By Sarah Vander Schaaff Lego is synonymous with STEM. That’s what the representative from Lego Education told me and a room full of parents who were eager to hear about our school’s new partnership with his company. I was, I admit, a little concerned. How was the science teacher going to keep track of thousands…
By Sarah Vander Schaaff If you hear the word “STEM” and think of a plant, you may be my kindred spirit. But having spent some time writing this blog, I now know that STEM is an acronym for “science, technology, engineering, and mathematics,” and it’s a field on many people’s minds. Finding young people with…
A psychoeducational evaluation, sometimes referred to as a psych-ed eval or neuropsych, is an assessment of how a student learns. It measures different types of reasoning, memory, and working efficiency. This is in contrast to learned knowledge, like math facts or vocabulary definitions. Pyschoeducational evaluations are most commonly recommended for students who are either gifted or having difficulty in school.…
By Sarah Vander Schaaff A few years ago when my youngest child would not sleep, I looked for help. The honeymoon of “sleeping like a baby” had ended abruptly at four months, and after more than a year of frustration, I turned to almost every doctor I could think of. “Is it her eczema?” I…
October is, among other things, National Dyslexia Awareness Month. But today’s blog post is timely no matter the date, because a delayed diagnosis of a child’s learning difference exhausts every resource a parent might have. If have a concern about dyslexia, we strongly encourage you to have your child tested. This is a service schools must provide…
By Sarah Vander Schaaff What does it take to get into college? For that matter, preschool? Two recent stories in The New York Times address changes in the admissions process for some schools and both look at efforts to take the focus off standardized tests. First, there was the attention-grabbing headline: “Private Schools are Expected…
By Sarah Vander Schaaff I am not sure if a song can inoculate a child from the bad feelings and dangers of being bullied, but if one could provide fortification, or resistance, then it might be “Bully, Bully” by Shine and the Moonbeams. The tune was recorded a few years ago, but it was just…
By Sarah Vander Schaaff The school schedule is back in full swing and I image one of the most annoying things a person can say to you with the best intentions is, “Wow, do I have a book you should read!” I get it. I wasn’t looking for another book to read. I was wandering…
by Sarah Vander Schaaff How do we keep from over-scheduling our children this school year? The first step, one I believe many of us only half-heartedly embrace, is that we have to want to keep from over-scheduling our children. When you look around the Internet, there are many posts suggesting tips for limiting activities and…
By Sarah Vander Schaaff Last year, I interviewed a teacher just before the start of middle school. She gave us some great advice and framed her discussion with this point: This is a time where kids are tested, especially socially, and they begin to solidify who they are as people. So with back to school already…