Category Archive:
Teaching and learning principles

1969…1969…1969

1969...1969...1969

It was a bathroom mirror moment–one of those instants where you stand between two mirrors and see yourself patterned to infinity. Mindy, our neighborhood babysitter, sorted pennies by date, with my daughters, then three and five years old.   I walked in from the dentist office, minus two wisdom teeth. I’ll admit I wasn’t at the […]


Help with Stuttering

children seek to create a flow of activity

“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 […]


When All Else Fails, Sing!

when all else fails sing

The dot on my hand darkened to black, deep black. Wearing a plastic mood dot was part of my stress management class. If all went well, the dot shone blue. If not, it turned shades of bluish-black, to midnight. In my preschool class, over the course of a couple of weeks, I noticed that certain […]


See It In Your Child Video: Meeting The Goal Of Power

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

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 […]


Removing Obstacles to Development

obstacles to development

If we wanted to raft the Grand Canyon, how would we prepare for the trip? Depending on our experience level, we might arrange for a guide to navigate us down the river. We’d want to learn about the nature and force of the river. We would want to be familiar with dangerous parts of the […]


Sensitive Periods: Language Development Is Critical

Sensitive Periods Language

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 […]


See It In Your Child Video: Meeting The Goal Of Contact

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

sensitive periods 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

the difference between punishment and discipline

“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 […]