Blog: School Struggles, Learning Disabilities & Other Kid Stuff

  • Thursday, August 26, 2010

    It’s that time again. You know that little pit in the stomach is forming with the start of the school year. I am sure you will be reading various articles and commentary on the top tips for having a great school year.

    Here’s my number one tip – resolve to stay calm.

  • Sunday, June 13, 2010

    "It was six men of Indostan
    To learning much inclined,
    Who went to see the Elephant
    Though all of them were blind,
    That each by observation
    Might satisfy his mind."

    The above comes from the parable of the Blind Men and the Elephant. A group of blind (or men in the dark) touch an elephant to learn what it is like. Each one touches a different part, but only one part, such as the side or the tusk. Of course, each describes the elephant quite differently from their perspective.

  • Thursday, May 27, 2010

    Many of you who watched the last Winter Olympics became captivated by the curious sport of Curling, where players slide a stone across a sheet of ice towards a target area.  Probably the oddest looking aspect of the sport are the “Sweepers” whose job it is to sweep ahead of the stone to reduce friction and allow the stone to travel further and to stay straighter.

  • Friday, May 21, 2010

    Martha, age 18, is about to be finished high school.  Receiving a 504 Plan in high school, Martha is eagerly anticipating attending college.  She comes in to see me for an assessment to help determine what accommodations she may continue to need.

  • Wednesday, May 12, 2010

    A mom came in the other day to talk about her struggling eight year old daughter, Hayley, a third grader.  She presented with many of the common concerns  – difficulty with decoding, reading  fluency, spelling and writing,

    “What has the school done for her,” I asked.

  • Sunday, April 11, 2010

    In my office the other day a young man presented with the usual array of “executive function” difficulties – trouble with initiating, planning and sustaining his mental effort for academics.

    To get a better feel for how he spent his time, I asked him to imagine that his time after school was being tracked on a reality TV show.  What would we see?

    Here’s the picture:

    2:30:   Gets home.  Grabs snacks.  Watches TV until about 4:00

    4:00 – 6:00 Plays X-Box 360 Live

  • Tuesday, April 6, 2010

     

    Sometimes I think that we have the notion that all of us before being born lined up in heaven to receive our IQ scores.  You can almost imagine hearing the announcement from one of God’s helpers, "If you are about to be born step up so that God can stamp a number in your head.  You will carry this number around with you wherever you go on earth.  Line up everyone. Get your IQ scores!!!!”    

  • Sunday, March 7, 2010

     Five hundred twenty-five thousand Six hundred minutes
     How do you measure, measure a year?
     In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights
     In cups of coffee
     In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife

  • Thursday, February 25, 2010

    We have been discussing the theme of difficult (opposite) children and how they can cause families to feel like they are being held hostage by their child's challenging behaviors. 

    In the last post, I suggested that parents were often not to blame for creating their child's behavior, since in most families one or two of the children are typically flexible, while one is more challenging. However, I also noted that the intervention to address the difficult child was to be focused on the parent, not on the child.

    Why is this so?

  • Saturday, February 20, 2010

    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 to talk to me about children like Marissa who are holding their family hostage as a result of their behavior.

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