parenting

Supporting Self-Regulation

Weekly Series — Developing Thinkers Learning to regulate emotions, feeling and attention is the first step on the road to independence for your child. These skills develop at different rates and at different stages. The skills fall under the umbrella of...

Lagging Skills and Unsolved Problems

Weekly Series — Behavior Made Easy At the grocery store checkout line, I heard two ladies whispering about the little girl having a ‘meltdown’ a few aisles away. One of the ladies shrugged her shoulders as she told her friend ”that mom needs to do a better job...

Developing Higher Mental Functions

Developing Higher Mental Functions Weekly Series — Developing Young Thinkers The alarm goes off. Five year old Johnny rolls over, blinks his eyes a few times. He counts to three, slides the covers and springs out of bed. As his feet hit the floor he already knows the...

“Specialized, not Special”

Weekly Series — Developing Young Thinkers He has Special Skills. I felt my anxiety rise as we were called into the meeting. We were sitting at the end of the table, surrounded by the professionals bracing ourselves for the report to follow. Much of the rest of the...

Harness your Child’s Superpower with the Pygmalion Effect

Weekly Series — Behavior Made Easy “Assume the best with a positive expectation and you will see all the good around you.” Kindness is my Superpower — what’s yours? Stop. Close your eyes, think of one thing that makes your child a “superhero”. Do it now! What did you...

Developing Young Thinkers – Mastering Written Speech

Weekly Series — The five ways to help children master written speech. “Tell me about it” Drawing is the beginning of writing. Learning letters is not the beginning of the writing process, but does supply the final component to move a young learner from drawing speech...

Kids Become WRITERS with the Add On Game!!

Kids Become WRITERS with the Add On Game!!

Now, when we mention writing to kids, the frequent response is “Ugh.” Well we can change that response to “Yeah!” Here is an activity guaranteed to entertain your kids while enhancing their writing skills. As a family, one of our favorite activities was Add On. You...

Developing Young Thinkers

Developing Young Thinkers

Developing Young Thinkers Weekly Series — “Written Speech” What is he trying to tell us? In the previous article of Developing Young Thinkers we outlined the importance of private talk as a way to begin the foundation of thinking. The research of Russian...

Kids Become WRITERS with the Bust Writer’s Block Game!

Kids Become WRITERS with the Bust Writer’s Block Game!

‘I will think of something to write!’ How many times have you heard the words, “I can’t think of anything to write.” Well there is an easy fix for this. Try this activity 5 days in a row and your kids are cured! They will never say those awful words again! Materials:...

Behavior Made Easy

Behavior Made Easy

Weekly Series - At times like these, it’s what you S.A.Y. It's what you S.A.Y. “Hey guys, going to shut down for the weekend, I'm a bit overwhelmed and need to focus on my family and taking care of things around the house. The past few weeks have been extremely...