Holidays can be a lot of fun but they can also be stressful even for the most neurotypical (NT) people. Routines are altered. Often, we are visiting family or friends or they are visiting us. Many meals are different than usual. Schools are closed. People have days off. Things are different just like the strongest […]
On telling kids about being LD
March 21, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Question: What’s a good gentle way of telling a sensitive seven year old boy that he’s going to be tested for learning disabilities? My answer: He is probably well-aware that something is not typical about him. I’d say the thing to do is to use that knowledge to inform him of why he’s going to […]
With 2E kids, should we treat the gift or the deficit or both?
January 15, 2017 by 1 Comment
Children who are twice exceptional (2E) by definition have areas of great strength (gifts) and areas of great weakness (deficits). The traditional model, inasmuch as there was one at all, was to treat only the deficits, figuring that the gifts would take care of themselves. This ignored the fact that the gifts often made the […]
Don’t tell me to try harder!
January 14, 2017 by
When I was a kid, my report cards often had comments like “Peter would do better if he applied himself”. This always made me want to apply my fist to the teacher’s face! (I never actually hit a teacher, I made their lives miserable other ways). It’s the same message as “try harder”. No. You […]
Stress makes everything worse: But what is stress?
October 14, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Does your kid sometimes seem to react one way to something and then, another time, react totally differently? Does a particular thing sometimes delight her or, at least, not bother her and other times cause a meltdown? Does this puzzle you? Well, a lot of you NT people (maybe all …) are exactly the same […]
Synchronous and asynchronous communication
July 6, 2016 by 3 Comments
Wow, what a title! There are many ways to communicate. One way of categorizing them is as synchronous or asynchronous. In synchronous communication, interaction is immediate. I talk, you talk, I talk etc. This includes regular face to face communication and phone calls it also includes Skype. In asynchronous communication, this immediacy is not there. […]
Calming down after a hard NLD day
September 30, 2014 by 2 Comments
When your child comes home from school he may be exhausted. Even if it was just an ordinary day. Even if other kids come home raring to go. Even if she doesn’t appear exhausted. He may be right at the edge of a meltdown. Why? Because all day long he has been stressed. Stressed by […]
Ways for teachers (or anyone!) to support communication with NVLD students
January 8, 2014 by 3 Comments
Suppose you are a teacher and you have a kid in your class who has nonverbal learning disability (NVLD). Like nearly all teachers, you want what is best for your students. You want to help. But sometimes communication with that NVLD kid just doesn’t seem to work. What might you try?
The benefits of labels for LD people
September 11, 2013 by Leave a Comment
“I don’t know what’s the matter with me. I think I’m broken” – Quote from a 12 year old child with learning disabilities. Labels have a bad reputation among many in the special needs community. Certainly, labels can be misused. But, if you think your child might be learning disabled, then, believe me: Your child […]
Online resources for nonverbal learning disability
February 6, 2013 by Leave a Comment
There are some good resources for people with NVLD. Not as many as for other LD, but there are some. In this post, I list online resources. If you know of ones I’ve missed, please let me know in a comment. I don’t include more general LD sites, although some of them do have some […]
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