Introduction
I have been a psychologist for 30 years and often have wished I could get information out to a large number of people and now I have decided that writing a blog may be the best way to do that.
The fundamental reason for this blog is to hopefully help you understand and to give practical suggestions that will help you successfully deal with someone in your life with these issues.
Independent Living for Young Adults
Over the last few years, I have worked with patients who are aging out of the public school systems. Often, their families are planning to have that child continue to live with them, because they feel that their handicapped child is unable to live independently. Many...
A Strange Perspective on Strength
A number of years ago, I had two patients come into my office, one after another. The contrast between the two has remained with me for a number of years. It helped me learn something about strength. The first one was a young man who was tall and what we would call,...
Why Do They Do That? Consistent Reinforcement
One of the best explanations for children’s behavioral issues is the concept of reinforcement. All of us have heard about the effects of positive reinforcement or “reward.” We have heard that one of the ways to get children to obey is to give them an immediate reward...
Why Do they Do That? It’s Developmentally Appropriate
Often, parents ask me why children engage in certain behaviors. We have looked at a variety of reasons—because the behavior achieves the intended purpose, because it meets some sensory needs or because it is because it is part of a cycle of behavior that is...
Why Do They Do That? Because They Have Sensory Needs!
#2. Children do what they do because they have sensory needs! Often, children will engage in behaviors because they have some kind of sensory need. Children with a Sensory Processing Disorder often will engage in behaviors that will not necessarily seem sensible or...
Why Do They Do That? Because It Works!
Very often, parents ask me why their children engage in specific behaviors. Many times, these are children with special needs, but many of these suggestions apply to all children. I have a list of seven things that can explain why children do what they do. Here’s...
Do we Ever Test Adults?
Most of the time, when we think about testing, we think about testing children. In fact, we often have opportunities to test adults. There are many reasons that adults need to have an IQ test done. Here are a few of them: We often use IQ tests as part of a battery...
When your Child is Worrying (Part 2)
In an earlier blog, I discussed anxiety in children. Most of us don’t want to think about the fact that children can worry. It’s not our idea of childhood. Parents’ innate responses are to comfort and protect. The way to handle childhood fears is actually the...
Your Child is Worrying! What Should a Parent Do? (Part 1)
All of us worry at some point in our lives. Most of the time, parents are surprised when their children, even preschoolers start worrying. We have this idea that childhood should be carefree, but that isn’t the reality for some children. So where does this anxiety...
Psychological Testing—All tests are NOT created equal
One of my favorite parts of my practice was when I could do evaluations. I liked trying to figure out ways to get good data, even when the situations were complicated. It was like solving a puzzle, putting all the parts together to get a picture of how someone worked...