Blog
My Interview with Documentary Film Director, Jamie Redford (#Dyslexia)
(***This blog is a revision of an earlier post.) Understanding dyslexia is challenging, primarily because of the deeply embedded mythologies that we hold. Chief among them is “the reversal thing.” To illustrate, try this experiment. With any friend or relative ask...
PARENTS! YOU’RE OFF THE HOOK (sort of)!!!!!
We recently talked about rigid, inflexible and difficult Marissa, age 7 (bit.ly/a7ZFoQ). For the next few blogs, I thought we’d stay on this theme and explore the topic of difficult children a bit more. Over the years so many parents have come...
OPPOSITE CHILDREN: RIGID, INFLEXIBLE & DIFFICULT
In many households there are children causing great distress who are temperamentally, rigid and inflexible. These kids have poor coping skills and become quite volatile if something does not go their way. John and Mary Ellen are the bleary-eyed parents of three...
STEP RIGHT UP FOLKS!!!!!!
"Step right up folks! Our unproven, unsubstantiated therapy and treatment is guaranteed to cure all things bothering you about your child. That’s right for the low fee, special offer of $3,499 over the next year, we will cure bedwetting, ADHD, reading...
Clogged Fuel Lines and ADHD
By its nature, school places a certain demand on the child throughout the day. Most children throughout their day typically face a number of tasks that they find challenging and difficult to manage. When faced with such challenges many will work through their...
“DADDY’S TIED UP IN TRAFFIC”
Many shut-down learner kids, have great trouble with different facets of language that we often take for granted. Take Emma, age 8. The other night, Emma was told by her mother that her father was “tied up in traffic.” Emma burst into...
A Disconnect in #Dyslexia Land
Young Jack, age 14, a sweet boy who has very significant learning disabilities, couldn’t tell you how much a quarter, dime and a nickel totaled. Yet his mother brought in worksheets showing me that he was being asked to multiply negative numbers such as the following,...
PUTTING FUEL IN THE SHUT-DOWN LEARNER TANK
I know. It’s heading into those dark days. Kids don’t want to get out of bed. Homework’s becoming a misery. As the weather gets colder, the household tension meter is rising. If you can, try if you can to step back a...
LEARNING DISABILITIES IN THE MIDEAST: NOT SO DIFFERENT THAN ANYWHERE ELSE
I know it’s been some time since I last posted. A lot has been going on that has kept me from writing, not the least of which was my taking part in the “TeachME” conference in Dubai on 11/11 & 11/12/09. “TeachME” is...
IQ ADDING TO MY “GQ”
Even though I am a psychologist who does a great deal of testing, I find the overuse of the IQ adds to my GQ (“Grumpiness Quotient”). Why does the IQ score make me grumpy? Children who are in need of service, often don’t receive it...
Basic Reading Skills, Remediation Strategies, & Common Sense
Originally published as "Dyslexia, Reading Disabilities & Common Sense" Many moons ago when I started out, I don't remember feeling overwhelmed by the lack of common sense that seems to exist in the field of helping children with early reading skills. Today, though,...