, the eardrum will not work properly. (see photo) From a Speech and Language Therapist’s point of view, being able to hear sounds in words is of high importance. We have 3 systems that we need working in harmony so as to be able to learn to speak: visual of the person’s mouth; hearing the sounds being made, and moving our mouth in imitation to the model. If a child is not able to hear the acoustic information, they are down a system before anything else is in play. And again, this is not down to a hearing impairment: if the child has fluid in their ears for 3 out of 4 weeks per month, they have limited hours that they are hearing clearly for, and so limited hours that they have a good model of acoustic information. Sounds like /s/, /f/ and /sh/ are produced at a frequency that does not pass through the fluid in the ear, and so these sounds in particular will not be heard by the child in the weeks when the fluid is at it’s worst. Let’s take the word [shop]. In week 1 when there is no fluid present, the child hears ‘shop’. In week 2, they hear ‘shop’ and then in week 3 and 4 they hear ‘op’: they can no longer hear the /sh/. Not only are they missing out on the good model of the word to copy (acoustic information), but also they are likely to be confused because there are now 2 words for this lovely place that has treats for them: is it a [shop] or an {op}? Learning new words is difficult at this time. And some of these kiddies go through this EVERY month during the winter, and some into the summer season too with Hayfever. From an Occupational Therapist’s point of view, this can affect some key areas for a child. Firstly, fluid build up in the inner ear can cause difficulties with the vestibular system. This in turn can cause issues with balance, coordination and body awareness. We also have noticed that children will adapt to not seeking as much jumping or swinging when they have fluid in their ears, as these activities activate the vestibular system, which when filled with fluid can be hypersensitive. While not the root cause of the following behaviours, a build up of fluid in the ears can cause an increase, or change in the following: The fluid can cause tension which can be released by chewing at times. Think of when you fly and sucking or chewing a sweet/gum helps your ears. Now imagine you have that discomfort for weeks at a time building up. Your need to chew, bite and/or suck is going to increase to try relieve the tension. In extreme cases where the fluid also blocks the sinuses the tension can build up cranially and a child may seek to relieve the tension through pressure on their heads or increasingly use behaviours such as head banging to try relieve any tension. Finally, when the fluid is at its maximum, it can be uncomfortable and painful. This happened to me following a throat and sinus infection before Christmas, and my left ear was full of fluid for almost 2 weeks. Nothing I did would shift it and it took its toll: My sleep, energy levels, concentration, hearing and general mood were all negatively impacted. As an adult, some evenings, the pain after a day’s work would reduce me to tears, if I reached my threshold. I, as an adult, struggled to cope with the pain while completing my daily life activities, and thinking of kids in the same position, I just thought it is no wonder some kids have “off weeks” every couple of weeks. Some signs of glue ear to watch out for: Waxy ears/needing to be cleaned regularly Frequent ear infections Changes in behaviour across a cycle of 4-6 weeks Changes in balance and coordination Changes in sensory seeking activities, ie. increase in oral/head pressure seeking or decreases in swinging or jumping Overall congestion - nose, chest The solution to frequent glue ear episodes is the insertion of grommets, little plastic tubes, which help keep the ear canal open and allow air flow to the inner ear, as well as allowing the fluid to reduce. These can help until the child’s ear canal has grown and they have outgrown the cycle of glue ear. An Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) consultant is the professional who decides if these are needed. Parents can help their child to manage the fluid build up with: steamy bathrooms to help soften wax in the ears Olive oil on cotton wool in the affected ear - if they will tolerate it when they are asleep Having child friendly olbas oil or eucalyptus oil diffusing in the home to help with congestion Avoiding swimming Consulting your GP if you notice behaviour changes like we have described above, as it is likely that the fluid is present in their ears at this time. You want professionals to take note so they can log the frequency of the build up for evidence for the ENT consultant.

Happy Autism Awareness Day! To all our amazing clients and their families from all of us here at Bright SPOTs.

Lisa will be taking over the THRUTHEIREYES Snapchat today at 1pm. Make sure to be following to keep up with all the amazing stories!