As I put you to sleep tonight, I held you tight thinking about the changes that lie ahead. You will be heading to kindergarten tomorrow. I cannot wait to see you grow, change, and learn so many new things.

As I put you to bed, I realized that I have to learn new things too.

I have to learn that this is my last first day of kindergarten. The last time I will walk a nervous five-year-old through the halls of a school that will soon become a comfortable place. This is the last time that I will have to worry about if you can figure out the lunch line, or the school bus, or if you will miss me at all. Instead, this will be my first day where the halls are quiet without your laugh and your sweet voice.

 You are so eager to head out into the world as you have watched your siblings do year after year.

You are not uncertain. You are ready, but am I? You will always be my last. You were the last time I got to meet my baby for the first time, the last time I potty-trained a...

Is your child struggling with reading or comprehension? Are you feeling guilty because your child may not be improving as quickly as you would like? The good news is that there are some secret tricks you can do to help them improve.

Cross-lateral movements

You are probably wondering what crawling and leg tapping has to do with reading! The answer lies in the brain.  When you read, information has to come through the visual system and then to the corpus callosum. This area connects the left and right sides of the brain. 

             Sometimes a child will have difficulty reading because they are struggling to process the information across both sides of their brain. You may have noticed that they do not alternate their feet when coming downstairs, or that they do not have a dominant hand.  Also, as an infant, they may not have had a “typical” crawl-they may have dragged one foot or skipped...

Teachers get blamed for a lot of things. It sure feels like everyone is saying, if your child isn’t learning fast enough, has behavior issues, doesn’t like school, isn’t motivated to learn, or just isn’t succeeding…blame a teacher. I know that isn’t how most of the families feel, but sometimes I wish the parents of my students knew a few things to help us all have a better school year.

I want you to communicate with me.

Yes, there are some teachers who do not have as much experience as others, but I am not one of them. I have been teaching children for many years and I feel like I understand them pretty well. However, I understand that I may not be up to speed on exactly what your child struggles with-so the more communication you share with me the more we can work together. I may not be able to incorporate every suggestion, but having more communication is always effective.

I make mistakes.

Teaching is a lot like parenting multiple...

It is back to school season, and with that comes the usual challenge with getting back into a routine, classroom rules, and the dreaded behavior charts. In my perfect world all teachers would understand a few things about behavior so that the classroom was not such a place of struggle, and instead was a place to thrive.

 I wish my child’s teacher knew:

1. That the brain affects behavior. 

There is a strong connection between the brain and body and behavior. The brain receives information from the body via the sensory and motor systems. This means that if my child is overloaded with too much sensory information, you may see “bad” behaviors. Think of it as a traffic jam on the highway. Imagine being stuck in a traffic jam. You can see your exit, but you can’t get there as you are stuck. Now pretend you need to use the bathroom or are getting hungry. How might you react during this traffic jam? Would you get frustrated, angry, distracted?

This is what...

  “So how’s it going?” That was the single question that led to the sobbing. I was sitting in a pediatrician’s office for my son’s five-year physical when I couldn’t hold it in any longer. The tears began streaming down my face and our pediatrician froze as I struggled to speak. How did I get here? Why was I so emotional to a simple question? As I accepted the scratchy, cheap tissues from the physician’s hand I began to tell my story.

     I remember very clearly the excitement of being pregnant. I will never forget those first days in the hospital and at home staring at my newborn son. I was so thrilled with anticipation for the future and with the hope of what was to come. I had read the parenting books, I was a Registered Nurse-I was confident that I was prepared.

     Then, as my baby boy grew into a toddler. I began to notice some things like he would cry when we would laugh at...

So maybe you got the call from the preschool about biting or hitting. Or maybe you would just like to take your child to the park without another parent giving you “the look” because your child keeps shoving others to the ground.  The good news is that you are in the right place.

 Before we show you some ways to reduce aggression, we need to understand why it happens.  For those answers, we need to learn about the brain. In aggressive kids, they often spend more time in survival (or fight/flight) mode. This means that their brains are often on edge, and they react to any little thing in the environment. 

 Imagine walking through the woods in the middle of the night. You are alone. You don’t know where you are going, you don’t have a cell phone or any supplies. Think about what you would be thinking and feeling. Then you hear a stick crack in the distance. Would you jump? Would you scream?

 This is often what it feels like...

Are you struggling with your child’s behavior and feel like you have tried everything? Maybe you have heard about how diet can affect behavior, but you are not sure where to begin? Before we share 5 clever diet changes to improve behavior, we need to understand how diet and behavior are connected.

The Gut-Brain Axis

 The connection between the gut and the brain is called the gut-brain axis. There are approximately 100million neurons in an average brain and approximately 500million in the average gut. The Vagus nerve is a key pathway between the gut and the brain. It is responsible for carrying neurotransmitters between the brain and the gut. Neurotransmitters are what help the brain and body communicate.

 Serotonin is an important brain neurotransmitter. It is believed to be responsible for affecting appetite, emotions, mood, sleep, cognitive, and motor functions. Approximately 90% of serotonin is produced in the gut along with many other...