January 2011 Blog Posts (12)

I attended camp every summer from the time I was 5 until I was 15. I then started working at camp. Camp was something I looked forward to each summer. The overnight camp I attended, Camp Barney Medintz, instilled in me a sense of belonging, independence, achievement, freedom and well, just plain happiness. Iearned how…

As a practicing school therapist for many years, I can remember one of my bright  students with Asberger's syndrome lamenting to me one day that when the teacher or I told him to do something (or in more instances to STOP doing something!) he once replied to me  that "the words don't always make sense in my head".  There was our clue to try a different approach!…

I can't think of a better "bad behavior basher", than a swing. I happen to have a swing in my kitchen. That's right. No my kitchen is not state-of-the-art, modern or over-sized. It is a 1970's…

To some people, good manners means having etiquette, using proper speech such as "please" and "thank you" or asking to be excused from the table after dinner. For children of all abilities it's important to know that good pragmatics and social skills are the basis for having good "manners." Pragmatics is defined by the American Speech Language Hearing Association…

My child's private day school called and asked about a recommendation to improve the Pre-K children's fine motor and writing skills. They clarified that many of the children do not hold a pencil before Kindergarten and they want to work on…

Having a moral code goes so far back, it's hard to date. I suspect that even before, “Honor Your Mother and Father,” came along, manners were expected. However, manners are not innate. Children aren't born knowing how to behave. Social norms have to be taught. The old saying, “Do as I say and not as I…

I was never one to follow the crowd and I definitely beat to my own drum. I walked into the cafeteria one day and saw that all…

As I write this the weather in much of the U.S. is in winter's icy grip. Since it is too cold to venture outside, how about grabbing a cup of your favorite coffee or hot tea…

We've had some great advice this week from our team of…

Not Entirely!

If we all documented each time our child had a tantrum, we'd see that it was either at a specific time of day, a result from a specific action, stemmed from a communication breakdown, or the like. Children thrive on expectations. This means when a child understands their boundaries and knows what to expect, they are more likely to have success. On the…

I'm no expert on tantrums. I have 4 children and have seen each one present tantrums to some degree or another. I have failed many times at alleviating tantrums and have also succeeded at times. I know one thing for sure - my own state of being at the time has a lot to do with how successful I am at dealing…