For many years now I wanted to create a space for parents, therapists, teachers and psychologists to come together and discuss functional difficulties in the light of development. In our world today, the focus has shifted to more and more productivity and though I also believe being productive is a good goal, I really want to support the process to get to that goal. What does this mean? Simply that if a child understands the sequence of how to accomplish something and can execute it, the product will always be there.
Too much emphasis is being placed on behavior, when in reality the child’s behavior is a communication to us. We have to try to understand why a child chooses a specific behavior in a certain circumstance. At my trainings, I usually repeat the following statement a number of times: “If a child could, he/she would”. Once any one of us feels successful at something, we wish to repeat it again because it feels so good. The only reason we avoid certain activities is because that “feeling good” is absent or elusive and we have to find a way out of the situation.
Too much emphasis is being placed on behavior, when in reality the child’s behavior is a communication to us.
In this blog, we can cover a multitude of discussions on a variety of different topics. We can discuss modalities such as DIR/Floortime or Sound Therapy, but we are also going to be practical and discuss different behaviors and what to do about them. We can discuss the brain and what does a child need in order to achieve academically. How do we read and write? How do I get my great ideas out on written expression? How do we pace ourselves through an activity and know how much we can accomplish in a certain time? How do we mobilize a child to the next level of functioning? I will welcome case discussions and discuss sensory processing development alongside emotional processing development. Diagnosis is necessary, but not considered the most important aspect of every child. We can discuss kids on the autism spectrum; though also discuss children with Down syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, and yet other categories such as reading and learning disorders. What I do not know, we can research together, but the importance would lie in that we tie in theory with practice and be helpful in providing everyone ideas to collaborate upon.
I travel a lot to train others; so do not despair if sometimes I do not respond immediately. I will be there most of the time quite quickly, unless travel causes a delay in my response time. I would also like to make this blog about you. Your questions, your suggestions are going to spearhead the next pieces of information, so please comment, ask your questions. Together we can create a forum that would support all of us as a collective group.
So welcome again and let the games begin!
Maude
