Blog
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...
Facing the Writing Challenges
Open-ended writing can be dreadfully difficult for school-struggling children. On so many levels, they find the task to be overwhelming. For those who are struggling, the more common classroom writing tasks that encourage the child to write as he/she feels is...
More Boy Delusions
Recently I talked to you about the delusion of the modern American (male) child and their fundamental inability to face pain (Delusions of the Modern American Boy ). Not wanting to be redundant (hey, I’ve written nearly 350 blog posts over 10 years so it’s hard not to...
“Great Time Presenting to Fusion Academy”
On Tuesday, March 21st, 2019, Dr. Selznick spoke at the Fusion Lunch and Learn event. Among other topics, he discussed how dyslexia is assessed, how to approach remediation, and tips to help children conquer the most common learning disability. [rev_slider...
Taking An Effective Action – Overcoming Your Inner Gumby
Last week we revisited the notion that many parents embody “Gumby Parenting” (my term) as a way of interacting with their child and managing challenging behavior (I am a Gumby Parent). Gumby Parenting leads to an array of child manipulations. We talked about...
“I am a Gumby…Don’t be a Gumby”
On a weekly basis since 2009 I’ve tried to crank out a new blog post. While I may have missed a week or two here and there, I think there are nearly 350 of posts on www.shutdownlearner.com, drawing inspiration from kids and families to help generate ideas. Over the...
Delusions of the Modern American Child (Boy)
A number of years ago, I was complaining to my dad about something to do with work. Never one to mince words, my dad said something that always stayed with me – “That’s why they call it ‘work,’ Richard. They don’t call it ‘play.’” Modern children (typically boys...
Our Neurological Explanations of Everything
It seems we seek neurological explanations for almost all the struggling that children encounter. That is, we seem to be comforted that there is a neurological dysfunction at the core of a child’s struggling. Given that the brain is the central engine driving all...
The Pyramid of Fantasy
So often, in the work that I do with parents regarding their kids, there comes that squeamish point, where the parent asks the inevitable dreaded question… “So, what do we do about it?” Why it’s dreaded is there is almost never, and I mean never (at least from my...
Poor Judgment & Reading Comprehension: What’s the Connection?
When Kids struggle with comprehension it is interesting that often there is an overlap in “real life,” that is in the way the child interacts in his personal world. In this era of quickly labeling and pathologizing behavior automatically as “ADHD,” this overlap is...
Writing Deficits on the Rough Road
Open-Ended writing is usually not difficult for children on the “smooth road,” the ones without the myriad of variables leading to school struggling. For the “Smooth-Roaders” their sentences are complete and varied in style. There is flow to their written stories...