Resources & Information
As a therapist, I feel it is my job to educate and provide resources weekly. To that end, I have created a Blog for these resources. I recommend you check back weekly for News and important information that can help you and your family.
Blog
What to Do When the Urge Hits — and Why “Just Don’t” Never Works
You are not going to defeat the urge, and every plan built on defeating it will fail. Here is what to do instead when your hand starts moving toward the phone.
Why You Reach for the Phone the Moment You’re Bored
You did not decide to pick up the phone. The reach had already happened by the time you noticed it. Here is what is actually going on in that gap.
Living for the Weekend: Why We Lose Our Discipline — and How to Get It Back
Most of us don’t lack willpower — we’re running from an area of life that feels out of control. A therapist (with his own history) on how chasing pleasure erodes discipline, and how to rebuild it one small step at a time.
What Actually Helps an Autistic Child When Screen Time Has Tipped — Beyond Just Taking the Device Away
Taking the device away removes the behavior, not the need underneath it. Here’s how to find what the screen is doing for your autistic child — and replace it with something that holds.
Is It a Special Interest or a Screen Addiction? How to Tell the Difference in an Autistic Child
Crush a healthy special interest and you take away something that genuinely helps your child. Dismiss a real addiction as “just his thing” and it quietly costs sleep, school, and friendships. Here’s how to tell which one you’re actually looking at.
How to Set Screen Limits With an Autistic Child Without the Daily Meltdown
For autistic children, the screen-time meltdown is rarely defiance — it’s a transition and predictability failure. Here’s how to build limits that don’t depend on winning the daily battle.
Why Autistic Kids Are More Vulnerable to Screen Addiction (And What Parents Can Do About It)
The tablet meltdown isn’t just defiance. Autistic children are genuinely more vulnerable to screen and internet addiction, because the screen offers exactly what their wiring craves: predictability, reward, regulation, and connection without friction. A therapist who treats both autism and internet addiction explains why the risk is higher — and what actually helps parents.
Heavy Social Media Use Linked to Anxiety in Medical Students
A new study published in Cureus finds that medical students who use social media more than three hours a day report triple the rate of anxiety and significantly lower academic scores. The damage appears tied less to total screen time than to how that time is spent.
Can We Trust the Research Behind ABA Autism Therapy?
Applied Behavior Analysis is the most widely recommended autism intervention in the country, yet a new analysis finds 93% of ‘no conflict of interest’ statements in ABA research are false, with most studies authored by people who profit from it. That doesn’t prove ABA harmful, but the evidence deserves far more scrutiny.
Are Girls Biologically Protected Against Autism?
Boys are diagnosed with autism roughly four times as often as girls, and new research in Nature Genetics offers the clearest explanation yet. Genes that escape silencing on the so-called ‘inactive’ X chromosome — especially a master regulator called ZFX — may give girls a genetic buffer, even as diagnostic bias keeps many girls overlooked.
New Lawsuit Says Roblox and Fortnite Target Children
A landmark lawsuit claims Roblox and Epic Games deliberately engineered their platforms to addict children, using reward systems modeled on slot machines. The complaint details a child who spent thousands of dollars and alleges the companies marketed addictive products as educational while concealing known risks of depression, isolation, and compulsive use.
Why TikTok Makes You Anxious, Lonely, and Unhappy
Short-form video feels harmless, but a two-wave study of university students found that heavy use predicts rising loneliness, which feeds anxiety, which erodes overall life satisfaction. The real damage isn’t the lost time — it’s how endless scrolling displaces the real connection that sustains us, deepening the very discomfort people scroll to escape.
The Surprising Mental Health Benefits of Less Screen Time
Most coverage of screen time focuses on the harm. This research flips the script: when people cut back, mood, attention, and sleep improve quickly — often within a week — and the benefits appear even when the reduction is partial and imperfect. Recovery may be far more achievable than most people assume.
Is Social Media Really an Addiction? What Science Says
After a jury labeled social media addictive, the scientific picture turns out to be more nuanced. Researchers see real, measurable patterns of compulsive use and genuine distress, but no formal diagnosis yet exists. This piece untangles what the evidence supports and why an official label remains out of reach.
New Study Raises Concerns About Pregnancy Medications
A large study in Molecular Psychiatry analyzed over 6 million U.S. pregnancies and found that 14 commonly prescribed medications — certain antidepressants, statins, and beta-blockers — share a biochemical effect that may raise a child’s autism risk, especially when several are combined. Researchers stress that no one should stop a prescribed medication without consulting their doctor.
Big Tech Faces Children’s Addiction Claims in Court
A federal court in Oakland is moving forward with a bellwether trial over claims that Meta, Google, and others deliberately engineered their platforms to addict young users. As the first of thousands of consolidated cases, its outcome could set the template for how courts treat social media harm to children for years.
New Autism Treatment Targets the Gut, Not the Brain
A preliminary study in Frontiers in Pediatrics tested a new fecal-transplant protocol — delivered without antibiotics or invasive bowel prep — on 30 children with autism. Over 30 weeks, core symptoms dropped about 29%, sensory difficulties 30%, and anxiety and depression by half. The results are promising but await larger controlled trials.
Autism and Comorbidities: What Every Parent Should Know
A Medscape review of electronic health records found that autistic children carry a far heavier burden of co-occurring conditions than their peers at every age — from sleep and feeding problems in toddlers to gastrointestinal issues in childhood and anxiety that climbs to nearly 24% by young adulthood. The authors urge routine, team-based screening.
Smartphone Use in School Is Harming How Teens Think
New research finds teens spend over two hours on their phones during the school day, checking dozens of times an hour. The cost goes beyond missed lessons: compulsive checking appears to weaken attention and impulse control during a critical window of brain development, raising the risk of anxiety, depression, and isolation.
Indonesia Bans Social Media for Children Under 16
On March 6, 2026, Indonesia signed a regulation barring children under 16 from high-risk platforms — including YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Roblox — citing a “digital emergency” of addiction, exploitation, and cyberbullying. Rolling out in phases from late March, it makes Indonesia the first non-Western nation to gate children’s access by age.
Therapy Can Help You Too
Therapy is a tool that can lead to lasting change for you and your family. While resources and information are great, sometimes you need someone to help. If you need help, Contact Me, and we will discuss your situation.
