Imagine how unsafe you would have to feel before you would punch somebody. Imagine how threatened you would have to feel before you would intentionally knock things over and run away. Imagine how distressed you would have to be to throw yourself to the floor rather than go somewhere. Really imagine it. Really imagine your … Read more
Lying in prone (aka on your tummy) and propping up on your elbows to play—even to play electronics!—is important work. It strengthens the muscles in your core. It strengthens and stabilizes the joints that are propping up—the elbows, the shoulders. Even when I get tired or unfocused at work, I’ve been known to put what … Read more
When I wrote about my “biggest marker in the world” (aka a Sharpie Magnum), someone in the comments suggested that we could like, tape a marker to a big stick or a big cardboard tube and actually make the biggest marker in the world. So, we taped a marker to a 3 foot cardboard tube … Read more
At the top of the poster is a sentence describing “old school expectations”. It reads like this: “Kids at desks / sit silently / (without sensory supports) / while adult teaches / on adult’s directed topic / until adult is done. / Then, kids work seated at desks / silently / on written work … Read more
When some kids come to me, they don’t know how to break outside of the school model. They aren’t sure what to explore, with the freedom to explore whatever they want. They aren’t sure what to create, given access to loads of art materials and free time and space to do it. They aren’t accustomed … Read more
My son was feeling a little bit “out of whack” (that’s usually the least-jargony way I can describe the word “dysregulated”). He was picking at everyone in the family, emotionally, verbally. He pushed his sister, who was watching a show, far enough for her to lash out at him physically, to hit him and push … Read more
While I was writing some goals for a student’s IEP, I thought about what it would look like in a world where we had developed the system differently. Instead of writing goals to say how I think I’ll change a child over the course of the year, I could write goals about how we’ll change … Read more
I’ve written a few posts about things kids do at certain ages. There is always an element of variance in things like that; if something typically happens at 4, some kids will do it when they’re 3, some when they’re 5, some may skip it entirely and for some it may be a big part … Read more
