I rarely clean my kids’ bedrooms. In fact, I rarely go into my kids’ bedrooms. But we’re getting some repairs done on the house, which includes the master bedroom, and so Laurie and I will be sleeping in the kids’ beds for about a week.

The night before the repairs begin, I find myself briefly in the...

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Lately, I’ve been seeing more and more posts on social media asking for testing suggestions for students who exhibit subtlelanguage-based difficulties. Many of these children are typically referred for initial assessments or reassessments as part of advocate/attorney...

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Several years ago I wrote a post about how to perform clinical reading assessments of adolescent students. Today I am writing a follow-up post with a focus on the clinical reading assessment of elementary-aged students. For this purpose, I often use the books from...

The Problems with Prenatal Testing for Autism

When Maureen Bennie's son, Marc, was 10 months old, he started missing developmental milestones. He had had feeding problems since birth and developed a sleep disorder - and Bennie quickly grew concerned. "I had friends who had children around...

One Therapy Bests Others at Motivating Kids with Autism to Speak, Study Finds

Pivotal response treatment involving parents works better than other existing therapies at motivating children with autism and significant speech delays to talk, according to the results of a large study by...

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Several years ago I began blogging on the subject of independent assessments in speech pathology. First, I wrote a post entitled “Special Education Disputes and Comprehensive Language Testing: What Parents, Attorneys, and Advocates Need to Know“, in which I used  4 d...

Q: “How can I get my son diagnosed with ADHD without incurring any medical costs? His school will not give him the diagnosis, even though I have been trying to get him diagnosed since 1st grade, and now he is in 8th grade. His is not a behavior problem. He is a people pleaser, but school is affecting his confidence...

Can attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD or ADD) respond positively to the healing power of music? My youngest son, Michael, is living proof that music can change lives — and brains.

Michael was 10 days old before I saw him for the first time — his tiny, blue body lying limply in the incubator as he...

As a professional organizer, I try to help my clients change how they think about their “stuff.” Magazines are often a clutter item. We buy them or subscribe to them, and we intend to read them some day.

Last week, I was ready to launch into my magazine spiel with a client when she almost stumped me. I was looking...

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It’s early August, and that means that the start of a new school year is just around the corner.  It also means that many newly graduated clinical fellows (as well as SLPs switching their settings) will begin their exciting yet slightly terrifying new jobs working f...

I’d spent a lifetime behind a screen of witty self-deprecation. I made people laugh. It was a part of my personality — the quips popped from my mouth in a narrative I couldn’t control. But, at 45, freshly divorced and struggling, I found myself in a therapist’s office. In our third session, she asked,...

Q: “Any tips to improve tooth brushing? My son with ADHD hates it and his gums are swollen and teeth covered in plaque. I’ve tried bribes, gifts, money… nothing is working.”  –Ann Arbor Mom

Hi Ann Arbor Mom:

Boy, did this question resonate with me. When my son was young, it was difficult...

My ADHD life coach once told me that changes in routine are particularly difficult for a person with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD or ADD). This definitely explains why I sometimes feel like my grip on the mountain of family life goes from firm and reliable to sweaty and millimeters away from sending me...

For most of us who are raising teens with ADHD, video games are a fact of life. Many kids would rather immerse themselves in a video game than spend time doing just about anything else.

As a result, many parents fear that their child is addicted to video games; others worry that their child is isolating himself. Many see the...

If you were born during the Nixon or Carter administrations, you grew up at a time when ADHD was rarely diagnosed — even ADHD in boys.

Often, the guys in our grade who had (undiagnosed) ADHD were known for slinking into school high, reeking of pot. Other ones were shuttled into Special Ed classes, often with kids who had...

A mental health diagnosis is based almost entirely on the discussion of symptoms between a patient and his mental health provider. You might think being the diagnosis expert is your doctor’s job alone, but if you don’t thoroughly understand the diagnosis for yourself or your loved one, you may not get the treatment...