Organised Chaos Female Male Aspergers

Caroline Goldsmith is a psychologist in private practice with over 30 experience of neurodiversity (15 as a professional). She talks here about Organised Chaos Female Male Aspergers.

One trait we hear of often is that of messy rooms and living spaces of people with Aspergers. It was assumed that they are supposed to be fixated on having things in their right places.

Well here is the news; they are often fixated with having things in their right places but those right places as the neurodiverse person sees are to have things where only they know where it is! Hence the term organised chaos. Their living spaces often look chaotic. However they have a fair idea where they can lay their hands on what they need. If not then it’s most likely because ‘someone moved it’

Neurodiverse people tend to be blitz cleaners rather than daily maintaining order and tidying up. This means the notion will suddenly take them to clear the area and enact the kind of order. where one could do surgery in the room or space. Then over time things fall back to the organised chaos again.

If you live with a neurodiverse person it is important to bear in mind that they suffer from enough inner and self criticism without being constantly reminded that they are messy or untidy. Which is a subjective opinion by the way.

There is nothing wrong in this kind of living organisation and the worst thing a neurotypical can do is to step in and blitz it themselves. Although it may be interesting to read up on Martha Stewart’s cleaning methods its not going to happen for a neurodiverse person so just accept that they need their own space where they can go and find themselves if nothing else.

If you would like to speak to me about diagnosis intervention or goals I am always happy to hear from you Caroline 087 387 6841

Private Autism Assessments

Private Autism Assessments – what are my options?

If you have been on a state waiting list for a while you may be considering Private Autism Assessments. So what can you expect from this process?

Private Autism Assessments assess if your child has an Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This could help you discover what services your child needs and make a plan to get them in place.

Speech delay is not always an indication of ASD as it could also be just a delay (from which they could catch up). So look out for what we would call communicative intent. This is where your child may not communicate with speech but they are eager to interact and make you understand what they need and want you to take notice of them. In the assessment there are certain tools that will help to differentiate what is a delay and what could be related to an ASD. Some parents fret that this wont be taken into consideration. But it will and the assessment tools used to differentiate nowadays are very sensitive.

The assessor will be looking out for habits and compulsions and obsessions and will ask about those and observe any that are seen in the assessment. There will be toys and activities to try and see how they play with those and their reactions to sharing fun and enjoyment.

Social skills and mixing and interacting with other children will be also asked about and its important to give as accurate a picture as you can because this is a big part of what the intervention report will focus on so its good to know what your child’s needs are.

Before private autism assessments and after you will have many questions so we are happy to chat with you and explain the process step by step so it is not overwhelming.

Do give us a call at any time 087 387 6841

pearson clinical assessment — Private Autism Assessments

See assessment Competencies here

Caroline Goldsmith Psychologist Qualifications

Caroline Goldsmith Psychologist Qualifications Call today for free professional advice 087 387 6841

Caroline has studied at the Open University UK, University of East London UK, Trinity College Dublin, CMIT Institute Dublin and The National Academy of Neuropsychology USA. She specialises in Autism assessment, diagnosis and intervention. Caroline Goldsmith Psychologist Qualifications

Caroline Goldsmith Psychologist Qualifications

Adult dispute resolution and counselling is a further passion which Caroline Goldsmith has psychologist qualifications to address. The client list has grown by referral over several years. What is more important for this type of intervention is to build a trusting and comforting space for couples to feel at ease to share their difficulties. While the impartial observer is keeping things on track and working towards a conclusion that serves the interests of both parties.

Child Diagnosis

When dealing with child diagnosis it is important to make sure that the child has the most appropriate intervention. Diagnosis is key to making a good intervention report in order to achieve long term best outcomes. Parents do not just want to know whats wrong but need to know how to intervene to fix it.

Caroline Goldsmith Psychologist Qualifications

Training

Training is an on going part of any psychologists career. Also training others who come along and are upcoming in the profession. The train the trainer course is an excellent course for those wanting to get into training. the focus is on making sure that the objectives of the training are absorbed by the learner according to the learning style of the audience. Over the length of the course the trainers are schooled in the four learning styles of Honey a & Mumford (2000), LSQ – Activist, Theorist, Reflector and Pragmatist. Often run by town and city chambers of commerce the courses run for 5 or 8 days. Caroline Goldsmith training qualifications are that she completed the 8 day course with the Waterford chamber of commerce.

Publishing articles, reports and book chapters

Peer review is the gold standard of academic publishing. Caroline has may articles, reviews conference papers and a best selling children’s book to her credit.

Caroline would love to hear from you if you feel that what you have read makes you feel that you can work together. To get to a place where you need to be

Call today for free professional advice 087 387 6841

Research News Professor John F. Cryan Professor & Chair at UCC Anatomy & Neuroscience secures a 4.8m grant to investigate gut brain connections

Research News

micronourish-brain-gut-impact — Research News

Professor John F. Cryan Professor & Chair at UCC Anatomy & Neuroscience secures a 4.8m grant to investigate gut brain connections

Research news shows the professor is currently leading a team of researchers to investigate Gut & Microbiome connections as relates to various immune and neuro-psychiatric conditions. The research looks very innovative and may shed light on such gut brain connections in Autism and related neuro-developmental disorders.

Research News Gut Brain Connections

Early studies conducted in mice have paved the way for more research in the area, which hopes to yield treatment interventions with novel new approaches.

In 2014 Professor Cryan along with colleague Dr.Mark Lyte of Texas Tech University published Microbial Endocrinology: The Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis in Health and Disease. A groundbreaking work on the subject of gut brain connections.

Dr Lyte has spent over 25 years trying to prove that gut microbes communicate with the nervous system using some of the same neurochemicals that relay messages in the brain.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/28/magazine/can-the-bacteria-in-your-gut-explain-your-mood.html?_r=0

Tying into the work of professor Cryan the two passionate researchers are heralding a new era in gut brain connection discoveries.

Current research interests of Professor Cryan include the neurobiological basis of stress-related neuropsychiatric disorders including depression, anxiety and drug dependence. Moreover, his group is also focused on understanding the interaction between brain, gut & microbiome and how it applies to stress and immune-related disorders, including irritable bowel syndrome and obesity and neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism. He is also interested in applying novel approaches to facilitate drug/siRNA delivery to the brain in vivo.

Research News Gut Brain Connections

Prof. Cryan’s research group consists of 12 Postdoctoral Fellows, 14 PhD students, 2 MD students, 2 MSc Students, 3 research scientists and various visiting students from Ireland, Spain, The Netherlands, USA & Canada. It is funded by Science Foundation Ireland, the Health Research Board, Enterprise Ireland and the Irish Research Council. Moreover, Prof. Cryan receives funding as a PI on the two different EU Framework 7 Programme grants.

Research News Gut Brain Connections

Neurodiversity ND

Neurodiversity…ND

Caroline Ward Goldsmith

Neurocosmopolitanism a site dedicated to furthering understanding of Neurodiversity ND gives as few Basic Terms & Definitions

New paradigms often require a bit of new language. This is certainly the case with the Neurodiversity ND paradigm – even the word neurodiversity itself is still relatively new, dating back only to the late 1990s.

The author says “I see many people – scholars, journalists, bloggers, internet commenters, and even people who identify as Neurodiversity ND activists – get confused about the terminology around neurodiversity” The misunderstanding and incorrect usage of certain terms often results in poor and clumsy communication of the message, and propagation of further confusion (including other confused people imitating their errors).

For those of us who seek to propagate and build upon the Neurodiversity ND paradigm – especially those of us who are producing writing on neurodiversity – it’s vital that we maintain some basic clarity and consistency of language, for the sake of effective communication among ourselves and with our broader audiences. Clarity of language supports clarity of understanding.

What It Means:

Neurodiversity ND is the diversity of human brains and minds – the infinite variation in neurocognitive functioning within our species.

What It Doesn’t Mean:

Neurodiversity is a biological fact. It’s not a perspective, an approach, a belief, a political position, or a paradigm. That’s the neurodiversity paradigm (see below), not neurodiversity itself.

Neurodiversity is not a political or social activist movement. That’s theNeurodiversity Movement (see below), not neurodiversity itself.

Neurodiversity ND is not a trait that any individual possesses. Diversity is a trait possessed by a group, not an individual. When an individual diverges from the dominant societal standards of “normal” neurocognitive functioning, they don’t “have neurodiversity,” they’re neurodivergent(see below)

Example of Correct Usage:

“Our school offers multiple learning strategies to accommodate the neurodiversity of our student body.”

Examples of Incorrect Usage:

“Neurodiversity claims that…”
This writer is actually trying to talk about either the neurodiversity paradigm or the Neurodiversity Movement. Neurodiversity, as a biological characteristic of the species, can’t “claim” anything, any more than variations in human skin pigmentation can “claim” something.

“Neurodiversity is a load of nonsense.”
Really? So human brains and minds don’t differ from one another? There’s an awful lot of scientific evidence that shows quite plainly that there’s considerable variation among human brains. And if we all thought alike, the world would be a very different place indeed. The person who wrote this sentence was probably trying to object to the neurodiversity paradigmand/or the positions of the Neurodiversity Movement, and has ended up sounding rather silly as a result of failing to distinguish between these things and the phenomenon of neurodiversity itself.

“My neurodiversity makes it hard for me to cope with school.”
The correct word here would be neurodivergence, rather than neurodiversity. Individuals diverge; groups are diverse.

Caroline Ward Goldsmith

Aspergers Syndrome

Aspergers Syndrome is increasingly being noticed in later life according to Waterford Psychology a national assessment service…

Caroline Ward Goldsmith

People often think “I have managed up until now and I don’t need any help so why get a diagnosis now?” and “do I want to know if I have Aspergers Syndrome?”

This is a question that often comes up and the answer simply is that managing is not really living now is it?

Being able to get past things or get through the day or coping is less than the truly happy, content and fulfilled life you deserve. The life you may see other people having and wonder why can’t that be me?

Getting into a program now can assist you to fulfil your dreams and goals and to gain inner peace and happiness. You can get a rest from the constant turmoil of inner stress and never feeling that you are on top of life or that you have a value.

Anxiety drives thoughts to be always productive, measuring up and always on call which produces the stress you feel. Ruminating on such thoughts produces anxiety cycles. Perhaps you never understood where those thoughts come from or you may think that everyone has them or that you are the only person who thinks like that.

Anxiety is often the driving factor that makes people think of getting an assessment as they know that the Anxiety is a symptom and not the whole picture.

If you stop and look up you will see that you have an amazing amount of productivity in various avenues that probably gives everyone around you a lot of satisfaction and help but you don’t feel the benefit of it.

Diagnosis is the start of the rest of your life which can be lived in a much more self satisfying and content way with interventions that come after the diagnostic process.

Call to talk to someone who really does understand your motivations and challenges… 087 387 6841

PDA Pathological Demand Avoidance

PDA Pathological Demand Avoidance according to the National Autistic Society is now considered part of the Autism Spectrum.

Caroline Ward Goldsmith

PDA Pathological Demand Avoidance is now considered to be part of the autism spectrum. Individuals with PDA share difficulties with others on the autism spectrum in social aspects of interaction, communication and imagination. However, the central difficulty for people with PDA is the way they are driven to avoid demands and expectations. This is because they have an anxiety based need to be in control.

People with PDA seem to have a better social understanding and communication skills than others on the spectrum and are able to use this to their advantage.

The main features of PDA Pathological Demand Avoidance are:

resists and avoids the ordinary demands of life
appearing sociable, but lacking depth in understanding
excessive mood swings and impulsivity
comfortable in role play and pretend, sometimes to an extreme extent
language delay, often with good degree of catch-up
obsessive behaviour, often focussed on people.

As the term spectrum suggests, individuals are affected in different ways and to varying degrees.

Autism Assessment Professional Bodies Competencies

Articles and Publications Caroline Ward Goldsmith

Often in cases of PDA there will have been a passive early history, but this is not always the case. It is believed that there may be neurological involvement in some cases, with a higher than usual incidence of clumsiness and other soft neurological signs.

Other children and young people on the autism spectrum can display one or more of the features of PDA. When many occur together it is helpful to use the PDA diagnosis, as the strategies and interventions that help a person with PDA differ to those that benefit others on the autism spectrum.

People with PDA can be controlling and dominating, especially when they feel anxious. However, they can be enigmatic and charming when they feel secure and in control. Many parents describe their child with PDA as a ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ character. It is important to acknowledge that these children have a hidden disability. Many parents of children with PDA feel that they have been wrongly accused of poor parenting through lack of understanding about the condition. These parents will need a lot of support, as their children can often present severe behavioural challenges.

People with PDA are likely to need a lot of support into their adult life. Limited evidence so far suggests that the earlier the diagnosis and the better support that they have, the more able and independent they are likely to become.