Nothing has been more disconcerting to me in my forty-five years as an educator than to ask a parent or teacher:  ”What is your child’s (or teen’s) strengths?” and have them answer:  ”He hasn’t got any.”  I’ve actually heard this several times in my career.  It was such responses that motivated me to come up...Read More

Imagine that Leonardo da Vinci was a child growing up in contemporary times and school authorities had to determine whether or not he should receive an IEP (Individual Education Plan).  Here’s what it might look like. Principal:  ”Okay, I think we’re ready to start.  Who wants to get the ball rolling?”‘ School Psychologist:  ”Well, I ran...Read More

‘’Imagine with me for a moment that everyone in the world has been suddenly transformed into a flower.  Some of us are petunias, some are begonias, others of us are tulips, and some are daisies.  Now, I want you to imagine that in this culture of flowers, the psychiatrists are the roses. Let’s take a...Read More

I just read a very interesting article from EdSurge, an educational technology information online resource that focuses on the benefits of coding, describing how kids who have difficulty in other subjects can sometimes find hidden strengths in their ability to work with code.  The author Kimberly Rues, writes: ”In every classroom where I’ve given kids...Read More

Any time you mandate that kids must do something, ANYTHING, you’ve automatically created a special category for those kiddos who don’t or won’t – and that’s how labels are born.  Before reading was mandatory for kids, there weren’t any reading disabilities.  Before we descended into this ”short attention span culture” of ours, we didn’t have...Read More