Blog
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...
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...
Talkin’ IQ Blues
I’m sure you know the old school expression, that something “sticks in your craw.” Probably not a day goes by where something is not sticking in my craw. The only good that comes of it is I usually get inspired by the stuck craw to generate something to write about...
“But, She’s So Sweet – She’s So Smart”
This week my “Annoy-O-Meter,” which is usually running pretty high (like at a level of 70 out of 100), was up in the high 90s. What pushed it into the upper end of the dial was a run of girls that I either evaluated or met with their parents to discuss their girl’s...
More Questions of An Assessment: Part II
Last week we talked about some of the essential questions to ask of an assessment: Questions of An Assessment: Part I. We emphasized asking fundamental questions first such as: Does my child have a problem? (yes or no) If there is a problem(s), where does it lie? How...
Questions of an Assessment – Part I
In this day and age of ready information at your fingertips, what I find is that parents are frequently armed with confused notions or misinformation that they’ve gotten from all kinds of sources. For example, there frequently is a great deal of confusion or misguided...
Dr. Selznick & Dena Blizzard – Sip Share Advocate Episode 3
On Wednesday 1/9/19, Dr. Selznick once again joined comedian Dena Blizzard on the third episode of her Facebook live talk show, Sip Share Advocate, to discuss essentials for learning disabilities and dyslexia over a glass of wine. View the recorded episode below! ...
The Symbolic Value of Homework
Homework is often a battleground. Refrains such as, “It’s stupid,” “I hate it,” “It’s not fun,” and variations on these themes occur across the country starting in the afternoon, continuing through until about 9:00 at night. Of course there are the dutiful soldiers...
#Dyslexia Book Baby Born
It was a momentous week for me. My fourth book, “What To Do About Dyslexia: 25 Essential Concepts for Parents” arrived. Often, people writing about topics such as dyslexia are writing about their personal struggles that they have grappled with to overcome the...