Anxiety

Several years ago, my wonderful friend and mentor, Dr. Joan Smith and I were standing around “solving the world’s problems” with learning challenges.  As we talked about what could be done and what techniques to use, I said, “But what about kids with Autism?” Joan said, “Jill, we’re teaching kids.”    Her message was, it’s not…

Weak underlying mental tools cause smart students to struggle in school My husband is fond of saying, “If the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”  But the bottom line is that even though a hammer may be an excellent tool, it isn’t the right tool to do all jobs.…

We were working on reading in phrases and she was going along well, when her face started to crumple, her eyes filled with tears, and she began breathing very quick, shallow breaths.  The stress reaction was becoming full-blown very quickly. Just as quickly, when distracted from the task, 10-year-old Serena recovered and became her friendly,…