Blog
Opposite & Challenging
In many households there are temperamentally rigid and inflexible children who cause a great deal of distress. With their limited coping skills, such children become quite volatile and reactive to frustration. Jeff and Rose are the bleary eyed parents of three...
“‘When I Was Born There Something Wrong With My Brain, So I Took This Pill…”’
Jacob is an endearing, extremely verbal 7-year-old. Whenever asked a question, Jacob talks with great enthusiasm taking you on a verbal roller coaster ride. In psychology jargon, Jacob also has a problem with “self-regulation.” (Don’t you love all the terms out...
“At the Self-Checkout”
Going through the self-checkout lines in supermarkets and in other major stores, I notice the combined feeling of sadness and irritation as the automatized voice (yet another) commands how to pay and where to put my bags. This reminds me of a reflection piece, “Those...
More on the ‘Drip, Drip Dripping’ of Behavior”
It looks like the description of the “drip, drip dripping” of behaviors resonated with some people. People asked (rightfully) whether I had “strategies” for such children, like Carter who was previously referenced (."Drip, Drip, Dripping") It will be essential that...
“The Drip, Drip, Dripping of Behavior”
Not sure why (I have my theories), but there has been a considerable increase of children landing on my doorstep with behaviors that have become something of a water torture of “drip, drip, dripping” to others around them. The social fallout is the result of this this...
“The Marginally Ready Child”
Over the years, I’ve been a bit of a hoarder. Like most things, there are advantages and disadvantages to this habit. One advantage (not that my wife agrees) is that I have held on to different journals that were in the dustbins of Temple University’s renowned Reading...
“Stamina” (Part II)
Last week we talked about the idea that “stamina” is not a word parents reference much to when talking about their concerns ("Stamina" (Part I) This lack of stamina probably manifests in many different forms, much of which overlaps with some of the concepts of the...
“Stamina?”
It’s always interesting to me how words or terms come in and out of favor. When parents come in to talk about their children, “stamina” is a word that I don’t hear mentioned too often. Parents will make reference to a child having difficulty with “executive...
“Like Giving Them Oxygen”
Last Sunday on the front page of the New York Times was a major piece on the proponent of “balanced literacy,” offering some type of retreat for the philosophy behind “balanced literacy” that has been espoused for decades having failed legions of children (NYT...
“IQ-Achievement Model – ‘Ineffective, Irrational, Immoral & Indefensible'”
Child A, we’ll call him Leo, a second grader, is in the 10th percentile of reading, spelling and writing. Depending on whether you are a “glass half full or half empty” type you can translate it that Leo is better than 10% of the children his age or that 90% are...
“Sorry, Our Hands Are Tied”
Perhaps nothing is more frustrating and resulting in tremendous parental consternation than when they hear the following from me after I’ve done an assessment: “Yes, you were right. The results validate your concerns. Your child has a serious reading (spelling and...