Center For Active Minds

04/22/2026

Increasing confidence around PSSA testing:

We have so many parents who try to build their child’s confidence, but feel like those statements don’t land (e.g, “you’re doing a great job!”).

Providing confidence statements — when a child or teen is feeling nervous or worried — that also build independence include two things: (1) validating their feelings, and (2) statement of confidence. An example of this could be “I’m nervous about taking the test, AND I know I can handle the pressure of the test.”

More information about confidence building, independence, and reducing anxiety can be found through a provider trained in SPACE.

And YES! Both Dr. Sarah and Cassie are trained in SPACE 🪐

❤️

04/21/2026

Good luck to all students doing PSSA testing today and this week!! Enjoy your gum and candy in school :)

04/20/2026

Here's another therapeutic summer camp for kids, teens, and young adults, where staff are trained to support social, emotions, and communication skills --

At Aaron’s Acres, Summer Camp is where kids, teens, and young adults with disabilities (age groups 5–21 or 22-40) get to do real camp—swimming, games, making friends, and new adventures—in a setting that fully accepts and supports them.

04/17/2026

I really love when schools allow us the opportunity to collaborate with them!!

At the Center for Active Minds, we are in a unique position to be able to provide certain services at school, including classroom observations, teacher-based interventions, presentations to teachers, and presentations to students.

And we love providing this service because teachers are able to impact kids’ lives every day. Research shows that providing services at the point of performance leads to better outcomes and more change (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_tpB-B8BXk0&pp=ygUfYmFya2xleSBhZGhkIHNob3cgd2hhdCB5b3Uga25vdw%3D%3D).

Happy Friday!

04/10/2026

It’s Autism Awareness Month 💙

We at the Center for Active Minds are honored to play a role in the larger community of resources for families of children and teens with Autism. We currently provide comprehensive Autism evaluations for toddlers, chosen, teens, and young adults.

Let’s continue to learn, listen, and advocate together.

04/08/2026

The local summer camp for kids with ADHD is now open for registration!

Through grant-sponsorship, the Penn State Hershey Medical Center offers an evidence-based treatment opportunity for children ages 7-11 with ADHD. The summer camp offers a behavioral treatment program that is implemented within a sports camp setting. Here's some information about this year's program:

-Takes place in Etown
-Program runs June 8 - July 17
-Drop off and pick up times are 8:30/9am and 4/4:30pm
-Program is FREE due to grant sponsorship

As a counselor of the Summer Treatment Program for many years, I've seen firsthand how this program can set the stage for children with ADHD to show what they know and be successful.

For more information about the local program and to submit an application, go here: https://sites.psu.edu/abcresearchprogram/parents-and-families/

For information about the evidence-based of the program, go here: https://ccf.fiu.edu/summer-programs/summer-treatment-program/

03/25/2026

To all of you sports parents, we see the invisible labor you do. Coordinating rides to practices, handling last minute changes to practices or games, being more mindful about dinners, and even handling meltdowns before bedtime because bedtime routines have been shifted. You’re MVPs in our book.

02/18/2026

Valentine's Day makes us think about how we can invest in ourselves.

Research shows us that connection, movement, and contributing meaningfully are small things that we can do to increase our feelings of happiness.

Wednesday is a great time to evaluate - which of these can you be doing for the rest of this week?


www.CenterForActiveMinds.com
🟡
Specializing in ADHD & anxiety, the Center For Active Minds offers evidence-based therapy and evaluations for toddlers through young adults. Visit us at www.CenterForActiveMinds.com!
🔴
(Disclaimer: Because different strategies may work or not work for different people, this is meant for informational purposes only and is not intended to replace medical or mental health treatment).
🟢

02/02/2026

We’ve seen a growing need for autism evaluations in our community—and limited local access.

In response, we’ve expanded our evaluation services to include evidence-based, comprehensive autism evaluations through collaboration with a specially-trained psychologist.

Our goal is simple: reduce wait times, improve access, and provide evaluations that actually reflect real-life functioning and important next steps.

Schedule your screening call on our website to initiate the evaluation process, by using the QR code attached!

02/01/2026

We've been working on our website's Evaluation page! www.CenterForActiveMinds.com/Evaluations

We're getting a high number of calls for evaluations, and wanted to update the information about our services. We respect your time, and appreciate those who are researching their options.

We've added Adult ADHD evaluations to what we offer! Our evaluations are guided by current research and best practices, and our training in adult ADHD evaluations is no different.

We anticipate more changes to our evaluations page soon....!

01/22/2026

When you advocate for yourself or your kids, we are inspired by your strength and resilience.


www.CenterForActiveMinds.com
🟡
Specializing in ADHD & anxiety, the Center For Active Minds offers evidence-based therapy and evaluations for toddlers through young adults. Visit us at
🔴

01/21/2026

Continuing to add to this exercise! I really like this idea of a -- When you're out somewhere, focus on taking 9 pictures of a specific color, and create a collage from them.

Why mindfulness works: mindfulness is a practice that forces your focus on a current activity. That can help decrease the spirals of past- or future-oriented thoughts that often lead to increase stress or worries or sadness.

How it doesn’t work: a mindfulness activity doesn’t work if it doesn’t require your focus and attention. If you don’t have to think about the mechanics of riding a bike, then you can still engage in thought spirals while riding a bike. Therefore, riding a bike would not be an effective mindfulness technique.

How it works: if the task that you’re doing requires purposeful focus, it could be a helpful mindfulness technique for you. It can be even more effective if what you’re engaged in requires just attending to what’s around you — like finding a specific color.
Because a color walk would direct your attention to a particular color, it can be a helpful mindfulness technique for some people! Try it out 🙂. Post images of your own color walk below!

Follow us for parenting tips and information about ADHD and Anxiety in kids, teens, and adults!

www.CenterForActiveMinds.com
🟡
Specializing in ADHD & anxiety, the Center For Active Minds offers evidence-based therapy and evaluations for toddlers through young adults. Visit us at www.CenterForActiveMinds.com!
🔴
(Disclaimer: Because different strategies may work or not work for different people, this is meant for informational purposes only and is not intended to replace medical or mental health treatment).
🟢