Spring Cleaning for Parents

April 1, 2010

Well, I’ve had enough.  The rats have won the race.  I give up.  It’s over.
You can’t ever do enough it seems.  You try to do the best you can, but it never feels good enough.  There’s always another item on the to do list – another 10 items, just for today.  Forget the 100 items [...]

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The 4 Paths to Reaching Your (Child’s) Potential

March 25, 2010

“My child is so bright, but he is so disorganized/inconsistent/unmotivated… How do I get him to perform up to his potential?”
This is a common refrain for parents and teachers of kids with Executive Function difficulties – again, kids with plenty of brain power, but their control panel freezes up or goes offline with maddening irregularity.
How [...]

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Why You Must Know Your Child’s EF Profile

March 14, 2010

The Executive Functions of the brain are responsible for coordinating almost all of our interactions with the outside world.  When you stop and think about it, it’s pretty amazing.  We take in sensory information through our eyes and ears, and if our frontal lobes are working optimally, we STOP AND THINK before we act.  In [...]

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Behavior Management Plans for ADHD

March 7, 2010

There can be many frustrations for students and teachers when a child has significant deficits in the brain’s ability to inhibit impulses (delay gratification) and sustain attention (stay focused and follow through on tasks).  For many kids with ADHD or other Executive Function Deficits, this is exactly the problem – being able to internally control [...]

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Understanding Executive Functions and Self-Control in Children

February 28, 2010

I met with a team of middle school teachers recently who were livid.  They had a very bright student who was “marching to the beat of a different drummer” in a way that was highly frustrating and disruptive to their classes.  Even though they reported that he often appears “lost” in class and there “seems [...]

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Youth Sports and Life Lessons

February 20, 2010

The Olympics are in full swing again.  It’s so fascinating to listen to the stories of the world’s top athletes, what it takes for them to fulfill their dreams, and then watch them go for it.  The thrill of victory… the agony of defeat… the human drama of athletic competition.  No guarantees, just like in [...]

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“Preventing Youth Violence” Part 2

February 14, 2010

The Solutions

So, given these major contributions to youth violence, what can we do?  The answers are simple enough to state.  The key is whether we have the political will as a society, and the personal resolve as our children’s caregivers, to practice what we preach.  I sincerely pray we do.
1. Listen, empathize, and connect with [...]

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“Preventing Youth Violence” Part 1

February 11, 2010

News headlines about youth violence sporadically rear their ugly head, as they did again this week about a 12-year-old boy who faces adult murder charges for allegedly shooting and killing his pregnant step-mother-to-be following some disagreements.
We can’t know all the specifics of this particular tragedy.  But we can use it as an opportunity to shake [...]

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Ground Hog Day, Bill Murray, & Things That Matter

February 2, 2010

Happy Ground Hog Day!  Are you kidding me?  No, here is central Pennsylvania – that’s still a big deal.
One of my Penn State graduate students actually had her parents come visit from out of state to be at Gobbler’s Knob at dawn this morning to see Punxsutawney Phil’s prognostication – a longer cold winter, or [...]

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A Parent’s Serenity Prayer

January 29, 2010

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.
Serenity… May I find the peace of mind to know I’ve done the best I could, and that is enough. To know that I’ve loved each of my children with all my [...]

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