By Jaclyn Rink, MSCP, LLP
Assistive Technology for Dyslexia
by: Emily Kavanagh, MS, LLP
Individuals with dyslexia are often creative, out-of-the-box thinkers with the ability to problem-solve in ways that others may not think of. Some of the world’s greatest inventors, teachers, entertainers,...
The Problem Solving Proces
By Dr. Amanda Klingensmith, Ph. D.
A common problem that many children and teens encounter when they are spending a lot of time with friends...
ABC'S of Reducing Emotional Vulnerability
A Proactive Tool for Managing Negative Emotions from DBT
By: Jaclyn Rink
Try accumulating positives that impact you in both the short-term and long term.
Short Term: Do pleasant things that are possible now (e.g., play a fun...
5 Tips for Coping with Grief and Loss
The experience of grief and loss is highly individualized. There is no cookie-cutter amount of time grieving lasts, nor is there a step-by-step foolproof plan to eliminate the often painful feelings associated with loss. However, there are many tips...
Dyslexia: 10 Common Warning Signs (in the classroom, on the playground & at home)
In my 25 years of evaluating and treating individuals with Learning Disabilities (LD’s), I have come to the ongoing conclusion that they are quite often misunderstood, even by educational and healthcare professionals. There are...
Fill Up Your Gas Tank: 50 Simple Self-Care Ideas
Fill Up Your Gas Tank: 50 Simple Self-Care Ideas
I hear it every day, “Jaclyn, I don’t have time for self-care.” With our lives being as busy as they are, I can completely understand this. We are trying to simultaneously...
How to Identify a School Shooter: A Psychologist's Perspective
By Drs. John and Pamela McCaskill
With the recent tragic school shooting in our home state of Michigan, people are asking us, “How will I know if a student is at risk for being an active school shooter?”
We wish we...
6 Tips for setting healthy boundaries during the holidays (or any time of the year).
...
How to set SMART goals
By Jaclyn Rink, MSCP, LLP
Learn the FACTS About Suicide
10 Tips for Getting the ZZZzz's Back on Track
By Truc Nyguen, MS, LLP
We all know one thing for certain… getting kids back on their normal sleep schedule during the school year is a crucial (and super frustrating) aspect for school success. We know that sleep plays an extremely...
Autism Q & A with Dr. Nicole
Autism Q&A
With Nicole Wozniak, Psy.D
What is Autism?
A neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by social, emotional, and/or communication problems. Individuals with autism may exhibit repetitive, stereotyped behaviors and have...
The Pros & Cons of Technology Time
By: Jaclyn Rink, MSCP, LLP
The CDC recommends limiting your tech time to 2 hours per day, not including the time necessary to do homework/work.
Children and teens (ages 8-18) spend approximately 7.5 hours a day on...
GIVE: Skills for Social Success
By Dr. Amanda Klingensmith, PH.D.
Summer is finally here! What’s the number one priority on most kids’ list this summer: play as much and as often as possible! For some kids, this means playing as many hours of video games as...
The Myths of Eating Disorders
By Alesha Miller, MS, LLP
Debunking some of the most common Myths about Eating Disorders.
Myth: Eating disorders are not a big deal.
Fact: Many people believe eating disorder are just about food and often encourage their loved one to...
The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic On Mental Health Care: A Psychologist's Perspective
By Pamela A. McCaskill, Ph.D., LP
Have you ever wondered what this past year has been like from a psychologist’s perspective? People often ask me, how are you doing in the midst of all this chaos? To put it mildly, the past...
Social Media Checklist For Mental Health
By: Jaclyn Rink, MSCP, LLP
Follow someone who debunks “influencers” and how they take photos
Follow someone who promotes good news happening in the world (e.g., acts of kindness etc.)
Follow someone who promotes...
5 Tips for Managing Screen Time
By: Pamela A. McCaskill, Ph.D.
One of the most common questions parents are asking me these days is, “How do I limit my child’s use of technology and screen-time when it seems to be so much a part of their daily learning,...
Don't Judge Your Judgement: How to Practice Mindfulness During a Global Pandemic
By: Nicole Wozniak, Psy.D., LP.
What do you get when you add one part global pandemic, one part virtual schooling, and one part uncertainty about the future? The answer is the perfect recipe for anxiety. At some point this year, you...
Top Ten Stress Management Tips For Teachers
By: Dr. Nicole Wozniak, PsyD.
It used to be that every year, August to June, people knew what to expect. In August, parents took their children shopping for new school supplies, while teachers began organizing classrooms and lesson...
5 Tips to Beat the Holiday and Post-Holiday Blues
By Emily Brzak, MA, TLLP.
1. Think of the new year as a blank slate. This is an excellent time to begin a new hobby or establish a new goal to steadily work towards. Mine? Train my 12-week old puppy Lola to chew on objects that are not...
Cultivating Mindfulness during Covid-19
By: Ellen Barrett-Becker, Ph.D.
Covid-19 has created unprecedented stress for all of us. Balancing new work and school demands during the pandemic has been uniquely challenging. Luckily, mindfulness-based techniques can help you find your center and calm in the storm of stress and anxiety.
Making Meaning Out of a Crisis: What COVID-19 Has Taught Me.. Part One.
By: Jaclyn Rink, MSCP, LLP.
The last few weeks have been a whirlwind for our world. There has been so much movement. We panicked a bit.. (ok, maybe a lot), we stocked up on Kraft Mac N’ Cheese, shut-down our schools, brought our work...
What is Telemental Health and How Does it Work?
By Beverly M. Griffor, MA, JD, MS, MBA, TLLP
This is a time of changing rules and unsettled norms. Parents are trying to teach their children, all while working from home or coping with layoffs. Children are missing their friends and the ease of...
Overwhelmed by Your Teenager? Welcome the Club: Top Tips for Parents with Struggling Teens
By Jaclyn Rink, MS
It took me many weeks of merely thinking about this blog post before I actually sat down to write it. Simply, because it felt overwhelming. What in the world would I write about trying to compose a blog post for parents who are...
Now Offering DBT Skills Training for Teen Anxiety, Depression & Anger.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is an empirically supported treatment that aims to teach skills and strategies that help to regulate emotions and improve relationships. There are four main categories of skills: Mindfulness, Distress...
A is for August and, apparently, ADHD!
This article in the New York Times is very interesting to read if your child was born in August and you have worries or questions about ADHD. It discusses the link between August births and ADHD – a new study that raises questions about...
How To Help A Child With An Anxiety Disorder.
We thought this was an excellent article to share – a recent report from the Child Mind Institute in New York. Anxiety disorders are the most common health problems in children, and they often go untreated while children suffer. Kids with...
Team Building Event at The Brighton Equestrian Club.
A few photos from our recent, very successful team building event at the Brighton Equestrian Club. Thank you to our friends at the BEC for providing such a fantastic venue. And, of course, thank you to the horses for helping to make our day...
How Horses Help Humans Heal with McCaskill Family Services and the Brighton Equestrian Club.
It’s been an exciting couple of years at McCaskill Family Services! We have been helping people in Plymouth and surrounding areas since Drs. Pam and John McCaskill started the practice way back in 1997. It has been an incredible journey and...
Assistive Technology: Are You Missing Something?
By Emily Kavanagh, M.S.
Limited Licensed Psychologist
Director, McCaskill Family Services Assistive Technology Center
Assistive Technology (AT) refers to: “Any item, any piece of equipment or any system that helps an individual bypass,...
C-BIT: An Alternative Treatment for Tics
By Dr. Amanda Klingensmith, Ph.D.
Many families have a hard time finding resources for their children with tics.
With medications, some patients experience awful side effects, and some find that medications do not affect tic frequency or...
Habits: Making Changes that Last a Lifetime.
By Dr. Fred Upton, Ph.D.
I am a person who always wants to have more data.
I love step-trackers, heart rate monitors, spread sheets and functional analyses of behavior. If I can graph a behavior, I feel like I can control it. This is not...
Let's Care about Self-Care
By Truc Nguyen
Taking care of yourself first and making your mental and physical well-being a priority sounds easy enough, right?
However, as easy as it sounds, it can also sound kind of selfish at times. Well, I’m here to help...
Why Am I Talking to Myself? The Skill You Need to Learn to Fight Anxiety and Depression
By Jaclyn Rink
MSCP, Limited Licensed Psychologist
People tend to think they need help from a mental health professional the moment they catch themselves having conversations in their own head.
A little bit of friendly banter with...
Thoughts from Hannah Burgol, Front Office Secretary, McCaskill Family Services
By Hannah Burgol
Ever since I was young I knew I wanted to work in a setting that was helping people in some way.
Throughout my childhood leading into adulthood, the healthcare field was where I felt I belonged given the time I had spent in...