By: Clark McKown, Ph.D., Executive Director Over the past two weeks, I did a completely non-scientific poll of colleagues, friends, and family. The results were striking. Every single respondent reported that that this summer flew by with unprecedented speed! Most also reported that the school year snuck up on, causing sudden changes to the rhythms of life. For some, the
By: Michael Smith, Education Specialist at RNBC What are the qualities of a good student? Take a minute right now to answer that question. Feel free to grab some scratch paper and jot down some of your ideas. Done? Great! Now let’s see how your answers compare to those of some actual students… Every summer, the Rush NeuroBehavioral Center offers Executive
By: Amanda Weigel, PsyD Mention the word adolescence to many parents and the response is more often than not rich with worry and concern. Despite the challenges for both teens and parents during this developmental period, it can be easily navigated with knowledge, appropriate boundaries, and empathy. During this stage, adolescents are taxed with many important developmental tasks including developing
Results from several independent studies conducted over the past ten years have pointed consistently to the relationship between success in school, academically and socially, and competency in executive functions skills. Executive functions are the cognitive processes occurring in the frontal lobe area of the brain that oversees higher-order competencies such as planning, organizing, making decisions, paying attention, regulating behavior, solving
By: Erin Anderson OTR/L As adults we realize how fun and yet stressful the impending holiday season can be. Over time we have developed strategies to make it a more enjoyable time and to find ways to decrease our stress in order to increase the fun the holidays can offer. We may schedule to take a quick walk on a
By: Michael Smith & Georgia Bozeday At first glance, college might seem much easier than high school. If you think about it, most college freshmen will have two-to-three classes a day that meet only two-to-three times a week. Plus, college classes usually do not assign nightly homework. Compared to the high school schedule of sitting through at least eight periods
By: Sara Brown, M.A., CCC-SLP/L Parents and caregivers frequently ask me how they can help encourage the development of their child’s language skills, especially over the summer months when academics are often not receiving as much attention. They are often surprised when I direct them to do a little online shopping or to take a trip to the lakefront with
By: Jaclyn Russo, M.A. A 2005 article in the New York Times entitled No Emotion Left Behind highlighted the importance of bridging academic and social and emotional learning (SEL) curriculums in schools. SEL skills can be thought of as “academic enablers,” leading to better relationships with peers and teachers and thus, more learning and achievement. At that time, many schools had
By: Anne Howard, Ph.D. As a clinician and scholarship manager at RNBC, I have the honor of seeing firsthand how our program impacts the lives of the children we serve. Earlier this month, I was a proud attendant of a middle school graduation for one of our scholarship recipients, Simon. I couldn’t help but think about the incredible progress he’s
By Leslie Baer Cohen, Ph.D. With summer upon us, many parents are actively exploring summer programs for their children. As a child psychologist, one of the more common questions that I hear from parents during this process is, “What, if anything, should I tell my child’s counselor/camp about his/her neurobehavioral problems?” For many parents, a tension exists between wanting to