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: What is the role of a speech pathologist? What is a speech delay and are there different types of delay? What is the difference between a receptive and expressive speech delay and what are some things to look out for? In Australia, what is the referral process to see a speech pathologist and when should parents seek support? When should parents start to ..read more

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 fo ..read more

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 ..read more

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: What are the biggest difficulties educators face in a daycare setting when it comes to behaviour or a diagnosis? How can allied health professionals work with educators? Are strategies that are suggested to daycares 'unrealistic?' What are the best ways to approach a daycare as a parent ..read more

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: What is anxiet ..read more

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: What is anxiet ..read more

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: What is a school psychologist? What are the roles of a school psychologist? How ..read more

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 wh ..read more

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 ..read more

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 difficulti ..read more