What You Should Know About Cognitive Processing Disorders

on June 7, 2017 at 12:00 PM /

Consider the following story as it relates to this week's piece. I always had a feeling that Jennifer would be a great student. I mean, she’s always running errands for her teachers and has friends in all of her classes. Yesterday, though, I got a call from her math teacher that has me worried sick. Apparently, Jennifer often has trouble with directions and seems to forget instructions immediately after they’re given. On top of that, she’s always distracted, always needs to be redirected to her work and needs more time than others to complete her assignments. I never thought my little...

Boredom: How a Lack of Anything to do Isn’t a Bad Thing for Your Kids

By Dr. Wendy Rice

on May 31, 2017 at 7:54 PM /

Consider the following story as it relates to this week's piece. My oldest son Christopher is absolutely ecstatic that there’s only a week left in the school year before summer break. For months he’s been counting down the days when he can just take it easy and relax. I suggested to him that maybe he should consider attending summer camp like he has over the past few years. He immediately shrugged it off and said he never really liked it and that the only reason he attended was because I thought it was a good idea for him. This made me...

Terror Close to Home: How to Help Your Child Cope with Frightening Events

By Dr. Wendy Rice

on May 24, 2017 at 8:06 PM /

Consider the following story as it relates to this week's piece. My daughter Chelsea has been distraught all day over the incident that happened at the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England. Although we’re far away from where it happened, she’s been devastated to learn that something so horrifying can happen during such a fun event. It got me thinking, if something like this were to hit closer to home, how would I help my kids deal with it? Is there anything I can do to help them overcome such a horrible ordeal if one were to ever happen? Like many people...

Teen Suicide: How to Talk About it with Your Child and What to Look Out For

By Dr. Wendy Rice

on May 22, 2017 at 8:13 PM /

Consider the following story as it relates to this week's piece. I cannot believe that I am even writing this, but last week I found out that one of my son’s classmates committed suicide. They weren’t particularly close, but I could see that Anthony was very upset about it. After all, he’s only fifteen. Of course, I know that there’s a period of grief after someone’s death, but the idea of talking to my own son to help him process or understand why his classmate might have killed himself is beyond me. It’s such an important and sensitive subject, and I...

Learning to Build and Maintain Healthy Adult Mother/Daughter Relationships

By Dr. Wendy Rice

on May 11, 2017 at 1:46 PM /

Consider the following story as it relates to this week's piece. When you think about your relationship with your mother, does it make you smile and feel good inside or do you get a knot in your stomach and start to clench your fists? To the moms, when you think of your daughter, do you feel proud and grateful or do you get angry and think about how your daughter never listens to your advice and generally makes the wrong decisions? Relationships with our mothers can be quite tricky and complex, and we all handle them in different ways. Some daughters have...

FOMO: Don’t be Afraid to Miss Out

By Dr. Wendy Rice

on May 3, 2017 at 4:49 PM /

Blog

Consider the following story as it relates to this week's piece. Erika came home yesterday looking as if something was bothering her to the point of crying. I asked her what was wrong and she said her friend, whom she hadn’t seen in a few months, had just posted a new status on her Instagram. Apparently she had been accepted to NYU and was having a blast planning for New York and collecting everything with NYU on it that she could get her hands on. Erika’s first reaction was to compare her accomplishments with her friend’s. Since she had to start...

An Issue in Later Life: How You Can Deal with ADHD as an Adult

By Dr. Wendy Rice

on April 26, 2017 at 10:05 PM /

ADHD
Blog

When I was diagnosed with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) as a kid, I didn’t know what to expect. All I remember was feeling terrified. I felt like as though something was seriously wrong with me that would make my life difficult to deal with. Luckily for me, it was easier to manage than I expected once I learned about ADHD and followed through on some of the tips my psychologist gave me. Now that I’m an adult, doing a few seemingly small things here and there like keeping distractions out of my way at work or making lists of...

Overwhelming Worries: A Close Look at Anxiety Disorders

By Dr. Wendy Rice

on April 19, 2017 at 8:52 PM /

I have to admit that I haven’t felt like myself lately. Actually, I’m not even sure what truly feeling like myself is like anymore. I often find myself trying to battle the most uncontrollable worries imaginable: a sense of panic and overall restlessness. The funny thing is that I can’t find a reason why I’m feeling this way to begin with. I mean, I experience stress from work and normal issues at home, but is this enough to make it as overwhelming as it is? Do you remember standing in front of your classroom, feeling anxious as you prepared to make...

Join Rice Psychology Group for Some Laughs at a Showing of Avenue Q on May 19th!

By Dr. Wendy Rice

on April 12, 2017 at 4:27 PM /

Blog

Avenue Q Comes to Stageworks Theatre in Tampa. I received an email a few weeks ago from the powers that be at Stageworks Theatre in Tampa saying that they were looking for sponsors for their upcoming run of Avenue Q. Now, I receive many emails from Stageworks, but none garnered the type of instant reaction I had with this one. I couldn’t get my “Yes, sign me up!” response over to them fast enough! What’s so special Avenue Q? Well, Sesame Street aired around the time I was born. I grew up loving The Muppet Movie and totally related to the fact that it’s “not easy...

Child Giftedness: Putting Them to the Test

By Dr. Wendy Rice

on April 5, 2017 at 4:15 PM /

I know every parent takes pride in their children’s accomplishments, but lately I’ve felt like my youngest daughter actually is much more advanced than her classmates. I understand it sounds like I’m just being a mother who admires and cherishes her daughter, but I really mean it. Her vocabulary astounds me, she expresses herself better than many adults I know and she’s extremely creative. I realize how this must sound, but what if she’s a gifted child? I’ve heard that other kids are in the gifted program at her school but never knew how they got there! What’s my first...