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In Southern California, we are the very definition of a “melting pot.” We have people of every color, culture, and religion from every part of the world. I love that! I think it makes us interesting. One of the things I’ve noticed, working with thousands of families who are dealing with learning and attention challenges,…

A mom walked by with a baby who was wearing a soft helmet. Being an unusual sight, I and most other people they passed glanced a little longer than typical at the baby. Why was a baby wearing a helmet like that? The question was quickly answered by the statement printed in large colorful letters…

We’re getting to that time of year that some parents are getting the news that their child is “in danger of retention.” “In danger” indicates that retention is a bad thing.  While it is something that should certainly be decided with careful thought, there are there times when retention is actually a good idea. Children…

“Look at me!” “Watch me do a handstand!” “Look at me jump!” Young children love to show off their physical prowess. What parents may not realize is that the antics kids use to get attention are often building blocks for developing attention! I had a momentous birthday last week so I don’t do a lot…

I don’t know about you, but email can be completely overwhelming to me. Scattered among the truly important things, there must be ten times as many irrelevant items. Recently, my husband saved me from my inbox by going through and weeding out everything except the things I really needed to pay attention to. He was…

My father-in-law loved instruction manuals. He would pour over the manual for any item he bought because he wanted to know exactly how it worked, all the things it could do, and what problems and solutions to expect. But kids don’t come with instruction manuals. So we all step into parenting a little blindly. It’s…

Is Social Media Helping or Hurting Attention and Executive Function? Have you watched a high school or college student do homework recently? It’s quite a fantastic display of multi-tasking. Or is it? I am amazed at how young people can switch so rapidly between Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snap Chat, and texting, all while doing an…

Saturday was a milestone day for my family. Our son got married to a wonderful girl on a beautiful Southern California day! We all have hopes and dreams for our kids, and this was certainly one of ours for our son. I speak daily with parents of smart, talented, wonderful kids whose hearts are breaking…

This is a big week for my family. My son is getting married on Saturday and we couldn’t be more delighted! As I was thinking about the upcoming reception, I remembered the mom of one of our students trying to describe to me what she thought it must be like for her son. She said,…

I Can’t Believe The Experts Overlooked This When Talking About Child Development And Technology These images are a bit disturbing to me. First because I’m afraid some of these babies may be more tech-savvy than I am! And second, because as cool as this is, I’m not sure we’re doing our kids any favors by…