One of the most remarkable findings to come out of the ADHD field in recent years has been the discovery that nature has a remarkably calming effect on kids diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. One study revealed that a simple walk in the park elevated the attention span of kids identified as having ADHD. ...Read More

An opinion piece in yesterday’s New York Times really made a deep impression on me as an educator. It was written by Libyan novelist Hisham Matar, and entitled:  ‘‘Books Can Take You Places Donald Trump Doesn’t Want You to Go.”  Mattar writes about how books can help us ”stumble upon ourselves in the lives and...Read More

I’m in Jakarta, Indonesia right now, having finished a series of presentations for media, physicians, psychologists, and parents on multiple intelligences for Wyeth Nutrition-Indonesia. Yesterday, I was reading The International New York Times and was amused by this recollection from award-winning Irish writer Colm Tóibín: ”I could not read until I was 9, by which time I...Read More

The Common Core has made the learning of frequently used academic vocabulary words a top priority in their focus on creating standards in the public schools.   It follows then that finding just the right instructional strategies to teach these words is an important task for K-12 teachers.  Here is an 8-step strategic plan based...Read More

The establishment of Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for students nationwide represents a particularly robust challenge for teachers of students with special needs.  On the one hand, advocates for students with disabilities have made it clear that they want these students to be held to the same high level of achievement as typically developing students.  On the other...Read More