Fun new behavioral resource!

Behavior, Attachment, Development....Through swim lessons!

• Parent/Child swim classes
• $85 for the session
• 1 session = 4 weeks
• classes held once a week for 4 weeks
• Currently held in Davis and Salt Lake counties!

Kristal James, LPC founded Aquaire in 2011. She has a son who has benefited greatly from early interventions and has been working professionally to help children with unique needs. Aquaire was originally created with the Aquatics program in mind since Kristal had spent 8 years teaching children to swim prior to working as a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC). Kristal has often been in a position of needing to decide between recreation and treatment options for her own son. Kristal understands the care, concern and commitment involved with balancing family life, interventions, time, money and other stressors. There is a delicate balance between providing for a loved one who needs special attention while providing adequate love and support to those in the family who may not need as much attention and care. Because of the nature of her work, she has also heard several parents report having to make decisions like donating plasma to pay for things like a swim suit for a child because the majority of his or her income has to go to pay for children's psychotropic medications. Determined to find a way to intervene with a cost effective, time effective and normalizing approach, Aquaire was born. Currently, Kristal is dedicating her time and money made from her private practice to the development and success of Aquaire.

Knowing these kinds of decisions are common for families with children who need extra time and attention; Kristal began developing Aquaire. By utilizing everyday activities and coupling them with therapeutic strategies; it is intended to help a child learn secondary skills while mastering emotional, social and behavioral skills. An example exists with the swimming. It is necessary for a child to remain calm in order to learn to swim. Calmness during challenges is also a skill often sought after in counseling interventions. Although this skill takes time to learn (back to back sessions are encouraged); Aquaire hopes to teach secondary skills simultaneously taking full advantage of the needed time.

For more information check out their website at www.aquaire.org

The Legal Impact of DSM-5: Will It Affect Children With Aspergers?

I'm sure by now you have heard in the news about the change that is happening to the DSM-5 (an acronym for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental disorders).  They will be fading out the diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome and including it in the spectrum of Autism or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

Tina found this great article regarding the DSM-5 that will be out in May of 2013 and how it will affect kids currently diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome.
Here are some highlights,

Asperger’s Syndrome will no longer be a diagnosis

The task force stressed that anyone with a prior diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome under the DSM-4 criteria would still meet the diagnostic criteria for ASD under the new DSM-5 criteria.

Be Prepared

As the new edition of the DSM becomes available, parents are encouraged to discuss with their child’s school, current providers, and insurance carrier to determine how the change might affect their child’s access to services and programs.

To Read the entire blog post from The Friendship Circle follow the link here.

If you have any further questions, please call us at 801-272-1068.