Blog
“A Pediatrician’s Perspective”
The following quote is from the Foreword of The Shut-Down Learner: Helping Your Academically Discouraged Child. I have always loved this quote and feel that it timelessly captures the impact that school struggling has upon the child and the family. "I have been a...
Remember the Child’s Primary Motivation
Understanding what children want can bring about a major shift in your thinking. If you embrace this concept, I predict your perceptions will change for the better, which then will impact your child. So, what is your child's primary motivation? At the root of most of...
“Math Disability? Not So Fast”
Not sure when the reverence for word problems emerged, but it seems that children are almost exclusively taught math through word problems. I believe it’s linked to the theory that math should always be enhancing “higher order thinking.” Let’s look at Chris, age 7, a...
“Pictures Telling the Story”
Largely supported by the medical model, when parents have their child assessed they are often focused on “the diagnosis.” Such a model embodies a, “Yes, they have it,” or “No, they don't have it,” (whatever "it" is) perspective. In my corner of the universe, I...
“And Now, For a Change of Pace”
My marketing manager (my daughter Julia) has been pushing me to create more short videos to spread around. So, as a change of pace here are two that were posted to YouTube. TRUST ME. THEY ARE VERY SHORT!!!! Hope you enjoy. Let me know what you think. The first one...
“Does Spelling Matter?”
Let’s say your 12-year-old sixth grader spells the following words: (brief) bref (should) shood (grown) gron (success) susess (educate) edcccate (result) resolt (kitchen) kicten Then the child writes the following story to a prompt: “Once a o pon a...
“Floaters”
A common concern raised by parents (well, mostly the moms) is their child’s lack of what they label as “executive function deficits (EFD).” With EFDs there’s always the underlying question of whether these issues are a biproduct of immaturity, skill deficits or a...
Turning Down the Parental Heat
Parents do various back flips to address meltdowns and school avoidance. Mostly, parental responses are reactive, delivered in the heat of the moment (e.g., “That’s it!!! You’re not allowed on your iPad for the next two weeks,” after the child has rolled around on...
The Baby is Birthed!!!
I am excited to let you know that the new baby, "Beyond the Power Struggle: A Guide for Parents of Challenging Kids," has been officially birthed!!! After endless doing, redoing, tweaking, feeling frustrated with it, filing it away, bringing it back out again, I am...
Amelia Ignores Her Mom
Eight-year-old Amelia goes about her day mostly ignoring her mom, Andrea. While Andrea tries to get Amelia to comply, she largely talks to her in an insecure and hesitant voice, with words that do not get Amelia's attention. (“Now, come on Amelia, how about we start...
“Beyond the Power Struggle: A Guide for Parents of Challenging Kids”
Exciting News!!!!! Over the next few weeks, my latest book, "Beyond the Power Struggle: A Guide For Parents of Challenging Kids" is scheduled to be released. If you are a beleaguered parent or know a beleaguered parent, you might want to get a copy. Here's a link to...