As parents we often become consumed with the idea that every moment of childhood must be geared towards society’s definition of “success.” However, creating such high expectations and micromanaging our children can result in the demise of their lives and have the opposite effect of what we were hoping to achieve. I would like to share this TED talk by Julie Lythcott-Haims about how to raise our kids so that they can thrive and blossom into their best selves.
What will happen during a Psychoeducational/Learning Disabilities Evaluation?
As a clinician trained in School Psychology, I receive numerous phone calls from parents or adults interested in psychoeducational testing (learning disabilities testing). In fact, this is a great deal of the types of calls that I receive because of my professional background and training. During my conversations with callers, I am often asked, “What happens during testing?” This is an extremely common question for me and I get it. People feel a lot of anxiety when they don’t know what to expect. Therefore, I am always glad to answer that question. I hope that by writing this blog post I can answer this commonly asked question for anyone looking for information about what is involved in psychoeducational/learning disabilities testing.
The Imperfect Parent
When the bully comes into your child's home
As parents it is hard to know how to protect our children from the dangers of cyber bullying. When I talk with others about childhood bullying, I always say, “When we were children at least the bully couldn’t follow you into your house.” Social media and the internet have made it possible for bullying to occur 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It has also made it possible for people to join in bullying and they may not even personally know the victim.
Self Love: Notes to Self
How Individuals with Disabilities Are Losing Their Accommodations for High Stakes Graduate School Testing
There has been an upsurge in requests for testing accommodations and, as a result, testing agencies have had to establish clear procedures to address the ever-increasing volume of requests. The testing agencies are required to individually assess the disability documentation to determine the appropriateness of the accommodation requests. When disability documentation is insufficient or does not make a compelling case for why accommodations are still needed, then individuals will find that they no longer qualify for testing accommodations despite their previous diagnosis of a disability such as ADHD, dyslexia, etc.
Strengthening the Parent-Child Relationship: Building A Bond That Will Last a Lifetime
It’s Thursday night and your car spins into the parking lot of the school for your child. You hurriedly park, grab your car keys, and rush out the car into the school building. You speed walk into your child’s classroom, grab them by the hand, and then rush back into the car to fight the evening traffic. Once you arrive home it is like a mad dash – homework, dinner, wiping of noses and/or tears, cleaning up after everyone, brief moments of adult conversation (if you’re lucky), baths, story time, and then bed. As you sink into the chair or your bed later that night, you may wonder whether you actually spent any quality time with your child or rather did you just participate in a human assembly line of child rearing tasks?
Parents don't wait and allow this to be a statistic for your child
Parents don't wait and allow this to be a statistic (National Center for Learning Disabilities) that is true for your child.
Navigating the maze for college accommodations
When seeking services in college, students must provide documentation that they have a disability and need college disability services. A psychoeducational evaluation can can confirm the disability as accurate and a determination can be made about what types of college accommodations may be beneficial.
Is Homework Driving Your Family Crazy? Three Quick Tips for Tackling The Homework Battle.
School has ended for the day. Your child is home and feeling exhausted from a long, and possibly stressful, day at school. Although it is likely that your child would like to do nothing more than toss their backpack in a corner and savor every glorious minute of their evening before bedtime, you must remind them that they have homework to complete.
