At a neighborhood coffee, Cheryl announced that she had stopped eating sugar. Several women gasped at the thought. “But that’s so limiting,” said one. Cheryl smiled and said, “Actually I find the limitation is quite freeing. I don’t worry any more whether I should eat something or not. Drawing the line at no sugar has […]
Reading. Writing. Arithmetic. These are the basic academic skills. There are also three R’s that are important to our leadership abilities: Respect, Responsibility and Resourcefulness. I would like to give credit to the person who initiated this phrase, but when I did a search for these 3R’s on the educational research data base (ERIC), I […]
(Dallas) The Down Syndrome Guild of Dallas will kick off its 2012 S.P.R.I.N.G. (Sharing Possibilities Resources Information Needs Goals) Educational Series on Saturday, Jan. 28, featuring a different speaker and topic each month. The 5-part series is free and continues through May 2012, offering up-to-date information, resources and support for people with Down Syndrome, their families […]
“Concentration and distractibility are particular sensitive indicators of a variety of conditions affecting children. Highly concentrated activity suggests that the child’s finding satisfaction and challenge in a task. Distractibility suggests trouble of some kind, social, psychological or whatnot.” –Jerome Bruner, Under Five in Britain Zach began the 18th hole of miniature golf. Twelve-year-old Zach was […]
The troubling nature of censorship is clearer when it falls on the very young. A certain kind of silence, that which comes from holding back the truth, is abusive itself to the child. The soul has a natural movement toward knowledge, so that not to know can be to despair. In the paucity of explanation […]
Attention deficit to attention abundance Nine million prescriptions were written last year in the United States for school aged children for Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). In 1975 roughly 150,000 children were taking Ritalin. In 2003, the latest figures available, about 6 million American children took Ritalin. Drugging children to get them to behave seems […]
“The manager’s job, then, is not to motivate people to get them to achieve; instead, the manager should provide opportunities for people to achieve so they will become motivated.” – Frederick Herzberg Charlie walked over with the teaching clock. “I’ve learned to tell time. Do any time and I can tell you.” Five-year-old Charlie sat […]
Six-year old Bobby walks into the kitchen from playing soccer. Bobby’s dad, Tom, had asked Bobby to take off his muddy shoes before entering the house. Red Georgia mud dotted the new hallway and den carpet. When Tom sees the footprints, he is furious about the mess and that Bobby had disobeyed him. “Bobby,” Tom […]
“Lisa is so different from Grace. Grace never broke anything when she was this age. Lisa breaks something every day,” Meg told me at our playgroup with our one-year olds. Meg, a long-time friend, was over 30 when she had her first child. Five-year-old Grace lived up to her name. Grace was gentle and content to […]
“Pretend that you just found out that you’ll have to be in a wheelchair for a year, possibly longer. What adjustment would you have to make to your home to accommodate this change? ” the instructor asked us. “ This week, crawl around your house, through every room, and make a list of changes that you would make. That’s […]