“Newborns are likely highly motivated to imitate their mothers in order to enhance bonding” ~Kathleen Wermke PhD Language begins with the very first cry A study published in 2009 in the journal Current Biology suggested crying infants may be imitating the patterns of the language they heard while in the womb. Essentially they found babies from…
Theories
Planning Your Child’s Transition to Preschool
Planning Your Child’s Transition to Preschool: A Step-by-Step Guide for Families Original Paper by Lynette K. Chandler, Susan A. Fowler, Sarah Hadden, and Lisa Stahurski A publication of FACTS/LRE, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign I’ve referred to this paper for over a decade and the original website that hosted this has been gone for…
Tips On Easing Preschool Separation Anxiety
According to a newsletter published by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), early childhood educators suggest staying in the new situation with your child the first few days, for decreasing amounts of time, until he is comfortable with his new environment. Your child will feel more comfortable with you there for…
Wise Words About Stupid Standardized Testing
“I asked the district at that point to give me the closest thing they could legally to the FCAT reading and math test, and I took it. That test labelled me as a poor reader, and I have a couple of masters’ degrees, and I’ve been re-elected four times and I teach 39 graduate courses at six universities in this country.” ~John…
How To Answer, “What’s Wrong With Him?” Part 2
“Rude comments sometimes are what most of us have said before when seeing a bad display in a store-just because I now know different doesn’t mean that I used to stand behind some tantruming child and think “poor thing – I wonder if he has profound communication difficulties that impair his ability to rationalize this situation appropriately !!” LOL ..as…
How To Answer, “What’s Wrong With Him?” Part 1
“Does he ever talk? Why isn’t he saying hello? Is there something wrong with him?” Always be prepared for it if you have a child with a communication impairment. You start to get a sense of when that question is coming from a well meaning (or rude) stranger. Sometimes it’s when someone hears how your…
Organic Oreos With Organic Water
The original definition of the word organic from the 18th century is: “the condition of being ordered as a living being.” While a blow drier, a fork, and a toenail clipper are not organic, yet, we now have organic Oreos, organic water, and organic Kraft mac and cheese. Manufacturers know that consumers see the word organic…
Letting Kids Be Kids Is Smart
Peter Banning: What …is the matter with you? When are you gonna stop acting like a child? Jack: [laughs] I am a child. ~The Movie Hook 1991 Nothing to see here except overwhelming evidence, move along We know beyond a shadow of a doubt that young children learn through play. Results are consistent from study to…
Half of U.S. Kids Don’t Drink Enough Water, Study Says
A quarter said they drank no plain water at all A new study shows that more than half of children and adolescents in the United States are not drinking enough water. —Boys were 76% more likely to be dehydrated than girls, and non-Hispanic blacks were 34% more likely to be dehydrated than non-Hispanic whites. “The…
The Power of Sound: A Therapy Worth Listening To?
Auditory and language processing deficits can be multi-faceted and complex, and knowing where to turn to help a child with these challenges can be overwhelming for parents. Sound or listening therapies might be helpful for some children, and in fact, anecdotal evidence abounds of children making significant language processing gains after undergoing such programs. Some…