Blog
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.
The Spirit of Huck & Tom Lives On
"It was kind of lazy and jolly, laying off comfortable all day, smoking and fishing, and no books nor study. Two months or more run along, and my clothes got to be all rags and dirt, and I didn't see how I'd ever got to like it so well at the widow's, where you had to...
Marinating…#Dyslexia #LD
About 50% of the kids in the early grades are pretty immune to whatever they get in school. Whatever reading or learning method comes their way they handle it and make good progress in the key areas of development. I call these the “Smooth Road Kids.” Everybody’s...
Treatment Bewilderment
Too often parents feel bewildered by the array of options that are presented to them about their struggling child. Getting clear on what you are targeting and why is essential. Common sense needs to prevail. Eight year old Jackie, a spunky third grader, struggled...
Listen Up, Dads of ‘Fun Dad Nation’
Every generation creates its own parenting style based on many different factors and variables shaping our view of what it means to be a parent. Back in the early 1960's probably the predominant style of dad was depicted well in the AMC TV show, "Madmen" and its main...
‘Meat & Potatoes’
Meat & Potatoes: adjective (Informal)- fundamental; down-to-earth; basic (Dictionary.com) This week I said to a mom, “We don’t use any fancy methods with our kids – it’s all very ‘meat and potatoes’.” In...
Struggling, but Not Eligibile
There are two broad categories of children - those that struggle with the acquisition of their fundamental skills (i.e., reading, spelling, writing and mathematics) and those who do not. From where I sit, one of the things that we are not facing sufficiently is how to...
Selznick 9-Point Summer Plan
Summer. We're almost there. You can feel it. The Parent Stress Meter starts to lower by degrees. Every year around this time of year in parent magazines and other related sources, you will see articles like, "Top Tips for Successful Summer Learning" or some variation...
#Dyslexia & the “Reversal Thing”
Not a week goes by that a parent coming in to consult with me about their child does not bring up one of the major mythologies that are out there on dyslexia. Of course, the top one that is almost impossible to shake from our collective consciousness is what I call...
On Writing, Chromebooks & Nubby Pencils
In my office I sometimes feel like I am in an outpost of the galaxy. Messages come in periodically informing us of things going on in the schools, such as, “All the kids are now getting Chromebooks for writing.” Out in my corner of the universe, I just scratch my...
That Place on the Bell-Shaped Curve
There is that place of the bell-shaped curve that is always challenging for schools and clinicians. I call it the “zone of no zone." It’s that area of the curve that technically falls in the “average range,” yet is problematic from a functional point of view. A...