The Playful Psychologist

In the season finale episode of The Playful Psychologist podcast, I am joined by Educational & Developmental Psychologist, Sandhya Menon. Sandhya is the founder of Onwards and Upwards Psychology and has a huge passion for neuroaffirming practice in allied health. She is also the brilliant author of the most beautifully, neuroaffirming picture books for children. In this episode, Sandhya shares her insights into neuroaffirming practice. We will explore the following questions: To follow Sandhya on social media, follow @onwardsandupwardspsychology You can also check out her incredible resources, including her picture books and upcoming professional development courses, via her website: https://www.onwardsandupwardspsychology.com.au/

In this weeks episode of The Playful Psychologist Podcast, I am joined by Jess from the instagram account @aussieautismfamily. Jess is the mother of two beautiful kids. Her son Jacob is autistic and her account if full of raw and real challenges and successes of raising an autistic child. As I also have a younger brother who is autistic and I am extremely passionate about supporting the family as a whole, as they navigate a diagnosis. In this episode, Jess shares the diagnostic journey for her son Jacob, what that process was like for the family, and the emotions that come with receiving a diagnosis. I am so grateful to Jess for sharing her experiences with us. If you would like to follow Jess and her beautiful family on social media, her handle is @aussieautismfamily

In this weeks episode of The Playful Psychologist Podcast, I am joined by Mariah Apostolopoulos from Sound Adventures to explore speech delay. Mariah is a speech pathologist based in Melbourne. This episode will explore the following points: To keep up to date with Mariah and her incredible work, follow her on Instagram: @sound.adventures Website with details about speech pathology consultations and group offerings: https://soundadventures.com.au Teachers pay teachers (TPT) for freebies and low cost downloads: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Sound-Adventures-Speech-Pathology Sound Adventure Books: https://soundadventures.com.au/book

In this week's episode of The Playful Psychologist Podcast, I am joined by Sarah Bolitho from Secure Foundations. Sarah is a Master's qualified Child & Family Play Therapist and a mother of three. In this episode, we explore the negative impact labelling children can have. We focus heavily of the negative connotations associated with labelling a child as 'SHY.' We explore why it's time to drop the 'shy' label, give you some ideas of how to respond if someone calls your child shy, and how to reframe 'shy' behaviour more positively. Sarah is a wealth of parenting knowledge. You can follow her on socials at @securefoundations or check out her website and incredible parenting 'POP Club' here: https://www.securefoundations.com.au/

In this weeks episode of The Playful Psychologist podcast, we are going to talk all thing 'toys.' So often, we get sucked in as parents and think we need ALL the latest toys, ALL the new toys and everything in between to keep our kids entertained, But what ends up happening? The more toys they get, the more overwhelmed they get, the less time they spend engaged in quality play, and the MORE we hear ‘I’m bored’ which in turn makes us think we need to get new toys, creating a never ending cycle and cluttering up your home with unnecessary items. Let's break down the topic of toys and figure out what we actually need.

In this weeks episode of The Playful Psychologist, I am joined by Jayde Gutterson to discuss communicating with daycares, kindergartens and pre schools. Jayde is an educator and has worked in childcare settings for many years. Her role is currently based in sessional kindergarten. In this episode, we discuss:

In this weeks episode of the Playful Psychologist podcast, I am joined by Dr Kathryn Hackman, to explore toddler anxiety. Dr Kathryn is the founder of one of the most brilliant apps for anxious/sensitive kids, Courageous Kids. Developed by Dr Kathryn Hackman, in collaboration with a leading paediatric occupational therapist and psychologist, all mothers, the Courageous Kids app is specifically designed to build children's confidence and resilience through the use of editable social stories and story boards. In this episode, the following questions will be explored: You can learn more about Courageous Kids here, or download it in the App Store: https://www.courageouskidsapp.com/

In this weeks episode of the Playful Psychologist Podcast, I am joined by Ali Fiorentino to discuss the role of a school psychologist. Ali is an Australian school psychologist with experience working across primary, secondary and education support centres in rural and remote schools. Ali’s passion areas include suicide prevention, case management, incident management, mental health, staff wellbeing and positive behaviour support. and in this episode, In this episode, we answer the following questions: https://psychology.org.au/aps/media/resource-finder/framework-delivery-school-psych-services-practice-guide.pdf

In this weeks episode of The Playful Psychologist podcast, I am going to share with you how I prepared my clients for going on maternity leave. A lot of these tips are relevant for going on any type of extended leave as an allied health professional, with a few tips specific to going on maternity leave. But, by far the trickiest part of being a pregnant psychologist, was informing the families I work with, that I would be going on leave. Now, don’t get me wrong, 99% of my families were absolutely ecstatic for me and started buying me little baby gifts almost immediately. However, as anyone who has changed jobs or gone on extended leave as a psychologist knows, transitioning your clients to colleagues is a complex and tricky experience. For me, this happened in four stages. This episode will walk you through those stages.

In this weeks episode of The Playful Psychologist podcast, the topics of selective mutism and social anxiety are explored. In this episode, I am joined by Dr Melissa Giglio, who is a child clinical psychologist from the US and the director of a multidisciplinary clinic in Hong Kong. Together with her colleague Daisy Geddes they specialise in treating Selective Mutism and Social Anxiety Disorder in kids, and their clinic is the only one in Asia that has an intensive group therapy program called Confident Crew. In 2022 they published their children's book, Bravery Grows, about a girl who's building up her confidence to do "brave talking" in social situations. The book has been recommended by the the Child Mind Institute and the Selective Mutism Association. This episode will explore: 1. What is social anxiety? 2. What is selective mutism? 3. Is the term 'selective' appropriate? Or does it suggest children are actively choosing to be 'mute?' 3. How do these two diagnoses differ in presentation/cause? 4. How can parents help their children if they are concerned? 5. Tell us a little about the book you guys have released. You can use code PLAYFUL15 to grab a copy of 'Bravery Grows' via this link: https://bravemightyminds.com/store/p/bravery-grows To follow along on social media, check out: @braverygrows @drmelissagiglio @daisygeddes

In this week's episode of The Playful Psychologist Podcast, I will be sharing the tips and tricks that helped with a smooth(er) transition to welcoming our newest son into our family. There is a lot of helpful advice on the internet, and I didn't just want to share an episode that rephrased that content. Instead, I have shared the things we personally found useful, and how we implemented them.

In this episode of The Playful Psychologist, I explore whether every 'quirky kid' is autistic. I think when it comes to autism, we are more aware, but also more confused. We seem to have this idea that any social difficulty or any emotional regulation difficulty constitutes a diagnosis of autism, and that is not the case. I strongly believe that a lot of children with emotional regulation difficulties are misdiagnosed as having autism. So many children are diagnosed as having ODD, ADHD, and even Autism purely because they struggle to regulate their emotions. But emotional regulation difficulties alone, are NOT enough to diagnose any of these conditions. It is our job as allied health professionals to help children with their emotions and work closely with the parents, before jumping to conclusions about a child having a developmental disability. This episode will highlight key diagnostic criteria we are looking for when trying to determine whether a child may meet DSM-5 criteria for autism.

In this weeks episode of The Playful Psychologist podcast, I explore a technique called 'cognitive restructuring.' Cognitive restructuring is a useful technique for understanding unhappy feelings and moods, and for challenging the sometimes-wrong "automatic beliefs" that can lie behind them. As such, you can use it to reframe the unnecessary negative thinking that we all experience from time to time. This episode will explore the steps that psychologists can undertake in order to use this technique with their clients.

In this weeks episode of The Playful Psychology Podcast, I share how I like to use picture books to facilitate a lesson with kids. Picture books are the most versatile resource you can own as a parent or clinician. I love using them to work on emotional awareness and understanding, as well as theory of mind. I share my top tips on how to use picture books and 10 questions I like to ask kids when going through a book.

In this weeks episode of The Playful Psychologist, I share with you my five tips for keeping on top of things as a psychologist. For me, organisation is key to being a psychologist. If I am disorganised, my whole day is 50 times harder than it has to be. So I wanted to share five of my organisation hacks with you. For more information, check out my Student & Graduate Guide here: https://www.theplayfulpsychologist.com/product-page/the-student-graduate-guide

In this weeks episode of The Playful Psychologist, the topic of 'loud noise' is discussed. It is very common for children to dislike loud sounds, especially if they have not heard the sound before. Many children will become upset, anxious, or cover their ears if there is an unexpected noise. These children may not like sounds such as vacuum cleaners, hand dryers, sirens, birthday parties, school bells, blenders cutlery, chewing and even some school situations. Young children may not be able to describe their fear in words. They might cry, scream, hit, bite, or refuse to go to certain place. In this episode, I will explore this in a little more detail, while also offering some general strategies to help kids who may be experiencing this.

In this week's episode of The Playful Psychologist Podcast, the topic of teacher referrals is explored. The role of the teacher has changed so much. While teachers are there to facilitate your child’s learning, their roles and responsibilities have changed dramatically in the 21st Century. When we think of the role of a teacher, we think of planning activities, delivering instructions, assessing learning, and managing classroom behaviour. However, more recently, teachers have been expected to also juggle their existing role, whilst also monitoring and assessing the emotional and behavioural well-being of their students. Consequently, teachers are often stretched thin both in time and patience. This episode will go through the main referral reasons and how to go about this.

In this weeks episode of The Playful Psychologist, I explore sleep hygiene. I think it’s something we all know is important, but maybe we need a little bit of a friendly reminder on the topic. This episode will explore our daily habits that contribute to quality sleep and how to improve our sleep hygiene.

In this weeks episode of The Playful Psychologist, I am joined by Nabula from Supermarket Swap. I was honoured to interview Nabs for this episode and have a raw conversation about trusting your gut as a parent, and making changes that you know can benefit your family. Nabula has helped hundreds of thousands of families make preservative and chemical free supermarket choices through her amazing instagram account and brand new shopping app called 'Supermarket Swap.' I am the proud owner of this app (not gifted or sponsored) and am totally obsessed with it.

Welcome to a brand new season of The Playful Psychologist podcast! In this weeks episode, I am joined by Chrissie Davies from 'Chaos to Calm.' Chrissie I was a Special Ed teacher for 15 years and now has a consulting business where she supports families to understand their child’s behaviour and to approach it using supportive ‘brain based’ strategies and understandings. In this weeks episode, we explore: 1. Brain-based strategies: what are they and why are they important 2. To learn more about Chrissie, her amazing book titled 'Love Your Brain,' and her business, you can check out her instagram: @chrissiechaostocalm or her website www.chaostocalmconsultancy.com