Blog
“Is the Diagnosis of ADHD a ‘Mess?'”
“‘I think the current diagnosis of ADHD is a mess and has been wildly overdone. It blames a variety of symptoms entirely on the child’s brain, and ignores the child’s environment and the interaction with it." (Dr. William B. Carey, pediatrician, researcher, and...
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...
“Beyond the Power Struggle” (Structure & Leverage)
As noted in the previous blog, with children showing challenging behaviors causing you tremendous stress, you were encouraged to adopt a mantra helping you remain in your center, as you speak one “Didja” (e.g., “Didja you do your homework?”) after another. The mantra...
“They Need Structure…I Need Leverage”
Following up on last week’s Selznick Poll discussion on what percentage of boys show signs of “executive function” deficits (click here: See "A Hypothetical Poll") ,let’s emphasize some points: • Using a bell-shape curve perspective, if about 85% of the boys in the...
“A Hypothetical Poll”
Let’s take a random group of 100 boys, roughly between ages 10 – 14. You know nothing about them, but their moms are asked a simple poll question: On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being the most negative) how would you rank your son on his taking initiative, organizing...
“‘Come on, Doc. Tell It to me Straight'” (#Assessment)
Whenever I do an assessment I know that in many ways I am swimming against the tide in my approach and perspective. Hopelessly mired in identifying the the “soup-pot” of variables interacting, I rarely see things as one way or another. Parents are typically focused on...
Family Matters #Dyslexia Talk – (Link to the Talk)
I recently had the honor of presenting an overview of dyslexia, shut-down learner and executive functioning to Family Matters: Parent Training and Information Center. Based in Illinois, they have great workshops and material on their site and I would encourage you...
Follow-Up to “ADHD? Perhaps”
In last week’s post we noted that there were many factors that can lead to erroneously hypothesizing that a child has ADHD/ADD. https://shutdownlearner.com/adhd-perhaps/ There were a number of comments posted. Dr. M., a developmental pediatrician, reminded us to...
ADHD? Perhaps.
Practically every week I hear an array of concerns regarding distractibility and inattentiveness. There's always the question of, "Does my child have ADHD/ADD" lurking. While talking to parents I try and broaden the narrative, reviewing other factors that may be...