B.R.I.C.K.S parent book shelf

- The amygdala is the brain’s alarm system and pushes the body into flight, fight or freeze mode.

- The frontal cortex is the part of the brain that helps children to reason, evaluate and make informed decisions.

- When anxiety is activated in the amygdala, logic is useless against it. Rewiring the amygdala based anxiety is possible through support from significant adults in children’s lives. 

- Children with an internal locus of control believe they can control their future. They have an ‘I can do it’ approach to problem solving.

- To instil a resilience mind set in your child requires coaching them in those micro moments when they experience anxiety along with your repeated confirmation that they ‘have got this’.

- The best clinical advice for children with mild anxiety, is to not accommodate this anxiety. Provide adjustments to support their problem solving instead.

- Children can be supported to return to calm through emotion coaching/ active listening. 

- Children with autism have the capacity to be independent and resilient which can help them live independently and be supported to live a fulfilling life.

- Significant adults in children’s lives can be empowered to help promote resilience in children with autism.

- The main developmental stages for children on the autism spectrum along with the events and milestones of different ages will deliver different challenges and barriers to resilience. 

- Parents should not be blamed for their oppositional children.

- Consideration needs to be given to familial structure, behavioural changes and the design of personalised strategies that work for the child.

- Oppositional defiant disorder makes it difficult for children to learn from experiences - mistakes may be repeated and supporting children requires patience, careful planning and dedication. 

- “Small knocks’ are teachable moments to develop our children’s resilience ‘muscles’ in everyday moments of life.

- Resilience can be cultivated through 7 key traits including: courage, gratitude, empathy, self-awareness, responsibility, self-care and contribution. 

- How to calmly observe and identify what feeds your anxiety.

- Guided meditations and strategies for balancing emotions, fears and worries.

- How to deal with uncertainty, perfectionism and procrastination. 

- As significant adults in children’s lives, it is our job to hold up a mirror to them so they can see themselves more clearly.

- By doing this, we empower children to examine their beliefs and behaviours they are currently holding on to.

- The art of’ motivational interviewing’ and ‘influential listening’ is to show more interest in the child’s problem-solving ideas than your own ideas or rationalisations.