We should start with a personal anecdote concerning the connection between brain research and cursive writing. As an energetic third-grader, positive school experiences were far and few between, until I discovered cursive writing. The event occurred when my teacher asked for a volunteer to demonstrate how to make a cursive capital B. When no one volunteered, I jumped at the opportunity. I had observed my father’s perfect B when he wrote his name ‘Bill,” his shortened version of William. From… Read More »

Teachers and child therapists are acutely aware of the effect divorce and/or broken homes can have on the child’s learning potential as well as school behavior. In fact, teachers can generally predict an evolving divorce based on observation of the student’s school performance. Although children experience divorce and separation differently, the one constant that should be addressed are the child’s feelings of abandonment, mistrust and/or symptoms that define the emotions of an attachment disorder, factors that also seriously affect school… Read More »

Today’s complicated car engines often seem analogous to the workings of a students’ learning brains. To continue the analogy, car mechanics and teachers do not get the credit  they deserve for dealing with the increased complexity in their professions. For example, compare yesterday’s cars and students with today’s cars and students and you begin to see the increased intricacy of care required in both professions. Years ago, teaching was far less complicated. Today’s teachers have to be far more trained… Read More »

Studies have shown that only 30 % of high school senior’s demonstrate the ability to think abstractly or entertain three plus ideas at one time. Abstract thinkers can understand the U.S. Constitution, basic algebra and beyond. Reasons given by researchers for the low student percentage might be due to a preoccupation with grades or simply memorizing information rather than truly understanding its content? One strategy that could stimulate greater thinking skills and suggested by cognitive researchers is called the PMI… Read More »

Abandoned children often compare their abandonment or attachment issues to a paper cut in their heart, an injury that simply never heals. … Read More »

President Obama’s recent support concerning the importance of early childhood education and/or Head Start is at best a no-brainer. Advertisers have known for years, the sooner you reach a child’s brain, the easier it is to mold. In other words, follow the money and one way or another you will learn that the earlier you stimulate the child’s brain (learning centers) the greater the learning potential and eventual intelligence. For example, when three-years-olds were shown photos of different visual advertising… Read More »

Reading is considered one of the most difficult learning tasks to master for about 30% of children, especially boys. First and foremost, reading is a relatively new act for the brain because it was not a prerequisite for our survival. In other words, we spoke before we read, and as such, in the evolutionary scheme of things, reading requires multiple parallel brain areas to function in synchronicity. The solution to a successful reading brain usually begins in school but today’s… Read More »

One of the greatest challenges parents of an ADHD/ADD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder/Attention Deficit Disorder) child will face is how to determine the level of their child’s success. In other words, part of the problem determining school success is the existence of so many alternatives or strategies that parents must decipher to ensure the ADHD/ADD child’s success. For example, the many different types of support can become frustrating and a confusing experience for school, parent and child alike, which can… Read More »

Every child needs storytelling in his life. The personal narrative is the best of storytelling, a form of literature which seems to have gone the way of the traditional telephone. The ritual of the oral tradition, family stories, which can carry over to the personal narrative and storytelling has been lost to the current student population. In my time, storytelling was often connected to school and family. At the end of the school day our teacher would dim the classroom… Read More »

Reading is considered one of the most difficult learning tasks to master for about 30% of children, especially boys. First and foremost, reading is a relatively new act for the brain because it was not a prerequisite for our survival. In other words, we spoke before we read, and as such, in the evolutionary scheme of things, reading requires multiple parallel brain areas to function in synchronicity.  For example, the first encounter your child will have with reading is with… Read More »