Blog
“‘Hayden, Remember to Use Your Indoor Voice'”
Modern parents can make you nostalgic for bygone eras. There was a time when children went outside to play and basically did not see their mother for a solid 8 hours, except when she made them a nutritious bologna sandwich on white bread, which was wolfed down before...
Old School Concept: Know the Stages of Reading Development
There are three "old school" concepts in education and psychology that I think still apply, which I hope to discuss over the next few weeks. Probably a day does not go by in my professional practice where I am applying these concepts with the kids I have been asked to...
Instructional Ranges: Essential Information
I had the pleasure of recently meeting with the faculty of the Center School, in Abington, Pennsylvania. A school specializing in children with learning disabilities, we reviewed a number of evaluations that had been conducted on children prior to their admission to...
Reading Disability & a Confused Mom: Getting Clear on the Focus
There’s a lot in this business that gets me rolling my eyes. Too often when I talk to parents about what is going on with their child, I feel my cranky meter rising. Take, Patricia, the mom of 7 year old Beth Anne. Patricia plopped a stack of reports on my desk....
The Goldilocks Standard: Executive Functioning & Shut-Down Learners
I had the pleasure the other night presenting to parents at the Orchard Friends School. The topic was “Executive Functioning & Shut-Down Learners.” As I always try to do, my mission is to present concepts that I think become unnecessarily overcomplicated (like...
Overcoming Early Writing Malaise
Open-ended writing can be dreadfully difficult for school-struggling children. Many kids, especially in the early grades, find the task of writing to be overwhelming on a variety of levels. Typically, schools recommend occupational therapy (OT) to address the issue....
Shutting Down Early
“It’s getting late early.” Yogi Berra Anxiety over your child’s school-based problems can start fairly early. A mom recently contacted me after reading The Shut-down Learner. “My son is drowning in school. You think he could be a shut-down learner?” When I wrote...
Start of the School Year: The Pit in the Stomach Comes Back
At this point in the season, the pit in the stomach is reforming with back-to-school just around the corner. There are no doubts about, getting everything that your kids need to get their school year off to the best possible start can take a huge toll on your bank...
What is a Dyslexia Screening?
Dyslexia screening is a tool for identifying children who may be at risk for dyslexia (reading disability) and for gathering information to assist those children. A dyslexia screening can be performed by a range of educational professionals. Although it might be...
Reading Acquisition: Playing the Notes & the Chords
The field of learning disabilities/dyslexia can be overwhelming to parents. There is so much terminology and confusion out there, much of it is unnecessary. It is a mission of mine to try and make the obtuse clear, to put things in terms that parents can understand....
Development Rules
To finish out the week, I am going to make a simplistic point, but one that I think is often forgotten. Development rules. To illustrate, let’s forget disabilities for second. Let’s say your 7 year old is one of those Science Channel kids who knows everything about...