You’ve probably heard of weighted blankets — they’ve exploded in popularity in the past few years and we’ve reviewed tons of them here at Sleepopolis. Maybe you’ve even heard of other weighted products, like a weighted robe or weighted eye mask. But what about weighted stuffed animals? Intolerance of uncertainty will be assessed using the Responses to Uncertainty and Environmental Structure Questionnaire (RULES; [ 39]). The RULES is a 17-item parent-report measure that assesses response to uncertainty and low environmental structure in 3- to 10-year-old children. The RULES has been validated as a psychometrically sound measure of uncertainty in young children with anxiety [ 39]. Parental accommodation will be assessed using the Family Accommodation Scale (FAS [ 25]). This 9-point parent report scale assesses parental accommodating behaviors and has been previously used in child anxiety treatment studies [ 24]. These measures will be administered to parents at baseline, pre-, and post-treatment. Treatment model Overview of the 12 sessions

Another important treatment component of DINOSAUR involves teaching children and parents about relaxation skills. These include sensory-based calming activities, e.g., watching a repetitive image like water dripping, or listening to calming sounds like ocean waves, and structured relaxation strategies to manage anxiety and IU. Parents and children also jointly practice three structured relaxation skills, i.e., diaphragmatic breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, and yoga, which are simplified and presented using the dinosaur theme (e.g., children are taught to “roar like a dinosaur” when exhaling during diaphragmatic breathing). Parents are also encouraged to employ these skills to manage their own stress and anxiety. It's not something you asked for, and it's not something that's supposed to be a part of a healthy and happy life. It's something that interrupts your life – like catching the flu on your wedding day – and it's something that few people prepared you for as a child growing up. Now For the Good News: Anxiety Isn't PermanentAnxiety may make you feel helpless. It may make you feel like there is nothing you can do. It may affect your thoughts and your motivations so that it actually makes it harder for you to treat. But anxiety is an incredibly treatable condition – one with well researched, documented, and widely used treatment options that can help you regain control over your mental health and learn to cope with your stresses in the future.

The 12-week treatment consists of four 90-min parent-only sessions, followed by eight 60-min parent-child sessions. All sessions are led by two experienced clinicians (a psychologist and social worker) with extensive clinical and research experience in delivering CBT for the treatment of anxiety in children with ASD [ 18, 36]. Four core CBT components (i.e., psychoeducation, relaxation strategies, cognitive coping, and exposure) are delivered across the 12 sessions to target anxiety, IU, and parental accommodation. Participants complete two types of exposure hierarchies, one targeting anxiety and one targeting IU. Simply pop your Weighted Plush into the washing machine when you feel like it needs a clean. Each wash makes the plushie softer to touch!

Roid GH. Stanford-Binet intelligence scales, fifth edition (SB:V). Itasca: Riverside Publishing; 2003. Spence SH, Rapee R, McDonald C, Ingram M. The structure of anxiety symptoms among preschoolers. Behav Res Ther. 2001;39(11):1293-316. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0005-7967(00)00098-X. Yet for some reason there are still millions of people suffering. According to the National Institute of Health, only a small fraction of these individuals even seek treatment, and only 33% of those seeking treatment are receiving what's known as "minimally adequate treatment." In other words, nearly 85% of those suffering from anxiety are either not seeking treatment or seeking a poor treatment that ultimately won't work. Those are significant numbers. What many people don't realize – even those that have anxiety or have cured there anxiety – is that anxiety can actually change the way you think to such a degree that you believe that your thoughts are real. If weighted products make you feel claustrophobic, this may not be a good choice. While it didn’t feel very heavy to me, extra weight of any amount can make some people feel uncomfortable.