Inattention is often the first and most obvious symptom seen by teachers when children struggle in school. This drives parents to their healthcare providers with the question, “Does my child have ADHD?” The challenge behind this question is that inattention, squirming in the chair, staring into space, slow to get started on tasks, poor listening, and taking forever to complete homework can be the result of ADD/ADHD, but can even more often be symptoms of dyslexia or other learning problems. Dyslexic students are often misunderstood at school. Some are so verbal and charming, that only their parents know how much…
There are Apps for absolutely everything these days, and sure enough, there are even Apps for Back-to-School! With so many students going back to school today or at least very shortly, I thought I’d share this article by John Patrick Pullen from Time Magazine: 6 Must-Have Back to School Apps http://time.com/3982036/back-best-school-apps/ This article highlights some pretty incredible tools for students of any age: Homework tracker Digital flashcards Language learning games Bibliography formatter School bus tracker Reading comprehension builder Amazing! It’s a new and exciting world for students today! What Apps Won’t Do I’m not very technologically savvy, but I am…
My mom is a huge fan of the TV reality series Survivor. She (and millions of others) never misses an episode. If you watch the show, you’ll know that people will go to almost any lengths to survive. And in fact, our brains are wired for survival at the most basic level and will work very hard to protect us. I was so fortunate to hear Dr. Seth Horowitz speak at The Listening Program International Conference last Friday. He said, “Our entire survival depends upon listening.” He went on to share that listening is a combination of hearing and attention. …
Last week we talked about kids and growing pains. Emotionally, the “growing pains” that teens go through may be the most challenging for all involved. Neurologically, the teenage brain is still developing. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, “in teens, the parts of the brain involved in emotional responses are fully online, or even more active than in adults, while the parts of the brain involved in keeping emotional, impulsive responses in check are still reaching maturity.” http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/the-teen-brain-still-under-construction/index.shtm Current literature indicates that executive function – the part of the brain that allows us to monitor, control, and evaluate…
If you are the parent of a growing child; if you’ve ever been the parent of a growing child; if you’re a child; or if you’ve ever been a child, you need to see the movie Inside Out. My husband and I rarely see animated films, now that our kids are grown, but at my son’s recommendation, we went to see Inside Out. It is an absolute “MUST SEE!” Inside Out is an unbelievably creative and poignant look at growing up. Don’t you wish you could see inside your child’s mind at times to better understand what in the world…
Henry Ford said, “If you think you can, you can. If you think you can’t, you can’t.” There’s a lot of wisdom and truth in that statement, but there are times when gutting it out just doesn’t work. I once knew a young man in his twenties who couldn’t read or spell. His dyslexia was so profound, that he could not write or recognize his middle name. Howe`ver, he was bright and determined and had somehow managed to graduate from high school. He had the most amazing collection of coping strategies I’ve ever seen. Determination and a solid “I can”…
Most teachers and parents seem to have strong, emotional opinions about Common Core, the current emphasis in school curriculum. It puts a huge emphasis on working with information as opposed to memorizing and reproducing information. If we want children to become good problem solvers and self-initiating learners, they need the kind of thinking skills developed in Common Core. The challenge seems to arise when students don’t have a strong enough foundation of basic academic skills to actually be able to evaluate and manipulate the information. Common Core may be leaving some students behind because it doesn’t place enough attention on…