Blog
Must See the Neurologist
Even though schools will tell parents that they need to see a neurologist to diagnose dyslexia, the following are essentials that must be considered in an assessment: Reading aloud from a graded word list to determine word identification skills and how automatically...
Brief Tip: Know What You Are Targeting
Many children referred for assessments are related to struggles with reading, spelling and writing. Not knowing what direction to go, parents feel a sense of desperation and need guidance on appropriate next steps. Once the issues are identified, the remediation,...
Compound Interest Mentality
Change does not come easily for any of us. Think about how deeply ingrained our personalities, habits and proclivities are. Fundamentally, we are who we are. Parents spend a lot of time trying to change children and I sometimes find that their efforts may be a bit too...
IEPs & 504s: A Brief Primer
Parents frequently ask about 504 Plans and IEP’s. Before getting too far into the weeds, I will respectfully ask the parents if they know the difference between them and what they even are. A majority of the time, I get a half shrug, coupled with a “not really.”...
ADHD…Maybe!
Practically every week I hear an array of concerns regarding distractibility and inattentiveness. There's always the question lurking of, "Does my child have ADHD/ADD?" While talking to parents I try and broaden the narrative, reviewing other factors that may be...
Trusting Your Mom Intuition
As part of the assessment process I always conduct an interview to get an overview of the issues of concern. When a child is struggling, typically there will be suggestions of disorders that have been raised by different professionals along with opinions offered from...
Parenting at the Root of the Problem (Not So Fast)
In addition to the myriad of labels and diagnoses offered as explanations for a child's behavior, it is often assumed that parenting is a significant variable, if not the sole reason for a child's behavior. As proof of this, when we see a child who appears to be...
Understanding & Enhancing Comprehension – (Part II)
Last week's post introduced concepts related to reading comprehension. (Enhancing Reading Comprehension: Part I) As previously noted, comprehension is an interactive process. The interaction involves ideas, concepts, images, background experience, fund of knowledge,...
Reading is not a one-directional process. Instead, it activates our prior knowledge, making the process more interactive than previously understood.
Inside Out 2 Helps Kids Label Their Emotions – Is That a Good Thing?
Is it healthy to label emotions, or are we over-clinicalizing childhood?
504 Plans: Avoid Templated Accommodations
504 plans make a lot of accommodations for children that sound good … until the child finds out, and has other thoughts about it.