Blog
“Stamina & Grit”
It’s always interesting to me how words or terms come in and out of favor. I see it all the time with kids on the vocabulary portion of the assessment. Ask any child what the word “seldom” means. I would venture to say 99% of the kids I see stare at me blankly when...
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...
“Getting ‘Dissed'”
Without turning this into a confessional, when I look back on my schooling here are a few things I know: Math was far my strong suit. I probably needed tutoring, particularly as I had to suffer through geometry, algebra and calculus. So, did that make me...
Cutting Through the Delusions
Many of the kids I talk to seem to be fairly delusional about school. Somehow they have gotten the notion that school should be this fun, Candyland-type of experience and when it is not, they are, well,…outraged. 13-year-old Liam offers a litany of complaints about...
Does Your Child Have W.B.D. (aka “Worksheet Burnout Disorder”)?
This week’s post was prompted by parents who brought me reading material their child had to manage in school and with homework. They were concerned that their child, young Brody, a seven-year-old second grader was starting to hate reading. "We don't understand," said...
Dyslexia: Not a Score
A number of years ago, I had the good fortune to take part on a panel during a symposium on dyslexia sponsored by the grassroots parenting group, Decoding Dyslexia: NJ. Dr. Sally Shaywitz, the author of “Overcoming Dyslexia” was the keynote speaker. While talking...
Don’t Wait For School’s Blessings: Trust Your Gut
Anxiety over a child’s school-based problems can start very early. After reading The Shut-Down Learner, a mom contacted me. "My son's drowning in in school. Do you think he could be a shut-down learner," she asked. After asking a few more questions, I was struck by...
Venting My Spleen (Once Again)
Those of you following this blog for some time know there are some recurring themes in these posts. Frequently, the blogs are my outlet for getting things off my chest that frequently come up in my interactions with parents. If you’re a relative newcomer, I will...
Dyslexia (aka “Voldemort”) – “He Who Must Not Be Named”
Parents frequently raise questions of dyslexia with their child’s school. When they report back to me how the conversation went, I get the feeling that the school goes into a sort of quiet hush mode, like they are talking about Voldemort – “He Who Must Not Be Named.”...
Reading Comprehension & School Bus Problems: Common Themes
When Kids struggle with reading comprehension, often there is an overlap in "real life” and the way the child interacts in their personal world. In this era of automatically labeling and pathologizing an unwanted behavior as “ADHD,” this overlap is something rarely...
Addressing Writing Disability
I am continually struck by the challenges struggling children face when it comes to their writing. At a very basic level, they have little to no idea what goes into the writing of a sentence, no less a paragraph or a typical three-paragraph essay. For children who...