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...
The N.F.L & 504 Plans in the Real World
Sometimes I think of school 504 meetings somewhat like what I imagine goes on in the preparation for an NFL football game. The coaches (apart from the players) come up with a game plan. Then the team has to play the game and carry out the plan. The plan may work...
Does Your Child Have “Curriculum ADHD”?
A mom came in the other day to talk about her struggling eight-year-old daughter, Jacqueline, a fourth grader. Jacqueline presented with many of the common concerns- difficulty with decoding, reading fluency, spelling and writing, feeling overwhelmed by school. I...
The Parenting Dance That We Do
The Parenting Dance That We Do Parents often need help in learning how to communicate with their child. Children with learning disabilities or ADHD can be very frustrating and difficult to manage. Negative and irritable patterns of communication often play out in a...
What’s the One Thing Struggling Kids Need?
Kids who are struggling feel like they are constantly running up hill while the other kids are on an easy downward slope. In this day and age of Student Growth Percentiles, Common Core and PARCC testing what is the one thing that the struggling kids need...
“The House Looks Fine – What’s the Problem?”
Many times a parent (usually the mom) senses that something is amiss with her child and wants to have and evaluation conducted in school. If the child is getting decent grades, the response to the request is often denied. The parent may hear a version of the...
A Compound Interest Mentality With #Childhood
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 spent a lot of time trying to change children and I sometimes...
In the Head & Out of the Head Factors
When parents come in to talk about their kids and why they are struggling there are the common list of factors that are usually discussed. Some of these include: Poor phonemic awareness Limited decoding skills Weak fluency Family predisposition toward dyslexia...
Anger You Can’t Make Me Parts II
In a recent blog post I discussed how anger can be depleting a child from the necessary emotional fuel to manage school. Many of the typical “ADHD” style behaviors such as avoiding responsibilities, procrastinating, not sustaining mental effort, may be due, in part,...
Piano Playing & Learning to Write
Let's say a child knows a few notes and chords on the piano and can play a handful of very basic songs. Would it make sense to ask him to play a challenging song that was clearly beyond his level? Or even learn the art of creating music using great software from...
On Floppy Rudders & The Day to Day Grind of School
It’s that time of year - the time when the kids with floppy rudders (mostly the boys) are starting to wear their parents down. They are the ones not handing in homework and playing on their iPads too long while their grades are plummeting. ...