Recently, I read an alarming statistic that describes the onset of puberty as beginning to occur at an earlier and earlier age for American girls, with many girls as young as 7. New research shows that 10.4 percent of white girls, 23.4 of African-American girls and almost 15 percent of Hispanic girls (Pediatrics, 2010) have displayed signs of early onset puberty. Early onset of puberty begs the questions – who or what is stealing the childhood of this age group… Read More »

A major problem affecting your student’s learning potential and true intelligence is the inability to transition  (stay focused) from one school lesson to the next. Include developmental differences (maturity), learning styles/multiple intelligence, skill or ability, home environment (boundaries) and failure to transition from one subject or activity to another effectively can be a major reason for school failure. During any school day, your child will be challenged and expected to change swiftly from one lesson to the next. Some transitions… Read More »

Every child and/or adolescent should have the opportunity to create a “success identity.” It is particularly important during the 7 to 11 year old stage of development as described by Harvard social psychologist, Erik Erikson, as “Industry versus Inferiority.” At this stage children need to create, to be industrious and experience success in any form and/or activity. If not, according to Erickson, they begin experiencing a sense of “inferiority” which can affect a child’s learning potential as well as intelligence.… Read More »

The connection between dog training and man and the connection between cognition and moral development are intrinsically related in more ways than one. The man is the control and the dog attempts to follow his lead. Conversely, with cognition, man is the control or thinking and the moral judgment is what follows the lead. Some years ago, Harvard psychologist, Dr. Lawrence Kohlberg made the connection between cognition and moral development when he administered moral dilemmas to boy’s ages 10 to… Read More »

Moral Remediation, Multi-systemic Therapy and Effective Interventions For Serious Juvenile Offenders. Our juvenile hall population is at an all time high, 2.2 million inmates at an average cost of about $35,000 per inmate (OJJDP, 2006). In fact, we lead the world in incarcerated juvenile offenders and the juvenile system is fast becoming a breeding ground for adult prisons. In Washington State alone, 73% of adult inmates served time in a juvenile detention facility (OJJDP, 2005). This paper describes how a … Read More »

With mandated state testing looming on our students’ horizon why focus only on test score results when there are so many other factors that are never reported such as those parents, teachers and students who give tireless energy for successful school achievement. Unfortunately, they are the unknowns, the unsung heroes lost in an aggregate of numbers called test scores. These unknowns are what I like to call the donut hole in test scores that are rarely if ever discussed? For… Read More »

Recently I received a call from a parent who requested that I conduct an IQ assessment with her 7-year-old daughter. My response was as follows: First and foremost, I do not prescribe labeling or attaching an IQ score to any particular child, let alone a seven year old, for the simple reason that the limiting effects of labeling often outweigh the productive results. In other words, IQ tests, more often than not, can stigmatize the child’s intellectual potential. Furthermore, the… Read More »

Never have the words ‘you are what you eat’ been more important than with children and their ability to learn and express their true intelligence. You do not have to be a genius to link school success to good food habits. The by-products of poor eating habits show up in child obesity, ADHD or ADD and eating disorders to name but a few. Other by-products could be school failure or simply a negative effect on the child’s learning potential and… Read More »

Blogger David Sortino’s recently published book is titled, “The Promised Cookie- No Longer Angry Children” About the book: A bankrupt state regional school is faced with closing its doors unless the staff can demonstrate some success with severely disturbed children. The original director and most of the school staff resigned after they squandered over one million dollars from a Title Three Federal Grant. All that is left are the children, an old farmhouse, a defeated staff and the hope that… Read More »

Developmental differences among students can affect school performance, particularly with mandated curriculums, testing pressures, etc. Combine these differences with a shortened school year, larger class sizes, fewer support services and we can recognize a few causes of poor male student performance. However, another factor rarely discussed, but known by brain researchers is that reading and/or language arts skills are not natural learning paradigms for boys’ brains. In other words, we need to recognize that the brains of the male gender… Read More »