Asperger’s Syndrome, Autism Spectrum Disorder, and Nonverbal Learning Disorder may simply be three types of an overarching issue, some scientists say. While there is no agreement in the scientific community (yet) about whether or not the statement is true, there are definite similarities between the three.

Signs of a Nonverbal Learning Disorder

Sometimes described as the opposite of dyslexia – an incorrect statement, but one that can be used to for the purposes of making an analogy – Nonverbal Learning Disorder is a condition in which a child has difficulty grasping concepts, relationships, ideas, and patterns, while not having trouble reading, decoding language, or memorizing material. Other patterns unique to a child with Nonverbal Learning Disorder include problems with spatial awareness, social communication, and fine motor skills. In some cases, Nonverbal Learning Disorder causes the child to repeat questions and take everything very literally.

As a parent, there are several steps that you can take to help deal with your child’s Nonverbal Learning Disorder. The first is to keep the environment as familiar as possible. Often, children with Nonverbal Learning Disorder have an aversion to new situations. By being as specific, logical, and organized as possible, you will minimize the levels of stress your child feels. Nonverbal Learning Disorder requires a routine – sticking to it helps your child focus on other things instead of being distracted by shifts in what they expect.

Another important factor is helping your child with Nonverbal Learning Disorder build confidence and self-esteem. Gently introducing them to safe social situations can teach your child to be more open while interacting with others. It may also prove useful to talk to teachers and school officials – explaining your situation will help the classroom be a more pleasant experience.

When raising a child with a learning disorder, it can also be helpful to contact professionals who will help your child adjust to everyday life.

Solstice can help

If your teen is struggling with behavioral and emotional issues stemming from a learning disorder, Solstice can help guide them on a path toward success. Solstice is a residential treatment center for teen girls and assigned female at birth ages 14-18 struggling with difficulties such as trauma, depression, ADHD, and substance use.

For more information about how Solstice can help your child reach their fullest potential, please call  (866) 278-3345 today!

The Solstice Team

Milieu therapy is an experiential therapeutic approach that utilizes the residential environment of our program to better understand how to help your child approach and overcome their challenges. Milieu” means “middle” in French. This treatment approach may be known as milieu therapy because those in the program are immersed in a small, structured community focused on helping them develop skills and behaviors that’ll enable them to live healthier lives in a larger society.

Milieu therapy programs emphasize routines, boundaries, and open communication to build trust between the people in the program. To help accomplish these goals, therapists use predictable, reliable responses when communicating with participants. The goal is to create a stable, adaptive reality so that people feel safe enough to learn and change.

Building Relationships 

Milieu experiential therapy utilizes the social culture of a residential treatment environment to create positive changes in your child’s behavior.  A community is created which includes their peers, staff, community roles and responsibilities, groups, and meetings. In Milieu therapy, group dynamics play an important role in shaping behaviors. These group dynamics can help group members understand how their behaviors affect other people around them.

As students work, play, and interact with each other, opportunities and conflicts naturally arise, and they can learn new ways to cope with and respond to them. The positive influence of peers can promote a powerful and sustainable change when combined with the intentional application of other therapeutic interventions.

Small, Home-Like Setting

A nurturing, home-like setting mirrors the environment your child will return to after they leave Milieu therapy. This provides even greater and more realistic insight and opportunities for change. With a smaller therapeutic setting therapists can better see where student’s strengths and weaknesses are, helping them to adapt and grow in real-life scenarios.

Clinical and residential staff work together closely to shape and conduct a therapeutic environment that creates lasting positive outcomes for students. Milieu therapy treats each activity as an opportunity for learning, where students can examine a negative way of thinking or behavior, and talk about how they can change in the future. Milieu therapy can lead your child onto a path towards a brighter, happier future.

Solstice RTC Can Help

We help teen students on their journey towards healing by utilizing a unique blend of therapeutic techniques based upon both traditional and holistic treatment methods. We strive to empower teenage people with the ability to believe in themselves and provide the tools and motivation required to instill these beliefs for life.

Our mission is to support adolescents and their families in developing excellence in relationships, influence, character, and health throughout their life journey. Through relationship-based programming, we help students restore and rebuild healthy, close relationships with their families, peers, and staff. Contact us today at (866) 278-3345 for more information.

The Solstice Team

As our children hit their adolescent years, most parents begin to see a shift. Teens begin to gain more independence and they start to place more and more value on peer relationships. Because their friendships are so important to teens, peer pressure can become a very big issue during this time. Teens can become influenced by their peer circles positively, but there can also be a negative side as well.

Teen peer pressure can be dangerous

The pressure teens face from their peers can lead them into unhealthy behaviors, such as substance abuse and speeding. This is mainly because teen brains take more pleasure in social acceptance than adult brains. Because of this, teens are more likely to succumb to the pressure put on them by their peers.

According to a study conducted by the University of Michigan, teens might feel the effects of peer pressure more intensely from their close friends, as opposed to a group of their peers, because they care about them and value their opinions. Pressures from a best friend can feel more forceful and intimate than that from a larger group.  For example, if a teenage girl’s best friend started drinking because they have joined a new social group, they might have a hard time saying no if their friend pressures their to have a drink. They might not want to lose their best friend to this new group of friends. If they have this fear, it is likely they will drink.

It is important for parents to get to know their teen’s friends, and understand what motivates your teen’s relationships. If you find that your child is spending a lot of time with a friend who is making poor choices, you have already established a dynamic where you can talk with your teen about what is going on. You can ask their if they have any concerns about their friends and give their the opportunity to problem solve with your support. 

The positive side of teen peer pressure

Peer pressure also has a positive connotation, as teen girls and assigned female at birth might be influenced by their peers to do positive activities, such as joining a new club or helping out in the community. These new activities that can assist in building strong pathways in the brain.

As described in the article, “Teens and Decision Making: What Brain Science Reveals,” neural connections that are weak or not used very often are removed during the teen years through a process called synaptic pruning, which allows the brain to redirect valuable resources toward more active parts of the brain. Because of this, teens can, through new choices and behaviors, shape their own brain development. Through peer pressure, teens are often encouraged to engage in skill-building activities, such as sports or debate, that can not only provide challenges that stimulate the brain, but can also build stronger pathways within the brain, leading to greater academic success for the future.

Solstice RTC can help

The effects of peer pressure, although sometimes positive, can be damaging to your teen’s self esteem and daily habits. If your teen has fallen into negative activities due to peer pressure, such as substance abuse, Solstice can help. With our specialized, clinically intensive residential treatment program, we can provide your teen girl or child assigned female at birth with the help they needs to overcome peer pressure and begin their path toward healing.

For more information, please call us at (866) 278-3345.

The Solstice Team

Teenagers are known for going from talking a mile a minute to slamming their bedroom doors and taking vows of silence the next. It can be just as confusing for your child as it feels to be on the receiving end of their sudden changes in mood and attitudes. Some degree of mood swings in teenagers in normal, as they experience a sudden influx of hormones and are struggling to navigate the bridge between childhood and the adult world, but teenage mood swings can be a warning sign for bigger issues. 

Why Are Teens so Moody?

There are multiple reasons teens are prone to moodiness and none of them occur in isolation. 

• Puberty involves a lot of biological changes, both physically and neurologically. Being unfamiliar with these intense bursts of hormones can feel overwhelming. Hormone imbalances can lead to
• Lack of emotional awareness. A common theme in teens is being able to admit their emotions are all over the place, but not really being able to explain what they’re feeling or where it’s coming from. Teen’s emotional brains develop at a more rapid pace than parts of their brain responsible for decision making. 
• Changing social norms. Middle school is hard. High school is hard. Teens place a higher value on peer acceptance and feel pressure to conform to certain standards. In childhood, relationships aren’t based around social rules, at least not on a conscious level. However, as teens get older, they are more likely to struggle with trying to fit in, which can be an impossible task when trying to fit a certain mold.
• Higher levels of stress. Adolescence is a period of a series of major life changes, often all at once. It is not surprising that teens are just as stressed out as adults, if not more. According to a recent survey, over a third of teens report that their stress levels have a significant impact on feelings of depression and exhaustion. 
• Sleep deprivation. Teens need more sleep than any other age group and between school, extracurriculars, and socializing, they also get less sleep than other age groups. While they may not be pulling all-nighters all the time, over time, getting less sleep than their bodies need can lead to exhaustion and moodiness.

When to Reach out for Support

While most teens go through “phases” where their mood changes frequently, variability between extreme emotions usually decreases over time. Adults still experience the full range of emotions, but not quite as rapidly and they report having a greater sense of control over their emotions. For some people, this emotional roller coaster isn’t limited to adolescence. It is difficult to diagnose mood disorders, like bipolar, in adolescence because there are so many different factors that affect their mood swings. The biggest indicator that their mood swings may be a warning sign for something greater depends on how it impacts their daily functioning. 

Finding appropriate help depends on possible reasons for mood swings. In addition to bipolar disorder, they are also common in teens struggling with depression, ADHD, and post-traumatic stress.

Mood swings are associated with:

• Difficulty managing intense emotions, like anger or hopelessness
• Increased impulsivity and risky behaviors
• More interpersonal conflict
• Longer-lasting periods of intense emotions, such as days or weeks
• Unstable sense of self

Solstice Can Help

Solstice RTC is a residential treatment program for young girls and assigned female at birth ages 14-18 who struggle with mental health issues, such as mood swings, anxiety, depression, trauma, and relationship struggles. We are dedicated to teaching teens how to incorporate healthy habits into their lives. Students will leave with the skills they need to transition into the world feeling confident, happy, and able to manage their emotions. We can help your family today!

For more information about mood swings in teens, call 866-278-3345. 

The Solstice Team

For some students, academic challenges aren’t just struggling to get an A on an exam or passing the SATs—for some, it can seem like an impossible obstacle that can’t be overcome. Students with learning differences, like ADHD, can sometimes slip under the radar in typical schools, never getting the help they need to thrive. 

Being in an environment that supports these students and guides them towards overcoming this adverse experience has been shown in studies to increase the chances of a student’s success later in life. 

How struggle can lead to future success

Many researchers argue that “resilience”–the ability to recover quickly from setbacks and challenges–is learned, you’re not born with it. This means that through deliberate actions, thoughts, and processes, you can acquire that skill.

A recent study found that in some cases “learning to set and adjust goals and cope with adversity is more important for life success than improving cognition.” Now, they’re not saying to stop reading or learning how to do calculus, they’re saying that these types of “resiliency” skills are incredibly important for thriving in life.

Think about it–we all go through hard times. It’s extremely unlikely for anyone to go their entire life without having at least one “bad” thing happen to them. Whether that bad thing is losing someone you love, getting in a car accident, getting fired, or failing an important class.

For teens, the latter can be devastating if they don’t have the right support system and thought processes. For example, take a student who already struggles with self-confidence because they have an undiagnosed learning disability. They studied as hard as they could and still failed the very important exam–now they feels even worse about herself and may even develop depression or anxiety.

The researchers in this study believe that training these teens who are prone to academic challenges and adversity could help them get through it more effectively. They discovered that by teaching struggling teens self regulation–such as setting goals or learning from their mistakes–helped them perform better in school and in life. While academic challenges take place in school, they’re often linked to outside issues that need to be dealt with.

If you believe your daughter’s academic challenges are the result of deeper issues, it’s important to reach out to a professional for further guidance.

Solstice is here for your daughter

Solstice is a groundbreaking residential treatment center for girls, ages 14 to 18. Our girls and assigned female at birth often grapple with depression, academic challenges, anxiety, trauma, ADHD, and other emotional or behavioral problems when they come to us.

Through a unique combination of therapeutic programs based upon both traditional and holistic mental health treatment, we treat our clients with age and gender specific techniques. We strive to empower teenage people with the ability to believe in themselves and provide the tools and motivation required to instill these beliefs for life.

For more information about how we help with academic challenges at Solstice, please contact us at (866) 278-3345.

The Solstice Team