Texting as a form of communication? Your brain doesn’t like it either. Our brains are hard-wired for communication. We humans have a need to share our thoughts and feelings with other members of our species, and we have a rich set of tools with which to do this. We can communicate even when we don’t Continue Reading
Neuropsychology & Mindfulness
Mindfulness. We seem to be running into the term frequently these days. Interesting, because this idea is thousands of years old. In my work and in my life, the most powerful tool I use is mindfulness. I have been interested in observing and understanding people for as long as I can remember, and along with Continue Reading
Neuropsychological Assessment
Neuropsychological assessment, when done well, is much more than the administration of a set of tests. It is a process of information gathering that addresses the child as a whole. Its purpose is to give parents as complete an understanding of the child as possible, to guide their parenting at home and support their education Continue Reading
Emotional Waves
Emotions tend to rise up and wash over us like a wave in the ocean, taking us temporarily out of control. They can hit suddenly and without warning, sweeping our thoughts and feelings in an entirely different direction than they had been heading a moment before. But, as with ocean swimming, we can learn to Continue Reading
To Love, To Learn, To Enjoy
To love, to learn, and to enjoy. For me, these are the most important things we can do. These are what life is about. I try to keep these as my compass, to remember to stay focused on these, to keep them as my primary intention, so I don’t lose my way, getting caught up Continue Reading
Mood States and Emotion
The Affective system works at two levels – the active processing of our experience – the emotional charge, in the moment, and the background of emotional tone through which we experience things – the mood state. The Affective system puts a positive or negative charge on incoming information and outgoing responses. This charge motivates attention Continue Reading
Moving Beyond Anger
It is a very radical and ancient idea. We can learn to live free from anger. Well, without believing in it and getting caught by it. We will feel it from time to time, but we can loosen its grip and minimize its damage, to ourselves and to those we love. Anger is a hot Continue Reading
Explaining & Understanding
I learned something very important yesterday. It was a paradigm shift of tectonic proportions. I am still marveling… I was explaining something to a friend. I probably spend more time than most people explaining things, and I tend to think of myself as pretty good at it. But I failed completely. I was explaining a Continue Reading
Neurodiversity & Learning
When I came up with the word “ThinkPrint,” I was speaking to a group of teachers about how to understand the test results from a child’s neuropsychological or psychoeducational evaluation. I was showing them the graphs of scores of children with different learning and other issues. The different patterns of strength and weakness across the Continue Reading
Some Very Special Schools
Here are links to some wonderful schools: Eagle Hill School: https://www.eaglehillschool.org Franklin Academy: https://fa-ct.org Green Chimneys: http://www.greenchimneys.org Harvey School: https://www.harveyschool.org Kildonan School: https://www.kildonan.org Landmark School: https://www.landmarkschool.org Mead School: https://www.meadschool.org Villa Maria: http://villamariaedu.org Windward School: http://thewindwardschool.org Wooster School: https://www.woosterschool.org