“Kate has started to stutter. What should I do? How can I help her?” Doug, father to three-year-old Kate, asked. As we develop spoken language, stuttering is a symptom of expressive skills lagging behind receptive language skills. If we think about receptive language being our reservoir of words and understanding, and expressive language as the […]
Category Archive:
Children’s basic needs
See It In Your Child Video: Meeting The Goal Of Power
How can we help our children enlarge their circle of power? In this video and accompanying article I’ll discuss three vital steps that help us as parents and teacher. When we use these three steps we’ll find that our children’s unconscious goal of power is met in a way that meets our children need to […]
Allowing Opportunities For Movement
A kid’s got to move. Observing a few minutes at a playground will attest to that. You don’t see children sitting around if they have the chance to run, jump, climb, or skip. Children are in a sensitive period of development for movement from birth to about age five-and-a-half. Around age four-and-a-half, children have a […]
Some Alternatives to Saying “No”
There are some days in February that seem as if all we do as parents is say “no”. “No, Susan can’t spend the night. Your brother has the flu.” “No, you cannot go bike riding right now. It’s dark.” “No, we can’t go to the mall. It’s supposed to start snowing soon.” Bad weather, illnesses, […]
Sensitive Periods: Language Development Is Critical
From birth to six, children are in a critical period of language development, when the spoken word develops naturally. Ninety percent of our adult conversational language is in place by the age of six. If a child does not speak by age six, it is improbable that the child will acquire spoken, written or sign […]
Breaking Away
“The finest inheritance you can give a child is to allow it to make its own way, completely on its own two feet.” Isadora Duncan “Don’t kiss me or hug me in public, Mom,” your child says as he or she wipes off your kiss. Affection that was freely given and accepted becomes an embarrassment […]
See It In Your Child Video: Meeting The Goal Of Contact
How can we encourage our children’s cooperation? In this video and accompanying article I’ll show you an effective communication tool to help you gain a child’s cooperation. This may be one of the best tips you’ll ever get! This is the second in a five-part series on the child’s need to belong. Download the accompanying […]
Sensitive Periods: Understanding A Child’s Sense Of Order
Three-year-old Abby, was the perfect cheerful morning preschool student with never a tear or a fret. Until the end of April. All week at dismissal she had begun to cry as soon as I opened the car door. Her mother was greeted with big sobs and screams of “You don’t love me.” Her mom was […]
The Difference Between Discipline and Punishment
“Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6 “What is the difference between disciplining a child and punishing a child?” Jeff, father to a two-year-old, wrote in his email. “I don’t see any difference. Isn’t it the same thing?” There […]
See It In Your Child Video: The Child’s Need To Belong
We all need to feel like we belong. Children’s behavior is directed towards getting the emotional connection of belonging. Watch this video to learn about four basic, yet unconscious, goals that drive our children’s behavior. You’ll learn how these goals, when met, make for a child who is happy, cooperative, self-motivated and self-aware. Download the accompanying […]